Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 60/No. 3 i Beijing Review

2016 GDP Growth China’s economy is expected to have grown about 6.7 percent in 2016, a senior official with the country’s top economic planner said on January 10. GDP is predicted to exceed 70 trillion yuan ($10.1 trillion) for 2016, an increase of 5 trillion yuan ($722.5 billion), Xu Shaoshi, Minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference in Beijing. The estimate falls within the government target of between 6.5 and 7 percent for the year. In the first three quarters of 2016, the economy expanded 6.7 percent year on year. Steady growth and the performance of new sectors have discredited predictions that China’s economy will collapse or face a hard landing, and its growth rate is remarkable among major economies, Xu said.…

Comments to zanjifang@bjreview.com A brightly lit, two-story shop on the business street of Peizhai Community in central China’s Henan Province is lined with racks full of neatly arranged goods. The first floor features products for mothers and children while the second floor boasts a swim-ming pool for babies. The shop is owned by Pei Longhui, who returned to the village after work-ing in south China. “Now I can make at least 150,000 yuan ($21,665) a year, which is several times what I made while working on ships in southern China,” Pei said. There are more than 600 such shops on the street. The area, once a stretch of rural wasteland, is now full of tall buildings. There are villas, a primary school, a basketball court, a plaza, and other amenities…

Comments to liuyunyun@bjreview.com 2016 was eventful for both China and many other countries. In addition to growing regional conflicts and inces-sant terrorist attacks, the U.S. presidential election, Britain’s referendum vote to leave the EU (Brexit), disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, and the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea have all heightened uncertainty in international politics. The world order poses great challenges to China’s diplomatic work. As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi put it in a speech last December, 2016 could be summed up with two words—“volatility” and “turbulence.” 2016 in retrospect Sino-U.S. relationship remained stable but eventful. Ties between China and the United States remained stable in 2016 despite various incidents. Meetings between Chinese President Xi…

Comments to yinpumin@bjreview.com While working as a miner at the Jiulishan Coal Mine in central China’s Henan Province from 2006, Chen Tao devel-oped a persistent cough which deteriorated progressively. In 2013, the 34-year-old was diag-nosed with first-stage pneumoconiosis, a lung disease caused by exposure to certain kinds of dust particles. Pneumoconiosis, also called black lung disease, hit the headlines in China in 2009, when Zhang Haichao, another Henan resident who worked for a local company making fire-resistant materials in Xinmi County, contracted it but could not make his employer pay him compensation. In a bid to prove that he had dust in his lungs acquired during his three years with the company, the then 28-year-old Zhang underwent open- chest surgery. After the media took up his case, eventually the company…

Recently a debate between academics on whether to abolish industrial policies has become heated. As the nation enters its “New Normal” economic phase, choosing either side of the argument will determine the success of China’s supply-side structural reform and its sound economic performance. The industrial policies in question are a set of strategies formulated by the government to promote or readjust development of specific industries, including their organization, structure, plans, support and preferential tax measures. China is now in the mid-late stage of industrialization, and the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period will be crucial for the nation’s economic restructuring and upgrading. Therefore industrial policies are necessary for China, which should study in depth how to formulate strategies that can be well implemented and abolish unsuitable industrial policies, with the aim…

Crewmembers of China’s first polar fixed-wing aircraft, Xueying 601 (below), pose with staff members at Kunlun Station, one of the nation’s scientific research bases in Antarctica, on January 8 after a landmark flight. The plane took off from China’s Zhongshan Station and covered the 1,316 km to Kunlun Station in 4 hours and 45 minutes. Xueying 601 has become the first aircraft of its kind to land on Antarctica’s highest ice feature, which lies over 4,000 meters above sea level.…

UNITED STATES A man tries a Rinspeed Oasis self-driving concept vehicle during the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit on January 10 LIBYA Visiting Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti and Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Sayala (right) announce plans to boost cooperation against migrant smuggling at a press conference in Tripoli on January 9 IRAN On January 10, people mourn former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in Tehran on January 8 at age 82 UNITED NATIONS Secretary General António Guterres (center) makes his first address to the Security Council after assuming office at UN headquarters in New York City on January 10 GERMANY A woman visits a Chinese exhibitor’s booth at Heimtextil, the world’s leading trade fair for home and contract textiles, in Frankfurt on January 10 THAILAND…

Comments to zanjifang@bjreview.com Steam rises into the air from water boiling in big cauldrons; wood-fueled fires blaze furiously in clay-made stoves below the cauldrons; several men knead dough made of sweet potato starch, draw it out into elongated strands and toss them into the boiling water to make vermicelli. Such was the scene as a sweet potato vermicelli festival warmed up Peizhai Community in Zhangcun Township, central China’s Henan Province, on December 16, 2016. People came from near and far to gather in the midst of winter around the hot water vapor, admiring the production of a local specialty famous nationwide. A solution for all In just five years, Peizhai has emerged from poverty into a fast-developing mountain vil-lage renowned across China. Pei Chunliang, Secretary of the Peizhai Community General…

Comments to yulintao@bjreview.com Before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Switzerland as head of state in mid-January, a series of cultural exchange activities were held in the European country, including a book fair, a photo exhibition and a media dialogue session. When addressing the opening ceremony of the book fair in Geneva on January 9, Jiang Jianguo, Minister of the State Council Information Office, said it was the first China-themed book fair held in 2017 and its aims were to assist Swiss readers to learn more about China and advance Sino-Swiss exchanges. According to one of the book fair’s organizers, China International Publishing Group, the event displayed more than 100 Chinese book titles in various languages, covering a wide range of topics including Chinese politics, economy, culture, society and…

Comments to dengyaqing@bjreview.com Although it was officially launched only a year ago, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is rapidly expand-ing with grand goals, with $1.73 billion worth of loans issued thus far to nine energy and infrastructure construction projects in seven countries. The bank was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Indonesia in October 2013. One year later, on October 24, 2014, representatives of 21 Asian countries willing to join the AIIB as founding members signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on establishing the bank in Beijing. The MoU set the AIIB’s authorized capital to $100 billion, with an initial subscribed capital pegged at $50 billion. In March 2015, the United Kingdom declared its interest in becoming a founding member of the AIIB as…

Comments to lifangfang@bjreview.com When acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou, whose films have won interna-tional awards and whose directing of the spectacular opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics fetched him a Peabody Award, released his latest venture on December 16, 2016, it was bound to create buzz. The Great Wall, a Chinese-U.S. venture star-ring Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Jing Tian and Andy Lau, is the most expensive film production in Chinese history, with an estimated budget of around $135 million. Billed as an “epic historical fiction action-adventure monster film,” it grossed 1 billion yuan ($144.24 million) in two weeks. There were also good reports from Southeast Asia, Turkey and Iceland, where Zhang’s first fully English-language film was released on December 29, 2016. It will debut in North American…

Grand Party on Horseback The Ice and Snow Nadam Festival began at Xilin Gol League in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on January 6. Cultural activities and a series of competitions will be held during the month-long event. Among them, a Mongolian winter costume competition, archery, wrestling and horse racing are the most popular. National Supervisory Commission China will establish a national supervisory commission as part of efforts to reform the state supervi-sory system, according to an official communique released on January 8. The communiqué was released after the seventh plenary session of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, held from January 6 to 8. China has begun to pilot supervisory system reform in Beijing Municipality and the provinces of Shanxi and…

A decade means tremendous changes for villagers in Peizhai Community in Zhangcun Township, central China’s Henan Province. From 2005 to 2015, the community transformed from a drought-stricken poor village into a cozy area with villas, advanced agricultural facilities and complete public infrastructure. Under the leadership of Pei Chunliang, Secretary of the Peizhai Community General Branch of the Communist Party of China, local people have made concerted efforts to develop high-efficiency agriculture. Per capita income of farmers has increased from less than 1,000 yuan ($144) to more than 10,000 yuan ($1,444).…

Comments to linan@bjreview.com Compared to the United States, China’s manufacturing industry is overtaxed and costs too much, said Cao Dewang, President of China’s auto-glass titan Fuyao Group (FG), in an interview with Shanghai-based Yicai.com. The statement was made in late November 2016, nearly two months after FG invested $600 million in the U.S. state of Ohio to build the world’s largest glass production plant. The investment is the largest in Ohio and the eighth highest in the United States by a company from China in recent decades. Cao’s comment sparked a month-long controversy on China’s tax system and roused concerns over the prospects for the country’s real economy. Some commentators worry that Cao is “escaping” China and the country’s manufacturing sector is shifting overseas. These fears are partly driven by…

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 The hated smog that has pervaded many parts of China for some years now, af-fecting people’s daily lives and health, is usually attributed to human-caused air pollu-tion. But now, Beijing is planning to list it in the forthcoming Beijing Meteorological Disasters Prevention and Control Regulations. It seems to imply smog is caused due to meteorological in-cidents, which has landed the proposed statute in the thick of a heated debate. Some see this as ridiculous. Meteorological disasters are generally understood as natural phenomena that humans are…

Comments to yanwei@bjreview.com When winter rolls over northern China and endless days of smog have you wandering around in a comatose state, there is only one remedy—and it doesn’t come in a bottle. It’s sunshine, blue skies, and beaches. I conducted a survey amongst my friends regarding the best place to catch some waves and the same location kept coming up. “You have to see Sanya on Hainan Island. It has the best beaches in the world,” my friend Zheng Mei told me. Being from Cape Town in South Africa, a beachgoer’s paradise, I was immediately skeptical. I had never considered Sanya as a destination because China and white beaches just don’t compute in my consciousness. Admittedly, my outlook was laced with a large shot of prejudice. The beaches I…