Indholdsfortegnelse for Vol.67/No.1 i Beijing Review

On January 1, 1979, China and the United States officially established diplomatic relations based on the principle of seeking common ground while reserving differences. Forty-five years on, this principle still rings true. Over the past decades, both countries have gained from cooperation and lost from confrontation. There are two stabilizers in China-U.S. relations. Number one: people-to-people exchanges. Fifty-two years ago, an encounter between Chinese table tennis player Zhuang Zedong and his U.S. counterpart Glenn Cowan during the 31st World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan, kicked off the normalization of China-U.S. relations, followed by U.S. President Richard Nixon’s icebreaking visit to China in February 1972, ending more than 20 years of estrangement. Since then, people-to-people exchanges have always played an important role in China-U.S. relations, contributing to broader interactions in…

In a move that showed both countries’ keenness to expand air travel after the COVID-19 pandemic, in turn reflecting an implicit eagerness to up mutually beneficial cooperation, China and the United States increased the number of direct regular passenger flights from 48 to 70 per week in the 2023-24 winter and spring seasons. This year marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S. and the two countries have had extensive cooperation in many fields. Their cooperative efforts serve the common interests of both sides and contribute to the overall wellbeing of people worldwide. As the world’s two largest economies, China and the U.S. collectively account for more than one third of the global economic output, and their populations represent nearly one quarter of the world’s total.…

In the dark of night, the smartphone of a resident surnamed Qin in Bonan-Dongxiang-Salar Autonomous County of Jishishan in Gansu Province received an earthquake alert. The time was 11: 58 p.m. The date was December 18, 2023. It was one minute before the intense tremors started rattling this mountainous area in northwest China. Promptly, Qin jumped to his feet, woke up his family and ran. As they were making their way out of the house, the earthquake knocked the television in their living room to the floor. From their home on the 16th floor of an apartment building, the family rushed down the emergency stairs. At minus 12 degrees Celsius, it was freezing outside. People were pouring out of buildings. Some wearing thick down jackets, some wrapped in blankets, some…

After a long day’s work, Lisa Gao, a programmer at a Beijing-based tech company, often immerses herself in the fantasy world of online gaming. Her favorite game is Genshin Impact, an open-world action role-playing game developed by Chinese game company miHoYo established in Shanghai in 2011. In the game, which features a three-dimensional design that simulates real-world scenery, a virtual Gao climbs snowy mountains inspired by the Alps in Europe to take in a breathtaking sunset, or visits a traditional Chinese city where thousands of lanterns light up the night sky. “I have been playing the game for about two years and have spent more than 10,000 yuan ($1,400) on swiftly completing my character’s missions. I feel like an adventurer exploring the virtual world,” Gao told Beijing Review. From a…

CENTRAL BANK DEPUTY GOVERNOR Veteran central banker Lu Lei has been appointed deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBC). He is the third new senior official to join the central bank’s top management team, which consists of a governor and five deputy governors, since July 2023. Lu was moved from his position as a deputy administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China’s foreign exchange regulator, a role he had held since 2017. Born in 1970 in Wujin, Jiangsu Province, Lu joined the PBC in 1996 and studied on the job at the central bank’s graduate school from 2001 to 2004, earning a Ph.D. in economics. He served as director of the PBC’s Research Bureau from 2014 to 2016 and its Financial Stability Bureau from 2016 to…

As Xi Jinping, then Vice President of China, prepared for high-stakes meetings in the United States, a top Chinese diplomat lamented the “trust deficit” between the nations and said both sides “must give full attention” to “nurturing and deepening mutual trust.” That was 2012. A decade later, following the most difficult period since the People’s Republic of China and the U.S. established diplomatic ties 45 years ago, President Xi met with American President Joe Biden in San Francisco, California, in November 2023, where both sides pledged to rebuild the shattered trust. The response of both sides was eerily similar. A People’s Daily commentary asserted that China is willing to work “at all levels” to improve relations but called on the U.S. “to increase strategic mutual trust” and overcome Washington’s “action…

The annual Central Rural Work Conference, which outlines the Chinese Government’s measures to promote development in rural areas in the coming year, took place in Beijing on December 19-20, 2023. The event’s tradition has taken shape since the late 1970s and underscores the importance the central authorities attach to agriculture. This year’s conference focused on the rural revitalization experience of the Green Rural Revival Program in Zhejiang Province in east China, which was launched by the Zhejiang authorities in 2003 with the support of then Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Zhejiang Provincial Committee Xi Jinping. It aimed to renovate 10,000 villages in the province and transform 1,000 of them into models of moderate prosperity. The social ideal of “moderate prosperity,” or xiaokang in Chinese, dates back to…

Watching Hollywood blockbusters in throngs and with bags of popcorn in arms used to be a kind of coming-of-age party for Chinese millennials, who spent their childhood and teenage years admiring the mighty cohort of American superheroes and secret agents. Little did Hollywood know that its usual cinematic magic would one day fizzle out. When Chinese cinemas reopened in 2023 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, studios were quick to offer China a slew of blockbuster hopefuls, only to find that the country’s audiences had seemingly moved on from superheroes and Tom Cruise-style individualism. As Hollywood struggled to regain a foothold in the country, 2023 was also the year that China’s domestic film industry came into full bloom. According to data published by Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan, as of…

Envision yourself journeying along the ancient Silk Road, where the air is filled with the harmonious melody of camel bells, the enticing aroma of sizzling spices and the rising steam from cauldrons. In this rich tapestry, merchants barter not only for silks and gems but also for the most prized currency—flavor. Fiery lamb skewers dance on open flames, hand-pulled noodles twirl like acrobats and fragrant rice dishes gleam with jewels of spice. This isn’t merely a historical expedition; it’s a culinary odyssey where borders dissolve, and cultures embrace through the universal language of food. In bustling Xi’an, the Silk Road’s starting point, the smoky allure of yangrouchuan, lamb skewers typical for Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region marinated in cumin and Sichuan peppercorns, paints a bold narrative of nomadic spice blends and…

Like clockwork, every year around December 25, a heated debate has been taking over Chinese social media in the past half decade or so. The hot topic: Should the Chinese celebrate Christmas or not? Opponents, or naysayers, believe that Chinese people should pay more attention to their own traditional festivals and “not let foreign cultures hog the spotlight.” Supporters, or yay-sayers then, believe that cultural exchange should be diverse and inclusive, and that celebrating Christmas is a matter of personal choice. “Plus, given the holiday boosts consumption, why oppose it?” some yay-saying netizens wrote on a range of social media platforms. The debate has also attracted the attention of a growing number of (self-proclaimed) “China watchers.” Some of them speculate that the Chinese Government is restricting Christmas celebrations for ideological…

A physical education class got underway at a resort in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on December 19, 2023. During the off-campus lesson, students from Miaoergou Middle School went skiing, supervised by instructors working at the Silk Road Mountain Resort, a well-equipped skiing destination. “I like skiing. In addition to learning it as part of our school curriculum, I often go skiing with my dad right here,” Ahqy Sarsbek, an eighth grader from the Kazak ethnic group, said. In recent years, Xinjiang has set a goal to become an ice and snow sports plus tourism paradise. Popularizing winter sports among students is one of the measures it has taken to boost public participation. Young blood Zhao Rui, a teacher at Miaoergou Middle School, told Beijing Review that every year, her…

During his concert tour across seven Chinese cities in December 2023, Steve Barakatt, a Canadian-Lebanese composer and pianist, performed a piece titled Riding Around the Forbidden City every night. The Forbidden City, formally known as the Palace Museum, is the largest and best preserved ancient wooden palace complex in the world. The ode to the structure that housed China’s emperors from 1421 to 1911 can be found on Barakatt’s 2011 album Someday Somewhere. The entire album was about visiting different places and creating music based on a specific location. Barakatt visited the Forbidden City in Beijing around 2010, on his first visit to the Chinese mainland. “When I was in the Forbidden City, I really enjoyed its spirit. I composed the piece right after. I also listened to some traditional…