Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 60/No. 45 i Beijing Review

PMI China’s manufacturing sector expanded at a slower but stable pace in October, according to official data on October 31. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 51.6, moderating from 52.4 in September and 51.7 in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while one below reflects contraction. NBS statistician Zhao Qinghe attributed the slowdown in expansion to a high base in September and the influence of October’s weeklong public holiday. “The growth in production and market demand eased,” he said. On the other side, China’s nonmanufacturing sector continued steady expansion in October. The non-manufacturing PMI came in at 54.3 in October, slightly down from 55.4 in September but still in expansionary territory, according to the NBS. The services sector,…

Comments to yushujun@bjreview.com The author is an op-ed contributor to Beijing Review and a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation A Reuters report on October 17 described the concerns of a young Chinese woman working in the United States that she might miss out on the new development opportunities in China and her change of mind about whether or no to return to China. “This time back in China the feeling that I have is one of worry that it would be very easy to be left behind if I return to the U.S.,” Zuo Aining, a tax consultant in Washington, D.C., told Reuters. “My life is going as I planned five years ago,” she said. But, “if there is a better platform and opportunity…

Comments to wenqing@bjreview.com Hou Yanan, a 26-year-old employee at a big public relations firm in Beijing, is one of the city’s surging number of online food delivery users. “Like many of my colleagues, I order almost every lunch on food delivery platforms from Monday to Friday, and sometimes even purchase my dinner online when I work overtime,” Hou told Beijing Review. The online takeaway industry is burgeoning in China along with the rapid development of the Internet economy. Many people are happy to enjoy the convenience brought by this fresh service. But environmental activists complain that the huge volume of plastic utensils, wrapping and cartons poses a great challenge to the environment, and the heavy use of disposable wooden chopsticks is depleting natural resources. On September 1, the Beijing No.4…

Comment to wangjun@bjreview.com China now has become the world’s largest application market of industrial robots, accounting for one third of global market share, according to a report on China’s robot industry released by the Chinese Institute of Electronics earlier this year. While foreign robot makers speed up the pace in grabbing a slice of the fast-growing Chinese market, leading Chinese robot manufacturers also seek overseas expansion. Xu Fang, technology director of Shenyang-based Siasun Robot and Automation Co. Ltd. and also an expert advisor of the report, told China Securities Journal that China’s robot industry may face golden development opportunities in the next five years, and the company will further strengthen independent research and development (R&D), produce more intelligent products and expand global industrial chains to prepare for future progress. Complete…

Xi Jinping (center), General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers a speech during a visit to Nanhu Lake Revolution Museum in Jiaxing, east China’s Zhejiang Province, on October 31. Accompanied on the visit by other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Xi said the aim of the trip was to revisit the history of the Party’s founding and learn from the predecessors of revolutionary times and their noble spirit. The trip should also serve to throw light on the responsibility the current leadership now bears and strengthen their sense of duty to fulfill targets and missions laid down at the 19th CPC National Congress, Xi said.…

UNITED STATES Emergency services personnel attend the site of an attack in lower Manhattan, New York on October 31. A truck plowed into pedestrians near the city’s World Trade Center killing eight people and injuring a dozen more NETHERLANDS Prime Minister Mark Rutte (left) and King William Alexander prepare for a group photo with members of the new cabinet in The Hague on October 26 after the new cabinet pledged allegiance to the king THAILAND People attend a religious ceremony in Bangkok on October 27 for Thailand’s late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose relics and ashes were collected by his only son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn. As part of the fiveday royal funeral, starting on October 25, the collection drew thousands of blackclad mourners to the royal cremation site in central Bangkok…

Comments to yulintao@bjreview.com The author is Director of the Department for International and Strategic Studies at the China Institute of International Studies Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has maintained a more active attitude toward the promotion of diplomatic concepts and practices with Chinese characteristics. During international interactions, China upholds equity and justice, provides quality public goods globally, shoulders responsibility and makes great contributions To address major challenges and problems facing global governance, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed a series of new concepts—including ideas on global governance, security, development and globalization—with the aim of building a more rational, balanced and fairer global governance system that benefits all. China upholds the concepts of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation and promotes the longterm goal of…

Comments to yulintao@bjreview.com Palestinian rival political factions Fatah and Hamas signed a reconciliation agreement in mid-October in Cairo, marking not only a thaw in their relations, but more importantly, a major step toward reaching the end of a decade-long split between the two major Palestinian political forces. Promising prospect Under the agreement, Fatah and Hamas consented to the full functioning of the consensus government in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and agreed to work together on resolving all the problems caused by the internal division. The Palestinian consensus government under Fatah will gain full control of the Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas to date, by December 1. The Egypt-brokered agreement is undoubtedly of great importance for the future development of the traumatized nation, as partition has long been…

Comments to yushujun@bjreview.com Almost four decades after implementation of its reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s, China has become the world’s second largest economy, second largest trading nation, largest exporter, second largest importer and second largest overseas investor. China certainly has the capabilities to create huge development opportunities for the world. China is making new contributions to global technological innovation. With a new round of industrial revolution coming, innovation has become the biggest driving force for the world economy. Throughout history, China has remained a standout in innovation, represented by its “Four Great Inventions”—papermaking, printing, gunpowder and the compass. In recent years, China has revived to become one of the leading nations in innovation in fields like quantum communication, super computers and powe r transmission. What’s more, China’s…

Dressing up to Celebrate Women of the Miao ethnic group prepare for the Chixin Festival,a traditional harvest celebration, in Paimo Village in Danzhai County, southwest China’s Guizhou Province, on October 30. Second Child In the first eight months of this year, more than half of China’s newborn babies were the second child in the family, according to a senior health official. From January to August this year, about 52 percent of the 11.6 million babies born had an older sibling, said Wang Peian, Vice Minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), at a demography forum in Beijing on October 30. Figures provided by the NHFPC showed that 18.5 million babies were born in hospital in 2016, the highest number since 2000 and 1.3 million more than in…

Comments to yuanyuan@bjreview.com Integrated Vision Every morning, Feng Weili, a 35-yearold banana dealer in Xinfadi Agricultural Products Logistics Park in Gaobeidian, Hebei Province, needs to prepare more than 340 tons of fruit for vendors from neighboring regions. Covering an area of 138 hectares and with an investment of 5.4 billion yuan ($849 million), the market boasts 1.4 million square meters of cold storage and trading areas. It is projected to help reduce 5.6 million trucks travelling to Beijing every year and 300,000 wholesale employees in the city. Currently, 60 percent of bananas sold in Beijing are delivered from Gaobeidian Xinfadi. “We hesitated for quite a while in deciding whether to move here or not as this is a totally new location for us,” Feng told Beijing Review. Before moving to…

Comments to baishi@bjreview.com Du Weisheng, 65, is an expert on repairing ancient books at the National Library of China in Beijing. Before starting work at the library in 1974, Du had been on service in the army’s construction and engineering corps in south China’s Hunan Province for five years. He was a complete novice in ancient book repair when he ended the service in the army and joined the library. At the beginning, Du thought his new office job must be more simple and relaxing than being a soldier. Moreover, the job gave him easier access to books, especially many rare ancient books collected in the library. He was thus very satisfied with his new work. However, he subsequently found that repairing ancient books was nowhere near as easy as…

China’s current academic evaluation system sees publications in core journals as a basic index to measure the academic qualification and quality of an academic institute, a university or an individual. Individuals who have more publications in first-class journals will have bigger opportunities for promotion within the academic system. As a result, those who want to get a higher professional title or get promoted face fierce competition to have their essays published in the limited amount of core academic journals. Zhejiang University, based in Hangzhou City, east China’s Zhejiang Province, is one of China’s most prestigious universities. The university has recently issued a document that overthrows this widely accepted principle. Its new practice is this: instead of core journals, if individuals have their academic essays published in influential magazines or WeChat…