Innehållsförteckning för Vol.68/No.48 från Beijing Review

Ten years after nearly 200 nations reached the Paris Agreement to address the impact of climate change, the international community is now at a critical juncture. The landmark agreement aims to keep the rise in global average temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and, if possible, below 1.5 degrees Celsius. It requires each party to prepare national action plans known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) every five years. By September 30, only about a third had submitted their new NDCs. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced China’s new round of NDCs in a video address at the UN Climate Summit on September 24. These cover economywide net greenhouse gas emissions for the first time, indicating that China’s climate governance has moved beyond carbon emission control and shifted to…

Forget about oil. The new currency of power is lithium and cobalt for the batteries that power vehicles and smart devices, and rare earth elements for fighter jets and smartphones. The U.S. has launched a comprehensive strategy to secure these resources, changing the role of the earth beneath our feet in the growing great-power rivalry. Securing these resources is no longer a purely economic issue; it is a high-stakes contest that is redefining alliances, fueling resource nationalism, and laying the foundations for prolonged strategic competition with China. From ‘America First’ to ‘Allies Included’ The American awakening on critical minerals began in earnest under the first Donald Trump administration (2017-21). The guiding principle was “America First.” For Trump, dependence on foreign suppliers—especially China—for essential minerals represented an unacceptable strategic vulnerability. His…

On November 11, a two-seat electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, with panoramic windows and 16 propellers arranged around it in a ring, lifted off smoothly for a demonstration flight. Rising to 50 meters, it made a 5-minute loop over Luogang Park in Hefei, capital of Anhui Province, before descending precisely to its starting point. The aircraft, EH216-S, is developed by EHang Holdings, a leading urban air mobility (UAM) company, while its takeoff and landing operations at the park’s UAM center are managed by Hefei Heyi Aviation Co. Ltd., an EHang joint venture. While flying cars remain largely the stuff of science fictions elsewhere, in China they are becoming an everyday reality. Anhui, where this flight took place, is also riding the momentum of a new wave of technological…

The Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, is built on top of a vast and largely undisturbed underground palace, completed in 208 B.C. as the emperor’s final resting place. Home to the world-famous Terracotta Army, much of the palace remains unopened by archaeologists, in waiting until the technology exists to properly preserve the relics inside. Now, the museum is using extended reality (XR) technology to give visitors a tour of the mausoleum’s subterranean secrets. Launched in July, the pioneering XR immersive exhibition, The Sealed Empire: Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum, represents a monumental leap forward in the digital interpretation of historical treasures. Built upon half a century of meticulous archaeological research, the project employs state-of-the-art digital technology to recreate the mausoleum’s underground palace, breathing vibrant life into the Qin…

CHINESE JUDGE ELECTED TO UN APPEALS TRIBUNAL Zhang Lingling, a 44-year-old judge, has been elected as a member of the UN Appeals Tribunal. The election took place on November 17 during the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly. Zhang was the sole candidate from the Asia-Pacific region and her term, lasting seven years, will begin on July 1, 2026. With 15 years’ experience as a senior judge in the Supreme People’s Court, China’s highest court, Zhang has handled thousands of cases and published over 60 papers and monographs. The UN Appeals Tribunal, established in 2009, is a key part of the UN’s internal justice system. Comprising seven judges based at the UN headquarters in New York City, it plays a vital role in protecting the legal rights of UN…

From November 10 to 21, the Brazilian city of Belém, deep in the Amazon rainforest, hosted COP30, the 30th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. To underscore its focus on global climate challenges, Brazil even shifted its seat of government to Belém for the duration of the summit. Yet the most striking development was the absence of a high-level U.S. representative, something not seen in the event’s 30-year history. On his first day back in office earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement once again, a repeat of his first-term decision that the Joe Biden administration reversed in 2021. Branding global warming a green scam, the right-wing leader sent no official delegation…

Cosmetics Industry Regulation The National Medical Products Administration unveiled a series of guidelines on November 17 aimed at deepening regulatory reforms and promoting high-quality development in the domestic cosmetics industry. Measures outlined in the document include strengthened support for industrial innovation and incentives for international cosmetics companies to launch new products in China. Specific measures include streamlining the registration process for cosmetics with new efficacy claims through an “immediate review upon submission” policy, and waiving the requirement for new imported products to submit proof of overseas sales to facilitate their market entry in China. The document identifies fostering the silver economy as a key reform direction in the cosmetics industry, and emphasizes the implementation of electronic product labeling, improving label readability and accessibility, and meeting the needs of elderly and…

Prior to the initiation of each of China’s five-year plans, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee issues a set of recommendations to guide the plan’s final formulation as well as its implementation. As the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) begins next year, the 20th CPC Central Committee met to make and issue its recommendations at its fourth plenary session on October 20-23. One of the standout recommendations made by the committee was giving top priority to further modernizing China’s industrial system. This is the first time the industrial system has been placed in such an important position. A modernized industrial system provides fundamental support for a country’s economic growth. Industrial systems vary from country to country. In the United States, for instance, the most developed sector of its industrial…

Under the vast sky, golden rice stalks sway in the autumn breeze in Tuohula, a township in Wensu County, Aksu Prefecture in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Ayinigeer Tuoheti strides among the ripening crop purposefully, checking it carefully. This 28-year-old computer science graduate’s quiet determination and digital expertise are bridging the gap between her family’s traditional rice business and the digital age. A digital turnaround “When my father looked at me and asked for help, I didn’t think twice,” Ayinigeer told Beijing Review, pausing near a patch of rice ready for harvest. “He built a processing plant in 1994 with his own hands, but his health then weakened and communication with business partners grew difficult, so he needed me.” The Urumqi Vocational University graduate returned home in 2020, expecting to assist…

As 2025 draws to a close, it has become clear that global cinema is in the midst of a significant shift. Ne Zha 2 emerged as the year’s highest-grossing film worldwide, emblematic of a broader trend of Chinese productions continuing to grow in ambition and influence. At the same time, the global box office was shaped less by Hollywood’s legacy franchises than by unexpected newcomers such as F1: The Movie and K-Pop Demon Hunters. In an exclusive interview with Beijing Review reporter Peng Jiawei, Simon Abrams, a New York-based film critic and longtime observer of global cinema, discusses the question of cultural centrality in film franchise building, the strengths and limitations of rising Chinese film franchises, and how the rapid expansion of the domestic film scene fuels a new sense…

Watches from Xiaotiancai, or Little Genius, a leading children’s smartwatch brand, allow users to create their own homepages, add friends, give “likes” and receive a popularity ranking. These metrics are increasingly becoming a way for kids to gauge each other’s social status. Within the Xiaotiancai community, accounts with over 600,000 likes are referred to as “big shots.” Not only does this elevate their social status, but it also attracts a large number of followers. Having a “big shot” as a friend has become a form of social capital for many children. On online platforms, a Xiaotiancai account that has hundreds of thousands of likes can fetch a price of several hundred yuan (dozens of dollars). A series of greymarket activities have proliferated from this: buying friends, artificially boosting likes, buying…