Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.63/No.21 i Beijing Review

Passenger Cars Sales of passenger cars in China continued to warm up in April as pent-up demand was unleashed, but the foundation for a “V-shape” rebound is yet to solidify due to the lingering uncertainties caused by the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic, industry data showed on May 11. The retail sales of passenger vehicles amounted to 1.43 million units in April, down 5.6 percent year on year but recovering from the 40-percent drop in March and 79-percent fall in February, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). Passenger car sales surged 36.6 percent month on month, reversing the usual seasonal trend and suggesting a relatively quick recovery in demand following further domestic containment of the epidemic. While the overseas spread of the virus may have…

Chen Jingyu arrived at Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan, capital city of Hubei Province in central China, on the night of April 18. As one of China’s top lung transplant surgeons and part of a team of national experts in the field, he came with a special mission. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic in Wuhan had largely been contained by then, with official figures showing there were only 109 confirmed cases in the city that day, including 22 cases displaying severe symptoms. So as medical teams from other provinces and regions were leaving Wuhan, this team was going in the opposite direction. In People’s Hospital of Wuhan University, a patient waited urgently for the team. Cui Zhiqiang, a 65-year-old local, was confirmed with COVID-19 on February 7, and had…

The People’s Bank of China (PBC), China’s central bank, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) issued new rules on May 7 to scrap quotas on the dollar-denominated qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) scheme and its yuan-denominated sibling RQFII, and further streamline procedures in order to facilitate their participation in China’s financial market and boost the long-term development of the domestic capital market. The new regulations will take effect on June 6. “It’s a positive signal put forth by China to its unswerving effort to open up its financial market, which is a proactive opening up devoid of any external pressure, and serves as an ideal opportunity for foreign investors to enter the Chinese market,” Zong Liang, chief economist of the Bank of China (BOC), told Beijing Review. The…

During the recent May Day holiday, China saw a strong rebound in the tourism sec-tor, with 115 million domestic tourists flocking to attractions nationwide. Promoted as a part of measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), reserva-tions were required for prospective visitors by more than 80 percent of the country’s major scenic sites, via official websites, social media apps like WeChat or third-party platforms. Daily caps on the number of visitors were imposed at these sites, particularly in cities rich in historical and cultural attractions such as Beijing and Xi’an in the northwestern province of Shaanxi. After the COVID-19 outbreak was brought under control, tourist destinations across China have reopened in phases since February. In mid-April, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Health…

A team of surveyors returns to the advanced base camp of Mount Qomolangma, the highest peak in the world, in Tibet Autonomous Region, southwest China, on May 12, to dodge bad weather and the risk of snowslides. Chinese surveyors started remeasuring the height of the mountain on April 30 for an update as the mountain grows when snow accumulates on the summit and shrinks when it melts. China has conducted six rounds of measurement and scientific research on Mount Qomolangma since 1949. The last one in 2005 determined the height to be 8,844.43 meters.…

RUSSIA A firefighter is disinfected after a mission in a hospital in St. Petersburg on May 12. Five people lost their lives and 150 were evacuated FRANCE Students maintain distance at the Simone Veil Primary School in Nice on May 12. As France started easing some coronavirus restrictions on May 11, nearly 1 million schoolchildren were ready to resume class INDIA Members of the National Disaster Response Force search onsite after a gas leakage at the LG Polymers chemical plant in Andhra Pradesh State on May 7. The death toll reached 12 UNITED KINGDOM A street party in Manchester on May 8 celebrates the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, the day Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies in 1945 KENYA A Red Cross staff helps evacuate a villager…

It was late March and the number of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the U.S. was surging. My classes had moved online, and it was crunch time for me. Should I stay or should I go? I thought long and hard before deciding to cut short my studies as a visiting scholar in the School of Journalism, University of Missouri, and head back home to Beijing. Before departure I psyched myself up into the right frame of mind. Faced with a global pandemic, international travel was going to be no picnic, and despite being prepared mentally, the stress of the journey was far beyond my expectations. On the evening of March 24, I finally landed safely in Beijing. My family and friends comforted me, sending messages, “How lucky you…

White puffy clouds drift past a bungalow facing a deep valley and a towering peak beyond it. Chirps of birds animate the idyllic scene without shattering its serenity. The bungalow with a wood-plank roof and mud walls is featured in a video clip that Mouse Labo posted online on April 13. It is in his hometown Atulie’er, a village perched on a steep 800-meter cliff in Zhaojue County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, southwest China. Labo, in his 20s, often records daily life in the small village with a few hundred residents and shares it on live-streaming platforms. In addition to a sea of clouds, the videos show villagers climbing a steel ladder, often with buckets or bags on their backs. The spectacular staircase with 2,556 steps was…

China’s consumer inflation eased further in April on falling food prices as the country fast-tracked restoration of economic activities, while factory-gate prices continued to be bogged down by epidemic-dented demand, official data showed on May 12. The consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, grew 3.3 percent year on year last month, moderating from the 4.3-percent gain in March, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). On a monthly basis, consumer prices went down 0.9 percent. Food prices, which account for nearly one third of weighting in the CPI, dropped 3 percent last month. Vegetable prices fell 8 percent from March over rising supply due to warmer weather, and pork prices continued to retreat amid recovering hog production. Prices of the staple meat in China…

Images of Love Primary school students in Lianyungang, a city in Jiangsu Province in east China, show on May 9 the paintings they did of their mothers to celebrate Mother’s Day, May 10. Swine Fever China is making headway in containing African swine fever, with cases of the disease dwindling since late 2018. No major regional outbreak of the animal disease has occurred since August 2018, when the first case was confirmed in the northeastern province of Liaoning, Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said at a video conference on May 12. Han added that the number of reported cases also showed a downward trend. Hog production recovery has gained momentum. The number of breeding sows in stock increased in the past three months and the prices of…

By May 14, confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the United States had crossed 1.39 million, with the death toll surpassing 84,000. However, instead of concentrating on fighting the pandemic domestically, some U.S. politicians have been fabricating allegations to pin the blame on China and hide their irresponsibility. But the facts speak for themselves. Origin of COVID-19 Did COVID-19 originate in Wuhan in Central China? Not necessarily. The place that first reports a virus may not be its place of origin. Increasing evidence proves that the Spanish flu did not originate in Spain. The origin of COVID-19 has still not been identified. Source tracing is a serious scientific matter, which should be based on science and be done by scientists and medical experts. Calling the virus “Wuhan…

Shanghai will carry out 48 key projects in the field of new infrastructure in the next three years with a total investment of 270 billion yuan ($38.14 billion), according to the action plan on promoting new infrastructure construction (2020-22) issued by the Shanghai Municipal Government. The 35-point plan aims at turning Shanghai into a leading city in the world in terms of scale and innovation capacity of new infrastructure by the end of 2022. “Accelerating new infrastructure construction is not only beneficial for ex-panding effective investment, but also a very important method to empower new economy,” said Ma Chunlei, head of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference held by the Shanghai Municipal Government Information Office on May 7. The concept of new infrastructure was first…