Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.69/No.1 i Beijing Review

Solar Thermal Power China unveiled a policy roadmap on December 23, 2025, to accelerate solar thermal power development, targeting around 15 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity by 2030, with costs broadly comparable to coal-fired power. The guideline, jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA), emphasizes project construction and the expansion of application scenarios to facilitate large-scale deployment of solar thermal power. By 2030, China aims to build the sector into an internationally competitive new energy industry, characterized by globally leading technologies that are fully domestically controllable, alongside market-oriented and industrialized growth, according to the document. After years of development, China has achieved advancements in major solar thermal technologies and built a leading industrial chain, with construction costs per kilowatt falling from…

As China prepared to implement its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), the tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC) convened in Beijing on December 10-11, 2025, to define the country’s economic direction and key priorities for 2026. In an exclusive interview with Beijing Review reporter Zhang Shasha, Cai Tongjuan, Vice President of and a research fellow with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, explored the policy signals released by the meeting, how its plans lay a solid foundation for the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan and the potential opportunities they may create for the world economy. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow: Beijing Review: What new policy signals did the CEWC send? Cai Tongjuan: The conference emphasized that next year’s economic work should adhere to the…

In China’s affluent cities like Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, the educational path of choice for some families had long seemed clear: exit the pressure-cooker of the public system and enter the globalized world of international or bilingual private schools (often colloquially referred to as “international schools” in China). Yet, a subtle but growing countercurrent is emerging. For a small but significant group of parents, the journey is now reversing. “My eldest child was in a local international school from first to fourth grade,” Wang Hui, a Hangzhou mother told Beijing Review. “It was small-class teaching, rich in activities and with full-time international teachers.” However, Wang began reconsidering her child’s educational path after witnessing her daughter’s lagging progress in Chinese language and core academic subjects. She noted that, in addition to…

A long-table banquet is held to celebrate the annual Dong New Year festival in Zhaoxing Dong Village of Liping County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, on December 20, 2025. The Dong New Year festival is a traditional event that pays homage to the ancestors of the Dong people while celebrating family reunions. It is celebrated at different times of the year depending on the traditions of Dong people in different areas. Most celebrations fall in December, lasting a week or even longer.…

China-U.S. relations were shaped by dramatic shifts amid sustained, highintensity competition in 2025. Major developments in trade, technology and strategic affairs resonated globally. China-U.S. relations last year began with a ceremonial meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., escalated sharply with a spring trade war, and ultimately reached a fragile, phased balance by year’s end, thanks to intensive phone talks between the two heads of state and multiple rounds of negotiations over the summer and fall. These key events highlight a central theme: In an increasingly intense competitive environment, the two major countries are relearning how to manage their differences and exploring new rules for their inevitable coexistence. January 20Chinese High-Level Delegation Attends President Trump’s Inauguration China’s Vice President Han Zheng led a highlevel delegation to attend the U.S. presidential…

Shortly before 7 p.m. on December 19, 2025, people began filing into a lecture hall at the Beijing campus of China Europe International Business School in the capital’s northwestern suburbs. Tickets were oversold by more than 100; extra chairs had to be added at the back as latecomers continued to arrive. The gathering was not for a talk on management or finance, but for a string concert performed by Lu Siqing, one of China’s most celebrated violinists, alongside an ensemble of 11 young Chinese musicians from Major Performing Arts Group (MPAG), a Chinese classical music agency. The crossover extended beyond the venue and the lineup to the music itself. Built around the cycle of seasons, the program interwove Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, a work first published in 1725 and…

Since 2021, Shi Jing, a musician who plays traditional Chinese instruments in Beijing, has been an enthusiastic collector of pop toys from Chinese designer toy brand Pop Mart. With dozens of collectible toys already in her possession, one of her favorite pastimes is visiting the Pop Mart City Park—a Beijingbased theme park that opened to the public in 2023. Pop Mart’s Labubu series of plush toys has gained a devoted global fan base over the last year, and Shi particularly likes this one, as well as the Molly and Mokoko series introduced by the brand. “Having the pop toys at home makes me feel soothed and happy. Every time I see them, it just lifts my mood! The price is also quite affordable,” Shi told Beijing Review. In August, Pop…

As a young Yueju Opera performer adjusts her headdress backstage, her costume—blending traditional elegance with modern tailoring—reflects the convergence of two eras. Yueju Opera, a local opera originating in Zhejiang Province hundreds of years ago, is now the second most popular opera in China. Chen Lijun, a star of the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe, embodies this duality: an inheritor of a century-old art and the idol of millions online. Her performances draw both traditional patrons and digital natives and her clips are disseminated and reimagined across the web. This cultural moment quietly poses a deeper question: How can an ancient civilization find and assert its contemporary voice in a global age? Chen brought this question for discussion at the Forum on the International Communication of Chinese Culture held in…

Twenty-five-year-old Chen had been unemployed for eight months when he first went to a food bank in Futian District in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. The food bank actually looked like a large regular vending machine. Inside, rows of steamed buns, packaged vegetables, yogurt, fruits and fresh bread sat neatly arranged under soft interior lighting. Chen scanned a QR code with his phone, tapped the screen a few times and with a gentle click, a compartment opened. He retrieved a bag labeled “cauliflower” for dinner. “I used to walk past these cabinets without really seeing them,” Chen told Beijing Review. “Then my savings began dwindling. I couldn’t turn to my parents for help, and I didn’t want any of my friends to learn about my problems. I had been having one meal…

An ice and snow carnival opened at the Yudu Mountain scenic area in Beijing on December 20, 2025. The launch featured a traditional iceharvesting ceremony and the debut of a winter catch festival. Each year, Wangyou Lake in Yudu Mountain freezes into a thick layer of ice around the winter solstice. Blocks harvested here are transported to Longqing Gorge, where they become the raw material for an annual ice lantern festival, which opens just before the traditional Chinese New Year, which falls on February 17 this year. Winter catch is a nod to a northern Chinese tradition where fishermen pull fresh fish from frozen lakes to welcome the new year. Located near the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics alpine skiing venue, the scenic area also offers visitors the chance to try…