Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.64/No.2 i Beijing Review

‘Ahard job that involves risk taking.” That’s how Li Hui described his profession, a description that brings to mind the image of a police officer. But he’s not an officer; he’s a researcher. Working in the seed industry for years, he said the long life cycle of seed development makes the job a tough one indeed. By “risk taking” he refers to the uncertainties of success in the industry. “Unlike the production of industrial products, seed breeding is rife with uncertainties and success requires experience and luck,” Li, a research assistant with the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), told Beijing Review. “Many professors fail to cultivate a fine variety even throughout their life.” Recently Li received media attention as the industry was brought into the spotlight…

On December 30, 2020, China and the EU wrapped up seven years of negotiations, resulting in the bilateral Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). A Happy New Year’s gift for both sides. The announcement was made during a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen via video link. The agreement will give companies from both sides more access to the other’s market. “It is a comprehensive, balanced and advanced agreement based on high-level international finance and trade rules,” Shi Zhiqin, a professor with the School of Social Sciences at Tsinghua University, said. “The pact will break down the barriers for bilateral investment, provide a stable and…

China has recently seen new locally transmitted novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in multiple areas, including the city of Beijing and Hebei Province in the northern part of the country and Dalian of Liaoning Province in the northeast. The National Health Commission said that it received reports of 63 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland on January 6, of which 52 were locally transmitted and 11 imported. Of the locally transmitted cases, 51 were reported in Hebei and one in Liaoning. The places affected have tightened measures against the virus. Sporadic cases The recent cluster of cases Shunyi District, northeast Beijing, was first reported on December 23, 2020, when a 34-year-old resident, who had taken the COVID-19 test to sit the postgraduate entrance exam tested positive for the…

Thirty-nine-year-old Bao Yongliang is the head of the Department of Digital Animation at the Jilin University of Arts in northeast China. However, the birth of his daughter in 2013 not only fulfilled Bao’s dream of becoming a father, but also inspired a creative passion that has seen him launch his own art toy company. Through his company, MODOLI, Bao has created a range of children’s toys based on a story he created of an eponymous family who moved to Earth to escape the destruction of their home planet. The name MODOLI comes from the sound of his daughters babbling and, on the MODOLI website, Bao expresses his intention to start the company: “to make my daughter happy.” Bao told Beijing Review he hopes the characters he has created can keep…

A medical worker administers a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine to a delivery man at a temporary vaccination site in Haidian District, Beijing, on January 6. Beijing started distributing COVID-19 vaccines among specific groups of people with high infection risks after January 1. Nine groups of people, aged 18 to 59, are scheduled to receive the vaccine before the Spring Festival of 2021, which falls on February 12. These key groups include frontline customs inspectors of imported cold chain goods and personnel working in the overseas and domestic transportation sectors.…

Affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic, Hu Shuangquan, a Chinese agricultural specialist who had planned to wind up his mission in Africa in mid-March 2020, is still staying in Burundi. “From late March to early November, Burundi closed its international borders, and fresh agricultural expert groups from China could not come to Burundi as scheduled,” Hu said. In order to ensure the continuity of the program, Hu and another Chinese expert stayed behind. Their main task is to carry on experimental demonstration and technical training, popularize hybrid rice, and ensure a smooth handover and successful operation of the newly created Burundi Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center. “We are staying on to make hybrid rice plantation more effective and accelerate the localization process of hybrid rice seeds,” Hu said. “My work experience…

It was a late proposal, a reversal of the set order of things, as it took place almost three months after the couple got married. It took place because the newlyweds would like to choose a perfect day for this event. On December 27, 2020, when the very first train departed from Xiongan Railway Station in Hebei Province, north China, at 10:18 a.m., 25-year-old husband Hou Jiaming, decked out in his China Railway Construction Engineering Group (CRCEG) blue uniform paired with a safety helmet, proposed to his dressed-alike wife Zhang Jing in one of the train carriages. Both employees of CRCEG, they met at the construction site and witnessed how the station was built from the ground up. And so, they decided to do something special on the first day…

A special twist on the Olympics took place in Yaogou Township, located in Suqian, a city in Jiangsu Province, east China, on December 27, 2020. Farmers participated with enthusiasm in tug-of-war, sack carrying race, corn husking competition, and other fascinating games. Putting agricultural work aside for the day, the farmers were transformed into athletes, drawing cheers from onlookers. Since 2018, Yaogou Township has organized the sports events for three years, holding the tournament prior to the annual New Year celebrations. Tournament events all feature aspects of either life in Yaogou or of local agricultural production. Featuring elements of farming activities as competitions, the games enrich residents’ cultural life and showcase the outlook of Chinese farmers in the new era. Comments to liqing@bjreview.com…

Bridge in Clouds An aerial photo of the Heshandu Wujiang River Bridge in Guizhou Province, southwest China, on December 29, 2020. The bridge, spanning 2,000 meters, is a key part of the Meitan-Shiqian Expressway. It was completed on January 3 and will open to traffic in July. Telescope Sharing China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, will be available for global service from April 1. The National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the operator of the telescope, confirmed on January 4 that scientists across the world can make online appointments to use the device for observational purposes starting from April 1. An allotted timetable will be available by August 1. Jiang Peng, chief engineer of FAST with NAOC,…

In December 2020, a new type of apple, named “the Super Apple,” debuted at supermarkets across China. Before reaching the market, the product had undergone over 500 tests by Geneva-headquartered SGS, a multinational inspection, verification, testing and certification service provider, showing no signs of pesticide residue. Produced in Luochuan, Shaanxi Province in northwest China, one of the country’s premier apple producing areas, the apples are sweeter than regular ones. The apple’s quality is ensured via targeted nutrition and other quality improvement plans, which is based on analysis of the apple growing condition, including the health of the soil. Blockchain technology is applied in documenting farmers’ operations so as to avoid nonstandard pesticide use. Digital fruit sorting technology at the apple storage warehouse facilitates the grading of apples to ensure stability…

During a nine-month field investigation into agriculture in Northeast Asia in 1909, former U.S. Department of Agriculture official, Franklin Hiram King discovered a system of agriculture virtually unknown in the West. In his subsequent book, Farmers of Forty Centuries, or Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan, he wrote “[we were] instructed in the ways and extent to which these nations for centuries have been and are conserving and utilizing their natural resources, surprised at the magnitude of the returns they are getting from their fields.” In his book, King described a green and sustainable agriculture in Asia and how Asian farmers kept soil producing sufficiently to feed large populations over 40 centuries, without applying artificial fertilizer. When addressing a recent Peking University forum on rural vitalization, Chen Xiwen, Chairman…

Innovation in financial technology (fintech) has made life easier, but how about potential risks? China’s banking and financial authorities’ regulatory talks with Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba, at the end of last year were evidence of the government’s concern. The meeting was attended by officials from the People’s Bank of China (PBC), the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. In a press release, PBC Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng said the regulatory talks with Ant Group were mainly aimed at urging the firm to fulfill financial regulatory requirements and the requirements for fair competition and protection of consumers’ legitimate rights and interests. “Fintech and Internet platform enterprises are fresh business forms that innovate and…