Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.65/No.40/41 i Beijing Review

At a time when the global economy suffers sluggish growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as anti-globalization headwinds such as populism and unilateralism, the Chinese economy is like a beacon of light. According to a recent report from the National Bureau of Statistics, from 2013 to 2021, China’s GDP expanded at an average annual rate of 6.6 percent, higher than the growth pace of 2.6 percent worldwide and 3.7 percent for developing economies during the same period. China’s contribution to global economic growth exceeded 30 percent, ranking first across the world. More specifically, China was the only major economy to record positive growth in 2020, playing a major stabilizing role. In 2021, China’s economic aggregate accounted for 18.5 percent of the world’s total, the second largest in the…

In a recent conference with representatives of several Pakistani small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Luke Liu found they didn’t know the Chinese market well. The country has exported many mined and cotton products to China, but a lot of suppliers—e.g., those of handicrafts—felt at a loss when dealing with Chinese customers. “While they expressed extreme interest in tapping into the huge Chinese market, they knew little about it, they didn’t understand e-commerce and they were not even aware of whether China gives access to their products,” Liu told Beijing Review. As senior director of business development at JD Worldwide, the cross-border e-commerce platform of China’s e-commerce giant JD.com, Liu has attended many similar meetings, through which he has gained knowledge of the needs of merchants of all kinds from different…

China is opening up to the world under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is no longer the China of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th century that had been forced to open up to the world according to terms imposed by invading foreign powers; it is now a country that has become master of its own destiny and open to dialogue with the world. China has become the biggest trading partner of more than 120 countries; stands among the most prominent investors and also providers of financial assistance to developing countries; has increased its financial contribution to several international organizations, and is a major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. Behind all this is a powerful concept presented by Chinese President Xi Jinping:…

In March this year, 70-year-old Eve Coulson made the 4,700-km journey from New Jersey to California to visit her 109-year-old Chinese-born “uncle” Moon Fun Chin. As far as she knows, Chin is one of the few surviving pilots in the U.S. who flew “the Hump,” a trans-Himalayan air route for delivering supplies to China to fight against the Japanese invaders during World War II (WWII). Another survivor is Peter J. Goutiere, who turned 108 on September 28 this year. He, along with Chin and Coulson’s father, Ursel Elbert Coulson, were pilots for the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). Coulson Sr., who flew 99 Hump trips, worked closely with Goutiere in China in the early 1940s. CNAC was a Sino-U.S joint venture established in 1929. Most of its pilots were foreigners…

A light mist drifting from surrounding hills lingers in the county and then disappears slowly after sunrise. Early birds—sanitation workers, students going to school in twos and threes, dog walkers and morning exercisers—waken up the streets and parks. Music from loud speakers accompanying square dancers in clusters here and there flows in the air, mixing with the aroma of food wafting from restaurants serving breakfast. This is a typical morning scene in a county in north China. The county, Zuoquan in Shanxi Province, is named after a general of the Communist Party of China-led Eighth Route Army, who was killed by the Japanese invading army here in 1942. Symbols of the heroism can be spotted here and there in the county, from the statue of Zuo standing in the county…

PROMINENT AUTHOR AND TRANSLATOR DIES AT 100 Ren Rongrong, a celebrated publisher, writer and award-winning translator, died in Shanghai aged 100 on September 22. Ren was born in the city on May 19, 1923. He worked in some of China’s most famous publishing houses and served as deputy chief editor of Shanghai Translation Publishing House. An expert translator of English, Italian, Russian and Japanese, Ren spent 80 years translating children’s books and introducing classical works like The Complete Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Pinocchio and Pippi Longstocking to Chinese audiences. He translated more than 80 works of nearly 40 famous writers. Ren himself wrote Dopey and Grumpy, a bedtime story about the adventures of two kids. Written in 1956, the story was later adapted into an eponymous cartoon that…

‘The Great China Exit,” a trending topic with many overseas media outlets. Recent months have seen a lot of coverage about foreign-invested companies planning to shift some of their manufacturing away from China. For example, a Bloomberg report on July 5 read: “Rattled by the most recent wave of strict COVID-19 lockdowns in China, the long-time manufacturing hub of choice for multinationals, CEOs have been highlighting plans to relocate production.” In this regard, Zhang Jianping, Deputy Director of the Academic Steering Committee of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told Beijing Review, “The two-way flow of investment is a normal economic phenomenon, as long as it’s not a kind of explosive capital flight in a short period of time and does not too negatively impact economic and…

Seventy-five basis points. On September 21, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) enacted its fifth—and likely not the last—rate hike of the year. Since the start of the rate hike cycle in March to tackle inflation, the Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate by 300 basis points, the most aggressive move since 1981. At a press conference that same day, Jerome Powell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, said the U.S. economy will experience a period of below-trend growth and the labor market will weaken due to continuous and substantial interest rate hikes. For the U.S., this is a side effect of treating the inflation crisis. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. had adopted an extra-loose monetary policy to stimulate economic recovery.…

A trending hashtag “Henan Province has become the largest producer of cultured diamonds in the world” has become popular on multiple social media platforms recently. In 2021, global lab-grown diamond output reached 9 million karats, of which 4 million was produced in Zhecheng, a county in Henan. As the name suggests, lab-grown diamonds are diamonds that are produced in a lab using the same extreme forces—temperature and pressure—that form naturally created diamonds. There is no chemical, optical, or physical difference between a lab-grown diamond and a natural one. Lab-grown diamonds are manufactured using either the high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) process or the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process; both use a tiny “seed” diamond. The CVD method places a tiny diamond seed inside a chamber that can be taken…

The concept of green development has become a worldwide philosophy in recent years. Global carbon dioxide emissions are declining and many countries have put forward clear timetables for realizing their carbon emission goals and achieving carbon neutrality. However, what seemed a promising prospect is now at risk. Green development is, first of all, waning in Europe. Due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the former has limited its gas supply to Europe, sending gas prices soaring across the continent, which relies heavily on Russian gas imports. In fear of gas shortage and looking to stay warm this winter, some Europeans are stockpiling wood. In Poland, for example, the price of timber has doubled compared with that of last year, while in Germany and Belgium, it’s 2.5 times higher; and the continent’s consumption…

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a speech at the General Debate of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the U.S., on September 24. Edited excerpts follow: We are at a time fraught with challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to resurface. Global security faces uncertainty. Global economic recovery is fragile and unsteady, and many kinds of risks and crises are emerging. The world has entered a new phase of turbulence and transformation. Changes unseen in a century are accelerating. But we are also at a time full of hope. The world continues to move toward multipolarity; economic globalization is deepening, and our societies are becoming increasingly digitalized and culturally diversified. Indeed, countries are becoming ever more interconnected and interdependent. Peace…

Since the 1950s, the global economy has experienced remarkable expansion as a result of the boom in the tourism industry. Currently, the tourism sector has become one of the key pillars of growth in the global economy. Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province is a prime example of how tourism-led development has transformed one of the most impoverished areas of the country into a lively and prosperous prefecture. With its abundant natural and cultural resources, tourism was identified as one of Dali’s strategic pillar industries. Since 1983, it has been a popular destination for both domestic and foreign tourists. It ranks among China’s top historical and cultural cities. When in Dali, most visitors spend much of their time in the old town and the nearby tourist attractions such as…