Innehållsförteckning för Vol.66/No.11 från Beijing Review

Around 5 percent—this is the GDP growth target set by the government work report delivered at the opening meeting of the First Session of the 14th National People’s Congress on March 5. The report also proposed targets of creating 12 million new urban jobs, maintaining the surveyed urban unemployment rate at around 5.5 percent and keeping the growth of the consumer price index at around 3 percent. The projected target, higher than last year’s GDP growth of 3 percent, is roughly on par with the country’s average growth rate over the past five years, which stood at 5.2 percent. To complete the goals put forward in the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, a major…

The quantity/quality debate is something we, as businesses, product creators and economic stewards, often face. Do we focus on high-quality/low-unit development or sacrifice some quality for the scalability of mass output? Both have their benefits and challenges. But sometimes a situation calls for quality and quantity in equal measure and striking a balance isn’t always easy. At the First Session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), the highest state organ of power in China, from March 5 to 13, steadying and growing the economy was perhaps the most important topic of discussion and deliberation. In short, the message from the country’s leadership was that China is planning a course for a GDP growth of approximately 5 percent in 2023. But this must be “quality” growth as well. “While the…

The world features different types of democracy, with the concept rooted in the history, tradition and culture of each country. But how can we evaluate whether a country’s political system is, in fact, democratic? Democracy must give people the opportunity to participate in the process of their country’s development. It must be effective and change people’s lives for the better. Also, the people should be the judges of their own political systems. Whole-process people’s democracy is a socialist form of democracy developed by and in China. It is a holistic and systemic concept. It is not only a procedural concept but also a substantive one. It is not only about the right to vote, but also about the right to participate. The annual Two Sessions are the most important political…

It might be challenging for many people to name China’s non-communist political parties and understand the differences between them. On March 5, the heads of the central committees of these parties attended a press conference on the sidelines of the First Session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top political advisory body. The press conference was an opportunity to introduce how these organizations participate in China’s system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). While speaking at the press conference inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Cai Dafeng, Chairperson of the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD), pledged to raise the party’s capacity to deliberate…

With sprawling views of lush green gardens and the distant glistening of sunlight dancing on the harbor’s deep waters, Xiamen University, located in the eponymous city in the southeastern province of Fujian, possesses what is arguably one of the most beautiful college campuses in all of China. Crisscrossing the site, if you squint—and give your imagination full rein—you just might be able to envisage yourself sauntering along Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard. Marnix Groot, a Dutch airport development expert, who spent almost a decade living and working in China—and who is also a dear friend of this author—studied at the renowned institution in 2003 and reminisces fondly of his time spent there. “Mind you, this was 2003. China wasn’t exactly ‘in the picture’ the way it is today,” Groot told Beijing Review.…

The oracle bone script, inscribed on pieces of bone or tortoise shell used for divination in the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.), is the earliest known form of Chinese writing. Juyan Hanjian is a collection of wood and bamboo slips recording texts from the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) unearthed in the ruins of the ancient town of Juyan, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Dunhuang Manuscripts are a variety of religious and secular documents drafted between the fifth and 11th centuries and found at the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu Province. The archives of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties are the most complete archives of ancient Chinese dynasties that have ever been recovered. These four cultural heritage items, all discovered in the early 20th century, have long been scattered…

RACE WALKER SETS NEW RECORD Race walker He Xianghong, 24, dominated the men’s 35-km race and improved the Asian record by 20 seconds during the opening leg of the Chinese National Race Walk Grand Prix, held in Huangshan, Anhui Province, on March 4. He maintained a fast and steady pace throughout the race and continued to extend his lead before wrapping up the overwhelming victory in two hours, 22 minutes and 55 seconds. His winning time not only shattered his own national record of 2:24:45, but also beat the Asian record of 2:23:15, set by Japan’s Masatora Kawano at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, the U.S., and is 19 seconds faster than Italian world champion Massimo Stano’s winning time at that event. He’s win was selected by…

According to a report on the national air quality by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, from January to December 2022, cities at and above the prefecture level saw 86.5 percent of days with air quality at moderate or good levels. The former level refers to an air quality index between 51 and 100 and therefore acceptable air quality; the latter to an index of 50 or below, with air pollution posing little or no risk. In 2012, that percentage stood at just 40.9. As air quality improves, a host of new expressions have become all the rage—such as “low carbon,” “reducing your transportation footprint,” and “green is gold.” People are also getting into the habit of, for example, turning off the lights when not using them or setting their…

The revered 20th century painter and art educator Liu Haisu once said: “As beautiful as the moon stitched with threads of clouds, Miao embroidery outshines the needlework of nature.” The embroidery of China’s Miao minority, an ethnic group mainly residing in the country’s southern regions, is a remarkable artistic tradition spanning 2,000 years and involving a myriad of complex stitches that lend it its unique features, which are very different from, for example, traditional Han Chinese embroidery. Pan Yuzhen, a Miao embroidery artisan now well into her 70s, had almost never left her hometown in the southwestern province of Guizhou—until she met Beijing-based entrepreneur Xia Hua in 2003. When visiting the village where Pan lived, Xia promised to help promote the local embroidery works both at home and overseas. Years…

An extensive musical journey has taken Ivet Curbelo onto multiple stages and into many genres, offering Chinese audiences nationwide a chance to enjoy her melodies. Although the Cuban singer and violinist has spent 20-plus years—roughly half her life—in China, the country did not feature in her original life blueprint. The opportunity presented itself with the opening of the first Argentine restaurant in Shanghai. The owners were looking to set their dining experience to a vibrant soundtrack and traveled to Cuba in search of a band that would fit the bill. “I didn’t think there was room for Latino culture in a country with so much traditional culture,” Curbelo admitted, quickly adding “but the proposal to be a violinist in a traditional Cuban group seemed like a fantastic opportunity to get…

In recent years, smart watches for kids have been gaining popularity with children and parents alike in China, thanks to their many useful features. Currently, 30 percent of Chinese children aged between 5 and 12 have a smart watch, and this proportion is much higher among urban children. Although children’s smart watches do help parents locate their children and contact them, which is usually the reason parents buy them in the first place, hidden concerns about these watches have gradually been brought into the spotlight. Numerous smart watch features not only distract children’s attention from schooling, but also lure them into making unnecessary purchases and put their privacy at risk. Lu Na (www.thepaper.cn): Smart watches are not necessarily the monsters in this situation. They make life more convenient for both…

In July 2022, then 23-year-old Zheng Linghua from Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province suffered tremendous online backlash after a photo she posted on popular lifestyle app Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) of her showing her hospitalized grandfather a graduate school admission letter whilst sporting pink-dyed hair went viral. Some netizens appeared to take offense at her colored hair, flooding Zheng’s account with taunts like “pink haired prostitute” or even suggesting the photo with her beloved grandfather was “the image of a May-December couple.” The cyberbullying led to the young student battling severe depression for six months and eventually taking her own life on January 23. Zheng tried to defend her rights by recording evidence of the abusive comments and trying to pursue legal action. Her lawyer called for an end to the…

For Chinese ophthalmologist Shi Yu, the Latin American country of Guyana offers many new experiences. “This was my first time taking a plane to go and offer medical services in Guyana, and the destination was Lethem,” she wrote. Located on the southwestern border, the city, the largest in south Guyana, is close to Brazil and most locals speak Portuguese. “So it also became my first time using a translation app to communicate with patients,” she explained on her Weixin Moments, the ubiquitous Chinese super app’s Instagram-like feed, on February 26. The doctor from Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital in Jiangsu Province in east China is a member of China’s 18th batch of medical teams dispatched to Guyana more than four months ago. Nearly 600 km from Guyana’s capital Georgetown, Lethem is…

It was a day like so many others in Maqu County of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province in 1979. A Tibetan woman was guiding her cow through the alpine wetland landscape when Wu Xi, in active search of inspiration, spotted the pair and penciled a quick sketch. Decades on, 79-year-old Wu’s eyes still light up with excitement when talking about this particular painting. “Look how I captured the expression on her facial profile—and I did so in just a few minutes,” Wu, a professional painter at Beijing Fine Art Academy, told Beijing Review. Born into a notable and art-loving family in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, in 1943, Wu was imperceptibly influenced by her surroundings. One of her forefathers, Wu Dacheng (1835-1902), was a renowned calligrapher and painter. Her father,…