Innehållsförteckning för Vol.67/No.17 från Beijing Review

Despite recent concerns about China’s economic prospects, the world’s second largest economy looks set to maintain growth. Its performance in the first quarter (Q1) of this year offers a glimpse into its evolving dynamics. The country’s GDP reached 29.63 trillion yuan ($4.09 trillion) in the first three months of 2024, up 5.3 percent year on year, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on April 16 showed. The growth rate was an acceleration of the 5.2-percent growth recorded in 2023. This performance positions China well to meet its target of around 5-percent GDP growth for the full year. The NBS attributed the positive momentum to a rebound in the industrial sector and improvements in the services sector. Specifically, the electric vehicle, solar cell and service robot industries increased…

China’s economy is picking up, presenting an optimistic outlook that stands in stark contrast to the predominantly negative narrative often portrayed by some Western mainstream media outlets. Rather than facing decline, the Chinese economy is undergoing a transition. In some cases, the Western media not only exaggerate China’s economic challenges but also misrepresent them. Since the United States adjusted its policy toward China in 2018, some segments of the Western mainstream media have also started framing Beijing as a competitor and depicting its economic outlook in a negative light. This shift in narrative serves multifaceted purposes, including discouraging trade and investment with China, as well as questioning China’s role in global supply and industrial chains, among others. Previously, many Western media outlets portrayed China as a promising future powerhouse. But…

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. In the midst of the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip, a new round of conflict has erupted between Iran and Israel. On April 14, tensions intensified after Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel in response to Israel’s bombing of an Iranian diplomatic building in Syria’s capital Damascus on April 1, which killed at least one senior figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and six other officers as well as six Syrians. According to the Associated Press, Israel has vowed to retaliate against Iran, risking further expansion of the shadow war into a direct conflict. Concerns are growing globally as the Middle East seems to be descending into more profound chaos. Eye of…

In the bustling neighborhood of Manhattan, nestled inside a building dating back to the 1920s, Heather Guo’s store bears a different tone, allowing visitors to revel in a world of vintage gems. Among her eclectic collections of antique carpets, old Hong Kong movie posters and vintage lamps, the racks packed with brightly colored traditional Chinese qipao immediately catch the eye. In standard Chinese, the modern term qipao refers to a one-piece Chinese dress that has its origins in the 1920s. The 23-year-old entrepreneur and the creative mind behind the store opened Hoeng Gong Silk Co. in the fashionable metropolis of New York City in 2023. Guo went to the U.S. at the age of 14 to attend high school and later majored in classics and art history at New York…

At the National School of Languages, Linguistics and Translation (ENALLT) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in the country’s capital of Mexico City, Sinologist Radina Dimitrova is recognized by both students and colleagues for her dynamic approach as a teacher of Chinese-Spanish translation. She is known for her ability to juggle multiple projects; often, she is already immersed in two new projects while still completing another. Even during the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Dimitrova collaborated with her students to conduct online translation projects. Dimitrova, of Bulgarian origin, shared with China Hoy, a Spanish-language monthly published by China International Communications Group Center for the Americas, that the 15 years she has lived in Mexico “have been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” It was there where,…

A newly passed local regulation in China’s southeastern province of Fujian will allow women to inquire about their spouses’ property portfolio—starting from June 1. To do so, women can submit valid documents such as ID cards, household registrations, which are official documents that record information about a person’s registered permanent residence, and marriage certificates to the local authorities responsible for real estate and vehicle management. Similar regulations are already in effect in, for example, the cities of Jinan, Shandong Province, and Jiangmen, Guangdong Province. These local regulations aim to enhance the protection of women’s rights within marriage. This provision is widely seen as direct support for women, particularly those having to deal with issues of spousal infidelity, divorce or property disputes. But the regulation does operate on the assumption that…

ARCHAEOLOGIST DIES AT 92 Prominent archaeologist Yan Wenming, a distinguished professor at Peking University, passed away at the age of 92 on April 14. Yan was born in Huarong, Hunan Province, in 1932. He graduated from the archaeology program at Peking University in 1958 and remained there to teach, later serving as the head of the Archaeology Department. Yan made significant contributions to the study of the Yangshao culture (c. 5000-3000 B.C.), one of the earliest Neolithic cultures identified in China. During his career, he advocated an interdisciplinary approach combining archaeology with the natural sciences. Yan became the first Chinese recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Shanghai Academy’s Center for World Archaeology during the Fifth Shanghai Archaeology Forum in December 2023. The award recognizes archeologists of global…

In 2023, China and the European Union celebrated the 20th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic partnership. After a hiatus due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, full-scale exchange and dialogue have now resumed across all levels between China and this political and economic union of 27 European countries. In an exclusive interview with Beijing Review, George N. Tzogopoulos, EU-China Program Director at the Centre International de Formation Européenne, an independent institute of higher education and research in Nice, France, shared his views on China’s innovation and growth, Sino-EU relations and economic collaboration, as well as on how regional conflicts affect the world. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow: Beijing Review: China has been developing new quality productive forces, which emphasize technological innovation and industrial upgrades. What’s your understanding of…

Fabulous voyagers! What historiesAre there behind your deep and distant stare!Show us the treasures of your memories,Those jewels and riches made of stars and air. French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-67) wrote these lines in his poem Le Voyage (The Journey in English) to express his admiration for those who had ventured far and seen things hiding well beyond the horizons of their own lives. Baudelaire marveled at the stories told through travelers’ eyes. In the late 19th century, several undaunted Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) explorers left their homeland to discover the Western world—a world of advanced technologies which posed a stark contrast to their familiar surroundings. They documented their observation and usage of different exotic objects. Identical artifacts collected overseas are now on display at Beijing’s renowned Tsinghua University in an…

New business models emerging through the development of Internet and artificial intelligence technologies are becoming major drivers of consumption in China, playing an increasingly important role in boosting economic and social development. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s online retail sales of physical goods grew 11.6 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2024, having maintained double-digit growth for several years in a row. According to Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, the platform hosted 200 million short videos and 9 million live broadcasts per month in 2023, leading to an annual sale of 10 billion items. At present, there are more than 3.6 million vloggers engaged in livestream marketing on Douyin and more than 10 million registered businesses. The Chinese Government encourages new types of…

The Spanish edition of Xi Jinping on the Belt and Road Initiative is helping Latin American countries better understand and participate in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), officials and scholars said at a seminar held for readers to share their ideas in Santiago, Chile, on April 11. “Within the BRI framework, China and Chile have worked together effectively in the construction of infrastructure such as ports, subways and highways, as well as in the development of a science and technology center,” Yu Tao, Vice President of China International Communications Group (CICG), said at the seminar. Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the BRI in 2013 to boost connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. Chile is the first Latin American country to voice support for the…

Of the 439 households in Heya Village, Aksu Prefecture in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, local police officer Elyar Abdulim, who has worked in the village for about a year, is very familiar with 50 of them. His goal is to get to know every villager so he can better understand their needs and help them with their work and daily life. “Public assistance and community service are two of my main tasks. It’s a challenging, fulfilling and touching job for me,” the 29-year-old working at the Heya police office of the Akeqing Border Police Station told Beijing Review. A helping hand Elyar spends most of his days conducting door-to-door visits in Heya, located in the Tianshan Mountains, a range that bisects Xinjiang. He and his colleagues try…

As if in the grip of an unknown force, screens around the world simultaneously began to display one single bold-lettered message on March 25, “YOU ARE BUGS.” The message had cropped up on social media feeds, popped out in the middle of YouTube videos and found its way onto train station schedule boards in Rome and Milan, billboards in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, the dome-shaped Sphere entertainment venue in Las Vegas and the gigantic electronic billboard in London’s Piccadilly Circus. The global takeover allegedly led some to believe a cyberattack was in progress. In reality, it was part of an advertisement campaign for the newly released first season of a Netflix series, 3 Body Problem. Adapted from Chinese novelist Liu Cixin’s sci-fi trilogy The Three-Body Problem, the eight-episode Netflix drama tells…

The Fourth China International cultures, Consumer Products Expo was held in Hainan Province from April 13 to 18. This year, a major focus of the expo was showcasing products that feature elements of China’s regional covering multiple fields such as clothing, food and entertainment. Comments to yanwei@cicgamericas.com…