Innehållsförteckning för Vol.66/No.39 från Beijing Review

Renewable Energy By the end of August, the installed capacity of solar power in China expanded 44.4 percent year on year to 510 million kilowatt (kW), while that of wind power stood at about 400 million kW, representing a yearly increase of 14.8 percent, data from the National Energy Administration (NEA) shows. The country’s installed power generation capacity totaled about 2.76 billion kW by the end of August, rising 11.9 percent year on year, the NEA said. China has enhanced its investment in renewable energy over the years as part of its pursuit of green development. In the first eight months, China’s major power companies invested 187.3 billion yuan ($25.7 billion) in solar power projects, soaring 82.7 percent year on year. Their investment in nuclear and wind power projects reached…

‘Venezuela is going to the Moon!” Gabriela Jimenez, Venezuela’s Vice President and Minister of Science and Technology, wrote in an X (then known as Twitter) post in July, after the country became the first in the Americas to join the China-initiated International Lunar Research Station program. When meeting with visiting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros in Beijing on September 13, Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated the country for deciding to join the program. Noting China attaches great importance to the development of relations with countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region and that next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Forum, Xi said China is ready to work with Venezuela and other countries in the region to…

During an era in which global travel was a grand adventure reserved for the few, the British comic actor Charlie Chaplin and the revered Chinese opera artist Mei Lanfang stood face to face in 1930. Their meeting was transformative—they delved into each other’s artistic worlds, exchanging insights, techniques and stories. This captivating encounter was brought back to life recently in Beijing during the twoday Beijing Culture Forum, which began on September 14, when Eugene Chaplin, the son of Charlie Chaplin, and Mei Wei, the great-grandson of Mei Lanfang, accomplished the meeting their forefathers promised almost 100 years ago. This meeting is an example of the kind of collaboration that facilitates artistic fusion, which enriches the cultures of both nations and contributes to the building of a truly global community. Return,…

First comes phone, then comes phone case—this usual purchasing order seems to be outdated among China’s younger generations. Right after she’d decided to get an iPhone15 following the new model’s official launch in early September, Lin Xiaobai, a white-collar worker in Beijing, bought two phone cases online. She even has a storage box that holds more than 80 cases for her used phones. “Only when the phone is covered by a case, do I feel it is safe,” she told Beijing Review. “The cases first served to protect the phones and then, as more designs came out, they became a way to express myself.” She often changes the cases depending on her mood. “Collecting the cases has become a hobby. I go online to look for updated designs, etc.,” she…

The Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST) Mozi in Lenghu Town, Qinghai Province in northwest China. The telescope, capable of surveying the entire sky of the Northern Hemisphere, became operational on September 17 in Qinghai Province in northwest China. With a diameter of 2.5 meters, it is now the largest time-domain survey facility in the Northern Hemisphere. It is named after the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi, who is believed to be the first person in history to conduct optical experiments.…

UNITED NATIONS Secretary General António Guterres (on stage and on screen) speaks at the opening of the General Debate of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 19 SPAIN A visitor tests the Huawei Watch GT 4 series during Huawei’s new product launch event in Barcelona on September 14 SOUTH AFRICA The Seventh China (South Africa) Trade Fair in Johannesburg on September 20. The event ran from September 20 to 22 BANGLADESH A health worker collects a blood sample from a boy for a dengue test at a hospital in Dhaka on September 18. As of that date, the country had reported 170,768 dengue cases including more than 800 deaths so far this year THE PHILIPPINES A volunteer collects…

Brazilian scholar Filipe Porto is looking forward to a stint in Beijing. Porto, a researcher at Brazil’s Federal University of ABC, is considered a young China hand. Porto visited China in June as part of the 2023 Future Close-Up, a program taking young global representatives around the nation to gain an in-depth understanding of its achievements in developing its digital economy. During the trip, he met with Li Yafang, President of China International Communications Group (CICG) Center for the Americas. At the meeting, Li invited Porto to the Second China-Brazil Forum for Exchange and Mutual Learning, which took place in São Paulo, Brazil, on September 16. Themed New Consensus, New Cooperation, New Future, the forum was cohosted by the CICG Center for Americas and Brazil’s Fundação Getúlio Vargas (Getulio Vargas…

From its geological wonders to its cultural riches, the Hexi Corridor in northwestern Gansu Province is a fascinating part of the ancient Silk Road. It’s the place where the Great Wall ends, and where ancient caves house historical Buddhist treasures, and some of the world’s most colorful land formations impress tourists from China and around the world. A recent journey along the historical trade route skirting the Gobi Desert in Gansu was sponsored by the China Center for International Communication Development and the Information Office of the People’s Government of Gansu Province. The attraction-packed tour for foreign journalists working in Beijing culminated in the city of Dunhuang and the Sixth Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo. The journalists’ tour began at the Jinchuan National Mine Park in Jinchang, where rich…

Rare Diseases Chinese health authorities have recently compiled the country’s second catalog of rare diseases, the National Health Commission announced on September 20. It contains 86 rare diseases of 17 medical specialties, including hematology, dermatology and pediatrics. With its release, China’s catalogs of rare diseases now record 207 diseases. The catalog provides a legal basis for improving rare disease management, enhancing treatment and safeguarding rare disease patients’ rights to health, Zhang Shuyang, President of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said. It will guide future work such as building rare disease treatment capability, boosting the accessibility of medicine and developing a system for protecting patient rights, Zhang added. The country released its first such catalog in May 2018. Skills Competition China’s second Vocational Skills Competition closed on September 19 in Tianjin…

Asprawling bazaar is filled with the scents of spices, perfumes and freshly ground coffee. Brightly colored carpets catch the eye. In the middle of the scene is an unexpected sight: a sleek, single-engine turboshaft helicopter on the ground. Nearby, visitors don exoskeleton robots that allow them to effortlessly lift up to 25 kg. The transition between these two scenes may appear rather abrupt, but both existed side by side at the 20th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit which were held from September 16 to 19 in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the permanent host city of the two annual events. Since their inception, the expo and the summit have jointly constituted a platform for China’s opening up to Southeast Asia and its cooperation with…

The tea forests in Pu’er City, Yunnan Province in southwest China, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on September 17, becoming the world’s first tea culture World Heritage Site. Formally known as the Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er, it is China’s 57th UNESCO World Heritage Site. The local history of tea cultivation dates back more than 1,000 years. Traditional tea-processing techniques and their associated social practices in China were added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022. An ongoing exhibition at the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, which housed China’s imperial palace from 1420 to 1911, in Beijing, showcases hundreds of items that give visitors a glimpse of the country’s millennia-old tea culture.…