Innholdsfortegnelse for April 28, 2016 i Beijing Review

Pumping Cash The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, pumped 162.5 billion yuan ($25 billion) into 18 financial institutions in open market operations via a medium-term lending facility (MLF) on April 18. MLF is a tool introduced in 2014 to help commercial and policy banks maintain liquidity by allowing them to borrow from the central bank, using securities as collateral. It was the second time that the PBOC used the tool in April to “guide financial institutions in boosting support for key areas and vulnerable links in the national economy.” A total of 83.5 billion yuan ($13.94 billion) is earmarked for the three-month MLF and 79 billion yuan ($12.25 billion) for the sixmonth MLF, at interest rates of 2.75 percent and 2.85 percent, respectively. The interest rates…

Comments to dengyaqing@bjreview.com Under China’s “new normal” economic environment, its growth has decelerated to 6.7 percent in the first quarter. Nonetheless, economic indicators cast an optimistic light on future development. “The growth is within the [Chinese Government’s] targeted range of 6.5-7 percent and is relatively fast compared with both developed countries and other emerging economies,” said Sheng Laiyun, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), at a press conference on April 15. On April 12, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased its 2016 and 2017 GDP growth expectations for China by 0.2 percentage points to 6.5 percent and 6.2 percent respectively. The Deutsche Bank increased its forecast for China’s growth in 2016 to 6.7 percent. What are the factors driving China’s growth? For one thing, the Chinese Government has…

Comments to yulintao@bjreview.com The Russian-U.S. relationship seems to be showing signs of improvement after two years of an impasse as a result of the Ukrainian crisis. During U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s trip to Moscow in late March, the two sides held a rare in-depth discussion on several regional issues and bilateral relations. Observers say that it was the most cordial interaction between the two countries over the past two years. The two sides agreed to continue coordination of actions to consolidate a ceasefire in Syria and push for direct talks between the Syrian Government and the opposition in an effort to complete the country’s political transition and drafting of the new constitution before August. They also reached consensus on coordinating efforts to fight the so-called “Islamic State” extremist…

Comments to yuanyuan@bjreview.com “Operating on patients can be compared to fighting on the battlefield. That’s how great it feels and why I love my job.” —Liu Peng, Director of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery & Electro-chemotherapy in the Beijing-based China-Japan Friendship Hospital Six operations a day, more than 30 years in a row, no vacation, no spare time. Meet Liu Peng, who has been working as a cardiac surgeon in the Beijing-based China-Japan Friendship Hospital since 1984. “I come to the office at 8 a.m. and start operating right away,” Liu, Director of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery and Electro-chemotherapy in the hospital, told Beijing Review. “It is normal [for me] to leave the operation theater at 8 or 9 o’clock in the evening every day, including the weekends. This…

Comments to wangjun@bjreview.com Chinese products can now reach France directly by train and vice versa. On April 6, the first direct cargo train linking China to France left the Wujiashan Railway Central Station in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province. According to a press release from the Wuhan Asia-Europe Logistics Co. Ltd., operator of the Wuhan-Europe cargo train services, the train will carry a variety of products including electronics, chemicals and garments. It will pass through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, arriving in the second largest French city, Lyon, after running 11,300 km in 16 days. October 2012 marked the start of Wuhan’s train services linking the city to Europe, when 50 containers of electronic components from the Wuhan plant of Foxconn Electronics Inc. were transported to the…

Members of the Rescue Team of Ramunion (RTR) carry disaster relief supplies to a vehicle in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, on April 19. More supplies were transported to quake-hit Ecuador. Ecuador was struck by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake on April 16. The RTR sent seven members, including rescuers and doctors, to the South American country. Established in 2009, the Hangzhou-based RTR is a non-governmental rescue team that offers emergency assistance and natural disaster relief.…

UNITED STATES Protestors against the large amount of money deployed in politics demonstrate on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on April 18 AFGHANISTAN A security vehicle patrols the Taliban attack site in Kabul on April 19. The death toll had risen to 28 as of April 20 while more than 300 were wounded in the bombing and gunfight near the presidential palace JAPAN Firefighters inspect damaged homes in the Kumamon Prefecture of Kyushu Island on April 17. At least 41 were killed and 3,000 wounded during the earthquake and aftershocks that jolted the city since April 14 QATAR Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi (center) arrives at a ocnvention center in Doha on April 17 where oil-producing countries met to discuss apossible production freeze to counter low oil prices. However,…

Comments to linan@bjreview.com Guo Jie, a 24-year-old vendor selling cold rice noodles, set out for Beizhai, a village in east Beijing’s Pinggu District, at dawn. “Customers to my stall double during the flowering season,” Guo told Beijing Review. For the next two months, she will migrate to the countryside where the flowers are in full bloom. Beizhai, full of apricot blossoms and bursting with tourists from April, is her first stop. Pinggu, bordering north China’s Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province, boasts 10,000 mu (667 hectares) of apricot trees and 220,000 mu (14,677 hectares) of peach orchards. Thanks to the rows of colorful flowers in April, the district has become a popular weekend destination. “I often take my family on excursions to Pinggu. Sometimes we spend the weekend in rural homestays,”…

As hosts to the world’s major economies and to the origins of Eastern and Western civilizations, Asia and Europe are the main forces in maintaining world peace, boosting joint development and promoting human progress. Promoting increased financial cooperation between Asia and Europe is pivotal to secure a robust economic recovery and create new vitality for economic growth in both regions. Such a collaboration would reduce financing costs, improve the overall efficiency of their financial systems and create more favorable conditions for expanding trade and investment between Asia and Europe. It can also provide a powerful and efficient investment and financing guarantee to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the European Commission’s Investment Plan for Europe, known as the “Juncker Plan,” the United Kingdom’s Northern Powerhouse and other development plans. After expanding…

Dear Readers, Forum is a column that provides a space for varying perspectives on contemporary Chinese society. We invite you to submit personal viewpoints on past and current topics (in either English or Chinese). yanwei@bjreview.com Please provide your name and address along with your comments Some 13 years ago, Wei Yongkang was flunked out of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) because he was unable to complete his master’s degree at the prestigious institution within the stipulated three years. He was expected to complete a successive postgraduate and doctorate program at the CAS after being accepted at 17. Wei had been called a prodigy because he knew 1,000 Chinese characters when he was just 2 years old. He entered a prestigious senior high school at 12. His academic success was…

Observing the Anniversary Local residents mourn at a monument in Lushan County, southwest China’s Sichuan Province. The ceremony on April 20 was in remembrance of the 196 people who died in a devastating earthquake on the same day three years ago. Pension Raise Since the beginning of this year, the general level of monthly payment for pensioners from enterprises, government agencies and public institutions has been lifted by 6.5 percent from 2015, said a statement by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Ministry of Finance on April 15. The improvement marked the 12th straight year of pension rises. To set the level, multiple factors are considered, including economic growth, workers’ incomes and fiscal revenues, according to the statement. Urban Settlement China will ease household relocation policies to…

Comments to baishi@bjreview.com Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she would fight to maintain power despite suffering a devastating blow from the country’s lower house, which voted to start impeachment proceedings against her on April 17. Rousseff’s opponents, spearheaded by lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, won 367 votes, exceeding the two thirds of all 513 members needed to send the motion to the Senate. Politicians erupted with emotion after the decision was reached, chanting “I am Brazilian, with lots of pride and love” in Portuguese. The impeachment proceeding will move to the upper house, the Senate, which is expected to suspend Rousseff if it approves a formal trial. According to Brazilian law, if the Senate finds Rousseff guilty, she can be permanently removed from office. Rousseff has two opportunities to appeal…

Comments to yinpumin@bjreview.com After a half-month investigation, firstphase reports on a vaccine scandal were submitted to an executive meeting of the State Council, China’s cabinet, on April 13. The matter was revealed in February when police in east China’s Shandong Province arrested two persons for selling substandard vaccines worth more than 570 million yuan ($87.96 million) to 18 provinces and autonomous regions. The vaccines had been bought illegally and stored improperly by the mother-and-daughter pair. This aroused public concerns countrywide. In a response, the State Council appointed a cross-departmental investigation team on March 28, pledging to thoroughly investigate the matter and trace all the supply sources and sales chains of the substandard vaccines. As of April 11, 192 criminal cases had been filed, 202 suspects detained and 22 others’ arrest…

Comments to weiyao@bjreview.com It is morning and 34-year-old Beijing resident Lin Yan, dressed in professional equestrian attire, is on her horse. At the Guofa Equestrian Club training ground near Beijing Capital International Airport, she adeptly adjusts her posture in accordance with the pace of her horse. Every Saturday morning, Lin drives for nearly one hour from her home in downtown Beijing for the riding lesson. Upon her arrival at the training ground, she is joined by a dozen or so other people, mostly young women and children. Getting accepted Equestrianism, once a pastime for the wealthy, has entered the life of ordinary people, especially in metropolises like Beijing. The tuition of 200-300 yuan ($31.25-46.88) per hour is now within the reach of many families. Different from 10 or more years…

Comments to yanwei@bjreview.com Once upon a time, there was a young boy who chanced upon a magic lamp. Children all over the world continue to be mesmerized by the adventures of Aladdin, who could have all his wishes come true, thanks to the genie in his lamp. In the retelling of the tale by a wide host of narrators—from the anonymous Syrian storyteller from Aleppo to 19thcentury British explorer Richard Burton who translated it, to Walt Disney Productions, who made a cartoon film—listeners tend to forget that Aladdin was a Chinese youngster. The story was originally set in “one of the cities of China.” Therefore, there is something particularly apt about One Thousand and One Nights, the mosaic of magical stories containing Aladdin’s tale, being one of the first non-religious…

Comments to yanwei@bjreview.com ‘It’ll be no problem.” “I’ve been to China before, how hard could it be?” “Bruh, I’m basically Chinese, no worries!” These were the words I was swallowing as I sat in my dormitory room at Tsinghua University, which was occupied by two suitcases and me. It was the second day of what would be at least a one-year stint in Beijing. I was to complete my final year of law school there and potentially seek employment thereafter, but right then, I didn’t know if I’d stay another week. I had spent the day wandering around in circles, and my Chinese was worse than I thought (having not studied it in several years). The day started simply enough—I needed to register with the local authorities; to do that…