Posts tagged ‘Beijing’

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03/05/2013

* Xi Jinping’s vision: Chasing the Chinese dream

The Economist: “THESE have been heady days for Chen Sisi, star of a song-and-dance group run by China’s nuclear-missile corps. For weeks her ballad “Chinese dream” has been topping the folk-song charts. She has performed it on state television against video backdrops of bullet trains, jets taking off from China’s newly launched aircraft-carrier and bucolic scenery. More than 1.1m fans follow her microblog, where she tweets about the Chinese dream.

Ms Chen is playing her part in a barrage of dream-themed propaganda unleashed by the Communist Party. Schools have been organising Chinese-dream speaking competitions. Some have put up “dream walls” on which students can stick notes describing their visions of the future. Party officials have selected model dreamers to tour workplaces and inspire others with their achievements. Academics are being encouraged to offer “Chinese dream” research proposals. Newspapers refer to it more and more (see chart in full article). In December state media and government researchers, purportedly on the basis of studies of its usage, declared “dream” the Chinese character of the year for 2012.

It was, however, one very specific usage just before that December publication which set the country dreaming. On November 29th, two weeks after his appointment as the party’s general secretary and military commander-in-chief, Xi Jinping visited the grandiose National Museum next to Tiananmen Square. Flanked by six dour-looking, dark-clad colleagues from the Politburo’s standing committee, Mr Xi told a gaggle of press and museum workers that the “greatest Chinese dream” was the “great revival of the Chinese nation”.”

via Xi Jinping’s vision: Chasing the Chinese dream | The Economist.

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03/05/2013

* Stressed Chinese Leave Cities, Head for the Countryside

BusinessWeek: “Six years ago, Bei Yi did something many people considered crazy. He quit a high-paying job in Shanghai as a manager at an industrial glass company, sold his car and apartment, and left one of China’s most desirable cities. His destination: the town of Lijiang, deep in China’s poor southwest province of Yunnan, once a place of banishment for those who ran afoul of the emperor.

Friends and family were perplexed. “‘How can you come from such a lively, important city and move to a far-off mountain area to live?’ they all asked me. They didn’t understand at all,” recalls Bei, now 34 and proprietor of a guesthouse in Lijiang’s old city, which features rushing streams and ancient alleys. “In some ways, my life in Shanghai would have been considered quite good,” he says, sipping Pu’er tea in the bright sunshine on a recent Friday, with his Old English sheepdog lying nearby. “But I was not happy at all.”

Bei, in Lijiang’s old town, where 95 percent of residents are urban refugees

Bei, in Lijiang’s old town, where 95 percent of residents are urban refugees

Bei’s decision to abandon city life has made him something of a pioneer. Fed up with choking smog, traffic jams, unsafe food, stress, and the general toxicity of life in urban China, a growing number of affluent Chinese are deserting big cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen and settling in remote regions, says Gary Sigley, professor of Asian Studies at the University of Western Australia, who is studying the migration. Bei cites work stress as the No. 1 motivation for his move. (His once-doubting parents have joined him and his wife in Lijiang.)

Although no statistics are available on how many people have moved, Yunnan is a very popular destination. An account of a husband and wife’s decision to leave Beijing and move there was one of the top posts on Sina Weibo (SINA), China’s microblogging site, in late February. Yunnan’s attractions include its tolerance—it’s home to 25 minority groups—and pristine environment. Other than tourism, tea, and tobacco, there is little industry.”

via Stressed Chinese Leave Cities, Head for the Countryside – Businessweek.

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03/05/2013

* China arrests hundreds over fake or tainted meat

BBC: “More than 900 people have been arrested in China for selling fake or tainted meat in the last three months, state media say.

File photo: Meat at a market in China

Officials say they uncovered almost 400 such cases and seized more than 20,000 tonnes of fake meat.

In one case, the suspects made fake mutton from foxes, mink and rats after adding chemicals, state media said.

The report is the latest in a series of cases highlighting food safety issues in China.

In the latest case, examples of wrongdoing included suspects using a hydrogen peroxide solution to process chicken claws or injecting water into meat to increase its weight.

State news agency Xinhua reported the arrests as a part of a national crackdown that will now focus on dairy products.

It also quoted an official as saying that China had “deep-seated food safety problems” that needed to be resolved.

Food safety remains an issue of huge concern for the Chinese public, reports the BBC’s Martin Patience in Beijing.

Last year there were reports that some suppliers to pharmaceutical firms used so-called gutter oil – reprocessed kitchen waste dredged from restaurant drains – to make antibiotics.

Previous cases also involved the use of gutter oil as cooking oil or in food production.

Public concerns also remains over milk products, after a high-profile scandal involving the use of melamine in baby milk formula.”

via BBC News – China arrests hundreds over fake or tainted meat.

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03/05/2013

* Seven key messages from India to China

Let us hope some of these seven messages are heard by Indian policy-makers.

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30/04/2013

* Experts baffled by China-India border stand-off amid improving ties

SCMP: “It’s more than 5,000 metres above sea level, cold, inhospitable, uninhabited, with hardly any vegetation or wildlife in sight. Welcome to the icy desert wastelands of Daulat Beg Oldi, a forgotten pit stop on the Silk Road catapulted to overnight geopolitical fame as two nuclear neighbours vie for its possession in a dangerous game of tactical brinkmanship.

For two weeks now, Chinese and Indian soldiers have been standing eyeball to eyeball, barely 100 metres apart, at this easternmost point of the Karakoram Range on the western sector of the China-India border.

Both sides claim the land as their own in an unusually public show of mutual defiance that threatens to unhinge some of their newfound comity in an otherwise fraught relationship, and cast a shadow on Premier Li Keqiang‘s visit to India next month.

The trouble began when Indian media started reporting a “deep incursion” on April 15 in which a platoon of about 30 Chinese soldiers entered the Daulat Beg Oldi area in the Depsang Valley of eastern Ladakh in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Shrill media reports of Chinese incursions are not uncommon in India, where Sinophobia has been wired deep into the national psyche since a drubbing by China in a border war in 1962. Every time such reports appear, New Delhi’s stock response is that it’s a misunderstanding caused by “perceptual differences”. This time is no different.

A group of activists protest on Saturday against an alleged incursion two weeks ago by about 30 Chinese troops in the Daulat Beg Oldi area in eastern Ladakh of Indian-administered Kashmir. Photo: AP

India and China do not have a real border marked out on the ground as they never got around to negotiating one. What they follow is an undemarcated Line of Actual Control (LAC), but each side has its own perception of where that line actually lies. As a result, it is not uncommon for patrols to stray into each other’s territory. Years of painstaking talks have gone into creating an elaborate mechanism to prevent such transgressions from snowballing, keeping the peace for 25 years.

What is different this time is that none of the standard operating procedures that comprise this peace mechanism seem to be working. These procedures include waving banners to alert the other patrol if it is on the wrong side of the LAC, and meetings between local commanders. This time, two flag meetings have been held but the stalemate continues. New Delhi insists Chinese troops have entered 18 kilometres into Indian territory and must leave. Beijing maintains its soldiers are on the Chinese side of the LAC and won’t budge. And, in an alarming show of strength, both sides have dug in, pitching tents to strengthen their claims.

The confrontation has sent diplomats into overdrive to calm tempers before Li’s India visit as both sides have set much store by the trip. Bilateral trade, barely about US$3 billion in 2000 following decades of shutting each other out after the war, has now reached nearly US$80 billion, making China India’s largest trading partner. The aim is to reach US$100 billion by 2015, with both sides looking for greater access to each other’s markets. They are also increasingly working together in other areas, ranging from environment to energy security.

“Sino-Indian relations are developing very quickly. Li’s visit will be his first foreign trip after taking office, and is in a complete break with protocol, showing the importance China attaches to relations with India,” says Ma Jiali, an India expert at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing.

Li’s choice of India as his first port of call had created a burst of goodwill in India for its symbolism. Going by protocol, it was Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh‘s turn to visit Beijing this year to reciprocate for former premier Wen Jiabao‘s tour in 2011.”

via Experts baffled by China-India border stand-off amid improving ties | South China Morning Post.

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27/04/2013

* China’s retrieval of lost relics needs time

China Daily: “Two bronze animal heads looted from a Chinese royal garden 149 years ago will soon be returned to China, beaming in a ray of hope despite the difficulties the country faces in bringing its treasure trove of cultural relics home.

English: Looting_of_the_Yuan_Ming_Yuan_by Angl...

English: Looting_of_the_Yuan_Ming_Yuan_by Anglo-French forces in_1860 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The family heading French luxury goods retailer Pinault said on Friday in Beijing that it will donate the rat and rabbit busts back to China for free.

The Pinault family is the majority shareholder of PPR, whose brands include Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Puma, and Pinault Group Chairman and CEO Francois-Henri Pinault has just concluded a two-day visit to China with French President Francois Hollande.

Cao Yuming, director of the administration office of the Yuanmingyuan, or Old Summer Palace, from which the two pieces were looted, said the move should encourage the return of more Chinese relics.

Cao described the planned donation as “an observation of international convention, a token of friendship and conducive to bringing more relics home.”

He also said an exhibition of the two pieces is likely to be held in the Yuanmingyuan once approved by the state cultural relics authorities.

The busts were among 12 animal head sculptures that formed the zodiacal water clock decorating the Calm Sea of Yuanmingyuan of Emperor Qianlong(1736-1795).

They were taken by Anglo-French allied forces during the Second Opium War in 1860.

But the two became the center of an international tug-of-war when they were auctioned for $39.6 million in Paris in 2009.

China has repeatedly opposed this auction. A Chinese businessman made the winning bid and then refused to pay on the grounds that the heads belong to his native country.

Five of the 12 bronze animal fountain heads in Yuanmingyuan have returned thus far, and the Pinault donation will take the number to seven. But the whereabouts of the five others remains unknown.

China, along with other countries to have lost cultural relics, is making efforts to repatriate such prized possessions, a drive which has generally received a positive response and support from the international community.

But more efforts are needed. UNESCO believes there are at least 17 million Chinese cultural relics abroad, far exceeding the number in the country’s own museums.”

via China’s retrieval of lost relics needs time |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/historical-perspectives/

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25/04/2013

* Xi Jinping orders generals and senior PLA officers to serve as privates

SCMP: “Chinese generals and senior officers will have to serve as the lowest-ranking soldiers for at least two weeks under a measure by President Xi Jinping to shake up the military and boost morale.

usa_sin109_35189443.jpg

Xi, as the nation’s commander-in-chief, issued the order over the weekend, which the Ministry of National Defence publicised on its website.

It dictates that officers with the rank of lieutenant-colonel or above must serve as privates – the lowest-ranking soldier – for not less than 15 days. Generals and officers will have to live, eat and serve with junior soldiers during the period.

They need to provide for themselves and pay for their own food. They must not accept any banquet invitation, join any sight-seeing tours, accept gifts or interfere with local affairs

“They need to provide for themselves and pay for their own food. They must not accept any banquet invitation, join any sight-seeing tours, accept gifts or interfere with local affairs,” said the directive, which covers both the People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Armed Police.

Leaders of regiment- and brigade-level units have to serve on the front line once every three years. Division- and army-level commanders must serve once every four years. Top leaders from army headquarters and military districts will do so once every five years.

The measure recalls a similar shake-up launched by Mao Zedong in 1958. Mao at the time famously said all military leaders should serve as foot soldiers for a month every year.

He used the chance to strengthen his control of the military and forced many powerful marshals and generals into retirement or exile.”

via Xi Jinping orders generals and senior PLA officers to serve as privates | South China Morning Post.

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25/04/2013

* The Chinese Dream won’t go back to sleep

The Times: “One died in Boston, the other lost her home in Sichuan. Both symbolised the hopes of millions

Last week in different corners of the planet, the lives of two very important Chinese women were ripped apart: one on the streets of Boston, the other under the rubble of the Sichuan earthquake. Both women were living the Chinese Dream. And both could spell big trouble for President Xi Jinping.

Lu Lingzi was a 23-year-old mathematics graduate student at Boston University, who died in the marathon bombing. The hard-working daughter of hard-working, white-collar parents from Shenyang, she was a paragon of the generation that has emerged as China’s economy grows and the new middle classes replicate themselves for the first time in history. Not a single opportunity in Lingzi’s short life was squandered. She battled for internships at banks and accounting firms. The family saved every yuan so that their daughter could study in the United States.

The other woman is Wei Ruqun, a victim of last Saturday’s earthquake. She is alive but has almost nothing to live for. Now 47, Ruqun has toiled in a variety of factories since her teens as one of China’s 260 million migrant workers whose sweat and aspiration have fuelled the country’s industrial engine.

Her career, a diverse list of drudgery that includes assembling cheap goods for export to the West, has won her some tiny shavings from the Chinese economic boom, hard-won dividends of the version of capitalism that Beijing unleashed in the 1980s, which allowed hundreds of millions of peasants to imagine themselves as consumers for the first time. Over the decades Ruqun saved to buy a small house in the village where she was born. On Saturday, a few months after the dream house was finished, it collapsed in the earthquake with family members inside.

The two women’s fates — reported on TV and discussed on Weibo, China’s version of Facebook and Twitter — have humanised for many Chinese people social trends almost too big and fast-moving to think about in the abstract. By studying abroad, Lingzi was fulfilling an increasingly common middle-class dream. Her story has fascinated tens of millions of middle-class Chinese who know someone like her or want to do what she did. Ruqun is one of hundreds of micro-tragedies of the Sichuan quake. Barely an adult in China cannot imagine the agony of losing a house that represents your life savings.

The two women are important for the ease with which ordinary Chinese can empathise with them. But they are politically important too. Both are the creations and creators of what will soon be the largest economy on Earth. The loss of Lingzi and the shattering of Ruqun are personally terrible, but their significance lies in the fact that there are thousands, perhaps millions, of Chinese women like them: all patiently shaping individual aspiration into something real. Their two lives, though different in so many ways, are perfect products of China 2013.”

via The Chinese Dream won’t go back to sleep | The Times.

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25/04/2013

* Southeast Asia to reach out to China on sea disputes

Reuters: “Southeast Asian nations stepped up efforts on Thursday to engage China in talks to resolve maritime tensions, agreeing to meet to try to reach common ground on disputed areas of the South China Sea ahead of planned discussions in Beijing later this year.

A general view of the retreat during the ASEAN Summit at the Prime Minister's Office in Bandar Seri Begawan April 25, 2013. Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered in Brunei's capital for two days beginning Wednesday for their 22nd summit. REUTERS-Ahim Rani

Efforts by ASEAN to craft a code of conduct to manage South China Sea tensions all but collapsed last year at a summit chaired by Cambodia, a close economic ally of China, when the group failed to issue a closing statement for the first time.

Cambodia was accused of trying to keep the issue off the agenda despite a surge in tension over disputed areas and growing concern about China’s assertive stance in enforcing its claims over a vast, potentially energy-rich sea area.

Thursday’s initiative came as the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) tried to patch up differences that shook the group last year, but struggled to make progress on long-held plans to agree on a dispute-management mechanism.

Thailand, which has the role of ASEAN coordinator with China, called for the talks ahead of an ASEAN-China meeting expected in August to commemorate 10 years since they formed a “strategic partnership”.”

via Southeast Asia to reach out to China on sea disputes | Reuters.

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24/04/2013

* China’s Xinjiang hit by deadly clashes

BBC: “Clashes in China’s restive Xinjiang region have left 21 people dead, including 15 police officers and officials, authorities say.

Map

The violence occurred on Tuesday afternoon in Bachu county, Kashgar prefecture.

The foreign ministry said it had been a planned attack by a “violent terrorist group”, but ethnic groups questioned this.

There have been sporadic clashes in Xinjiang in recent years.

The incidents come amid rumbling ethnic tensions between the Muslim Uighur and Han Chinese communities. In 2009 almost 200 people – mostly Han Chinese – were killed after deadly rioting erupted.

Nothing is stopping foreign journalists from booking flights to Xinjiang after hearing reports of violence there. However, simply travelling to the region doesn’t guarantee the ability to dig out the truth behind this story.

In 2009, dozens of foreign reporters were permitted to join an official tour of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, after clashes between minority ethnic Uighur residents and majority Chinese Hans killed 197 people.

Their experiences were mixed. Some reporters were able to speak to a variety of people on the ground, while others faced harassment and intimidation.

The situation remains the same today. Reporters who travel to the area are closely followed by government minders. Locals often hesitate to answer questions, fearing reprisals from government authorities.

Uighur exile groups often provide accounts that differ from the official Chinese government reports. Reconciling the two can be tricky.

The situation isn’t any easier for Chinese journalists. China’s propaganda departments have warned domestic news outlets against conducting their own independent reporting on sensitive Xinjiang stories, ordering them to reprint official stories from China’s major state news agencies.

It is very difficult to verify reports from Xinjiang, reports the BBC’s Celia Hatton.

Foreign journalists are allowed to travel to the region but frequently face intimidation and harassment when attempting to verify news of ethnic rioting or organised violence against government authorities.”

via BBC News – China’s Xinjiang hit by deadly clashes.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/prognosis/chinese-challenges/

Posted in China alert, Culture, Dissident, Ethnic clash, History, Instability, Insurgency, Internal politics, Politics, terrorism, unrest | 2 Comments »

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