Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.63/No.3 i Beijing Review

Civil Aviation The civil aviation industry posted steady growth in 2019, reporting an expanded size and improved service quality, according to China’s civil aviation regulator. The industry conducted 660 million passenger trips in 2019, up 7.9 percent year on year, said Feng Zhenglin, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), at a conference on January 6. Total transport turnover of the sector was 129.3 billion ton-km, with cargo and mail volume hitting 7.53 million tons, up 7.1 percent and 1.9 percent year on year, respectively. The country’s aviation sector saw an unprecedented transformation, adding 9,275 km of air routes and increasing the number of transport airports to 238, according to the CAAC. The service quality of civil aviation also improved nationwide, reporting an 81.7-percent flight punctuality rate, with…

The practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) began when people became aware of the efficacy of some plants in treating illnesses and began to use them in a hit-or-miss way. Millenniums later, TCM has become an institutionalized medical system applied worldwide, using state-of-the-art technology such as remote sensing and a geographic information system. Pu Sheban, an associate researcher at China Pharmaceutical University in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in east China, is one of the innumerable people associated with the ongoing task to modernize and improve the system. He is one of the 50,000 participants who are spread out across China to conduct the Fourth National Survey of Chinese Materia Medica (CMM) Resources. Launched in 2011 to establish a comprehensive database of CMM resources, the survey is a massive venture led by…

There couldn’t be a better place than Dashilar Street in Beijing, southwest of famed Tiananmen Square, to witness the continuity of history in China. The bustling commercial area is full of ancient-style architecture including souvenir shops selling handicrafts and other bric-a-bracs, food stores and shops selling time-honored brands such as boots once made for officials of the royal court. Then there are newer entrants like a Starbucks, said to be the largest of its kind in China; and an outlet of Page One, a popular Singaporean bookstore chain with stores in East and Southeast Asia. This area, which began to be developed during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), will continue to fascinate visitors well into the future as the Beijing Municipal Government recently announced a draft plan for the protection and…

The Second China International Import Expo held in Shanghai in November 2019 offered diabetes patients a wide array of treatment products. They ranged from tiny insulin injection needles from Japan to blood glucose monitors using biosensors, an innovation by health and wellness company Sinocare, headquartered in Changsha, Hunan Province in central China. Huang Guoan, chief financial officer of Sinocare, said supportive government policies for private firms, including tax cuts, had helped the company innovate. “Value-added tax cuts saved around 7 million yuan ($1 million) for Sinocare in 2019, which allowed us to invest more in technological research and development,” Huang told Chinanews.com. In 2019, China’s business environment saw remarkable improvements, boosting the private sector. The year’s Fortune Global 500 list had 129 Chinese companies, of which 39 were private ones.…

Yunnan Province in southwest China recently released its reform of the high school entrance exam, where the total score allocated to physical education (PE) will be raised from 50 to 100 points, equal to the so-called “three major subjects” of Chinese, Math and English. The reform will be implemented in the fall semester of 2020 for middle school students seeking to get into high school, which comprises grades 10-12. They will be required to take PE tests every year of middle school, in seventh, eighth and ninth grade, with the proportion of each year’s test set to 20 percent, 40 percent and 40 percent, respectively. The exams include two parts: a physical exam and a sports skills test. The former, accounting for 60 points, will be conducted according to the…

People take photos outside the Palace Museum in Beijing on January 6 after the year’s first recorded snowfall. The overnight snow hit most parts of the city with an average precipitation of 4.3 mm citywide, said the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. Most areas in China from the north to the south received snowfall in early January. The snowfall coincided with the opening of the annual chunyun, the Spring Festival travel rush, on January 10. The rush will continue till February 18.…

IRAN Guards watch over the area in Parand District, south Tehran, where a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed on January 8. All 176 people on board the Boeing 737 were confirmed dead CROATIA Center left candidate Zoran Milanovic waves to his supporters in Zagreb on January 5 after winning the presidential election AUSTRIA Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (right) shakes hands with President Alexander Van der Bellen during his swearing in ceremony in Vienna on January 7 BANGLADESH Prospective buyers check out stained glass lamps at the Dhaka International Trade Fair in the capital on January 4 NEW ZEALAND The sky in Auckland turns orange as the Australian bushfires expand on January 5 CAMBODIA Rescuers search for survivors in Kep City, Kep Province, on January 4 after a building collapsed during construction, killing…

Wang Chen, an elevator repairman living in Beijing, never expected that a tiny tool could free him from persistent headaches for a whole year. The 26-year-old has been nagged by headaches since being diagnosed with cervical spondylosis six years ago. “I tried many types of painkillers and Western medical treatments, but they didn’t work,” Wang told Beijing Review. When all other options were exhausted, the desperate young man turned to acupotomology, a hybrid minimally invasive procedure he had never heard of before 2018. To his surprise, his headache was soon lifted after just three sessions of acupotomology, which integrates Chinese acupuncture and Western anatomy. “I had no headaches in 2019,” Wang said. So when the headache returned at the beginning of 2020, without hesitation, Wang went back to Xiao Dehua,…

Yang Jiuzhou, a people’s mediator in Luhe District of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in east China, has a natural flair for mediation. When he lived in a village, he used to settle disputes among the villagers and his efficiency earned him their trust. In 2009, when a local dispute-settling center was instituted, Yang was chosen as one of its mediators. Three years later, because of his conflict-resolution skills, a new center set up in Hengliang sub-district in Luhe was named after him. He has since worked in the center, settling disputes between local residents. Yang’s daily work is to promote mutual understanding between the parties involved in a dispute after counseling and educating them. The disagreements have to be resolved based on the principles of fairness and equality. He also needs…

When photographer Kurbanjan Samat’s flight landed at Los Angeles International Airport and he proceeded to the immigration desk, the official asked him twice if the Chinese passport he was showing was actually his. “Sorry, you carry a Chinese passport but you look Mexican,” the doubtful officer said. “You may have heard of the Uygur ethnic group in China,” Kurbanjan answered, explaining why he looked different. China has 56 ethnic communities and some of them have different features from the Han Chinese, the majority community. The above conversation, which took place in July 2016, forms the beginning of his new book I Am From China. The United States was one of his stops to meet some of the subjects for his book, people from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China…

Prepping for Spring Festival A visitor samples agricultural products from Dechang County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture during a shopping fair to greet Spring Festival in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province in southwest China, on January 8. Farewell to Poverty A total of 645,000 people were estimated to cast off poverty in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, in 2019. About 976 poverty-stricken villages and 12 impoverished counties in Xinjiang shook off poverty last year, according to the government work report delivered at the annual regional legislative session on January 6. In 2019, nearly 37.6 billion yuan ($5.41 billion) was allocated to improve the drinking water and housing security in the region, benefitting 346,000 poor people without access to safe drinking water and 9,355 impoverished households living in dilapidated houses.…

Anita Njobvu, who lives in Zambia’s capital Lusaka, was introduced to acupuncture therapy by her husband because her blood pressure was dangerously high. The treatment used to be rare on the African continent, but with growing awareness in countries like Zambia, an increasing number of patients are opting for the healing technique rather than conventional medicine. “I was first introduced to Chinese herbal medicines and later ended up having acupuncture treatment, which has been helpful since my blood pressure has actually stabilized,” said Njobvu. Acupuncture is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and involves the insertion of needles into specific points on the human body with the aim of restoring equilibrium between a person’s physical, emotional and spiritual aspects. Njobvu, who had been battling severe hypertension for some…

The glittering white world of snow and ice in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province in northeast China, was transformed into a stunning sight as colorful lights illuminated ice castles and other sculptures at the opening ceremony of the 36th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival on January 5. More than 600 guests from 44 countries were in attendance at the grand gala, which was held at the enormous amusement park known as Harbin Ice and Snow World built out of ice every winter. During the festival, various activities including forums, business meetings and performances will be held, as tourists from home and abroad flock to the city for winter fun. The annual festival has become one of the world’s four largest ice and snow events, along with the Sapporo Snow Festival in…

Tursunjan’s story is a telling example of how culture—and medicine—transcend borders. As a young boy growing up in Shihezi, a city in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, he was the only Uygur student in his class in high school, coming from the ethnic minority that mainly resides in Xinjiang. Although there were many brilliant students who did well in other subjects, he outperformed everyone when it came to English, which probably built the foundation of his career overseas. Later he enrolled in Xinjiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which subsequently became the Xinjiang Medical University. It equipped him with solid TCM knowledge and skills. This time, he was no longer the only student from a minority group. Instead, he met students from various ethnic groups such as…