Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.63/No.39 i Beijing Review

A remote location, away from highways and transport; scarcity of natural resources, which hampers the development of pillar local industries; and lack of education are the major causes of poverty in most of the underdeveloped areas in China. Next comes the demographic structure. When the population of a place consists of a large number of the old, differently abled and those suffering from diseases, it is difficult to bring them out of poverty by implementing the measures taken for other demographies on the assumption that one size fits all. This is where the concept of targeted poverty alleviation comes in. The government has been formulating different policies for places with different characteristics, and these can be microscopic when needed, such as targeting single villages or even individuals. Liangshan Yi Autonomous…

Mist shrouded Jiebanada, a village at the foot of a mountain in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province in southwest China, on the early morning of August 21. Six-year-old Jineng Xiaofei got up early as usual, washed up and had breakfast. By then the sun was out and the mist had been blown away, revealing a bright blue sky. Holding his mother’s hand, Jineng walked to the newly built and only kindergarten located at the center of his village. “Clap your hands and wash them frequently for good hygiene,” sang Jineng and his classmates from the Washing Hands song, to start their day at the kindergarten. Jineng’s village is in Zhaojue, a county in Liangshan that is still in poverty. Due to poor transportation, a location that is cut off…

Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China, which has a large population of the Yi ethnic minority, boasts the best preserved Yi embroidery. Believed to have a 1,700-year-old history, the art has been recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage. Yi embroidery is seen on traditional Yi clothes, shoes, pillowslips and decorative objects. Graphic images of fire, tiger head and bullhorn are common, along with abstract designs. The main threads used in Yi embroidery are black, red and yellow, representing their worship of the earth, fire and sun respectively. In the past, a Yi girl’s embroidery skills, especially for making beautiful clothes, used to be a measure of her abilities. However, the art fell into neglect for some time due to their hardscrabble life. But now, as some counties are…

While a number of countries have made progress in containing and controlling the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), even moving forward cautiously with “new normals” sans masks in public spaces, and restarted economies and in-person schools, the global situation remains dire. In September, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the highest single-day increase in global infections since the pandemic began. In the U.S., universities alone reported 45,000 new cases in the first few weeks of the fall semester and top health expert Anthony Fauci, responding publicly to optimism from President Donald Trump, countered by saying the situation in America has not yet “rounded the corner.” It has become increasingly evident that some countries lack the national capacity or will to control the virus, and thus are banking on effective vaccine development…

($1=6.9 yuan) China’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) China’s Non-Manufacturing PMI China’s Comprehensive PMI 7.81 million new urban jobs were created in the first eight months, down 2.03 million from the same period last year. The government gives priority to stabilizing employment, aiming to add over 9 million new urban jobs this year. China’s courier sector is expected to handle over 75 billion parcels this year. Due to COVID-19, the sector saw dampened business in January but resumed growth soon. 109,000 new-energy vehicles were sold in China in August, up 25.8 percent year on year. The auto market has maintained its recovery momentum, thanks to increasing demand and strong incentives. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)…

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) show that from January to August, China’s actual foreign capital use totaled 619.78 billion yuan ($90.8 billion), up 2.6 percent compared to last year. Most striking is the figure for August, which stood at 84.13 billion yuan ($12.4 billion), growing 18.7 percent year on year. Amid the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that is ravaging the globe, many countries have seen a sharp decline in foreign capital inflows, but China is amazingly bucking the trend. That is not to say that it doesn’t face many difficulties in attracting foreign investment, not only because the pandemic is limiting people’s travel, but also because some politicians in the U.S. and Australia are relentlessly denigrating China by dint of the virus. Unable to tame the pandemic…

Lake of Tranquility An aerial view of Nahai Lake in Luqu, a county in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province, northwest China, on September 15. Thanks to a ban on herding and other efforts to restore the environment, as well as increased precipitation in the province in recent years, the lake has expanded and its ecology improved. Enhanced Image The main findings of the 2019 China National Image Global Survey were released by the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, a research institution affiliated to China International Publishing Group, in Beijing on September 15. The survey showed China’s overall image improved in 2019, with overseas youth, aged 18-35, having the best impression of the country. China scored 6.3 on a 10-point scale, 0.1 point higher than in the…

NEW ASTEROID NAMED AFTER CHINESE SCIENTIST A newly discovered asteroid has been named after renowned Chinese scientist Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program. On September 8 a ceremony was held in Beijing to officially announce Asteroid Wuweiren, approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) earlier in April. Wu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a major pioneer of Chinese deep space exploration, is the winner of the World Space Award, the highest award of the International Astronautical Federation, in 2020. Wu was appointed as the chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program in 2008. Under his guidance, China launched three lunar probes, the last one being Chang’e-4, which made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon. The asteroid, coded 281880,…

In late August, the harvest season of walnuts, Qiesha Ci’er and his wife Jizi Mozizuo were able to sell their produce without leaving the village where they live. Abuluoha is located in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, southwest China. A newly built road enabled merchants from other regions to travel to the village to make purchases. Liangshan, home to a large number of Yi ethnic minority population, is a national-level poverty-stricken area. Abuluoha is surrounded by mountains on three sides and a cliff on the fourth, with only two roads for entry and exit. To access a road, the villagers had to hike for about 4 km on a cliff about 1,000 meters high, or walk down to the bottom of the valley and reach the other side…

The third volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China is a continuum of the elucidation of the thoughts, issues and policies that are central to the governance of contemporary China, as articulated in the two earlier volumes by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. This volume reflects expansive and dynamic ideas fleshed out by China’s specific social realities and the broader social milieu of the contemporary international situation. The 650-page book begins with Xi’s historic report to the 19th CPC National Congress in October 2017, which traverses all key issues that are central to the governance of China. The report dispels all insinuations of wavering and vacillation, often leveled by so-called experts in the Western scholarly community…

In worn-out clothes and a pair of glasses, Zhang Guimei looks solemn. Her faltering steps and pale face indicate that she is not well. “I was diagnosed with a few diseases over the years, but I’ve never had time to deal with them,” Zhang said. Nothing has stopped her since she stumbled onto a new career 12 years ago—helping girls from impoverished families in the southwestern province of Yunnan obtain higher education. In 2008, she founded the Huaping High School for Girls, China’s first free high school for girls, in the mountainous city of Lijiang and served as its principal. More than 1,600 graduates from the school have been admitted to colleges and universities. “She helped open a window to a new life,” Chen Fayu, a 2012 graduate, said. Chen…

It was a sweltering morning in early September when the production crew of a crime movie started filming their first scene at a convenience store in Xiamen, Fujian Province in southeast China. The crew was one of the many production houses that have resumed work in Xiamen since the coastal city recommenced film and television shooting in April. About 20 crews have started filming and over 10 others were in preproduction in the first half of this year, according to local authorities. Filming in other parts of China has resumed as well. Statistics showed that 48 crews have already begun filming, and 63 others have been preparing to resume shooting in “Chinese Hollywood” Hengdian World Studio in Zhejiang Province in east China since July, a 16-percent increase from last year.…

Song of Mulan, the ballad written 1,500 years ago by an anonymous Chinese poet, has inspired countless plays, novels and poems over the centuries. It is part of many school textbooks that children in China have grown up learning. In 1998, Disney made an animation film Mulan on the young woman who disguised herself as a warrior and joined the king’s army in her aged father’s place to fight invaders and safeguard the nation. The story also attracted Niki Caro, the New Zealand director known for her Oscar-nominated 2002 film Whale Rider, an engrossing drama about a Maori girl who becomes the chief of a tribe where according to the Maori tradition, only men were accepted as chiefs. Caro became keen to make a film on Mulan. “What drew me…