Innehållsförteckning för Vol.65/No.50 från Beijing Review

China is adjusting its COVID-19 control measures: Residents no longer need to register their personal information to buy medicine for fever, coughs, sore throats or similar afflictions; negative nucleic acid test results are no longer required to enter public areas, including shopping centers, supermarkets, parks, scenic spots, or take public transportation. Since COVID-19 first hit China in early 2020, the Chinese Government has refined its related health policies as the virus mutated and clinical data accumulated. Omicron variants are now the principal cause of coronavirus flareups in China, so the country has optimized its control measures considering the changes in the transmissibility and potency of said variants, including the rates of severe illness and mortality. The aim is to maximize the protection of people’s interests and minimize the impact of…

This year is the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. Despite the ups and downs of the bilateral relationship in recent decades, people-to-people exchanges continue to expand and their perception of each other is becoming more nuanced. “The world is in urgent need of the philosophy of harmony,” Yukio Hatoyama, former Prime Minister of Japan and President of East Asia Community Institute of Japan, said during the 2022 Hehe Culture Global Forum on November 29. The forum was one of many activities hosted by both governments and nongovernmental organizations to commemorate the anniversary and gathered Chinese and Japanese experts and scholars to discuss Hehe Culture, which advocates concepts of peace and harmony. “Japan and China should use the Hehe method to better manage divergence…

Robotic surgery, sometimes referred to as robot-assisted surgery, is perhaps the most cutting-edge medical technology of modern times. And the da Vinci system arguably has the sharpest edge. Established in 1995, American robotic surgical system manufacturer Intuitive Surgical Inc. focuses on products that allow surgeons to perform laparoscopic (or minimally invasive) surgery, a modern surgical technique in which operations are performed far from their location through small incisions elsewhere in the abdominal wall. Its star product, the da Vinci robotic surgical system, has held a large market share since becoming the first robot-assisted laparoscopic surgical system to gain the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000. The system is called da Vinci in part because Leonardo da Vinci’s study of the human anatomy eventually led to the…

My dream to study in China came true in 2016 when I enrolled for an MBBS degree at Gannan Medical University, a prestigious medical institution based in Ganzhou City in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi, a region defined by its pastoral landscapes of rice paddies, rivers and mountains. Ganzhou is in the upper reaches of the Ganjiang River. It is a fast-developing city. When I first stepped my foot in Ganzhou, it was not very developed except for the city center. By the time I graduated, it had grown into a bustling, beautiful city, with friendly people who are smiling and accommodating all the time. In the beginning, it was difficult to talk to the local people due to the language barrier. I couldn’t understand anything except the popular…

In May 2011, the first direct China-Europe freight train departed from Chongqing in southwest China for the German city of Duisburg. That year, only 17 such trains traveled between China and EU countries. The China-Europe freight rail service network expanded rapidly in the following years. As of late October this year, 82 routes had been established, reaching 204 cities in 24 countries. These routes had handled 62,000 trips, transporting 5.76 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers of goods, according to China’s statistics. The rising demand for rail freight is reflective of the economic partnership between China and the European bloc, which has been booming since 1975 when China established diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community, a precursor to the EU. In 2021, bilateral trade surged to $828 billion,…

Online TCM Services China has detailed measures to promote the role of information and technology in the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) during the 2021-25 period, Xinhua News Agency reported on December 6. By 2025, a TCM information system that works in coordination with China’s medical and healthcare mechanisms will be established, according to a plan released by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The plan encourages the establishment of smart TCM hospitals around the country and the promotion of online TCM pharmacies and medical services. Flexible inter-hospital patient transfer, mutual recognition and sharing of lab and examination reports and other services will be enhanced among TCM hospitals, according to the plan. Crested Ibis Population The global population of crested ibises, a rare bird species, has increased from…

PADDLER CO-CHAIRS ITTF ATHLETES’ COMMISSION China’s Liu Shiwen and India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta were elected as joint chairs of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Athletes’ Commission ahead of the ITTF Summit in Amman, Jordan, on December 2. Liu, 31, was a member of China’s gold medal-winning team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and took silver in the mixed doubles in Tokyo 2020. She is a five-time World Cup, one-time World Championships, three-time ITTF World Tour Grand Finals and four-time Asian Cup champion. This is the first time the ITTF Athletes’ Commission has elected two chairs—one woman and one man—to lead the body, which is regarded as the voice of table tennis athletes in the federation. Telekinetic Tech Economic Daily December 5 Recently, Elon Musk, co-founder of Neuralink, shared…

Visiting family has not been easy during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, on November 11, I made it back from Beijing to my hometown in Dangtu County (more than 1,060 km apart) of Ma’anshan City in Anhui Province after going more than a year of not having seen my family. The scene in Dangtu was a contrast to that in Beijing, a megacity. Masks are not mandatory in this small county. After testing negative three times in just as many days, as per the policy for those arriving from Beijing, my parents and I went to see my 86-year-old grandmother in the neighboring county-level district of Bowang. She and other villagers moved to a town in the district last year and their village has been transformed into an industrial park. This…

On October 30, Brazilian Workers’ Party candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the presidential runoff and once again was elected president of Brazil—he previously served as head of state from 2003 to 2010. In his congratulatory message to Lula on October 31, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he stands ready to work with the president-elect, from a strategic height and long-term perspective, to jointly plan and lift the China-Brazil comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level to benefit both countries and their people. China and Brazil officially established diplomatic ties in 1974 and their bilateral cooperation in the following decades has yielded fruitful results. The Sixth Meeting of the China-Brazil High-Level Coordination and Cooperation Committee in May was a success, drafting a blueprint for future teamwork. As the bilateral…

Since the beginning of this year, Chinese economists have been calling for vigilance against the negative impact of the global recession on the export sector. And as far as the manufacturing industry goes, they have a specific saying: “It (the industry) is not afraid of starvation, but it’s afraid to be stuffed to death,” meaning insufficient production capacity will affect profits, but excess capacity and inventory backlog are more fatal. As the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions, China, known as “the world’s factory,” does play an extremely important role on the global supply side. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, China’s strict response measures made its economy one of the least affected in the world. In 2021, China’s total import and…

Themed on advancing the Global Security Initiative and jointly safe-guarding peace and development, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum Webinar 2022 took place on December 1-2. Participants from 14 countries and one international organization focused their discussions on six topics, including Asia-Pacific stability and peaceful development, and the impact of regional conflicts on global security. The term “Thucydides trap,” which refers to the idea that an ascending world power is destined for conflict with an existing power, was first introduced by Graham Allison, founding dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Telling of how China and the U.S. may avoid falling into such a trap during the webinar, Allison pointed to the Chanyuan Treaty of Alliance, signed between the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) and the neighboring Liao Kingdom (916-1125),…

On December 6, visitors to the Beijing Zoo were pleasantly surprised to find entry no longer required a negative nucleic acid test result. With a fine-tuned ability to issue a science-based and targeted response, localities across China have exerted continuous efforts to optimize their COVID-19 prevention and control measures across the board. Since the first adjustments were announced in early December, many restaurants have resumed indoor dining and most business operations are gradually returning to normal. In the meantime, the health authorities are also calling on the public to protect themselves by, for example, wearing a mask and regularly disinfecting their hands. Comments to weiyao@cicgamericas.com…