Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.68/No.51 i Beijing Review

On May 20, 2021, the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China’s highest state administrative organ, issued a guideline designating the eastern province of Zhejiang as a national demonstration zone for achieving common prosperity. The directive tasked the province with spearheading institutional reform and innovation to narrow urbanrural and regional development gaps as well as income disparities, aiming for substantial progress by 2025 and the realization of common prosperity by 2035. As the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, 2025 is a milestone for Zhejiang. Through systematic reforms and project-driven initiatives, the province focuses on attaining phased objectives and generating transferable practices. The Zhejiang demonstration zone has advanced the practical implementation of common prosperity, transforming it from a theoretical concept into a workable…

The fertile soil of the countryside is also rich in artistic inspiration. “If farmers pick up a brush, they can become artists. If one does something with pure devotion, a stroke of genius will follow,” Miao Huixin, a cultural envoy to Shengfeng Village of Youchegang Town, Xiuzhou District in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, said. Miao is acclaimed as “China’s rural Picasso” and was once featured by TIME magazine as one of 10 outstanding Asian artists. A demonstration zone for common prosperity, Zhejiang has pioneered the cultural envoy system nationwide, selecting renowned cultural figures to assist townships in advancing cultural development. Xiuzhou farmer paintings have become some of the most striking cultural symbols in the region due to their exaggerated shapes, bright colors, rich compositions and distinctive water-town charm. In March,…

Traditionally, the U.S. president releases the National Security Strategy (NSS) report at the end of the first year of each term. As a core strategic document guiding U.S. domestic and foreign policy, it influences federal budget allocation and policy priorities, thus drawing considerable global attention. Beyond Latin America and domestic security, the Indo-Pacific region ranks as the next strategic priority, with the Taiwan question featuring prominently. Across just three paragraphs, “Taiwan” appears eight times—reflecting concerns that extend well beyond security and defense to encompass the semiconductor supply chain. The report emphasizes Taiwan Island’s critical position in the global semiconductor industry, framing it as essential to the technological and industrial security of the U.S. and its allies. Compared to the previous version, the report adopts a markedly more aggressive posture on…

The peak sales season for Chilean cherries in China commenced on December 5, highlighted by the arrival of the first Cherry Express vessel for this year’s cherry season at Nansha Port, Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province in south China, laden with roughly 370 containers. The event was launched by Frutas de Chile (“Fruits from Chile”), the Latin American country’s principal fruit export organization, with a documentary premiere in Guangzhou to kick off the 2025-26 season. To many Chinese, Chilean cherries symbolize both Chile and the robust friendship between the two countries. As China’s top supplier, providing over 90 percent of cherry imports, Chile’s seasonal harvest from November to February arrives just as domestic production ends, coinciding with the Spring Festival, China’s largest annual celebration and a time for family gatherings.…

Shanghai-based language and literature magazine Yaowen Jiaozi, literally “biting phrases and chewing characters,” recently unveiled its Top 10 Chinese Buzzwords for 2025. Released on December 2, the list spotlights linguistic trends that reflect societal changes. Huang Anjing, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, told Jiefang Daily newspaper that this year’s word selections mirror the arrival of the “intelligent era,” marked by a faster-than-ever evolution of the Chinese lexicon. Many of the chosen terms are tied to AI, highlighting how deeply technology is reshaping language. For example, the inclusion of “Embodied Intelligence” shows AI is not only transforming the world but also actively influencing how people communicate. In terms of social change, as industrial structures evolve and the economy transforms, new employment models have emerged—earning “Digital Nomad” (a person who works remotely using modern…

Article 136 of the newly revised Law of the People’s Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security—set to take effect on January 1, 2026—introduces a system for sealing the records of certain public security violations. Legal experts point out that the revised law aims to ease restrictions on those who have committed minor infractions, providing them a meaningful opportunity to reintegrate into society—a step they view as reflective of progress in the rule of law. This provision has recently sparked widespread discussion across Chinese society, particularly because it will also apply to records of drug abuse. On one side, individuals with a history of drug use hope this change will allow them to move beyond a lasting stigma. On the other side, some members of the public…

TOKYO OLYMPICS DIVING CHAMPION RETIRES Zhang Jiaqi, the Chinese diving sensation and Tokyo 2020 gold medalist, has announced her retirement at age 21. Zhang claimed a national title at 12, swept the National Games at 13, and at 17, soared to Olympic glory in the women’s synchronized 10-meter platform alongside Chen Yuxi. Following the Tokyo Games, physical development and weight changes altered her performance. Despite rigorous efforts, including a diet, recapturing her top form proved elusive. With rising young talents intensifying competition, she faced the disappointment of missing the 2024 Paris Olympic squad and a 10th-place finish in the National Games individual event in November. “As veterans step down, new talents always rise to carry the dream forward,” she said in a social media video. Bazaar Boom Gmw.cn December 8…

In Xujiadai, a small village in east China, baseball, a niche sport in the country, has become an engine for rural growth. To date, the village, located in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, has hosted over 100 baseball and softball tournaments, earning it the title of China’s No.1 Baseball Village. A decade ago, most villagers in Xujiadai were engaged in pig farming. In recent years, as China advanced nationwide rural environmental improvement efforts, the village also undertook cleanup initiatives. In 2017, when Liu Jianqun became secretary of the village’s Party branch, he faced a pressing question: How could the village achieve sustainable development after cleaning up its environment? The turning point came from an observant insight. At the time, Pinghu, the county-level city in Jiaxing which Xujiadai is part of, hosted…

The course of human progress has shown that the rights to subsistence and development are primary basic human rights and that sustainable social and economic development provides the material foundation for realizing all human rights. Ultimately, the true measure of how well a country advances human rights lies in whether its people are able to lead happy and fulfilling lives. “Those who only seek comfort for themselves will ultimately be rejected; those who sacrifice their own interests for the success of others will be supported.” On July 6, 2021, President Xi Jinping quoted this line in his keynote speech at the Communist Party of China and World Political Parties Summit. The quote comes from the collected works of Fang Xiaoru, a renowned scholar in the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It…

Inside the conference hall of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy, on October 15, a young man from Tianjin stepped onto the stage. Speaking in clear, confident English, Liu Yuanrui, a master’s student studying at Tianjin University, and one of three Chinese chosen to address the audience, delivered a message that resonated beyond national borders. “No single model can solve all problems once and for all,” he said in his address. “China’s rural digitization exploration might inspire young entrepreneurs in Africa, while European social innovation practices can inject new vitality into our projects.” For Liu, the moment was the peak of a journey that began on the narrow paths of his hometown on the outskirts of Tianjin. Now, he stood at the heart of…

When the temperature drops below zero in north China, a familiar winter ritual begins: a bubbling hotpot, an electric blanket on the bed, a steaming kettle on the table—and an entire afternoon spent in a warm, inviting bathhouse. It is the northern way to embrace the season with warmth and ease, and just how Li Xinru, a 25-year-old Beijing resident, spent her last weekend, when the piercing cold wind finally put a pause on the “one mountain each weekend” plan she’d pursued since September. “Going to a bathhouse is one of my favorite ways to spend a winter weekend, and I’ve grown increasingly fond of it, seeing the big changes taking place in the industry over the years,” Li told Beijing Review. “You might assume that my experience is quite…

Organ Donation The Report on the Development of Organ Donation and Transplantation in China (2024) was released on December 8 at the eighth China-International Organ Donation Conference and the Belt and Road Symposium on Organ Donation and Transplantation International Cooperation Development held in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province. The report revealed that in 2024, China saw 364,000 new voluntary registrations for posthumous organ donation. In terms of voluntary registration, 77 percent of new registrants last year were aged between 18 and 35. According to the report, the country had recorded 11,249 instances of organ donation in 2024. This figure consisted of 6,744 posthumous donations and 4,505 living donations from relatives. Over 24,000 organ transplant surgeries were performed in China last year. The conference was held from December 6 to 8.…

History has never been driven by comfort, nor shaped solely by inheritance. Its most significant turning points have emerged from those with youth, conviction and courage ingrained in them. Progress starts when young people not only dream but also take action. Sometimes, the boldest move is not to run toward the glow of cities, but to turn back—to one’s soil, roots and forgotten home—and help it flourish. This is the story of Wang Ying, a young woman who could have stayed in the city, yet chose instead to return to the quiet hills and bamboo forests of Longshan Village in Miaoxi Town of Huzhou City, Zhejiang. Her decision was more than personal; it opened a new chapter for China’s countryside—a chapter where talent flows homeward, not away. The choice to…

The 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy, published on December 4, reaffirms America’s decades-spanning policy of pursuing global domination, emphasizing “burden sharing” in recognition of both the multipolar world’s growing capabilities and the growing limitations of the U.S. itself. Despite the obvious intentions, the paper expresses, many have mistakenly interpreted it as signaling U.S. abandonment of global primacy, seeking to end confrontation with Russia—and even China. Some have gone as far as suggesting the U.S. seeks to “shift focus” toward the Western hemisphere, yet even the paper’s introduction dashes this wishful thinking. Bragging of wars and threats Trump’s forward includes boasting about U.S. strikes against Iran as well as the build up toward war with Venezuela. He also boasted about the unprecedented $1 trillion recently poured into the U.S. war machine…

Humanity finds itself today at a “nodal point” in world history, as German philosopher G.W. F. Hegel would call it. We are in the earliest stages of a leap that will mark an era for history books in the future. A new logic of international relations, of global governance, is emerging. Three decades ago, the United States and its Western allies proclaimed, in the words of political theorist Francis Fukuyama, the “end of history.” Capitalist “liberal democracy” was considered to be the culmination of human development. It was held that we were now in a “post-ideological” world. Interestingly, this Western hubris of a post-ideological world came conjoined with the neoconservative Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a think tank (1997-2006) which championed U.S. unipolar hegemony, imperial unilateralism and the…

A roofed arch bridge in Taishun County, Zhejiang Province, with a history of over 400 years, welcomed a special group of visitors on November 26—more than 30 teenagers from the United States participating in the 2025 Chinese Culture Experience Camp. Known as langqiao in Chinese, roofed arch bridges are structures with roofed corridors. As early as the Tang Dynasty (618-907), residents in the mountainous Taishun area relied on these bridges to cross streams and valleys. More than just passages, they also functioned as marketplaces, resting spots and venues for religious ceremonies. The entire structure is built without a single nail or rivet, held together entirely by intricate mortise-and-tenon joinery. Taishun is home to 32 ancient roofed arch bridges, which remain woven into the daily lives of local communities. Wu Junlong,…