Indholdsfortegnelse for Vol.66/No.48 i Beijing Review

Though located in China’s hinterland, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is becoming a new frontier of opening up. The China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) was officially inaugurated on November 1, making it the 22nd FTZ in China and the first in the country’s northwestern border regions. Covering an area of 1.66 million square km, about one sixth of China’s total land area, Xinjiang borders eight countries—Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It has a larger land area, a larger number of neighboring countries and a longer land border than any other provincial-level administrative region in China. Home to all 56 of the country’s ethnic groups, the autonomous region has a population of 25.8 million, of whom 11.6 million belong to the Uygur ethnic minority. According to…

A joint delegation of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), comprising foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia and Palestine and secretary general of the OIC, arrived in Beijing on November 20. This was the first stop of the Islamic world’s global mediation trip on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. During talks with Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese Foreign Minister, the delegation expressed concerns regarding the large number of civilian casualties and continued humanitarian disasters in the Gaza Strip. Foreign ministers of these countries requested the international community take responsible action as soon as possible to promote an immediate ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, and said they look forward to closer coordination with China…

The November 15 meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden before the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in San Francisco, California, was their first face-to-face communication since the Group of 20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, one year ago. Given the decline in relations between the two nations, expectations for the meeting were, not surprisingly, relatively modest. Xi and Biden talked for over four hours and agreed to talk more. In and of itself, that alone can rightly be viewed as a success. The two leaders more than accomplished the goal of initiating a restoration of respectful high-level dialogue between China and the U.S. While there were, as expected, differences of opinion on a range of issues, the meeting resulted in commitments…

Meerzat Omuralieva, a 31-year-old woman from Kyrgyzstan, runs a jewelry business in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, which is home to the world’s largest small commodities market and has embraced merchants from around the globe. Omuralieva first began working as a volunteer on the city’s mediation committee for disputes relating to foreign trade and transactions when she was studying at college in Yiwu in 2017. Now, the committee has employed her as a full-time mediator. As the annual number of overseas business-people flowing into Yiwu has regularly exceeded 550,000 in previous years, the demand for mediation on commercial and customs-related disputes has been growing. As early as 2013, the municipal government established the mediation committee for international disputes. Over the past decade, the committee has handled over 1,200 disputes involving people from…

Pramod Kumar Gupta from Nepal now works for CCCC First Highway Consultants Co. Ltd., a highway planning and design institute in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province in northwest China. Having been in China for almost 25 years, he said the city has been the scene of his college graduation, marriage and career. Recalling his memory of Xi’an when he first arrived and comparing it with the city’s current development, Gupta described the changes as “tremendous.” For example, his alma mater, Chang’an University, is located near the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, which was first built over 1,300 years ago during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). “The area used to be the outskirts of Xi’an in 1999 and now is a landmark site showcasing the hustle and bustle of the city,” he said. Xi’an, once…

For 75 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday nights, Xu Lingzi takes an acting class to pursue her dream of becoming an actor, leaving behind her day-time job at a company in Chongqing. Although acting had been her dream since she was young, Xu chose architectural design as her major at university and entered the corporate world upon graduation. Her passion for acting was reignited in September when she heard about the acting classes by accident. Xu said that in addition to gaining acting skills, the classes also help her to reflect on her life and to understand herself more fully. “There was one time that the acting coach noticed that I was wandering around on stage not knowing what to do. It made me realize that I was not decisive…

Argentina is the farthest country from China in the world, about 20,000 km whether you go west or east. And throughout history, this distance had hindered communication and trade. But the development of transportation in recent decades and the mutual desire to connect have brought down these barriers, in a concept referred to as la distancia que nos une (the distance that unites us). For over 50 years, China-Argentina relations have withstood the test of global shifts and maintained health and stability. Their enduring friendship, characterized by mutual trust and common growth, is a testament to their pragmatic, needs-based relationship. This pragmatic approach has been fundamental, forming the bedrock of their bilateral ties. As history testifies to the strength of this relationship, let us revisit some key moments that have…

Whether China will experience deflation is becoming a hot topic in the Western media. Specifically, the media discussion arose after the National Bureau of Statistics announced on November 15 that the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the change in prices paid by consumers, declined 0.2 percent in October from a year earlier and 0.1 percent from the previous month. Deflation is largely the result of reduced consumer purchasing power, which can lead to a downturn in the overall economy. A typical example is the Japanese economy, which has been in a downward spiral for about three decades. According to Western economics, a sustained three-month decline in the CPI signals the arrival of deflation. China’s CPI for August was up 0.1 percent from the same period last year and up…

Kathy Wang is a second-year graduate student in computer science. Having loved languages for more than 10 years and studied them for four years as an undergraduate, the now 26-year-old decided two years ago to further her education in a completely different field to improve her job prospects. “Of course, it is not enough to learn three languages nowadays; you have to learn a fourth language—computer language,” Wang laughed. Wang described herself as “natural with language.” She passed levels 4 and 6 of the College English Test, a national standardized English proficiency test for college students administered by the Ministry of Education (MOE), with satisfactory grades. She scored in the top 20 percent in her own major, Japanese, and can speak some basic Korean. “I entered college with a real…

LITERATURE PRIZE WINNER Novelist Yang Zhijun received the Mao Dun Literature Prize, one of the country’s most prestigious literary accolades, on November 19. Yang won the prize for his novel Xueshan Dadi, or The Snow Mountain and the Homeland, which features the lives of ethnic minorities living on grasslands in Qinghai Province. Born in Xining, Qinghai, located on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, in 1955, Yang has been hailed as China’s finest teller of stories about the highlands, known as the Third Pole. The Mao Dun Literature Prize, named after one of China’s most influential modern authors Mao Dun (1896-1981), is hosted by the China Writers Association and awarded every four years. Since its inception in 1981, 53 works have been honored. This year, five works, including Yang’s, were selected for the prize…

Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the extraordinary joint meeting of BRICS leaders and leaders of invited BRICS members on the situation in the Middle East with particular reference to Gaza on November 21. The following is the full text of his remarks: This is our first summit since the expansion of BRICS. Before I speak about the issue of our discussion, I wish to extend a warm welcome to leaders of new BRICS members and express my thanks to President Ramaphosa and the South African Government for your efforts that have made our meeting possible. Given the current circumstances, it is very timely and very important that we meet and speak up for justice and for peace on the Palestinian-Israeli issue. The conflict in Gaza is raging on into its…

The summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden at Filoli Estate, a country house approximately 40 km south of San Francisco, California, on November 15 has been characterized as one of low expectations that were fully met. While it is impossible to predict the course of the Sino-American relationship beyond January 20, 2025, or the next U.S. presidential inauguration, the meeting was important in setting a floor for relations that have been festering and deteriorating for years, and in identifying concrete issues for urgent consultation and action while the current Biden administration is in office. The most concrete outcome of the leaders’ summit was the resumption of multi-level cooperation in several areas that had previously been suspended due to bilateral estrangement. Some of this suspended cooperation…

A mid the urban tapestry of many small cities across China, a striking sign commands attention, accompanied by bright window walls that offer a glimpse of neatly arranged shelves. Within, an assortment of snacks in every conceivable color beckons, enticing onlookers to step inside and explore the wonders. By day, it seamlessly integrates into the rhythm of a local market and the flowing currents of traffic. Yet, as night falls, it emerges as the street’s nocturnal luminary—a beacon of vivid hues and the last to fold its shutters, bestowing the city with a colorful delight at night. Right now, this is a delight exclusive to residents of small cities. “A friend of mine who returned from Beijing found these snack shops novel, mentioning she hasn’t seen these kinds of stores…

Chinese is a logographic language. Chinese characters not only contain different meanings, but also have profound historical and cultural connotations as carriers of time-honored Chinese civilization. Among these characters, he (harmony) deeply influences the Chinese people. From the culinary art of the “harmonized taste of food cooked in a cauldron” to the view that “harmony in the family leads to prosperity in all undertakings” and the community philosophy of “working together to overcome difficulties,” harmony has penetrated the intellectual world and daily life of the Chinese people, and has become an attitude toward life that the Chinese always adhere to and an ideal goal they constantly pursue. Hehe culture, or harmonious unity culture, is one of the essential features of China’s traditional culture. President Xi Jinping once summarized this culture…