Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.63/No.27 i Beijing Review

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, a provincial-level administrative region, has the largest land area in China, accounting for nearly one sixth of the country’s territory. Home to 47 ethnic groups, it had a permanent population of 25.23 million by the end of 2019. Going back to 2013, Xinjiang had 3.2 million indigent people. Most of the people still living in poverty are the old and sick residing in areas with harsh natural conditions. Lack of natural resources makes it extremely difficult to lift them out of poverty. With China pursuing the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, not a single ethnic group or family is to be left behind in the progress. The Central Government and the local government of Xinjiang have…

The Korean Peninsula has become restive again after thousands of propaganda leaf-lets were dropped into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) from hydrogen balloons sent from the Republic of Korea (ROK) on May 31. It was said to be the work of an organization of DPRK defectors. The DPRK has always been sensitive about leaflet propaganda, concerned that it could undermine its national security. Such actions also violate a bilateral agreement signed in 2018 that bans all hostile acts, including loud-speaker broadcasting and scattering leaflets along the North-South border. In response to the May 31 act, Kim Yo Jong, First Vice Department Director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and sister of DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, issued a statement on June 4, warning that…

Despite being only 10 minutes by road from the nearest city now, Gaohuai Village, located in Deyang in Sichuan Province in southwest China, was once a poor and isolated backwater. Now it has been reborn into a place for urbanites to get together and relax at weekends. The cafés in the village are a symbol of this rebirth. “My café is a chic resort where people enjoy coffee, the sunshine and fresh air in the countryside,” said Hu Rong, owner of the village’s first café called Buyuan, meaning not far away. Hu opened her café in 2014. With many residents in nearby cities flocking to the rural areas to relax during weekends and holidays, her café has become increasingly popular. More cafés have been opened in Gaohuai, creating employment and…

($1=7 yuan) Retail Sales of Commodities Retail Sales of Consumer Goods Service Consumption As of the end of March, China’s enterprise annuity funds totaled 1.86 trillion yuan, up 66.07 billion yuan from end of last year. China launched enterprise annuities in 2004 as a form of supplementary pension plan, under which both employers and employees must contribute to enterprise annuity plans. Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded by 7.5 percent year on year to 68.63 billion yuan in May. From January to May, FDI totaled 355.18 billion yuan, a decline of 3.8 percent year on year, narrowing 7 percentage points compared to the first quarter of the year. 873,800 vessels carrying 12.23 million passengers and 1.46 billion tons of cargo passed through the ship…

Daodejing advocates that people abide by the concept of Dao, what we call objective law nowadays. Lao Tzu emphasized the harmony of the three elements—heaven, earth and human beings. In other words, people should act in accordance with the laws of the universe, nature and society to achieve harmony between human beings and nature, between individuals and society, and between people. Relations between countries should be according to the laws of social development and comply with the development of the times as well as with the trend in the world. For example, peace and development are the trend today. To safeguard world peace and promote the development of all countries while seeking mutual benefit, cooperation and win-win outcomes are in line with the law of social development and represent the…

Huocheng, a county in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, enjoys a special distinction. It lies on the same latitude as Provence in France, with similar climate and soil. The county began planting lavender brought from Provence in 1965 and boasts the largest lavender production base in China and the third largest in the world, following Provence and Furano in Japan. With nearly 4,000 hectares of farms, the county has a lucrative business with a diverse range of lavender products including essential oils, dried flowers and aromatherapy products. Huocheng also promotes lavender-related tourism. Its lavender industry registered an output value of about 1.5 billion yuan ($212 million) in 2019, creating more than 15,000 jobs. Comments to wanghairong@bjreview.com…

Intelligence sharing, military alliance, political loyalty, among other areas of cooperation, have tied Australia and the U.S. together, but also made Australia less independent or even fragile. During an interview in May, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo threatened to “disconnect” ties with Australia in intelligence and telecommunication if Australia’s Victoria State continued cooperation with China under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, which was launched in 2018. Pompeo’s bossing epitomized the prevailing U.S. influence on Australia’s policy toward China in recent years, which became more hawkish and led to escalated tensions. But it is unwise for Australia to unconditionally follow the U.S. lead rather than developing sound relations with China, its largest trading partner. Rocky ties The strained relations can be dated back to 2017, which marked…

Being a universal language, music has always been as a way for people to connect with one another. With this thought, two Nigerian singers recently brought their music to China. Aituaje Iruobe, widely known as Waje, released an album and Cobhams Asuquo a new single in May, a part of digital music distribution company Verse One Distribution’s GoAsia campaign, which selects musicians in different genres and promotes them to Asian listeners. They hoped to encourage the world during this difficult time of the novel coronavirus pandemic and help African and Chinese people know each other better through their songs of love and encouragement. “African music is very rhythmic—each instrument tells its own story, makes you a part of its story and takes you on a different journey. It’s also very…

Since I have been involved in charity for over 10 years and tried losing weight by riding a bike, a few friends said they might sponsor me if I did something extreme. I’d been to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China and liked it very much; so I thought it might be a challenge to go there on bike. I’d certainly lose weight as well as raise awareness for the charity for the disabled my wife and I were involved with. On a warm and sunny day, the last day of February, we—myself and Phil Behan, my riding partner for the next two months—started out from Zhongshan in Guangdong Province in south China. A long ride through heavy traffic and we finally arrived in Huadu, one of the most…

PINDUODUO FOUNDER BECOMES CHINA’S SECOND RICHEST MAN Colin Huang, Chair and CEO of online discounter platform Pinduoduo, is China’s second richest man, according to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaire Index on June 21. Huang, with a net worth of $45.4 billion, has surpassed Alibaba founder Jack Ma, and follows another Internet heavyweight, Tencent’s CEO Pony Ma, who is worth an estimated $51.5 billion. Huang, a computer science major, started his career at Google in the U.S. in 2004. Returning to China, as a serial entrepreneur he founded an online games company and an e-commerce platform for consumer electronics and home appliances before setting up Pinduoduo. Established in 2015, Pinduoduo is one of China’s largest online retail businesses. In 2018, it raised $1.6 billion in a U.S. initial public offering. An Aging…

The draft law was submitted for deliberation at the 19th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) from June 18 to 20. Entrusted by the Council of Chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee, an official with the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee explained the draft law to the session. With 66 articles, it has six chapters: the general principles; HKSAR’s duties and institutions of safeguarding national security; crimes and penalties; jurisdiction over national security cases, application of laws and procedures; institutions of the Central People’s Government in HKSAR for safeguarding national security; and supplementary provisions. Establishing and improving at the national level the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for HKSAR to safeguard national security is a major measure to uphold and improve…

Although the coronavirus-battered world economy has not yet got out of the woods, encouraging signs in the Chinese economy have raised hopes that a broad-based recovery is in the offing. Industrial rebound has been gaining momentum on the ground. The automobile market, hard hit by the pandemic globally, has seen a fast recovery in post-lockdown China, with sales hitting 2.19 million units in May, up 14.5 percent from the same period last year. Manufacturers related to the auto industry have benefited from this recovery. Florent Menegaux, CEO of Michelin Group, the French tire manufacturer, told Xinhua that Michelin’s three Chinese factories have all resumed production, and its business performance in China is expected to meet its June projections. As China’s passenger transport and logistics rebounded with the steady resumption of…