Innehållsförteckning för Vol.66/No.36 från Beijing Review

China’s ongoing nationwide anti-corruption campaign in the medical sector has drawn public attention. This campaign began in May when 14 departments, including the National Health Commission (NHC), jointly issued a notice to eliminate improper practices in the procurement and sales of medical products as well as those in medical services. In late July, the NHC and nine other departments jointly launched a yearlong campaign to root out corruption in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. Initial statistics showed that by mid-August, more than 170 hospital heads, as well as a large number of hospital department directors and pharmaceutical executives, had been investigated. Problems in the healthcare sector have always been a matter of public concern, as people should be able to access medical services conveniently and safely at reasonable cost. Attention…

Washington’s aggressive posture of global belligerence is alarming many in the Asia-Pacific region. In July, for the first time since the 1980s, the United States deployed a nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine to the Republic of Korea (ROK). The U.S. and its allies in the region held talks on how to coordinate in the event of a nuclear war with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Rather than seeking to reduce tensions in the Korean Peninsula, President Joe Biden’s administration is doubling down on the militarization of the Asia-Pacific region. While the American “pivot to Asia” policy, an attempt to reassert U.S. geopolitical influence in East Asia amid a shifting regional power balance caused by China’s rise, began with Barack Obama’s administration, the Biden administration’s policy has significantly raised tensions…

Along with the resumption of high-level contact between China and the United States in the past few months, communication and interaction between the two nations’ think tanks have also gained momentum with support from governments of both countries. At a press briefing on June 19, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up his two-day visit to Beijing, Yang Tao, Director General of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said China and the U.S. have agreed to encourage more people-to-people and educational exchanges. On October 8, 2022, Xie Feng, then Vice Foreign Minister and currently Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., met with Scott Kennedy, Senior Advisor of the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He called upon scholars…

Only a few decades ago, the Shiyang River basin in the Hexi Corridor, part of the ancient Silk Road in northwest China, was threatened by expanding deserts. In an arid environment with scarce water resources, overcropping exacerbated the problem. In the 1950s, the region’s Qingtu Lake dried up completely, seemingly swallowed by desert. In 2007, the government introduced plans to improve the ecological environment of the 41,600-squarekm land in Gansu Province, which is home to more than 2.18 million people. In the following years, local authorities promoted afforestation, water conservation projects, water-wise farming as well as the relocation of residents to make the ambition a reality. Today, the basin is an example of water-conserving agriculture and has undergone a major transformation as a result of green initiatives. As of May…

BASKETBALL ICON ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT Chinese basketball star Yi Jianlian announced his retirement from a 21-year professional career on August 29. Yi, 35, began his professional journey in 2002. He clinched seven Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) titles with the Guangdong Southern Tigers and represented Team China in four Olympic Games. Throughout his 625 CBA games, Yi amassed 12,781 points and 6,159 rebounds, becoming the league’s premier all-time rebounder. He is the first domestic player to reach the 10,000-point milestone in regular season play. Yi has been honored with the title of CBA regular season most valuable player (MVP) five times and has been named CBA Finals MVP three times. He was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2007 U.S. National Basketball Association draft. The U.S. teams Yi played for also…

In recent years, the United States has disregarded internationally recognized trade rules and arbitrarily used its hegemony to stifle China’s hi-tech industrial development under the pretext of security. In the hi-tech sector, it not only imposes restrictions on American companies exporting to China, but also uses long-arm jurisdiction to prevent other countries from cooperating with China. From August 1, 2018 to June 14 this year, the U.S. departments of treasury, commerce and defense imposed sanctions on no fewer than 1,141 Chinese companies. In addition, the U.S. is imposing unreasonable requirements that exports of products containing more than 25 percent American technology, or products that do not contain restricted American technology but are deemed to be designed or manufactured using U.S. technology, must receive special government approval before being sold to…

Several adjusted policies boosted China’s A-share market on August 28. On that day, the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration halved the stamp duty on stock trading from 0.1 percent to 0.05 percent, while the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced to slow down the pace of initial public offerings (IPOs), further regulate the share reduction of major shareholders, and approve the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Beijing Stock Exchange to lower the minimum margin ratio of financing for the purchase of securities from 100 percent to 80 percent. Meanwhile, brokerage firms announced that they would lower their commissions. In response to these adjustments, stocks in the A-share market rallied sharply early in the day, but the gains faded later at the close. Chinese A-shares are…

Pang Caiyun, a 59-year-old retired teacher from Baiyin, Gansu Province in northwest China, chose to continue working after retirement. Four years ago, she went to teach at a rural primary school around 300 km away in Tianshui, another city in Gansu. She is one of the teachers participating in the Silver-Age Teacher Plan, launched by the Ministry of Education in 2018 to encourage retired teachers to teach in rural schools to improve rural education. The project is open to retired teachers and school principals under the age of 65, who are willing to teach in the countryside for at least one year. In addition to teaching, they may also be asked to evaluate the work of other teachers, host open lectures or workshops on teaching, provide guidance and to help…

Hangzhou City, the capital of Zhejiang Province in east China known for its picturesque beauty, is home to the Lingyin Temple, one of China’s most famous ancient Buddhist monasteries. Located in the hills of the Wulin Mountains, the temple is surrounded by lush greenery and tranquil streams that make it a popular destination for tourists seeking peace and serenity. The temple was founded in 326 during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Throughout its lengthy history, it was destroyed and rebuilt several times, with the current structure dating to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The temple complex covers an area of 87,000 square meters, comprising various halls, pagodas and grottoes. Legends associated with the site are numerous. One of the legends about the founding of the monastery tells how an Indian monk known…

This year is the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (Vienna Declaration) adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights held by the United Nations in Vienna, Austria. At present, humans are at a historical crossroads. Global human rights governance is facing severe challenges and governance deficits are becoming prominent. Regional conflicts, arms races, terrorism, cybersecurity threats, climate change, food insecurity, energy crises and global poverty are posing increasing challenges to protecting human rights. The North-South gap between developed and developing countries, inequality among countries and uneven development have not been addressed, and hegemonism and unilateralism are greatly impacting global human rights governance. The Vienna Declaration, adopted in the aftermath of the Cold War, draws the experience and lessons from global human rights governance since the…

Fact: About 41.1 percent of Chinese men are overweight or obese, compared with 27.7 percent of Chinese women, according to a study published on August 17 in the medical journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, English-language newspaper China Daily reported. Fact: Like the waistlines of Chinese adults, the girth of the country’s youngest generations, too, continues to expand. Fact: For many young Chinese students, the July-August school vacation is not a time for play, fun excursions, amusement park shenanigans or discovering new, uncharted territory, but rather a period of intense workouts—at weight loss camps. Fitting in Around 8 p.m. on any given day, the following scenario will unfold before the eyes of yours truly at her Beijing compound: a slightly plumper young boy runs around the compound’s fengshui styled garden for…