Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 60/No. 46 i Beijing Review

VIET NAM Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang (right) delivers his opening speech at the APEC CEO Summit in Da Nang on November 8 RUSSIA People take part in a rally to mark the 100th anniversary of Russia’s 1917 October Revolution in central Moscow on November BELGIUM Children enjoy a musical performance at a children’s musical festival held in Brussels on November 5 EGYPT President AbdelFattah alSisi delivers a speech at the inauguration of the World Youth Forum in Sharm El Sheikh on November 5 SAUDI ARABIA Wreckage lies strewn on the ground after a helicopter carrying Saudi Prince Mansoor bin Mogren and other officials crashed in the city of Asir on November 6, killing the prince UNITED STATES A U.S. national flag flies at halfmast to mourn the victims of…

Comments to baishi@bjreview.com When Sammia Du took her first step on stage in a Cairo five-star hotel, the public looked a bit ambivalent. Her Asian features were unlike those of any other Egyptian belly dancers who performed that night. But as she closed her eyes and began to shimmy to the rhythm of the drums, the young Chinese dancer was quick to dispel any doubts. “It’s an indescribable pleasure for me to get on stage and allow myself to be carried away by the Arabic rhythms and melodies. I long for this and I need this,” Du said shortly after her performance in the Egyptian capital. “I love this music and this dance, and I love Egypt as if I had lived here in a previous life.” Du—whose Chinese name…

In April, Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province, put forward a talent recruitment plan that includes 3,600 apartments with a minimum monthly rent of just 200 yuan ($30). Changsha, capital of neighboring Hunan Province, has promised to subsidize the housing of college graduates, who will receive 10,000-30,000 yuan ($1,509-4,527) to buy their first house in the city. Other provincial capitals such as Xi’an of Shaanxi Province have also followed suit to attract promising college graduates. In October, the Wuhan Municipal Government issued an upgraded version of favorable policies for college graduates willing to stay in the city. Bachelor’s degree holders younger than 40 can apply for permanent hukou (household registration), while master’s degree and Ph.D holders are not restricted by age. The aim is to provide a simple and…

Art of Colors A pedestrian walks past a graffiti artwork in downtown Beijing’s Dashilar on November 8. Artists from China and France created graffiti artworks together during a cultural festival of Paris Hip Hop in Beijing. Xi’s Book on Governance The second volume of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s book on governance has been published in both Chinese and English, the publisher said on November 7. The second volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China collects 99 of Xi’s speeches, conversations, instructions and letters, as well as 29 photos of the Chinese leader, between August 18, 2014 and September 29, 2017, the Foreign Languages Press said in a statement. The articles are divided into 17 topics, and the book also adds some annotations necessary to improve readers’ understanding, according to…

Comments to yulintao@bjreview.com A 13-month annual calendar, the world’s best coffee and a plethora of subterranean rock-carved churches, these are just some of the things that make Ethiopia unique. Now the country, located in the Horn of Africa, has a new feather in its cap. Cutting through the heart of its booming capital Addis Ababa, the Light Rapid Transit (AALRT) network, the first of its kind in Sub- Saharan Africa, has quickly become a source of national pride. With its $475-million cost funded by the Export-Import Bank of China, the urban railway project has been touted as the solution to the city’s growing road transport problems since it began operation in 2015. One line, featuring blue carriages, covers 16.69 km and runs north to south, serving 20 stations from Menelik…

At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), held on October 18-24, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was included into the Party Constitution and was established as a component of the Party’s guide for action. On November 7, Xinhua News Agency published an article on its website focusing on Xi’s thought on global governance. An edited excerpt of the article follows: Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era offers new insights into the improvement of the global governance system. China, under the leadership of the CPC, endorses the common values of the whole of mankind, including peace, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, and advocates a world truly shared by all, where international affairs are…

Comments to yushujun@bjreview.com While online marketplaces in China were busy preparing for an upcoming shopping bonanza with promises of faster delivery to woo buyers, the government started working on addressing the “aftermath” of online sales—hundreds of millions of tons of packaging waste generated across the country each year. The State Post Bureau (SPB) on November 2 announced specific goals to green the courier sector. By 2020, half of external packages should be degradable, 90 percent of waybills electronic, and packing material used in parcels cut by 10 percent, the SPB said in a document. Tape and woven bags should be gradually replaced. “Given the rapidly growing express delivery industry, the impacts of packaging waste on the environment cannot be ignored,” the SPB said, noting a courier package regulation system will…

Massive Tax Cuts China’s value-added tax (VAT) reform has reduced taxes for enterprises by more than 1 trillion yuan ($150.61 billion) since its nationwide launch in May 2016. By the end of September this year, the reform saved 1.06 trillion yuan ($160 billion) in taxes for business owners by replacing business taxes with VAT to cut the tax burden and improve the business environment, according to the State Administration of Taxation (SAT). As the most significant tax overhaul for two decades, the VAT reform is a key part of China’s supply-side reform. It was first piloted in Shanghai in 2012 and later expanded nationwide in May 2016. The expansion of the VAT reform has not only resulted in massive tax cuts, but also encouraged the development of the services sector,…

Comments to yulintao@bjreview.com On his first state visit to China, U.S. President Donald Trump received a royal welcome, literally. He was hosted at Beijing’s spectacular Forbidden City, the bastion from where dynasties of Chinese emperors ruled for almost 600 years, and offered tea in the complex’s Hall of Embodied Treasures. An official photograph of the visit showing the former reality show star surrounded by a phalanx of Peking Opera performers in glittering, exotic costumes at the Belvedere of Pleasant Sounds, the palace’s theater once meant only for the royal family and their entourage, was the ultimate memento. State visit-plus If the Mar-a-Lago meeting in April, when Trump hosted visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping at his personal beach resort, saw the breaking of the ice between the two governments after Trump’s…

Comments to zanjifang@bjreview.com Francisco Little enjoys a stable lifestyle in Beijing. Every workday, he rides a bicycle provided by Mobike, one of the shared bike brands, from his apartment to the subway station and takes the subway to his place of work. At noon, he orders lunch in the office or goes to a nearby Starbucks for coffee. After work, he buys fresh vegetables at a local market before heading home. On weekends, he either travels to other cities or meets up with friends to try out new restaurants. All of these activities are done without needing any cash, just via a few touches on his cellphone. “Even in the restaurants, you now do not need a physical menu. You have the convenience of simply scanning a QR code on…

Comments to wangjun@bjreview.com An investment agreement for the public- private partnership (PPP) project of the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou highspeed railway was inked on September 11 in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province. The project is invested by a consortium of eight privately owned enterprises led by Shanghai-based Fosun International, which owns a 51-percent stake. State-owned China Railway, Zhejiang Communications Investment Group and the local government hold the rest. The 269-km Hangzhou-Shaoxing- Taizhou high-speed railway project id estimated to cost 44.89 billion yuan ($6.76 billion). Construction will take four years. “It would be impossible for such a huge investment to only rely on government funds. So the provincial government requires the introduction of private capital into the field of infrastructure,” said Xu Xing, Deputy Director of the Zhejiang Provincial Commission of Development and Reform.…

Comments to baishi@bjreview.com Liu Shouben began painting snuff bottles almost 60 years ago, when he came across the handicraft as a 17-year-old in 1960. Since then, Liu has dedicated himself to mastering the art of decorating the insides of snuff bottles. “Generally, it would take three years for an apprentice to learn this handicraft, but I was capable of doing the work after one year of training. However, it took me 20 years to develop my own style of snuff-bottle painting,” Liu told Beijing Review. Only a very small number of craftsmen were doing the job of decorating snuff bottles in Beijing back then, so after the older generation of masters passed away one by one in the 1970s, Liu took upon himself the responsibility of passing on Beijing’s traditional…