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Matriarchal and matrilineal communities centred around women have existed for centuries in China, India and Indonesia
But a recent influx of tourism, technology and mainstream patriarchal ideas is rapidly changing their way of life
Khasi women leave their village of Nongtraw in India’s northeastern Meghalaya state to collect herbs from the fields. Photo: AFP
While women’s rights may have become a major topic of discussion around the world in recent years, there are female-centric communities that for centuries have distinguished themselves by carving out their own feminist traditions in places such as China, India
and Indonesia.
But many of these matriarchal and matrilineal societies are now struggling to survive, amid threats posed by the modern world such as mass tourism, technology and the infiltration of ideas from mainstream patriarchal society.
In China, for instance, there is a small Mosuo tribe known as the “kingdom of women”.
“Key to the Mosuo culture is their matrilineal family structure, with a basic building block of only members sharing the same female bloodline making up the family … Any male bloodline is not taken into account,” says Choo Waihong, a former Singaporean corporate lawyer who has researched the community for the past decade.
Lugu Lake in China’s Yunnan province is home to the Mosuo tribe. Photo: hemis.fr
At the top of the hierarchy is the grandmother, who is the head of the household. “Her daughters run the home and look after all the children of the female siblings … The sons and grandsons are expected in their supporting role to shoulder the manual tasks required to maintain the farmstead,” Choo says.
Researchers say that there are about 30,000 to 40,000 Mosuo people – most of whom live in the far eastern foothills of the Himalayas in Yunnan, southwest China. This unique community has come together in a series of villages dotted around a mountain and Lugu Lake, while growing numbers have moved out to work in larger towns and cities elsewhere in the country.
According to Choo, author of the book The Kingdom of Women: Life, Love and Death in China’s Hidden Mountains, the most distinctive facet of this community that sets it apart from mainstream society is the absence of formal marriage arrangements between men and women. Instead, they have “walking marriages”, where the man goes to the woman’s home, spends the night with her and then leaves the following morning.
The Kingdom of Women: China’s ‘lost tribe’ of matriarchs, the Mosuo
15 Mar 2017
The couple can choose to have a temporary or even a permanent arrangement as partners, but they are not bound by marriage ties. If they have children, the baby belongs to the woman’s household. “In fact, the man is not considered part of the matrilineal family and his ties to the baby do not determine the social place of the baby,” the researcher says.
Such a society, where women are not subjected to men and sexual freedom is an intrinsic part of their culture, is so radically different from mainstream patriarchal family structures that the Mosuo tribe has been examined and studied over time. More recently, its unique features have also become an eye-catching selling point for the local tourism industry.
TOURISM INDUSTRY
The Mosuo tribe used to live off the land by farming, herding and hunting. But many families now rely on tourism after the tribe’s culture and Lugu Lake became more popular and widely known.
“Tour buses on fancy freeways and planes arriving at a new airport bring more and more tourists daily to turn the whole area into a busy travel playground,” Choo says. “Every household around the lake is involved one way or another with the hotel, restaurant and tour guide industries.”
While the tourism industry has brought money and better food for most families as well more access to educational opportunities for their children, it is also posing a serious threat to their culture and traditional ways of life.
“The greatest challenge for the tribe is their rapid transition from living a rudimentary subsistence farming way of life right into a burgeoning modern middle-class existence within a short span of 20 or so years,” Choo says.
Mosuo people pictured at a wedding ceremony with an all-meat feast in 2013. Photo: Shutterstock
The Mosuo are now being bombarded not only by mainstream traditional Chinese values, but also by new economic values connected to money and the digital economy. “That is a lot to take in for people who had no writing to support their oral language … and only had primary schools for their children not so long ago,” she says.
Older Mosuo are now being pushed to learn Mandarin in order to keep up with the younger generations.
At the same time, the researcher says, “their long-held cultural beliefs and principles are evolving as the young generation gets exposed to the outside world and start to question the old ways of doing things.”
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Walking marriages are not as common, with more youngsters getting married and forming nuclear families. “Large matrilineal families which were the norm are now breaking up into smaller nuclear families. All this dilutes the traditional matrilineal Mosuo family structure,” Choo says.
“The central place of the female in old Mosuo society is slowly being affected, as the male Mosuo are beginning to entertain some patriarchal outlook in the face of outside cultural influences.”
China may have radically reinvented itself in recent decades, but the changes to the Mosuo tribe have been nearly as dramatic. “The world of the Mosuo when I first ventured into their midst 12 years ago is a distant past as I look [today in 2020] at how they have changed,” Choo says.
PATRIARCHY IN DISGUISE
There are dozens of female-centric communities scattered around the world. The Garo and Khasi tribes, which are also traditionally matrilineal societies, can be found mostly in India.
In a Khasi family, the youngest daughter inherits the ancestral property, while in the Garo community, women also inherit property, but don’t necessarily have to be the youngest daughter of the family.
Caroline Marak, former head of the Garo Department at the North Eastern Hill University in India, says that the Garo are female-oriented, but not female-dominated. Women “have no part in the field of administration decision-making”, she wrote in an academic paper.
In recent years, the husbands of Garo women who are property owners have had a greater say over land deals, such as with government. “We are now trying to reclaim our rights from the males,” says Sume Sangma, secretary of the Garo Mothers Union NGO. “Women in the community are self-reliant and we are fighting for their real power.”
Khasi women wash leaves for cooking in the village of Nongtraw in India’s north-eastern Meghalaya state. Photo: AFP
Tiplut Nongbri, from the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research at the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, also says women don’t have much authority in Garo and Khasi societies. “Patriarchy is in disguise in both the communities. The societies are matrilineal only as far as descent, residence and inheritance of property are concerned,” she says. “Women are not allowed to take part in politics.”
RG Lyngdoh, former home minister of Meghalaya – the hilly state in north-eastern India where both communities are based – says inward migration and the presence of Christian missionaries in the state have affected traditional lifestyles. “The old practices of equity between males and females have eroded,” Lyngdoh says.
“This has led to a perception of inadequacy among the males, [creating] discord within the family, which found expression in many negative ways, such as domestic violence and abandonment of wives, which never existed within the Khasi community.”
Gertrude Lamare, a member of the Khasi-Jaintia community now pursuing her PhD in anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, argues that “with families becoming more nuclear, women do have a huge role in the decision-making process”.
A Khasi woman walks in the rain with children past a paddy field along the Assam-Meghalaya state border in India. Photo: AP
Researchers have estimated that there are 1 million Garo in India and
, and 1.7 million Khasi in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills.
Some of them have become increasingly wary of outsiders preying on their natural resources, which are dwindling, thanks to deforestation and climate change.
Another challenge these communities are facing has to do with the growing trend of mixed marriages. “In recent years, children of a Khasi or Garo mother and non-tribal father [have] not [been] welcomed. The males in the family want their women to marry within the tribal community,” researcher Nongbri says, noting that younger generations are going through an identity crisis.
STILL PROUD
The world’s largest known matrilineal society today is believed to be in Indonesia: the Minangkabau, also known as Minang. Their community of about 8 million is scattered around the world, but most are in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province. While traditionally animist, they were later influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism, and most have since embraced Islam.
But much like the others, their community is also changing.
Nursyirwan Effendi, dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Science at Andalas University, says that many of those who remain in villages and rural areas still hold tight to the tribe’s values.
“Women are central in the distribution of assets, such as rice fields, gardens and [houses], from their ancestors,” he says.
Dancers pose during the 2018 Minangkabau art and culture festival in Batusangkar, West Sumatra. Photo: AFP
Traditionally, Minangkabau women play an essential role in their children’s education and hold inheritance rights, while men are expected to take jobs elsewhere and occupy political and religious positions. When they do get married, the man moves to the woman’s house.
But Nursyirwan, who is of Minangkabau descent, notes that many have left for bigger cities, where they do not closely follow the community’s traditions.
An example of this is Afrianto Sikumbang, a 53-year-old businessman who was born to Minangkabau parents in West Sumatra province but now lives in the capital, Jakarta. Although he married a Minangkabau woman, he says they “don’t really apply” the tribe’s values in their daily life.
Sonya Anggraini, 35, who also works in the capital, has got used to city life, but remains proud of her ancestral roots and hopes that Minangkabau culture will persist for years to come.
“I am a member of my mother’s family, not of my father’s,” she says. ■
The article comes in the wake of the most violent riots to take place in capital, Delhi, in decades.
Mr Singh also referred to slowing growth and the possibility of a coronavirus outbreak.
More than 50 Indians have died in recent religious riots sparked by clashes over a controversial citizenship law in Delhi.
“The India that we know and cherish is slipping away fast. Wilfully stoked communal tensions, gross economic mismanagement and an external health shock are threatening to derail India’s progress and standing,” Mr Singh wrote.
He said he worried deeply that “this potent combination of risks may not only rupture the soul of India but also diminish our global standing as an economic and democratic power in the world”.
Mr Singh, who belongs to the main opposition Congress party, was the prime minister from 2004 to 2014.
Mr Singh said it was “well accepted” that a lack of new investment from the private sector only highlighted a “floundering” economy.
“Social harmony, the bedrock of economic development, is now under peril. No amount of tweaking of tax rates, showering of corporate incentives or goading will propel Indian or foreign businesses to invest, when the risk of eruption of sudden violence in one’s neighbourhood looms large.”
The former prime minister said a lack of investment meant fewer jobs and lower incomes, leading to diminished demand in the economy.
“A lack of demand will only further suppress private investments. This is the vicious cycle that our economy is stuck in.”
Media caption GDP: Why India’s growth rate is shrinking rapidly
Mr Singh also addressed the threat of coronavirus in India, saying the country needs a “full-scale operation” to deal with the health crisis. He warned that an outbreak would have a significant impact on Indian business.
“India’s economic growth was already tepid and this external health shock is bound to make things much worse.”
Mr Singh concluded his article with some advice to the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, saying they must “reassure” the country.
He said the government should embark on a “three-point plan”: containing the coronavirus threat, withdrawing or amending the citizenship law and a fiscal stimulus to boost demand and revive the economy.
SEOUL (Reuters) – Makers of soju, South Korea’s national drink and one of the world’s best selling spirits, are jumping into the fight on the largest outbreak of coronavirus outside China by sharing their stockpiles of alcohol with makers of sanitisers.
Disinfectants, such as hand sanitisers, are flying off the shelves, along with medical-grade masks, as infections in South Korea have surged past 5,000 in just over a month since its first patient was diagnosed.
South Korean soju makers have responded to soaring ethanol demand for sanitisers by donating the alcohol that goes into the drink, a distilled spirit with 17% to 20% alcohol by volume traditionally based on rice, but now often wheat or potatoes.
“Ethanol demand for disinfection has grown while supply is limited…we have decided to provide it,” an official of Daesun Distilling, based in the southeastern city of Busan, told Reuters.
To banish the virus, the company has pledged to donate 32 tonnes of ethanol for use in disinfecting buildings and public places in Busan and southeastern Daegu, the city at the centre of South Korea’s outbreak.
“We plan to keep donating until the coronavirus outbreak is stabilised and to donate 50 tonnes more,” added the official, who sought anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media.
South Koreans drink an average of about 12 shots of soju each week, media say, citing industry figures. Ethanol for alcoholic drinks can be produced by fermentation or distillation, typically from grains and plants.
The chemical can also be made from petrochemical feedstock.
Whether used for liquor or disinfection, both have the same chemical structure and can break apart the virus particle, said Lee Duckhwan, a chemistry professor at Sogang University in Seoul, the capital.
“If there’s any difference, that is the liquor tax imposed on ethanol produced by liquor makers,” Lee said.
The virus fears boosted February sales of soaps and hand sanitisers, including those with an alcohol base, to four times the level a year ago, data from a major retailer Lotte Mart shows. Shares of ethanol producers also jumped.
Following Daesun Distilling, Hallasan Soju, based on the resort island of Jeju, also provided 5 tonnes of ethanol to authorities on Tuesday, a company official said.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption Authorities are also asking overseas Chinese to reconsider travel plans
Travellers from countries with severe coronavirus outbreaks who arrive in some parts of China will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine, state media say.
Travellers from the virus hotspots of South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy arriving in the capital will have to be isolated, a Beijing official has said.
Shanghai and Guangdong announced similar restrictions earlier.
Authorities are worried the virus might be imported back into the country.
Although most virus deaths have been in China, Monday saw nine times more new infections outside China than in.
Shanghai said it would require new arrivals from countries with “relatively serious virus conditions” to be isolated, without naming the countries.
Authorities are also asking overseas Chinese to reconsider travel plans.
“For the sake of your family’s health and safety, please strengthen your precautions, carefully decide on your travel plans and minimise mobility,” officials in one southern Chinese province said.
China reported 125 new virus cases on Tuesday – the lowest number of new daily infections in six weeks. There were also 31 more deaths – all in Hubei province, where the virus emerged.
In other developments:
Finance ministers from the G7 countries have said they are “ready to take action”, including fiscal measures to aid the response to the virus and support the global economy
The Pope, who had cancelled a Lent retreat for the first time in his papacy because he was suffering from a cold, has tested negative for the virus, Italian media report
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has put the country into a “state of war” and ordered all government departments to shift to a 24-hour emergency system
Jailed British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is in good health, Iran’s judiciary has said. She was assessed after her husband said she was showing symptoms of Covid-19
Media caption Julie, who lives in Singapore, was diagnosed with coronavirus and then put into isolation
How are different countries affected?
There are now almost 90,000 cases worldwide in about 70 countries, although the vast majority – just under 90% – remain in China, and most of those are in Hubei province where the virus originated late last year.
Of the nearly 8,800 cases outside China, 81% are in four countries – Iran, South Korea, Italy and Japan.
One of the countries worst affected outside China – Italy – said on Monday that the death toll there had risen by 18 to 52. There are 1,835 confirmed cases, most of them in the Lombardy and Veneto areas of the north. Nearly 150 people are said to have recovered.
However, the country is seeing a slowdown in new cases. On Monday, the authorities said there were 258 new cases of the virus – a 16% increase on the previous day – after new cases spiked by 50% on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Iran said the latest death toll from the virus was 77 – although the real figure is believed to be much higher. More than 2,300 people are said to be infected, including senior political figures. The head of Iran’s emergency medical services, Pirhossein Kolivand, was one of them, the Ilna news agency reported on Tuesday.
Some 23 MPs are also reported to have tested positive for the virus, and an official close to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was reported on Monday to have died of the disease.
Health officials in the US state of Washington said on Monday that four more people had died, bringing the total there to six. They are the only deaths in the US so far. Local officials say they are buying a hotel to convert it into an isolation hospital.
On Tuesday, Ukraine confirmed its first case of coronavirus, while Portugal, Iceland, Jordan, Tunisia, Armenia, Latvia, Senegal, Morocco and Andorra confirmed their first cases on Monday.
How deadly is Covid-19?
The WHO says the virus appears to particularly affect those over 60, and people already ill.
In the first large analysis of more than 44,000 cases from China, the death rate was 10 times higher in the very elderly compared to the middle-aged.
Most patients have only mild symptoms and the death rate appears to be between 2% and 5%, the WHO said.
By comparison, seasonal flu has an average mortality rate of about 0.1%, but is highly infectious – with up to 400,000 people dying from it each year.
Other strains of coronavirus, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers), have much higher death rates than Covid-19.
In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged, the authorities earlier announced that some non-residents would be allowed to leave if they showed no symptoms of the virus.
However, local officials now say that order was made without authorisation and has been revoked.
The city has been in lockdown since January 23, with authorities cutting off transport links in and out of the city.
More than 2,500 people have died from the virus in mainland China, with some 77,150 cases confirmed cases reported.
Image copyright AFPImage caption A worker sprays disinfectant to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus at a market in Seoul
What is the situation in North Korea?
North Korea has not confirmed any cases but the country shares a long and often porous border with China. There are concerns that North Korea, which is subject to international sanctions, lacks the health infrastructure to test and treat those infected and that any outbreak could quickly spread unchecked.
At the moment, all foreigners coming into the country must be quarantined for 30 days.
There are relatively few foreigners in North Korea, and only around 200 Westerners, according to one expert.
North Korean authorities have also cancelled the annual Pyongyang marathon, which typically sees people from all over the world participating.
Around 3,000 people in North Pyongan province – a north-western region bordering China – are also now under monitoring for reportedly showing suspected symptoms, said state media.
What about South Korea?
Media caption People in Daegu have voiced concern over the spread of the virus
South Korea has the largest number of confirmed cases outside China, after a huge spike in the past week.
Before last Wednesday, the country had recorded just 31 cases. That number has now jumped to 763.
Eight new cases of the virus have been reported in the army, and one in the navy, air force and marine corps – bringing the number to 11.
But the biggest virus clusters have been linked to a hospital and a religious group near the south-eastern city of Daegu.
A handful of South Korea airlines, including Korean Air Lines – the country’s biggest airline – has suspended flights going to Daegu, which has a population of around 2.5m.
Korean Air says the suspension will last until March 27
What’s happening in Italy?
Italian officials have introduced sweeping measures to control what is now the worst outbreak of the coronavirus in Europe – at least three people have died and more than 150 cases confirmed.
In the regions of Lombardy and Veneto, a lock-down is in place in several small towns. For the next two weeks, 50,000 residents will not be able to leave without special permission.
Even outside the zone, many businesses and schools have suspended activities, and sporting events have been cancelled – including several top-flight football matches.
Officials have yet to find the first carrier of the virus in the country.
World edges closer to coronavirus pandemic
Analysis by Fergus Walsh, medical correspondent
The combined situation in South Korea, Iran and Italy points to the early stages of pandemic. This means a global outbreak, with the coronavirus spreading in the community in multiple parts of the world.
In each of these countries we are seeing spread of the virus with no connection to China. The lockdown efforts in Italy mirror those that have happened in China.
The situation in Iran is especially worrying, because the health authorities have reportedly said the virus has spread to multiple cities, and it appears the first case in Lebanon is linked to a traveller from Iran.
If we have a pandemic, it will still be important to limit the speed of spread of the virus.
If countries could hold it somewhat at bay until the end of winter, there is a hope that warmer temperatures will reduce the time the virus can survive in the air, as we see with seasonal flu. But this may not be certain.
What’s the latest from Iran?
Iran said on Sunday it had 43 confirmed cases of the virus, most of them in the holy city of Qom. Eight of those infected have died, the highest number of deaths outside China.
Iraq, Pakistan, Armenia and Turkey have closed their borders with Iran, and Afghanistan has suspended air and road travel to and from Iran.
What about China, where the outbreak started?
China’s President Xi Jinping has described the outbreak as the “largest public health emergency” in the country’s recent history.
Speaking on Sunday, he acknowledged “shortcomings” in China’s response and said lessons must be learned.
China reported 409 new infections on Monday, the bulk of which were from Wuhan.
But outside China, cases with no clear link to that country or other confirmed cases continue to rise, prompting concern from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh in Vientiane, Laos, Feb. 19, 2020. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)
VIENTIANE, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) — Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met here Wednesday with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh, with both sides pledging to further promote bilateral ties and jointly advance Lancang-Mekong cooperation.
Wang is in Vientiane, capital of Laos, for the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Coronavirus Disease and the fifth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
During the meeting with Pham Binh Minh, Wang said that under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core, the whole party and the whole country are rallying together to counter the COVID-19 epidemic.
Thanks to the arduous efforts, China’s measures to prevent and control the epidemic have been achieving visible progress, he noted.
It is necessary for China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), linked by mountains, rivers and waters and sharing weal and woe, to timely share information and work together to tackle the epidemic so as to safeguard people’s health of China and ASEAN countries, Wang said.
Vietnam, as the ASEAN chair, has made active response to China’s proposal to hold the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Coronavirus Disease, Wang said, noting that it testifies to the fine tradition of their shared spirit of “good neighbor, good friend, good comrade and good partner” as well as supporting and helping each other, he said.
Wang expressed belief that the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Coronavirus Disease to be held Thursday will achieve success, thus sending out an explicit message that China and ASEAN countries will overcome difficulties with concerted efforts.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Vietnam, Wang said, noting that the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership has entered into a critical phase of inheriting the past and ushering in the future.
He called on the two sides to carry forward the friendly cause initiated by past generations of leaders of both sides, implement the important consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, maintain high-level strategic communication and advance exchanges and cooperation across the board and at sub-national levels.
He also said that the two countries should properly manage and control differences, steadily promote practical cooperation in various fields and well uphold the common strategic interests of the two socialist countries.
China attaches great importance to the Lancang-Mekong cooperation, Wang said, adding that China stands ready to work together with the Vietnamese side to actively develop greater synergy between the Lancang-Mekong cooperation and the construction of the “new land-sea corridor” so as to give a boost to the economic development of the Mekong River areas.
Pham Binh Minh, for his part, said Vietnam speaks highly of the efforts China has made in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, believing that the Chinese government and the Chinese people will tide over the difficulties and win the fight.
Minh told Wang that those in Vietnam affected by the virus have almost recovered.
He said his country is willing to work together with China to ensure that the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Coronavirus Disease will be held successfully here on Thursday.
Noting that the development of bilateral relations has maintained good momentum for the time being, Minh hoped that the two sides will boost strategic coordination, jointly hold activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic ties between the two countries and promote the cooperation in all fields so as to make greater achievements.
He said Vietnam is willing to strengthen mutual political trust with China, properly handle maritime issues and encourage the cooperation between localities of the two countries, especially in the border areas.
Minh also said his country is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China within the framework of multilateralism.
Vietnam applauds the achievements made in Lancang-Mekong cooperation and is ready to join hands with China to advance the mechanism, he added.
LUCKNOW (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to “drain the swamp” of lobbyists and elites in Washington D.C. Now, one Indian city is racing to clean up a stagnant river as he prepares to visit.
Trump arrives in India on Feb. 24 on a maiden two-day trip that aims to repair bilateral relations hurt by a trade spat.
He plans to visit the western city of Ahmedabad and India’s capital New Delhi, as well as Agra, where he will view the famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal, at sunset.
In the city, authorities are on a clean-up drive, including the polluted waters of the Yamuna river, that backs on to the monument complex.
Jal Singh Meena, an officer with the Agra Ganga Nahar, the government body that manages the canal network that feeds into the Yamuna in Agra, said on Thursday an additional 17 million litres of water are being released from three locks in the week preceding Trump’s visit on Monday- more than double the usual amount.
The extra flow had been ordered “to keep it clean and remove the foul smell,” he told Reuters.
On Thursday, workers scrubbed walls and fountains at the monument, commissioned in 1632 by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his late wife Mumtaz, TV channels showed.
India’s best-known attraction, the Taj Mahal is visited by nearly seven million tourists a year, according to official data, but has been blighted by overcrowding and pollution.
Along with polluted water, authorities are battling some of the world’s filthiest air that stains the white marble of the monument, and increasingly aggressive troops of monkeys that have been known to attack visitors.
District authorities have denied local media reports they have relocated some of the more troublesome primates for the visit, and that a bridge on a proposed route taken by Trump will be unable to bear the weight of his armour-plated limousine known as “The Beast”.
China was widely expected to announce a gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for 2020 of ‘around 6 per cent’ following 6.1 per cent growth in 2019
Zhang Yansheng, who is an adviser to China’s economic policymakers, says ‘there will definitely be adjustments’
(190305) — BEIJING, March 5, 2019 (Xinhua) — Xi Jinping (C, front), Li Keqiang (3rd R, front), Wang Yang (3rd L, front), Wang Huning (2nd R, front), Zhao Leji (2nd L, front), Han Zheng (1st R, front) and Wang Qishan (1st L, front) attend the opening meeting of the second session of the 13th National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)
China may revise down its annual economic growth target for 2020 in response to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, but will still not give up the overall target of maintaining economic growth “in a reasonable range”, according to a Chinese government researcher.
The Chinese government has never officially published its goal for 2020, but it is widely expected that the specific gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for 2020
would be “around 6 per cent”, marking a potential slight slowdown from 6.1 per cent growth in 2019 but enough to achieve Beijing’s grand goal of doubling the size of its economy in 2020 from 2010.
China’s 2020 growth target was originally to be released during Premier Li Keqiang’s government work report at the National People’s Congress, but the March 5 annual parliamentary meeting is set to be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“There will definitely be adjustments. For the central government, it hasn’t defined what the ‘reasonable range’ should be after the outbreak of coronavirus. People are still watching how the outbreak will develop and influence the economy,” Zhang Yansheng, the chief research fellow at the Beijing-based think tank, the China Centre for
International Economic Exchanges, told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.
As for the final GDP target figure, we have to be true to facts. The GDP target was not a compulsory requirement but a soft forecast figureZhang Yansheng
“As for the final GDP target figure, we have to be true to facts. The GDP target was not a compulsory requirement but a soft forecast figure – strictly speaking, a forecast figure could be revised three or four times in a year.”
Zhang, though, referenced the fact that 29 of China provincial-level regions, out of a total of 31, had published their 2020 economic growth targets at the Central Economic Work Conference in December.
“The direction and the goals are clear. It’s not the case that people have not known what they should do this year,” added Zhang, who is an adviser to China’s economic policymakers.
has repeatedly said over the last two weeks that China will still strive to achieve its economic and social development goals for 2020 despite the outbreak, which has claimed over 1,800 lives and infected over 70,000 people, and remain on course to build the country into a “comprehensively well-off society”.
China to postpone the year’s biggest political gathering amid coronavirus outbreak
One key aspect of that vision is that China will double the size of its GDP in 2020 from 2010, which would require a minimum 5.6 per cent growth rate in 2020, although Beijing has never clearly defined the full details of the goal.
On Tuesday, Ren Hongbin, vice-chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, said that the annual production goals and reform tasks set earlier in the year for state-owned enterprises would also not change despite the outbreak.
“The impact of the epidemic is temporary and phased, will not change the long-term positive fundamentals of the Chinese economy,” he said.
We should neither view 6 per cent as a red line nor take doubling the GDP size as a bottom line Song Xiaowu
Before the country fell into an economic standstill around the extended Lunar New Year holiday as the virus spread from the city of Wuhan, economists and analysts have been engaged in a heated debate over whether China needs to keep its growth rate above 6 per cent in 2020.
Song Xiaowu, former president of the China Society of Economic Reform, a state-backed think tank, said at a forum on Saturday that China’s GDP growth rate could drop to 3 per cent in the first quarter and 5 per cent for the whole of 2020.
“We should neither view 6 per cent as a red line nor take doubling the GDP size as a bottom line,” said Song, in a speech published by the China Development Research Foundation, who organised the forum.
KONNEY/NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) – Bussa Krishna first began worshipping Donald Trump four years ago when the U.S. president appeared to him a dream.
Since then, after a run of good fortune, the Indian real estate broker has transformed his modest home into a shrine to the U.S. leader, who is due in India on Monday for a two-day visit.
“My love for him has transformed into reverence. That has given me immense happiness. Hence instead of praying to other gods, I started praying to him,” Krishna told Reuters.
Krishna, who lives alone in a village in the southern state of Telangana, has erected a life-size statue to Trump in his yard, while his walls are scrawled with the leader’s name – to the annoyance of his extended family.
“I am facing difficulties because of my relatives,” Krishna said. “They tell me that I am disgracing them in society. I told them that just like you believe and worship Shiva, I believe and worship Trump. Neither of us can stop the other from doing so.”
Krishna is not the only Indian who reveres Trump.
In New Delhi, members of the Hindu Sena, a right-wing fringe group, have begun rehearsing a welcome song in his honour.
Its members say Trump shares their hatred of Islamic extremism, and it has drawn attention for boisterous celebrations of his birthday, including pretending to feed cake to photos of his face.
“We like Donald Trump because he openly spoke about India’s feelings,” Hindu Sena leader Vishnu Gupta told Reuters. “…He openly said that he would eliminate Islamic terrorism from its roots, that is why I am his fan.”
Trump, who like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a reputation as an unabashed populist who shows his enemies no mercy, is making his first visit to India.
Trump’s itinerary starts on Feb. 24 in the western city of Ahmedabad, where he will visit the former home of independence hero Mahatma and address an estimated 125,000 people at a rally. He is due in the capital the following day.
Elderly resident says he can’t recall this happening in his city before, not even during the Cultural Revolution
Outbreak is expected to deal a heavy blow to businesses, especially smaller eateries, with some already forced to close
Like many elderly Chinese in Guangzhou, He Zhijian was shocked when he heard there was a ban on eating in restaurants, as authorities try to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The 73-year-old has spent his entire life in the southern city, where gathering for dim sum is an important weekly family ritual.
“My wife and I … are used to having dim sum, tea and Cantonese dishes at the local restaurants every week. From memory, this [type of ban] has never happened in Guangzhou before – not even during the Cultural Revolution,” He said, referring to the decade of social and political upheaval from 1966, when food was in short supply.
The ban took effect at 9pm on Wednesday and is part of measures to contain the outbreak of the virus, which causes a disease officially known as Covid-19, and is believed to have started in Wuhan in December. The pneumonia-like illness has so far
Residents can still get takeaway meals in Guangzhou, but they have been encouraged to order online and have them delivered. Photo: He Huifeng
Guangzhou is home to more than 15 million people and a busy trading port, and has been known as China’s most open city since the 1600s. For locals, going to restaurants for yum cha, or “drinking tea”, and dining on dim sum is an important part of the city’s history and culture – a tradition that has been carried through many generations.
“Even in the ‘three years of natural disasters’ [from 1959 to 1961, when China was in the grip of a famine] I remember there were still restaurants open,” He said. “I was really shocked [by the ban]. I guess the epidemic situation must be severe, otherwise Guangzhou definitely wouldn’t introduce this measure.”
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Many people in Guangzhou and across the country went back to work on Monday after an extended Lunar New Year break – another measure to try to stop the virus from spreading – with the government keen for businesses to return to normal operations.
The ban on dining in applies to restaurants, but employees can continue to have meals at their company canteens. And while residents can still get takeaways from restaurants, they have been encouraged to do this online, and have their meals delivered, rather than collecting their orders.
Group gatherings have also been banned in the city, and according to Nanfang Daily, some 126 banquets that would have involved more than 90,000 people have been cancelled by authorities already. The authorities did not say how long the measures would be in place.
Guangzhou is not the only city in Guangdong province to bring in a ban on dining in restaurants – Futian district in Shenzhen, Xiangzhou in Zhuhai, Foshan and Zhongshan have all taken the same step.
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In Guangzhou, while residents try to adapt, businesses are expecting to take a hit. One of the city’s top hotels said the virus outbreak could have a severe impact on the industry.
“Now we will focus on promoting takeaways for local customers. They can order our meals through apps providing online takeaway ordering services,” said Fion Liang, director of sales and marketing at The Garden Hotel. “As for guests staying in the hotel we will deliver meals to their rooms.”
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She said the outbreak did not have a big impact on the hotel’s business in January, because the situation only became severe at the end of the month.
“The impact was definitely much bigger in February. If the epidemic continues to be severe throughout February, the occupancy rate of our rooms will be in the single digits this month,” Liang said. “[Most] hotels in Guangzhou are in the same situation.”
The outbreak is expected to deal a heavy blow to restaurants in the city, especially smaller eateries, and some have already been forced to close. June Zhao, the owner of dumpling restaurant Xi Xi, decided to shut down on Wednesday – the day the eat-in ban was announced.
Prospects had been good for the restaurant – it also sold books and alcohol in the evenings, and its trendy decor drew a young crowd.
“We had just started making money last winter and we were looking forward to earning more over the Lunar New Year holiday. But then the coronavirus came, our turnover fell to several hundred yuan a day, and we lost hope,” she said. “The new ban makes this situation worse – takeaway is not a good choice for dumplings, especially in winter. The losses will continue if we stay open.”
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The ban has also interrupted daily routines. Freelance cameraman Cony Yu, 28, usually spends some of his working day at cafes, but that is no longer possible. “[Now] I don’t have a comfortable place to sit aside from my home – even the parks have all been closed,” Yu said.
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In the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, dining in has also been banned in central Futian district. Zhu Hao, a financial analyst based in the district, has been working from home for a week and ordering takeaway food every day. But he has to collect it from the gate at his residential compound, where security staff check the temperature of anyone entering or leaving.
He is losing patience with the restrictions. “I want to eat out. I want beef hotpot, coconut chicken, Korean barbecue and seafood,” he said.
In other Shenzhen districts, many restaurants and shopping centres have been temporarily closed or can only provide takeaway meals – including fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Starbucks.
Other places have strict rules for customers. At a bread shop, customers must register their ID and phone numbers and have their temperatures checked before they can enter. And for now, all hotpot restaurants have been closed.
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