Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.63/No.30 i Beijing Review

As the novel coronavirus epidemic situation improves, tourism, one of the hardest-hit industries during the outbreak, is bouncing back. According to a report on China’s tourism market during the Dragon Boat Festival released by popular online travel agency Ctrip.com, during the three-day festival on June 25-27, despite some new coronavirus cases in Beijing and heavy rains in some cities, the number of tourists, domestic tourism revenue and the number of trips all realized growth compared with the previous month. With the virus under control in China and most of the new cases being imported ones, many Chinese have started to travel domestically as a way to relax, maintaining safety measures such as having their temperature taken and wearing masks. The summer vacation is usually a peak season for tourism, so…

Since resuming business on April 12, Zhu Yanjie’s guesthouse has become a popular destination for tourists and is fully booked through the end of August. Located in Zhujiagou Village of Kangxian County in Gansu Province in northwestern China, the guesthouse combining rustic beauty and modern design has become a popular local brand. The inconveniences caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), including body temperature readings and health information updates at the guesthouse each day have not hindered tourists. Every morning, Zhu sanitizes the rooms and courtyards of the guesthouse. He and his wife returned to the village in 2017 after working in cities for years. “When I was away from the village, I always missed it a lot, the brooks, the old trees and even the smell of cooking, from…

The beginning of the German presidency of the EU in July constitutes good news for Europe-China relations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has always employed a pragmatic approach vis-à-vis China, which is how ties between the two countries have strengthened for approximately 15 years. And now, a few months before her pre-announced departure from politics, she seeks to focus on China at the EU level. Her initial idea was to invite Chinese leaders—President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang—to a summit with all EU member states in Leipzig but the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic put her idea on hold. Despite this setback, Merkel’s solid and successful record might function as a good inspiration for talks between the EU and China. The virtual EU-China summit held on June 22 confirmed the…

In June, a serious clash between Chinese and Indian border troops at the Galwan Valley pushed the two countries to the brink of confrontation. The incident, which caused injuries and deaths, was a result of the escalation of tension in the border areas. However, it happened by chance. During a telephone conversation on July 5, Chinese Special Representative on the China-India Boundary Question, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian Special Representative, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval reached consensus on easing the border situation. On July 14, Chinese and Indian border troops held the fourth round of commander-level talks. At a press conference on July 15, Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said the two sides achieved progress in further disengagement between border troops as well as…

With the Chinese economy moving toward high quality-oriented development from being manufacturing- and export-driven, the focus is on nurturing three “new economies”—new industries, new formats and new business models. They are based on innovation with digitalization, big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and online retail spurring them on. Their growth has been remarkable, especially during the novel coronavirus epidemic, when many traditional sectors wilted. In 2017, their growth value was 15.7 percent of the GDP. In 2019, it went up to 16.3 percent, or 16.19 trillion yuan ($2.32 trillion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on July 7. The growth rate calculated at current prices was 9.3 percent, 1.5 percentage points higher than the GDP growth in the same period. Economic stabilizer New industry refers to using new scientific and…

The town of Pangezhuang in suburban Beijing, also known as the land of watermelons, has been hosting a watermelon festival for 32 years to celebrate its green prowess. And among the watermelon growers in the town, Song Shaotang is one of the most famous ones, a second-generation entrant who learned the skills from his father, a melon grower since the 1980s. Song grows his fruits aerially in greenhouses, where they hang and grow in the air. This has become the town’s signature cultivation process. Song told Beijing Review they have been using online methods, such as live-streaming promotion and group buying, to minimize the influence of the novel coronavirus disease. This year’s watermelon festival was held mainly online on May 28, combined with restricted offline activities. There were over 250…

ASTEROID NAMED AFTER CHINESE SCIENTIST An asteroid was named after Wu Rukang, a paleoanthropology scientist, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). A ceremony was held in Beijing on July 14 at the academy’s Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology to officially announce the naming of Asteroid Wu Rukang, which was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). According to an IAU communiqué, the asteroid, coded 317452, was discovered in 2010 by astronomers with the NEO Survey Program at the Purple Mountain Observatory in east China. Wu, a CAS academician, died in 2006 at 90. A pioneer in Chinese physical anthropology and paleoanthropology, he established the academic field of neo-anthropology. Asteroids are the only celestial bodies that can be named by their discoverers. According to the CAS, a total…

After watching Summer Surf Shop, a show on streaming site iQiyi in which four Chinese stars surf in Riyue Bay in south China and run a store, Xiao Yun, an insurance company employee, was inspired to head for the bay with her friends to try their hand at surfing. It was the 33-year-old’s first surfing attempt and to her delight, she mastered the skills quickly. She found the instructors were mostly booked even though it was not yet peak tourist season in July, when she went there. With the novel coronavirus epidemic under control in China and buoyed by her good experience during the trip, Xiao has now decided to make surfing a regular routine. “It is fun and takes me close to nature,” she told Beijing Review. “Once you…

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is raging across the globe. People’s lives are under grave threat. The world economy is in deep recession. The undercurrent against international cooperation is gathering momentum. Unilateralism and bullying are forcing their way in the world. An international disorder is more possible than ever. More alarmingly, China-U.S. relations, one of the most consequential bilateral relationships in the world, is faced with the most severe challenge since the establishment of diplomatic ties. Some in the U.S. with ideological biases are resorting to all possible means to portray China as an adversary, and even an enemy. They seek relentlessly to frustrate and contain China’s development, and to impede interactions between China and the U.S. Will the giant ship of China-U.S. relations be able to stay on the…

Wang Qiwen graduated in June from the Communication University of Zhejiang, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in east China. However, in contrast to many fresh college graduates who are still struggling to land a job, Wang has already quit her first job. As a broadcast major, she worked as an intern at a radio station and a TV station during her college years. Upon graduation, the 22-year-old was hired by a multi-channel network, but she wasn’t happy because she felt that she couldn’t fully use her creativity and realize her value. “I just didn’t feel the job was right for me, so I quit,” she said, adding that she has several job ideas in mind, such as project planner, operating officer, marketing personnel or even barista. She wants to take some…

The U.S. Government has constantly tightened its technological restrictions on China over the past few months, despite widespread concern that such moves would disrupt the global supply chain. While these sanctions may bring some difficulties to China’s hi-tech development, they will also cost U.S. tech companies heavily as they will risk losing the Chinese market, which has the potential to be the world’s biggest one. On June 30, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission designated Huawei and ZTE, both China’s leading telecommunications enterprises, as national security threats and banned rural carriers from buying equipment and services from them with government funds. On May 15, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) amended the so-called Direct Product Rule to restrict sales of any products using even a minimal portion of U.S.-origin technologies to…

While the SARS virus in 2003 and the 2008-2009 global economic crisis both affected the global tourism industry to different extent, the impacts of the events were far from severe compared with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) this year, which has brought about a widespread contraction and great uncertainties. According to a report released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on May 20, all of the global destinations continued to have restrictions on travel in place, and 72 percent were completely closed to international tourism. Current scenarios point to possible declines in tourist arrivals of 58 percent to 78 percent for the year. The lockdowns will lead to a loss of 850 million to 1.1 billion international tourists and $910 billion to $1.2 trillion in export revenues from…

At a China-U.S. think tanks and media online forum on July 9, Wang Yi, State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China, said China-U.S. relations, one of the most consequential bilateral relationships in the world, is facing the most severe challenge since the establishment of diplomatic ties. He attributed the challenges to some in the U.S. with ideological biases who were resorting to all possible means to portray China as an adversary, and even an enemy, to frustrate and contain China’s development, and to impede interactions between the two countries. Worsening situation The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has escalated the strain in the relationship, with the U.S., failing to contain the virus at home, blaming China to divert domestic attention. Hong Kong and Xinjiang have also become clashing spots with…

Before the introduction of an integrated online-offline one-stop public service system, one had to apply to four government departments to get approval for opening a restaurant in Shanghai. The process took 58 working days and 31 documents needed to be submitted. With the new system, one only needs to hand in 12 documents at one stop and the process takes only 10 working days. The whole process is as simple as shopping online. The recently published UN E-Government Survey 2020 cited the one-stop public service system in Shanghai as an example of successful e-government. The city’s e-government portal has over 29.21 million individual users registered with real names and over 2.08 million legal person users. The platform not only allows users to handle a wide range of regular affairs such…

($1=7 yuan) China’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) Growth (%) China’s CPI Growth by Type June (% y.o.y.) China’s Producer Price Index Growth (%) (Source: National Bureau of Statistics) The number of enterprises with business related to artificial intelligence (AI) surged in the first half of the year. From January to June, more than 140,000 new AI enterprises were registered in China, a jump of 31.35 percent year on year. China’s rail freight transport volume, an indicator of broad economic activity, rose 3.6 percent year on year in the first half of this year, a sign of recovery from the novel coronavirus shock. The state-operated railways carried 1.69 billion tons of cargo in the first six months. Sales of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) posted robust month-on-month growth in June, as the world’s…

On June 15, the dispute settlement procedures launched by China against the European Union’s surrogate country approach at the World Trade Organization (WTO) drew to a close. China’s dispute was related to the calculation of anti-dumping measures against Chinese exports. Some Western media outlets have since claimed that China lost this WTO dispute settlement case to the EU, and understood the outcome as a refusal by the organization to recognize China’s market economy status. China’s Ministry of Commerce itself responded on July 11 by saying that the end of the procedures has not produced any rulings, and thus there is no winner or loser in the case. This result is unlikely to sway China’s stance on the dispute, and neither will it undermine any right or interest of China under…