Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 60/No. 24 i Beijing Review

Growth Forecast On June 4, the World Bank maintained its forecast for global growth in 2017 and 2018 unchanged at 2.7 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, as manufacturing and trade are pick- ing up and confidence is improving. “A bright spot in the outlook is a recovery in trade growth to 4 percent [in 2017] after a post-financial crisis low of 2.5 percent last year,” said the World Bank in its flagship Global Economic Prospects report released on June 4. The recovery in trade growth in 2017 is supported by stronger demand from major advanced econ- omies, increased trade flows to and from China, and the diminished drag of weak demand from commodity exporters, said the World Bank. Stronger trade also reflected the improved outlook for global growth. According to…

Just beside a forest of skyscrapers in the heart of Hong Kong, a big curve-shaped and multilayered structure is under construction. This is the West Kowloon Terminus of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen- Hong Kong Express Rail Link, which will shorten the travel time between Hong Kong and Guangzhou in the Chinese mainland to less than one hour. Not far from the railway station, another cube-shaped building has already entered its final phase of construction. When it’s opened to the public in late 2018, it will be a special venue for traditional Chinese opera performances in the West Kowloon Cultural District, a vibrant cultural quarter of the city that is taking shape. Further north, in the New Territories, an exhibition on smart elderly care technology is being held…

In face of increasing uncertainties, China and the European Union (EU) have pledged to work together to push forward free trade and globalization while deepening bilateral co- operation in various fields. From May 30 to June 2, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang paid an official visit to Germany and Belgium. Premier Li’s schedule included an annual meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, attending the 19th China- EU Summit in Brussels and an official trip to Belgium. In less than 25 hours in Berlin, Premier Li attended 12 events. And in Brussels, there were a total of 19 China-EU and China-Belgium meetings and events for the Chinese premier. With Premier Li’s visit, China and the EU have expanded their consensus on facilitat- ing bilateral free trade and investment as well as backing…

Since the dawn of Chinese civilization there has been an innate yearning for Chinese people to live an idyllic life surrounded by nature, far from maddening crowds. This green dream has been filtered down through millennia to modern Chinese society, which is now engaged in the age of technology in a maze of urban sprawl. The scarcity of land in big cities has not diminished green dreams, and instead of spreading outward, ambitions have scaled upward—quite literally. Crops, vegetables and fruits are no longer the sole preserve of countryside farmyards. They can now be seen adding value to urban balconies and rooftop gardens, a new experience for many city dwellers, who use gardening as a way to unwind after a day’s grind and learn something new. Trimming plants in her…

While the official manufacturing data for May have added evidence to an overall picture of a stabilizing Chinese econo-my, a private survey has found warning signs of contraction. The Caixin China General Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) slipped to 49.6 in May from 50.3 in April, according to a survey conducted by financial information service provider Markit and sponsored by Caixin Media Co. Ltd. The Caixin PMI released on June 1 contrasted with the official manufacturing PMI, which came in at 51.2 for May, as a reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 represents contraction. The official PMI, flat with April, indicates the 10th straight month of expansion, while the Caixin figure marks the first contraction in 11 months. Caixin said manufacturers reported softer growth in production,…

Astronaut Wang Yaping talks with children at an event during the 2017 Global Space Exploration Conference in Beijing on June 6. Over 800 international space engineers and delegates from leading aerospace companies including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Airbus attended the conference and discussed topics regarding space exploration, space labs and relevant international cooperation. The conference, which ran from June 6 to 8, was jointly held by the International Astronautical Federation and the Chinese Society of Astronautics.…

KAZAKHSTAN A person wearing a panda costume hugs two girls at the Eurasian University in Astana, on June 5, before the opening of the Astana World Expo BRITAIN Police stand guard near London Bridge on June 3 after terrorists launched an attack in the area QATAR People rush to buy food at a supermarket in Doha on June 6 after several neighboring countries including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia announced they would break diplomatic relations with the country INDIA A passenger bus catches fire after colliding with a truck in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on June 5, causing at least 22 deaths and injuring 19 or more NEPAL Sher Bahadur Deuba (left), President of the Nepali Congress, greets the public on June 6 in Kathmandu…

Since China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, also known as the Pearl of the Orient, in 1997, the special adminis-trative region has enjoyed constant economic growth and rising internation-al prestige. It maintains an important role as an international financial, cultural and innovative hub, attracting high-caliber personnel from all over the world to study, work and live colorful lives. 1. High-rise buildings dominate the skyline of Central District 2. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge consists of a series of bridges and tunnels crossing the Lingdingyang Channel that will connect Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai in the Chinese mainland. When completed, it will shorten transportation time from Zhuhai and Macao to Hong Kong from one hour on land and three hours by ship to 20-30 minutes 3. An aerial photo…

One of the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuels—“combustible ice”—has come a step closer to commercial exploitation. China’s Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) announced on June 2 that the country’s trial mining of combustible ice in the Shenhu sea area of the South China Sea has main- tained 22 days of continuous gas production. Following the success of the trial mining, China holds the record as the country with the longest run-time for maritime combustible ice mining in the world. Combustible ice, technically known as methane hydrate or natural gas hydrate, is a frozen mixture of water and natural gas that can be found beneath seafloors, under Antarctic ice and inside Arctic permafrost. It can be lit on fire in its frozen state and is be- lieved to comprise…

Chinese contemporary literary works are gaining popularity abroad thanks to the emergence of online translation forums like Wuxiaworld.com, which is dedicated to Chinese-to-English translation of martial arts and fantasy novels. Lai Jingping, a former U.S. diplomat, in 2014 set up the Wuxia World website, which now features complete translations of seven works including Horizon, Bright Moon, Sabre by kungfu novelist Gu Long (1938-85) as well as Seven Killers and Stellar Transformations by Zhu Hongzhi, who has shot to fame by pub- lishing online novels with the penname “I Eat Tomatoes.” Wuxia, meaning “martial heroes,” refers to a style of fictional stories about ordinary humans who achieve supernatural fighting abili- ties through Chinese martial arts training and internal energy cultivation. Themes of chivalry, tragedy, revenge and romance are common. Online publishing…

Freshening Up Children queue up to wash their hands at a kindergarten in Shangwan Village in Huachi County, Gansu Province, on June 3. To improve hygiene education in remote areas, the China Development Research Foundation and Unilever launched a campaign to promote hand washing among children during schooltime in 2016. It has covered more than 10,000 rural children in several provinces. Space Station China will carry out at least four manned spaceflight missions over about five years to build a space station, the country’s first astronaut Yang Liwei said on June 6. Two manned space missions will be conducted in 2020, said Yang, Deputy Director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, at the 2017 Global Space Exploration Conference in Beijing. The country plans to complete the building of the…

Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his latest visit to Kazakhstan on June 10, the third trip to the neighboring country since taking office. Given that Kazakhstan is the country where President Xi first proposed build- ing the Silk Road Economic Belt—part of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s frequent visits are of great significance to both China-Kazakhstan relations and the advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative. It is believed that Kazakhstan is becoming China’s model partner under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, and Xi’s most recent visit will inject new impetus to the growth of the bilateral relationship. All-round progress In his talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana, Xi said that the political mutual trust has reached an unprecedented height, and that China…

In front of a restaurant in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on a hot sum-mer night, people waited for more than two hours for its famous special dish—spicy crayfish, a kind of snack food that has gained increasing popularity in China in recent years. People usually get together to eat the spicy dish with beer, while chatting with each other as a way of relaxing and socializing. According to statistics released in August 2016 by Meituan.com, one of China’s largest group buying websites for locally found consumer products and retail services, the market volume of crayfish reached more than 100 billion yuan ($15 billion), while that of the entire catering industry was worth 3 trillion yuan ($442 billion). Huang Jianxiong, Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Qianjiang City…

Chinese delivery giant SF Express recently unleashed a battle for su- premacy on logistics data and power when it entered into conflict with Cainiao Network, a smart logistics network under the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. On June 1, SF Express and Cainiao Network fell into ruthless recrimination, accusing each other of shutting down their respective access to data functions. As a consequence, packages delivered by SF Express on Taobao—a Chinese online shopping website operated by Alibaba—couldn’t be tracked and checked by vendors and consumers, and all online shopping plat- forms owned by Alibaba removed SF Express from the list of logistics companies that were available to consumers. What sparked this conflict? It started when SF Express claimed that Cainiao Network unilaterally disconnected Hive Box’s data interface in the early hours…