Indholdsfortegnelse for Vol.66/No.52 i Beijing Review

Non-Bank Payment Institutions Premier Li Qiang has signed a decree of the State Council to unveil rules on the supervision and administration of non-bank payment institutions, which will take effect on May 1, 2024. The rules are meant to promote the law-based supervision and administration of these institutions and their business operations, facilitate the sound and healthy development of the sector, protect customers’ legal rights and interests, and help the institutions better serve the real economy and meet the need of customers for diversified payment methods. The new rules clarify the definition of non-bank payment institutions and their establishment requirements and improved the legal framework governing payments. In order to protect the legal rights and interests of payment users, these institutions should establish effective due diligence systems and enhance risk…

1 Xi Jinping Reelected President of China On March 10, Xi Jinping was reelected president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission at the First Session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature. Since his reelection, Xi has made inspection tours to several regions across the country to advance Chinese modernization through high-quality development. He has also been promoting world peace and bilateral and multilateral cooperation. On March 15, Xi proposed the Global Civilizations Initiative, advocating respect for the diversity of world civilizations and the common values of humanity and strengthening international cultural exchange and cooperation. 2 Post-COVID-19 Social Revival China further optimized its COVID-19 response measures starting from January 8. After pulling through a wave of infections…

This year the global community continues to face recession as well as political and security instabilities. According to the World Economic Outlook report released by the International Monetary Fund in October, the global economy saw a year-on-year growth of 3.5 percent in 2022, with the growth rates of developed economies and emerging markets and developing economies reaching 2.6 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively. The global economy grew 3 percent this year. Developed economies are expected to grow at 1.5 percent on a yearly basis, and emerging markets and developing economies, at 4 percent. Global growth will likely drop to 2.9 percent in 2024, the report said. In the current economic, political and security landscape, China’s policy decisions will have an irreplaceable impact on the stability and vitality of the global…

Zhao Zhonghui, a Chinese-English translator, passed the China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters (CATTI) Level 1, the highest level, in 2013. Zhao is now director of the translation center of MCC BERIS Engineering and Research Corp., a subsidiary of state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corp., based in Qingdao, Shandong Province. In addition to providing translation services for large events such as the Olympic Winter Games 2022 in Beijing, each year, the center also translates nearly 10,000 episodes of Chinese reality TV shows, TV series and films into more than 10 foreign languages, which are exported to more than 190 countries and regions. After passing the exam, Zhao’s career experienced a boost. More than 10 universities hired her as a part-time lecturer to teach translation skills. Zhao is one of the…

A Twisted Boron Nitride (TBN) crystal placed on a piece of fused silica at Peking University (PKU) in Beijing on December 15. The new type of ultrathin optical crystal, made by a team of PKU researchers, is the thinnest optical crystal currently known in the world, Wang Enge from the university’s School of Physics told Xinhua News Agency. Its energy efficiency is 100 to 10,000 times greater than traditional crystals of the same thickness. The TBN crystal is expected to achieve new application breakthroughs in quantum light sources, photonic chips, artificial intelligence and other fields in the future.…

HUNGARY Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (right) shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after they signed an agreement to elevate bilateral ties to “priority strategic” level, in Budapest on December 18 MOROCCO The Sixth Arab-Russian Cooperation Forum takes place in Marrakech on December 20. Arab countries and Russia agreed to boost cooperation on international issues, including addressing the Gaza crisis IRAQ A voter casts his vote in the provincial council elections in Baghdad on December 18. Fifteen of Iraq’s 18 provinces held such elections that day, after a 10-year hiatus due to political differences FRANCE A lantern on display at the Dragons and Lanterns Festival at the Jardin d’Acclimatation in Paris on December 14. The event is open to the public from December 15, 2023 to February 25,…

1 Intensified Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Around 7 a.m. on October 7, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) waged a surprise attack on Israel, firing at least 5,000 rockets into the country and launching ground attacks on the Israeli towns bordering the Palestinian enclave, the Gaza Strip. Israel subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and imposed a siege on the densely inhabited area. As of December 21, this latest military conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group had claimed over 20,000 lives and drawn increasingly strong worldwide calls for an immediate ceasefire and an early end to the bloodshed. Since the outbreak of the still ongoing conflict, China has maintained close communication with related parties, actively participated in UN Security Council consultations, and made every effort to promote…

Brazilian journalist Igor Patrick has been a major contributor to the understanding of and communication with China by Brazilian audiences. Patrick traveled to Beijing for the first time in 2014 as part of an exchange program while he was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism at PUC Minas, a Brazilian university in the state of Minas Gerais. His dissatisfaction with the lack of China-related information available in the global media and what he witnessed in daily life motivated him to integrate this experience into his journalistic career and seek more knowledge about the country. The mysterious minutiae “My knowledge at that time came from my own research and experiences. Brazil lacks the reliable resources to properly address this topic, especially for journalism students,” Patrick said, adding that he returned to…

Old-Age Insurance The number of people covered by old-age insurance in China had exceeded 1.05 billion by the end of 2022, an increase of 24.36 million from the previous year, according to a report on the development of elderly care programs in the country, Xinhua News Agency reported on December 14. The report, jointly released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Office of the China National Committee on Aging, gives a summary of China’s elderly population and the development of various programs that ensure their livelihood and access to elderly care and healthcare services. China had 280.04 million elderly people aged 60 and above by the end of 2022, accounting for 19.8 percent of the total population. The number of those aged 65 and above had reached 209.78…

1 Biggest Engine of Global Economic Growth This year has been a year for economic recovery after three years of COVID-19. Despite external pressure and internal difficulties, China’s economy is recovering well and has made solid progress in high-quality development in 2023. In the first three quarters, China’s GDP recorded a year-on-year growth of 5.2 percent, surpassing 91.3 trillion yuan ($12.7 trillion). The nation is well-positioned to achieve this year’s growth target of around 5 percent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised up China’s GDP growth rate forecasts to 5.4 percent for 2023. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) predicted China’s real GDP would grow by 5.2 percent in 2023. China remains the world’s biggest growth engine in 2023, contributing about one third of global economic growth. 2…

There are widely circulated tales about how stars have accidently stumbled into an acting career. Several actors and actresses, upon attaining stardom, have reminisced about how they were unexpectedly selected by examiners while merely accompanying a friend to the arts college examination for students aspiring to major in acting. Such coincidences, though, are unlikely to happen in the future as China has just substantially reformed its college entrance exams for arts students, including for acting. To study in arts universities, students used to need to take the regular gaokao, or the national college entrance exam, and an independent exam offered by their target arts school. At esteemed arts institutions like Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama, applicants used to pack campuses and temporarily dominate social news headlines…

On November 23, an exhibition to the Catalogue of Life China 2023titled Our Common Home—A Miracle of Nature opened in Beijing. The exhibition is the first joint exhibition between the National Museum of China and the National Natural History Museum of China. Featuring more than 670 animal specimens, the exhibition recreates the natural environments where animals live, offering visitors an immersive experience. China is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world. According Annual Checklist released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 135,061 species have been discovered in China, including 65,362 animal species. The exhibition showcases China’s successes in protecting biodiversity and its pursuit of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. Comments to weiyao@cicgamericas.com…