Emergency
Mixing elements
New film uses fire, water, air and earth
to explore ‘racial’ harmony LIFE, PAGE 16
TUESDAY, July 4, 2023
Xi: Promote
the progress
of humanity
He calls for worldwide efforts to bridge
civilizations, carry on common values
By CAO DESHENG
caodesheng@chinadaily.com.cn
President Xi Jinping called on
Monday for implementation of the
Global Civilization Initiative, saying
that China is ready to work with all
parties to carry on the common val-
ues of humanity, featuring peace,
development, fairness, justice,
democracy and freedom, and to
jointly promote the progress of
human civilization.
Xi, who is also general secretary of
the Communist Party of China Cen-
tral Committee, made the remarks
in a congratulatory message sent to
the third Dialogue on Exchanges
and Mutual Learning Among Civili-
zations and the first World Confer-
ence of Sinologists. The dual event
opened on Monday in Beijing.
Xi said in the message that
throughout the long course of
human history, nations from
around the world have created civi-
lizations with their own unique
characteristics.
Equal exchanges and mutual
learning among various civilizations
will provide strong spiritual gui-
dance for addressing the challenges
of the times and achieving common
development for humanity, he said.
Xi called for efforts to let cultural
exchanges transcend estrangement,
mutual learning transcend clashes,
and inclusiveness transcend feelings
of superiority.
He expressed hope that Sinologists
from various countries will act as
messengers bridging Chinese civili-
zation and the civilizations of the rest
of the world, and will strive to pro-
mote cultural exchanges and
enhance cultural understanding,
friendship and cooperation.
The event, with the theme of
“implementing the Global Civiliza-
tion Initiative to create a new vision
for modernization,” was organized
by the Chinese Association for Inter-
national Understanding.
More than 300 representatives
from nearly 80 countries participat-
ed in the event, including political
leaders, cultural figures and Sinolo-
gists. Vice-President Han Zheng
also attended the meeting and deliv-
ered a speech.
The Global Civilization Initiative,
Surveying riot damage
L’Hay-les-Roses Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun (center, right) and Valerie
Pecresse, president of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, inspect
a market on Sunday that was damaged during rioting in L’Hay-les-
Roses, which is near Paris. Jeanbrun’s home was attacked amid riot-
ing sparked by the killing of a teenager during a traffic stop on June 27.
YVES HERMAN / REUTERS See story, page 10
国内统一编号: CN11-0091 国际标准编号: ISSN0253-9543
© 2023 China Daily
All Rights Reserved
Vol.43 — No.

13458
Saving rhinos
rescue teams


proposed by Xi in March at the CPC
in Dialogue with World Political Par-
ties High-Level Meeting, called for
respecting the diversity of civiliza-
tions, advocating the common val-
ues of humanity, valuing the
inheritance and innovation of civili-
zations, and strengthening interna-
tional people-to-people exchanges
and cooperation.
The initiative is widely hailed as
another major public good provided
to the world by China after the Glob-
al Development Initiative and Glob-
al Security Initiative, put forward by
Xi in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Foreign participants at Monday’s
event commended the Global Civili-
zation Initiative, saying that it will
inject fresh, strong energy into the
common development and progress
of human society in a world fraught
with multiple challenges and crises.
As the world faces mounting chal-
lenges, there are more reasons for
countries with different cultures to
promote dialogue and consultation
in order to solve global problems,
they said.
Simplice Mathieu Sarandji, exec-
utive secretary of the United Hearts
Movement party and president of
the National Assembly of the Cen-
tral African Republic, said that in
today’s world, in which different
countries’ futures have become
increasingly intertwined, it is
important to pursue inclusiveness
and coexistence of civilizations and
promote exchanges and mutual
learning.
Alice Lau Kiong Yieng, a member
of the Central Executive Committee
of the Democratic Action Party and
deputy speaker of Malaysia’s House
of Representatives, described the
Global Civilization Initiative as a
“visionary project that advances
human civilization”. She said the ini-
tiative identifies the strength of uni-
ty in diversity and illuminates the
path to the future of mutual respect
and understanding.
Colin Patrick Mackerras, a Sinolo-
gist and emeritus professor at Grif-
fith University in Australia,
criticized some Western countries
for preaching that their civilizations
are superior to others, and said that
various civilizations are equal and
should learn from one another.
邮发代号:1-3
A member of the
Asia News Network
to increase
CHINA, PAGE 4
Innovation seen as key to breaking industrial bottlenecks
By CHENG YU, WANG HAO
and ZHU LIXIN in Hefei
China’s efforts to promote inde-
pendent innovation will accelerate
the construction of a modern indus-
trial system, which will help the
country counter external curbs on
crucial technologies, said industry
experts and company executives.
They made the comments as East
China’s Anhui province, for decades
overshadowed by coastal regions,
Setting off on medical mission
Peace Ark, the largest hospital ship of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, sets off from Zhoushan Port in Zhejiang province on Monday
for humanitarian medical work in five countries. The ship will offer medical aid to residents of Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, the Solomon
Islands and East Timor during Harmonious Mission 2023, its ninth such mission. HAN LIN / FOR CHINA DAILY
Yellen visit signals bid to strengthen China-US dialogue
By ZHOU LANXU
zhoulanxv@chinadaily.com.cn
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yell-
en’s scheduled visit to China signals
that the world’s two largest econo-
mies are trying to strengthen regu-
lar dialogue, potentially laying the
foundation for a substantive ease in
bilateral economic tensions, politi-
cal advisers and experts said on
Monday.
The spillover risks of the United
States’ piling up of national debt
and US sanctions on Chinese tech
companies are among the main
areas of concern on which Chinese
officials are expected to declare
their standpoint during the dia-
logue with Yellen, they said.
The US treasury secretary is
scheduled to visit China from
Thursday through Sunday, accord-
ing to China’s Ministry of Finance.
Her visit comes close on the heels of
US Secretary of State Antony Blink-
en’s trip last month.
“After Blinken’s visit paved the
way for more high-level China-US
exchanges, Yellen’s trip indicates
that the two countries are resuming
regular channels of communication,
SINO-CAMBODIAN JOINT VENTURE CHANGES LIVES FOR THE BETTER
Special economic zone home to scores of enterprises from around world
By LIN SHUJUAN
in Sihanoukville, Cambodia
linshujuan@chinadaily.com.cn
A
joint venture between
Chinese and Cambodian
enterprises launched 15
years ago has already had
a profound impact on the Cambodi-
an economy and local people’s lives.
To many people in Cambodia, the
Sihanoukville Special Economic
Zone, or SSEZ, is somewhat surreal,
South Africa’s rangers take to
emerges at the forefront of technolog-
ical innovation by achieving break-
throughs in artificial intelligence,
quantum computing, new energy
and many other future industries.
Fu Baozong, director of the indus-
try department at the Beijing-based
Academy of Macroeconomic
Research, which is part of the Nation-
al Development and Reform Com-
mission, the country’s top economic
regulator, said: “Prioritizing innova-
tion will consolidate China’s advanta-
conveying their mutual intention to
move forward and ease the tense sit-
uation,” said Zhang Xiaotao, dean of
the School of International Trade
and Economics at Central Universi-
ty of Finance and Economics.
Yellen’s long-awaited visit comes
as China-US economic ties remain
plagued by broader geopolitical ten-
sions and disputes in multiple areas,
such as semiconductor technology,
supply chains and debt issues, rais-
ing hopes that her visit may help set-
tle some of the differences.
Senior financial officials of China
and the US can express their views
and opinions more clearly during
their face-to-face conversations,
said Wen Laicheng, an expert at the
finance ministry’s China Govern-
ment Debt Center and a professor
at Central University of Finance
and Economics. “The visit, from
this perspective, is highly impor-
tant and positive,” Wen added.
While in Beijing, Yellen plans to
discuss with Chinese officials the
importance of the two countries
responsibly managing their rela-
tionship, communicating directly
about areas of concern and work-
ing together to address global chal-
X
as the area in which it is located
used to be nothing more than a vast
wilderness.
Now, the 11.13 square kilometer
SSEZ, located in Sihanoukville’s Prey
Nob District, is Cambodia’s largest
industrial park and home to 175
the skies to combat poaching
WORLD, PAGE 11
chinadaily.com.cn
ges in traditional industries and at the
same time speed up breakthroughs in
core technologies for a modern indus-
trial system. It will further enable the
country’s industrial development to
be strong enough to withstand exter-
nal risks and challenges.”
His comments echo President Xi
Jinping’s remarks during his inspec-
tion of Anhui in 2020, where he
emphasized that for Anhui, innova-
tion is key to leapfrog development.
Xi has also emphasized on various
US Treasury Secretary
Janet Yellen
lenges, according to the US
Department of the Treasury.
Zhang Lianqi, a member of the
Standing Committee of the 14th
National Committee of the Chinese
People’s Political Consultative Con-
ference, the country’s top political
advisory body, said that US sup-
pression of China’s semiconductor
and other industries is expected to
be the key topic of discussion.
Chinese officials may also
express their concerns over the
spillover risks of climbing US
debt after the suspension of the
US government’s $31.4 trillion
debt ceiling, Zhang said.
Experts cautioned that it is
enterprises from around the world.
Jointly developed by private
companies from Cambodia and
China, the zone is considered a
landmark Belt and Road Initiative
collaboration project between the
two nations.
Since it was launched, the zone’s
import and export volume has expe-
rienced significant growth, rising
from $139 million in 2013 to nearly
$2.5 billion last year.
Xiao Jianxin, assistant brand
RMB ¥2
occasions this year that high-level
self-reliance and strength in science
and technology are key to Chinese
modernization.
Anhui might not seem like
another Silicon Valley, but it has
seen great scientific and technolog-
ical innovations. It aims to build
China’s own global technology and
innovation center for modern
industrial development.
See Innovation, page 3
unlikely that a single visit by a senior
US financial official would achieve
substantial progress in resolving the
deeply rooted disagreements
between the two sides, especially
when the US has adopted a “de-risk-
ing” strategy to cover for the frag-
mentation of supply chains, which is
proving to be costly for the world.
Although Yellen has called the
notion of an economic “decou-
pling” from China “disastrous”, she
is still expected to emphasize the
strategy of “de-risking” and insist
on the concept of economic compe-
tition, Zhang said.
“On the one hand, the US hopes to
communicate with China and gain
China’s support, but on the other, it
continues to intensify trade actions
against China, such as adding Chi-
nese companies to its entity list for
sanctions and making other coun-
tries block China in terms of tech-
nology product export,” said Wen of
Central University of Finance and
Economics. “There is no sign of
improvement in this regard.”
Inside
Editorial, page 8
manager at Hodo Group, a leading
Chinese private textile and garment
maker based in Wuxi, Jiangsu prov-
ince, and a key investor in the zone,
is among those who have witnessed
every step of the SSEZ’s develop-
ment since it was set up in 2008.
“This place was literally built
from scratch,” the 41-year-old said
during his latest visit to the zone in
mid-May.
See Zone, page 2
2 | Tuesday, July 4, 2023
PAGE TWO
Zone: International investors attracted
From page 1
“Apart from a nearby fishing vil-
lage where a few hundred locals lived
in straw huts, this area had nothing —
no electricity, no running water, no
roads,” Xiao said.
Changes to the landscape took
place rapidly after the two countries
agreed to develop the area, Xiao
added.
In just a few years, it was trans-
formed into a modern industrial
park, while Bet Trang, the fishing
village, was developed into a bus-
tling town complete with a full
range of amenities, including gas
stations, telecommunication stores,
barbershops, wet markets and res-
taurants.
Xiao said that every time he visits
the zone, he sees new facilities. A
one-stop service center was set up
in 2010, a sewage treatment plant in
2015, a power plant in 2017, and a
university in 2019. On his latest trip,
Xiao learned that a 189-km highway
connecting Phnom Penh, the Cam-
bodian capital, and Sihanoukville
was completed last year.
The highway, which opened to
traffic in October, was built with
investment from Chinese compa-
nies. It reduces the journey time
between the two cities to just two
hours.
“The SSEZ basically looks no differ-
ent from any modern industrial park
in China. If there is a slight difference,
it is simply because the SSEZ is newer,
or even bigger,” Xiao said.
Cao Jianjiang, general manager of
SSEZ Co, which oversees develop-
ment in the zone, said facilities have
constantly been upgraded and new
amenities added to attract more
international businesses.
In addition to helping companies
situated within it, the zone has paid
special attention to catering to work-
ers’ needs.
Over the years, the industrial park
has introduced a health clinic, a law
consultancy center and two educa-
tional institutions — the Preah Siha-
nouk Cambodia-China Friendship
Polytechnic Institute and the Siha-
noukville Institute of Business and
Technology, Cao said.
Foreign investors
Sihanoukville boasts Cambodia’s
only deep-water port. The city, carved
out of the jungle in the 1960s, is
named after former King Norodom
Sihanouk (1922-2012).
Cambodia intends to build Siha-
noukville into its version of Shenz-
hen, Guangdong province, where in
1980 China built a special economic
zone, the first in the country, as an
experimental site for a market econo-
my. In four decades, Shenzhen has
Left: Workers learn how a production line operates at the newly built General Tire Technology (Cambodia) plant. LIN SHUJUAN / CHINA DAILY Center: Employees of companies in the SSEZ attend a celebration marking
the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. LI YIFANG / FOR CHINA DAILY Right: Students attend a language class at Sihanoukville Institute of Business and Technology located in the SSEZ. LIN SHUJUAN / CHINA DAILY
risen from being a remote coastal
town to becoming a global technolo-
gy manufacturing hub.
The SSEZ, which is set to spear-
head the development of Sihanouk-
ville, has become a popular
destination for international inves-
tors. One of the first European com-
panies to invest in the zone was
Horseware Products (Cambodia) Co,
which is based in Ireland and spe-
cializes in equestrian products.
The company said it has experi-
enced exponential growth since set-
ting up in the SSEZ in 2010. It now
has 287 employees and a monthly
output of 22,000 products, which are
exported to Ireland, other European
countries and the United States.
Caffco International (Cambodia), a
US business that produces Christmas
trees and decorations for export to
the US, is another company that has
thrived in the SSEZ.
Lamar Thompson, CEO of Caffco,
said the business decided to set up
operations in the SSEZ, as its proxim-
ity to an international port meant it
was convenient and affordable to
transport the company’s goods.
“Since the company started to
operate in the SSEZ in 2014, it has
grown at an average rate of about 10
percent per year,” Thompson said.
On May 22, General Tire Technolo-
gy (Cambodia), a subsidiary of Chi-
nese tire maker Jiangsu General
Science Technology, launched opera-
tions at the park. Backed by invest-
ment of $300 million, the factory
project is the largest within the SSEZ.
The plant will primarily process local
rubber into tires.
Cambodian Prime Minister Sam-
dech Techo Hun Sen and Chinese
Ambassador to Cambodia Wang
Wentian cut the ribbon at the plant’s
inauguration ceremony, highlight-
ing the project’s significance.
Hun Sen described the tire factory
as another result of the fruitful coop-
eration between Cambodia and Chi-
na as part of the BRI.
“The factory has brought new capi-
tal, modern technologies and tire
manufacturing expertise to Cambo-
dia. It will increase the national econ-
omy’s added value and directly raise
our farmers’ incomes,” he said.
Tao Guozhong, general manager of
the factory, said it can manufacture 5
million semi-steel radial tires and
900,000 all-steel radial tires annually,
and when fully operational, it will
hire up to 1,600 Cambodians.
Hong Vanak, an economics
researcher at the Royal Academy of
Cambodia, was quoted by The Phom
Penh Post as saying the factory is a
strong and long-term project that will
boost Cambodia’s economic growth.
“Once the company is fully oper-
ational, there will definitely be a
CHINA DAILY
age. This has allowed Lin to build her
own home and live in much
improved surroundings.
Her two sisters and their husbands
also found work in the SSEZ, further
improving the family’s financial situ-
ation.
Lin said working in the zone has
given her a secure job. The SSEZ also
offers a bright future, not only for her-
self but for her children, who now
study at a local primary school.
Xiao, from Hodo Group, said estab-
lishing the SSEZ has had a profound
impact on social stability, adding that
he used to see numerous children
playing outdoors in the past, as many
families could not afford to send
them to school.
Cao said enterprises at the indus-
trial park used to launch a program to
encourage every Chinese worker to
donate $100, enough to cover a local
child’s annual tuition fees.
“The program is no longer running
because most locals, who have found
jobs in the zone, are now able to pro-
Top: The Angkor Wat tem- vide for their children’s education,”
ple complex in Cao added.
Cambodia. LI YIFANG / FOR Many parents encourage their chil-
CHINA DAILY Above: Workers dren to learn Chinese, Cao said.
commute to and from the Lin is fluent in the language after
Sihanoukville Special Eco- spending much of her spare time
nomic Zone on learning it from her Chinese col-
motorcycles. LIN SHUJUAN / leagues. “Proficiency in Chinese guar-
CHINA DAILY Right: Cambo- antees a good job here,” she said.
dian women at work in the The zone has not only brought
SSEZ. LI YIFANG / FOR CHINA more job opportunities for locals, it
DAILY has created business opportunities
for them.
Ouk Pearith, who comes from a city
north of Preah Sihanouk province,
has run a grocery store next to the
SSEZ since 2020.
He said business has been so brisk
The SSEZ has that he had to recruit his relatives to
encouraged demand for manpower that will large-scale enterprises such as the tire help run the store, which sees sales of
Chinese directly help the Cambodian econ- factory. He said a thermal power sta- up to $2,000 every day. The addition-
omy,” he said. tion has been built in the area to pro- al income has enabled him to buy a
companies to Chen Jiangang, president of vide greater energy support for heavy car and plot of land, on which he has
effectively SSEZ Co, said that as Cambodia’s industries, and construction of the built a large home that has spare
largest industrial park, both in zone’s second phase is underway. rooms for rent.
address the needs terms of size and occupancy, the “When the SSEZ is fully complete, Ouk’s store is located on Pou Thoe-
of Cambodia’s SSEZ has become a pillar of Sino- it is expected to host up to 300 com- ung street in the center of Bet Trang,
Cambodian cooperation. panies and employ 80,000 to 100,000 the most populated area of Siha-
economic growth, While China’s industrialization has people,” Chen said. noukville. Tens of thousands of
creating a entered a stage of maturity, with workers, some from other parts of
numerous competitive industries Boon for locals Cambodia, now live and work in the
mutually and strong production capabilities, Lin Yada is one of those now living area.
beneficial Cambodia has been actively promot- a better life as a result of the SSEZ. Banteay Chhmar, Bet Trang town
ing its own industrialization, as seen The Cambodian national said she head, said most locals now commute
relationship for in the Cambodia Industrial Develop- used to live with her parents and sib- on motorcycles, which were previ-
the two countries ment Policy 2015-25, Chen added. lings in a tiny home near the zone, but ously considered a luxury. “It’s no
under the Belt “The SSEZ has encouraged Chi- her quality of life started to improve longer a surprise to see a family own-
nese companies to effectively address after she joined a garment factory in ing two or even three motorcycles,” he
and Road the needs of Cambodia’s economic the SSEZ in 2012. said.
Initiative.” growth, creating a mutually benefi- After being trained at the factory, For Ouk, the SSEZ has opened a
cial relationship for the two countries Lin quickly rose to become a team new chapter in his life.
Chen Jiangang, under the Belt and Road Initiative,” leader on the cutting line, and she “Such a life was unimaginable
president of SSEZ Co Cao said. now manages 45 employees in two before the zone was launched,” the
He added that the SSEZ will con- teams. Her monthly salary has risen farmer turned businessman said.
stantly strive to improve its infra- from about $100 to nearly $600, “The industrial park has brought new
structure to support the operations of which is close to triple the local aver- opportunities for us.”
 CHINA DAILY
TOP NEWS
Survey: Factory
activity expands
at slower pace
Stronger policy support needed on macro
level to benefit market players, analyst says
By OUYANG SHIJIA
ouyangshijia@chinadaily.com.cn
China’s factory activity expanded
at a slower pace in June, a private
survey showed on Monday, pointing
to the strains on the manufacturing
sector due to still-weak demand and
highlighting the need to step up
countercyclical policy adjustments.
Analysts said that while China’s
economy has stabilized and
improved since the start of the year,
the weak purchasing managers index
highlighted the headwinds facing the
broader economy. They called for
both short-term stimulus measures
and long-term solutions to deal with
the structural issues.
The Caixin China General Manu-
facturing PMI — which gauges oper-
ating conditions in the sector —
came in at 50.5 in June after 50.9 in
May, above the 50-point mark that
separates growth from contraction,
media group Caixin said on Monday.
Wang Zhe, a senior economist at
Caixin Insight Group, said that China’s
factory activity expanded for a second
consecutive month in June on slightly
improved supply and demand.
Referring to the 12-month outlook
for output, manufacturers polled by
Caixin expressed their optimism, sup-
ported by hopes that economic condi-
tions and sales will improve.
However, business confidence for the
coming 12 months slipped to an eight-
month low in June, as some manufac-
turers expressed concerns over
relatively sluggish market conditions.
“A slew of recent economic data sug-
gests that China’s recovery has yet to
find a stable footing, as prominent
issues including a lack of internal
growth drivers, weak demand and dim-
ming prospects remain,” Wang said.
Wang added that Caixin’s manu-
facturing PMI for June also points to
issues such as an increasingly dire
job market, rising deflationary pres-
sure and waning optimism.
“In the future, stronger policy sup-
port is needed on the macro level,
along with higher implementation
efficiency from a micro perspective,
to ensure that policies benefit market
players directly and therefore bolster
employment and market expecta-
tions,” Wang said.
Data released by the National
Bureau of Statistics last week shows
the pressures facing the economy,
Pooch patrol
A robotic police dog patrols during a public security bureau open
day event in Yantai, Shandong province, on Sunday. The event,
which was held over the weekend, showcased nearly 1,000 pieces of
police equipment. TANG KE / FOR CHINA DAILY
China urges Japan, ROK to bolster regional solidarity
By WANG QINGYUN
wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn
China, Japan and the Republic of
Korea should continue to respect one
another and coexist in peace, senior
diplomat Wang Yi said on Monday,
calling on the three countries to bol-
ster solidarity and oppose Cold War
mentality and coercion.
Wang, a member of the Political
Bureau of the Communist Party of
China Central Committee, made the
remarks during the opening ceremo-
ny of the 2023 International Forum
with the official PMI for China’s man-
ufacturing sector remaining in the
contraction zone for the third con-
secutive month after ticking up to 49
in June from 48.8 in May.
China’s nonmanufacturing PMI
came in at 53.2 in June, down from
54.5 in May, according to the NBS.
Lu Ting, chief China economist at
Nomura, said that his team expected
manufacturing PMI to remain in con-
tractionary territory in July, due to
ongoing property woes and external
challenges, while the nonmanufac-
turing PMI could weaken further on
fading post-COVID pent-up demand
for in-person services.
“Amid the worsening downward
spiral of major activity data, we
expect the government to introduce
a raft of supportive measures after
the moderate 10-basis-point rate cut
last month and believe it will increas-
ingly play the role of borrower and
spender,” he said. “We see a step-by-
step policy response as more likely.”
Ning Jizhe, vice-chairman of the
China Center for International Eco-
nomic Exchanges, told a meeting on
Friday that China’s GDP growth rate
for the first half of the year will likely
reach around 6 percent, and the
country has the conditions and capa-
bility to meet its annual growth tar-
get of around 5 percent this year.
Despite the challenges and diffi-
culties ahead, Chinese manufactur-
ers expressed strong optimism about
China’s steady growth.
She Shangfeng, vice-president of
Great Wall Motor, a pickup manufac-
turer and global leader in intelligent
new energy SUVs, said he still has a
rosy outlook for the development of
the automotive sector as well as the
broader economy. “We will continu-
ously invest in emerging fields includ-
ing the new energy vehicles as well as
digital and smart development,” he
told China Daily on the sidelines of
the World IoT Top 500 Summit, which
was held on Monday in Beijing.
Huang Ying, vice-president of Chi-
nese tech heavyweight Lenovo Group,
also expressed strong confidence in
its business in the second half of the
year, given the rising demand for new
technologies and services in fields
such as artificial intelligence.
Inside
Comment, page 8
for Trilateral Cooperation in Qing-
dao, Shandong province.
Wang, who is also director of the
Office of the Foreign Affairs Com-
mission of the CPC Central Commit-
tee, said the three countries should
send a clear message through the
forum that they are renewing their
cooperation.
China, Japan and the ROK, which
account for one-fifth of the world’s
population and more than a quarter of
global GDP, launched trilateral coop-
eration in 1999. So far, the three coun-
tries have established a cooperation
Etched in clay
Participants compete in a clay-sculpting contest during the first national farmers’ skills competition
in Liaocheng, Shandong province, on Monday. As many as 300 contestants from across China gath-
ered in Liaocheng for the event to showcase their embroidery, paper-cutting, clay-sculpting, painting
and other skills. The two-day event ends on Tuesday. KONG XIAOZHENG / FOR CHINA DAILY
Students warned against paid consultants
By DU JUAN
dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn
There is a 950 million yuan
($131.15 million) industry cashing
in on college admissions. As an
increasing number of Chinese par-
ents turn to paid service providers,
who claim to be using AI-driven
technology, to decide which uni-
versities their children should
apply to for their undergraduate
studies, experts have warned
against opting for such services.
Chen Huajun, a professor at
Zhejiang University’s College of
Computer Science and Technolo-
gy, said that AI, assisted by big data
technology, can help analyze infor-
mation, which is good.
“It can help fill the information
gap (between universities and stu-
dents), but can only be used as a
reference,” Chen was quoted as say-
ing by Qianjiang Evening News.
A fraud alert has been issued by
Beijing Education Examinations
Authority against “application
consulting services with a high
price tag”. “Schools and teachers
are forbidden to work with com-
panies or institutions that make
money by providing application
Innovation: Anhui bets big on industries of the future
From page 1
The center, known as USTC Sili-
con Valley, was set up in Hefei, capi-
tal city of Anhui, last year. USTC, or
the University of Science and Tech-
nology of China, the Anhui provin-
cial government and Hefei
municipal government are the
founding partners. Together they
will invest in and support global
talents to incubate their tech
breakthroughs at the center.
Wu Hailong, chairman of the ser-
vice platform company of USTC Sil-
icon Valley, said: “The soul of the
valley is to innovate in the system
and mechanism for entrepreneur-
ship, and to bring together forces
from the government, university
and research institutes as well as
companies.”
“Ideally, a scientist can do
research and development, incu-
bate ideas into a business, find
partners, start a company, cooper-
ate with industrial chain providers
all in a single building in the val-
ley,” Wu said, adding that the gov-
ernment wants to make each
building in the valley an “innova-
tion consortium”.
By 2025, the valley is expected to
framework comprising trilateral lead-
ers’ meetings, more than 20 ministeri-
al-level meetings and over 70 dialogue
mechanisms.
The trilateral cooperation has
developed into the most influential
subregional cooperation mecha-
nism in Asia, providing an impor-
tant driver for the modernization of
the three countries as well as the
region, Wang said.
In recent years, however, “a cer-
tain power outside the region” has
been hyping up ideological differen-
ces and forming exclusive cliques,
consulting services,” said the
authority.
Students in China need to com-
plete the college application pro-
cess within a short time after
gaokao, the nationwide college
entrance exam, based on their
grades.
If their grades are higher than
the threshold announced by col-
leges they are applying to, they
will be enrolled. Otherwise, they
have to find a place in other
schools.
According to data from the
country’s education ministry, as of
June 15, there are 3,072 colleges
and universities in China. A total
of 12.91 million candidates are
vying for admissions this year.
Against this backdrop, a large
number of service providers are
offering new tools, which they
claim are based on artificial intel-
ligence, to help with the college
admission process. Hundreds of
such apps are available in mobile
app stores.
“It’s a headache helping my
daughter decide which universi-
ties she should apply for because
of the overwhelming amount of
information,” said Li Jie, mother
gather more than 100,000 high-lev-
el talents from across the world,
form a diversified funding system
with over 200 billion yuan ($29.86
billion), nurture 1,000 high-tech
enterprises and more than 50 listed
firms and unicorns.
Zhang Lianqi, a member of the
Standing Committee of the Nation-
al Committee of the Chinese Peo-
ple’s Political Consultative
Conference, said: “To build a mod-
ern industrial system, there must
be a group of world-class enterpris-
es that are developed and led by
innovation. Only through innova-
tion can Chinese companies occu-
py a dominant position in the
global industrial competition, and
form the right to speak on the glob-
al stage.”
A case in point is voice recogni-
tion software firm iFlytek based in
Hefei. The company unveiled in
May its own artificial intelligence
language model called SparkDesk
to challenge the United States’
ground-breaking chatbot ChatGPT
in education and enterprise uses.
Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFlyt-
ek, said: “It is expected that the
large model will surpass the cur-
rent level of ChatGPT in Chinese
instigating confrontation and divi-
sion in Asia, he pointed out.
If such a trend is allowed, it will
seriously disrupt trilateral coopera-
tion and increase tensions in the
region, he warned.
“China respects Japan’s and the
ROK’s development of relations with
all countries in the world, but no rela-
tion should be used to contain or
besiege their neighbors,” Wang said.
The three countries, which
“depend on and benefit from one
another”, should strengthen their
mutual trust and oppose any words
of a college candidate in Shanxi
province. “However, I didn’t take
help from any apps or companies
because I’m not sure how capable
those are,” she added.
According to Chinese corpo-
rate information provider Tian-
yancha, there are more than
1,850 enterprises in China with
names or business scope that
suggest involvement in the col-
lege application process. Many
internet giants such as Baidu,
Tencent and Alibaba have also
developed such apps. There are
also many in-person consulting
services to help candidates. The
fees range from hundreds to sev-
eral thousands yuan.
The domestic market consult-
ancy firm iiMedia Research esti-
mates that the market value of the
college application industry has
reached 950 million yuan, a six-
fold increase from 2016.
However, there is no such entity
as “a college application planner”
on the official list of occupational
qualifications released by the
Ministry of Human Resources
and Social Security. This means
there are no clear standards for
people who provide such services.
understanding and match the
OpenAI chatbot’s capabilities in
English by October.”
Before that, the model will go
through three rounds of key tech-
nical upgrades, Liu said, claiming
that it has already outperformed
ChatGPT in text generation,
knowledge-based questioning and
answering, and mathematical
ability.
Hu Yu, senior vice-president of
Geovis Technology Co Ltd, a Bei-
jing-headquartered digital earth
solutions provider, said: “Driving
technological innovation will make
a huge impact. The commercial
aerospace sector, for instance, has
incorporated technologies like big
data, artificial intelligence and
deep learning and will empower
China to gain a lead in the next
round of technological revolution.”
Looking into the future, Anhui is
also betting big on strategic, emerg-
ing industries for long-term inno-
vative development. The local
government has outlined several
future industries, including new
energy, in its development plan
during the period covered by the
14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).
Developing future industries
or deeds that may drag the region
into a cold war or hot war, he said.
They should uphold sovereignty
and territorial integrity of all coun-
tries, pay high attention to reasona-
ble security concerns of all countries
and address their differences
through talks, he added.
Referring to major issues includ-
ing the Taiwan question, the senior
diplomat urged Japan and the ROK
to honor the commitments they have
made “without any ambiguity”.
Wang also called on the three coun-
tries to resist “decoupling”, create a
favorable environment and stable
expectations for companies and
speed up their talks over the establish-
ment of a trilateral free trade zone.
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 | 3
Export curbs
imposed on
gallium and
germanium
By ZHONG NAN and MA SI
China will impose export restric-
tions on industrial products and
materials containing gallium and
germanium from August 1 to ensure
its national security and interests,
said the Ministry of Commerce in a
notice on Monday.
According to the relevant provi-
sions of China’s Export Control Law,
Foreign Trade Law and Customs
Law, gallium, which is used in the
production of semiconductors and
optoelectronic devices, and germa-
nium, an important raw material
for the semiconductor industry, as
well as their related products, can-
not be exported without permission
after July.
Export of other industrial materi-
als such as gallium nitride, gallium
oxide and zone-refined germanium
ingot have also been prohibited.
Exporters would now be required
to apply for export licenses in compli-
ance with relevant regulations and
submit their applications to the Min-
istry of Commerce through provincial
commerce authorities. The ministry
will review the documents within a
stipulated time, and may jointly
review them with relevant depart-
ments. Based on the review, the min-
istry will decide to either grant or
deny licenses.
Han Xiaomin, general manager of
JW Insights, a Chinese semiconduc-
tor market research company, said
the restricted items are important
materials for semiconductors, and
they are closely related to applica-
tions in military industry. There is a
good ground for China to have
export control on these materials to
safeguard its national security.
The move may be a countermeas-
ure against the US-led chip export
controls on China, Han said.
Gallium nitride, for instance, is a
new, higher performing semicon-
ductor material. Its ability to con-
duct electrons more than 1,000
times more efficiently than silicon is
now well established, experts said.
Contact the writers at
zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn
was also emphasized by President
Xi during the two sessions—the
annual meetings of the National
People’s Congress, the top legisla-
tive body, and the CPPCC, the top
advisory body, in March, where he
said that strategic capabilities in
emerging fields must be bolstered
in pursuit of new advantages in
national development and interna-
tional competitions.
Pan Wang, secretary of the board
of leading power battery firm
Gotion High-Tech, said: “The com-
pany will continue to map out
industrial chains on a global scale,
beef up research and development,
and make innovations on core
technologies, so as to boost China’s
new energy competitiveness on the
global stage.”
Wang Zhen, deputy head of
Shanghai Academy of Social Scien-
ces, said: “Gathering different
innovative factors will make a huge
difference. Inland regions of China
may have the opportunity to be
emerging centers for innovation
and entrepreneurship, in the same
manner as Silicon Valley.”
Contact the writers at
chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn
Attended by former officials,
former diplomats and experts from
the three countries, Monday’s forum
was the first of its kind to have been
convened offline since the COVID-19
pandemic.
During their meetings with Wang
on the margins of the forum, some
participants from the ROK and
Japan expressed their hope to deepen
exchanges with China and speed up
the recovery of trilateral cooperation.
They said they hoped the forum will
be the start of the improvement of
relations among the three countries.
Inside
Comment, page 9
4 | Tuesday, July 4, 2023
CHINA
Emergency
rescue teams
to increase
Medical responders to ensure nation
is fully prepared for future threats
By ZOU SHUO
zoushuo@chinadaily.com.cn
China plans to increase the
number of national medical emer-
gency response teams from 40 cur-
rently to 70 by 2025, a senior
health official said on Monday.
Guo Yanhong, director of the
National Health Commission’s
medical emergency response
department, said the country is
accelerating the establishment of a
national emergency medical aid
base and will establish a national
base for major epidemic disease
control, and expand the base for
poison treatment.
The country also plans to estab-
lish treatment teams for major
epidemics and improve the ability
to handle critically ill patients dur-
ing major epidemics, she said at a
news conference.
There are 540 medical experts
in 22 departments on the 40
national teams and they are all
seasoned and authoritative
experts in their fields, she said.
Each national team is a mobile
hospital and has a complete rescue
system. They can offer out-patient
and in-patient medical services
and can conduct operations and
medical examinations, with some
even equipped with intensive care
units, Guo said.
Guo said apart from national
teams, the country has established
6,500 provincial and lower levels
of medical emergency response
teams.
“In case of major emergencies,
we can efficiently send experts
from the national teams to con-
duct medical treatment and also
conduct medical consultation
online,” she said.
With its large population, China
is at risk for public health emer-
gencies and is also prone to
national disasters, accidents and
safety incidents, which all require
Police warn public of
pay-on-delivery scams
By CAO YIN
caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn
Beijing prosecutors are warning
residents about a scam that uses
pay-on-delivery parcels, calling on
people to double check the infor-
mation of senders.
“Fraudsters were found to have
sent deliveries at random in line
with personal data they obtained
through improper channels, and
then required receivers to pay on
delivery. The payment wasn’t very
high, and the contents inside were
low-priced goods,” said Chen
Yutong, a prosecutor from the first
branch of the Beijing People’s Proc-
uratorate.
“Many receivers paid for the
deliveries, as some believed the
parcels were sent by friends and
some had forgotten what they had
bought online,” she said. “They
didn’t think too much, nor checked
the senders’ information before
the payment, because the amount
was small.”
Chen introduced the latest swin-
dle at a news conference on Mon-
day, recalling a case solved by the
capital’s prosecutors.
Between May and June 2021, a
man surnamed Zhang and his
partner, surnamed Sun, then an
employee of an express delivery
company, randomly sent more
than 170,000 parcels containing
foot-bath products worth 2 yuan
(27 cents) across the country, and
the pay-on-delivery price for each
package was 69 yuan.
According to the prosecutor,
Zhang and Sun had bought over
100,000 pieces of personal infor-
mation, including names, home
addresses and mobile phone num-
treatment of the injured, she said.
“We always believe that we need
to protect the safety and health of
the people at all costs, and when
handling such emergencies, peo-
ple’s health is the top priority,” she
said.
Li Weimin, president of West
China Hospital of Sichuan Univer-
sity, said the medical emergency
response team at the hospital has
been certified by the World Health
Organization as the highest level
non-military emergency medical
team globally.
In case of major
emergencies, we can
efficiently send
experts from the
national teams to
conduct medical
treatment and also
conduct medical
consultation online.”
Guo Yanhong, director of the
National Health Commission’s
medical emergency response
department
The team has played an impor-
tant role during past emergencies.
For example, in the earthquake
last year in Luding county, Si-
chuan province, the hospital sent
three teams to the quake zone to
save patients, he said.
Meanwhile, the hospital has
established a team of experts from
different departments at the hospi-
tal to conduct online consultations
for patients in the zone, he said.
The teams have admitted more
than 200 patients, including more
than 50 in serious and critical con-
dition, and none of the patients
died, he added.
bers, from two other people, and
Zhang was also found to have pur-
chased more than 200,000 pieces
of personal data online.
They used the information to
cheat consumers out of more than
300,000 yuan.
Zhang and Sun were later sen-
tenced to seven years and six years
in prison, respectively, for infring-
ing upon personal information
and fraud by the Haidian District
People’s Court, the prosecutor said.
She added that the two people
who sold the personal data to the
fraudsters were also convicted of
infringing upon personal informa-
tion, and each was given a prison
term of three years.
As online shopping has become
a way of life, many items are paid
for by consumers through the
internet, “so we need to pay special
attention to parcels requiring pay-
ment on delivery, especially small
packages demanding micropay-
ments, which are probably fraud
traps”, she said.
She suggested residents check
with senders when receiving pay-
on-delivery packages.
“If you find anything abnormal,
it’s best to refuse to pay the money
and call the police in a timely man-
ner,” she added.
Last year, a total of 1,179 people
were charged with fraud-related
crimes across the capital, accord-
ing to Du Miao, a prosecutor from
the procuratorate.
“While working with public
security agencies to regulate the
handling of fraud-related cases,
we’ve also focused more on taking
advantage of technologies to find
and fight fraud from the root,” he
added.
Chiseled history
Visitors examine a statue during an exhibition of ancient painted sculptures and murals at Taiyuan Museum, Shanxi province, on Sunday.
The exhibition selected more than 70 sets of cultural relics from the history of Shanxi’s Jincheng, showing the essence of the city’s culture
from the Tang to Ming dynasties (618-1644). WEI LIANG / CHINA NEWS SERVICE
Infrastructure construction
continues in Xiong’an New Area
By ZHANG YU in Shijiazhuang
zhangyu1@chinadaily.com.cn
A number of key projects in
Xiong’an New Area, Hebei province,
have entered new development
phases with new buildings roofed
by the end of June, the latest step in
the process of transferring Beijing’s
non-capital city functions to the
neighboring area.
Xiong’an Smart City Science and
Innovation Center — an innovation
hub under construction — saw its
first building roofed on Friday.
Located in an internet industrial
park, the project includes office
space, labs, exhibition halls and
innovation centers, Yang Xiangfu,
an official from the project’s con-
struction company, was quoted as
saying by Hebei Daily.
The project’s first phase is expect-
ed to be complete in September next
year, Yang said.
At that time, some 2,000 people
Man detained for stealing personal data
By ZOU SHUO
zoushuo@chinadaily.com.cn
A graduate of Renmin University
of China has been detained by Bei-
jing police for allegedly illegally
obtaining the personal information
of fellow students, police said on
Monday.
The public security department in
the capital’s Haidian district said in
a post on microblogging platform
Sina Weibo that the graduate is sur-
named Ma and the case is under
investigation.
On Saturday, a Weibo user
claimed a graduate from the univer-
sity obtained student ID photos
along with other personal informa-
tion and created a website so people
can rate students’ appearances
based on the photos.
The stolen data include students’
names, ID numbers, birthplaces
and dates of birth.
The post also claimed the student
graduated from the university in
are expected to be employed there.
Research, industry insight and mar-
ket expansion will serve the integrat-
ed development of informatization
and smart cities in Xiong’an, he
added.
A key meeting on Friday of the
Political Bureau of the CPC Central
Committee — the Party’s core lead-
ership — reviewed policy measures
to support the area’s high-standard
and high-quality construction,
according to a summary of the
meeting.
It called for a steady and orderly
approach, within manageable lim-
its, to advance the implementation
and construction of landmark relo-
cation projects.
In April 2017, China announced
plans to set up Xiong’an New Area
about 100 kilometers southwest of
Beijing to take on functions nones-
sential to the city’s role as China’s
capital.
Since then, the area has been
2019 with a master’s degree in infor-
mation technology and works at
technology multinational Tencent.
The incident quickly became a
trending topic on Sina Weibo over
the weekend, and netizens have
asked for the graduate to be held
accountable.
An official from the university’s
student admission office told China
Newsweek that Ma has leaked infor-
mation of students who entered the
university from 2014 to 2020 and
most of the students’ privacy during
the time has been violated.
The official said that the universi-
ty intends to sue the graduate and
hold him accountable through the
law.
Zhao Zhanling, a lawyer at Beijing
Yunjia Law Firm, said the man is
suspected of committing the crime
of infringing on people’s personal
information.
According to the law, those found
illegally selling or providing people’s
personal information, if the circum-
transforming into an emerging,
sophisticated and modern city.
The construction of a number of
apartment blocks for professionals
was also completed in June, accord-
ing to a report by China Media
Group.
It’s hoped that personnel in man-
agement and scientific research
from some State-owned enterprises
directly under the central govern-
ment in Beijing can be transferred,
the report said.
According to official data, State-
owned enterprises have set up more
than 150 institutes in the area, and
another 30 subsidiaries of those
enterprises are expected to settle in
the area this year.
Supporting infrastructure includ-
ing a service center for residential
communities, a kindergarten and a
primary school in Xiong’an’s Rong-
dong area is expected to be com-
plete by the end of this month,
according to local authorities.
stances are serious, shall be sen-
tenced to a maximum of three years
in prison and fined, Zhao said.
When the circumstances are espe-
cially serious, the suspect shall be
sentenced to three to seven years in
prison and fined, he said.
According to an interpretation on
criminal cases of infringing people’s
personal information issued by the
Supreme People’s Court and the
Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the
top judicial authorities, people
found obtaining, selling or provid-
ing more than 5,000 pieces of per-
sonal information constitutes
“serious circumstances”, and when
the case has led to a major economic
loss or serious social impact, it
becomes “especially serious circum-
stances”, Zhao said.
“The case reflects that many col-
lege students do not have enough
knowledge of the law. No matter
what the reasons behind his actions,
he will be held accountable when he
violates the law,” Zhao added.
Summer
sunflowers
People take photos with
sunflowers in Beijing
Olympic Forest Park on
Sunday, as tempera-
tures remain high in the
capital. PROVIDED TO CHINA
DAILY
CHINA DAILY
Briefly
93 people arrested
for online gambling
Police in Southwest China’s Yun-
nan province have arrested 93
people suspected of involvement
in an online gambling ring, the
public security bureau of Zhao-
tong city announced on Sunday.
Police said that more than 900
million yuan ($125 million) was
involved in the case. A total of
seven online gambling apps were
shut down. In 2021, police in
Zhaotong found that an individu-
al surnamed Wang, along with
others, had organized gambling
activities on internet platforms
with huge capital flows. After 16
months of investigation, the
police raided nine gang premises
inside or outside of the province,
seizing some 80 mobile phones
and 27 computers.
Yellow alert issued for
geological disasters
Chinese authorities on Monday
issued a yellow alert for possible
geological disasters triggered by
rain in parts of Henan, Hubei,
Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou,
Yunnan and Shaanxi. The Minis-
try of Natural Resources and the
China Meteorological Adminis-
tration warned of risks of rain-
triggered geological disasters in
those regions from 8 pm Monday
to 8 pm on Tuesday. China will
face multiple natural disasters in
July, including floods, severe con-
vective weather, typhoons and
high temperatures, authorities
warned.
Media issue social
responsibility reports
Over 500 media organizations,
ranging from central news agen-
cies to county-level media cen-
ters, have collectively issued their
social responsibility reports for
last year. Additionally, several
provinces, including Heilong-
jiang, Shaanxi and Hunan,
expanded coverage to include
media outlets at the provincial,
prefectural and county levels.
The news agencies reported from
the aspects such as the political,
service, humanistic care, cultural
and moral responsibilities.
Tibet political adviser
under investigation
Jiang Jie, vice-chairman of the
Tibet Autonomous Regional
Committee of the Chinese Peo-
ple’s Political Consultative Con-
ference, has been placed under
investigation for suspected severe
violations of Party discipline and
laws, an official statement said on
Monday. Jiang is being investi-
gated by the Communist Party of
China Central Commission for
Discipline Inspection and the
National Commission of Supervi-
sion, according to the statement.
XINHUA—CHINA DAILY
 CHINA DAILY
CHINA
HK police
offer cash
rewards for
fugitives
By WILLIAM XU in Hong Kong
williamxu@chinadailyhk.com
Hong Kong police on Monday
said they are offering a reward of
HK$1 million ($128,000) for each
of eight fugitives wanted for
endangering national security.
Earlier, a Hong Kong court had
approved the issue of arrest war-
rants for the eight people — three
exiled former lawmakers, includ-
ing Ted Hui Chi-fung, and five
people who allegedly advocated
separatism and sought foreign
sanctions on Hong Kong.
The police said that anyone
who provides information that
would lead to these people’s
arrests will be given the reward.
The police officers will freeze
the suspects’ bank accounts and
other assets to cut off funding for
their illegal activities, Chief
Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-
wah of the Police’s National Secu-
rity Department said at a media
briefing on Monday afternoon.
Ted Hui Chi-fung, a former law-
maker who jumped bail and fled
Hong Kong at the end of 2020, is
charged with three offenses: incit-
ing secession, inciting subversion
of State power and collusion with
external forces to endanger nation-
al security — three out of the four
crimes proscribed by the National
Security Law. Hui is charged with
having committed the most crimes
among the eight wanted.
Li said Hui advocated “Hong
Kong independence” and called on
the people to overthrow the gov-
ernment of the Hong Kong SAR
and the central government
through multiple media platforms.
Hui also asked overseas govern-
ments and politicians to impose
sanctions on the Hong Kong SAR
and the nation, Li added.
Also on the wanted list is Kwok
Wing-hang, a barrister and former
legislator, who Hong Kong police
say was proposing to foreign poli-
ticians to take extreme measures
to sabotage Hong Kong’s Linked
Exchange Rate System to under-
mine Hong Kong’s status as an
international financial center.
Nathan Law Kwun-chung, also
a former lawmaker, is charged
with advocating separatism and
collusion with external forces.
The remaining five people —
Kelvin Yam, Yuan Gongyi, Kwok
Fung-yee, Mung Siu-tat and Lau
Cho-dik — are alleged to have con-
ducted various activities to endan-
ger national security, including
calling for external sanctions on
Hong Kong’s judges and prosecu-
tors. They are currently based in
countries including the United
States, the United Kingdom, Aus-
tralia and Canada.
According to Articles 37 and 38
of the National Security Law, the
law applies to people outside Hong
Kong, including those who are not
permanent residents of Hong
Kong, if they commit an offense.
Li warned that people who
donate money to them through
online platforms may also be in
breach of the National Security Law.
In a statement issued on Mon-
day afternoon, the Office for Safe-
guarding National Security of the
Central People’s Government of
the People’s Republic of China in
the Hong Kong Special Adminis-
trative Region, expressed its firm
support for the police’s move, say-
ing that it ensures the National
Security Law is fully and accurately
implemented and safeguards the
constitutional order of the SAR.
The HKSAR government said in
a statement that it fully supports
the police’s move to put the eight
fugitives on its wanted list.
A government spokesman said
it is the common responsibility of
all the people of China, including
the people of the Hong Kong
SAR, to safeguard the sovereign-
ty, unification and territorial
integrity of the country.
Since the implementation of
the National Security Law on
June 30, 2020, the National Secu-
rity Department of the Police
Force has arrested 260 people.
Among them, 161 individuals and
five companies have been charged
under the law, according to police.
Mike Gu contributed to this story.
Mini-miner
Young students control a mini-excavator to mimic mining on an extraterrestrial surface during an aero-
space innovation competition for teenagers in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Sunday. About 1,000 stu-
dents from nearly 400 schools participated in the event. LIU LI / FOR CHINA DAILY
Lifetime childlessness
rate to grow, study says
Research attributes change to delaying
marriage, improved education levels
By WANG XIAOYU
wangxiaoyu@chinadaily.com.cn
Over 5 percent of Chinese women
remain childless over their lifetime,
according to extrapolations from
data recorded in 2020, a fourfold
jump from a decade prior but
remaining much lower than in most
developed countries, a recent study
revealed.
However, China’s rate of childless-
ness is expected to continue to rise
in the future and could impede
efforts to realize an appropriate fer-
tility level, highlighting the need to
devise response strategies in
advance, it said.
The study, published recently in
the domestic journal Population
Research, used data from the latest
two national population censuses
conducted in 2010 and 2020 to cal-
culate the rate of childlessness
among different age groups.
It found that 5.16 percent of wom-
en at age 49 had never given birth,
rising from 1.29 percent in 2010.
Because first-time childbirth after
this age is rare, the figure can be tak-
en as an indicator of lifetime child-
lessness.
Some countries use 42 years as
the threshold for counting the rate
of childlessness. By this standard,
China’s rate would stand at around
6.7 percent, still much lower than 11
percent in the United States and 19
percent in European Union coun-
tries.
The study found that well-educat-
ed women and those living in urban
areas and northeastern provinces
were more likely to never have chil-
dren.
The study showed that the rate of
lifetime childlessness for females
Singer breaks silence to deny allegations of ‘forced abortion’
By JIANG CHENGLONG
jiangchenglong@chinadaily.com.cn
Chinese pop singer Cai Xukun
responded to recent allegations on
Monday, admitting that he had had
a “relationship” with a woman but
stressed it was “consensual” and
that their “private affairs” had been
settled appropriately.
Cai also denied the allegations
made on Chinese social media last
week that the woman had been
underage and that she was forced to
have an abortion.
The popular singer’s statement
came a week after an entertainment
blogger who claimed to have inside
information made several social
5.16
percent
of women at age 49 in 2020 had
never given birth, rising from
1.29 percent in 2010, according
to the study.
9.5
percent
of all females born in the 1990s
planned to never have kids,
according to a study by the
National Health Commission in
2021.
with a college degree or higher
reached nearly 8 percent in 2020,
compared with 5 percent among
women with a primary school or
junior high school diploma.
The rate among women living in
cities was 6.3 percent, compared
with 3.7 percent for women in rural
areas.
Northeastern regions have the
country’s lowest fertility levels and
the highest lifetime rate of childless-
ness, which was estimated to stand
around 6.3 percent in 2020.
The report noted that the rate of
childlessness among women aged
20 to 30 grew by over 10 percentage
points from 2010 to 2020.
“The rapidly rising rate among
younger women reflects delays in
marriage and childbearing, while
the relatively slower growth rate
among older women points to
declining fertility levels and the ris-
ing phenomenon among Chinese
women of opting to never have
kids,” the study said.
“With accelerating urbanization,
the deepening trend of delaying
media posts alleging that in 2021,
Cai had a one-night stand with a
woman and asked her to have an
abortion after she found herself
pregnant a month later.
The posts included screenshots of
WeChat chat records, pictures of
medical diagnoses and a letter of
understanding between the woman
and Cai.
“I was single two years ago and
had a relationship with Ms C, and the
personal matters between the two
parties were properly resolved in
2021 with no further entanglements
between us,” said Cai in a statement
that garnered more than five million
interactions on microblogging plat-
form Sina Weibo within three hours.
marriage and childbearing, and
improving education levels, the size
and proportion of Chinese women
who decide to never have kids will
continue to grow,” it said.
A survey led by the National
Health Commission in 2021 showed
that 9.5 percent of all females born
in the 1990s planned to never have
kids, and the rate was 11 percent for
those with a college degree or high-
er.
The study noted the prevalence of
infertility in China, which is esti-
mated to stand at around 10 per-
cent, will likely rise in the future and
further drive up the lifetime rate of
childlessness.
“The National Healthcare Securi-
ty Administration said this year that
it is mulling including fertility treat-
ments in its medical insurance pro-
grams, and this policy can play a
role in helping couples who want to
have a baby at a later age realize
their plans,” the study said.
China registered its first popula-
tion decline in over six decades last
year, and the central leadership
has recently stressed the signifi-
cance of maintaining an adequate
fertility level to achieve long-term
and balanced population develop-
ment.
“In China, few babies were born
out of wedlock and families with
multiple children are rare. As a
result, the rising lifetime rate of
childlessness in the country will
exert a strong and nearly irreversi-
ble impact on the number of new-
borns and overall fertility level,”
said the study, adding that the phe-
nomenon calls for heightened pre-
caution.
It suggested creating a more fer-
tility-friendly environment for the
younger population and establish-
ing a monitoring and alert system
for measuring lifetime childless-
ness.
He underscored that the relation-
ship between them was consensual
and involved no illegal acts, but he
also expressed an apology.
“This lesson for me is painful,
these two years I have been in
remorse,” Cai said, vowing to strictly
manage his words and deeds, and
accept the public scrutiny.
However, Cai didn’t respond to
the claim that his mother attempted
to monitor the woman by hiring a
private investigator and illegally
installed a hidden camera in her
door because the mother suspected
the woman of lying.
Following Cai’s statement, his
work team also issued a brief state-
ment on its verified Weibo account,
Guizhou’s green gains to be
showcased at coming forum
By LI LEI
lilei@chinadaily.com.cn
Guizhou province, home to a
sprawling cloud computing indus-
try, is poised to showcase its
progress in advancing cleaner
development via the Eco Forum
Global Guiyang 2023, which will
open on Saturday in the provincial
capital Guiyang, an official said.
The two-day event will feature a
series of events including exhibi-
tions, field studies and contract-
signing ceremonies for a host of
projects in renewable energy and
eco-friendly materials, among oth-
er fields, Vice-Governor Yang
Tongguang told a news conference
on Monday in Beijing.
The exhibitions will display a
range of products and services
with the promise of reduced car-
bon emissions, cleaner production
and waste recycling, he said.
“The forum will demonstrate
Guizhou’s green development
achievements in an all-around
fashion to a global audience,” said
Yang, who is also deputy director of
the forum’s executive committee.
Authorities in Guiyang hosted its
first such forum in 2009, and in
2013, the event emerged as an inter-
national convention with a focus on
promoting ecological civilization.
Over time, the meetings have
become a vehicle to forge global
partnerships and exchanges in
environmental protection, curb
carbon emissions and fight cli-
mate change, the vice-governor
said.
Children on parade
People jam the street during a temple fair in Wuyi county of Jin-
hua, Zhejiang province, on Monday, as the annual fair resumed
after three years. During the event, which has been held for more
than two centuries, children parade dressed as characters from
traditional Chinese operas. HU XIAOFEI / FOR CHINA DAILY
China’s defense minister
meets Russian navy chief
By JIANG CHENGLONG
jiangchenglong@chinadaily.com.cn
State Councilor and Defense
Minister Li Shangfu on Monday
met with the Russian Navy’s Com-
mander-in-Chief Nikolai Yevmen-
ov in Beijing.
According to a statement by the
Minister of National Defense, Li
said that under the strategic gui-
dance of the heads of state of both
countries, China-Russia military
exchanges and cooperation have
steadily developed, and the two
navies have close interactions and
frequent exchanges.
Li expressed the hope that both
sides enhance communication at
all levels, organize joint exercises,
denouncing some of the allegations
that it said were made up and hyped
deliberately to mislead the public.
“These rumors have seriously
damaged the singer’s personality
rights and social public image, and
are suspected of insult and defama-
tion,” the statement said. It also said
that a number of lawsuits had been
filed in court, though it didn’t reveal
against whom.
As of Monday, no brand Cai
endorses had announced any
changes in their agreements with
him.
However, some of those brands,
such as Nestle China, L’Oreal and
Vivo, which have cooperation deals
with the singer, have deleted all pro-
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 | 5
The forum, which is expected to
include over 2,500 participants this
year, also serves as an important
avenue for promoting Xi Jinping
Thought on Ecological Civilization,
which calls for promoting the har-
monious coexistence between
humanity and nature; serving Chi-
na’s strategic diplomatic goals;
showcasing the green development
achievements of all countries; and
bolstering ecological conservation
worldwide, Yang said.
Speaking at the news confer-
ence, Wang Zhibin, director of the
Ministry of Ecology and Environ-
ment’s ecological conservation
division, said the Thought has sig-
nificantly altered Chinese people’s
perspectives and actions related to
environmental protection, and it is
part of the Chinese wisdom of
achieving sustainable develop-
ment.
He said that the average concen-
tration of PM2.5 — particulate
matter with a diameter of 2.5
micrometers or less — in major cit-
ies across the country dropped
34.9 percent between 2015 and last
year, making China the country
with the fastest-improving air
quality in the world.
In addition, more than 300 wild
animal and plant species have
been placed under State protec-
tion.
“Over the past decade, China
has maintained an average eco-
nomic growth rate of more than
6.6 percent, while the growth rate
of its energy consumption has
been just 3 percent,” Wang said.
patrols and contests on a regular
basis, and expand practical coop-
eration in professional fields to
actively contribute to regional and
even global peace and stability.
Yevmenov stated that Russia
attaches great importance to
enhancing practical cooperation
between the two militaries in vari-
ous fields.
He said Russia is willing to main-
tain close coordination with China,
firmly implement the important
consensus reached by the two lead-
ers, continuously expand naval
exchanges at all levels, jointly orga-
nize important exercises such as
joint maritime exercises and
patrols, and constantly push bilater-
al military relations to a higher level.
motional content involving Cai on
their Weibo accounts.
Furthermore, content related to
Cai cannot be found on major apps
and websites managed by China
Media Group, including the China
Central Television News app and
cctv.com.
On Friday, Keep Running, a reali-
ty show program produced by Zhe-
jiang Television, announced on its
Weibo account that the scheduled
Friday airing of its program would
be postponed due to production
adjustments.
According to a preview of the pro-
gram, Cai was scheduled to appear
as a guest together with various
well-known celebrities.
6 | Tuesday, July 4, 2023
CHINA
Dogged persistence helps pet
detectives locate missing animals
An employee of All Back Pet Search Technology edits a video that shows how the company’s detectives manage to locate missing pets.
The unexpected
disappearance of
a furry friend can
cause anxiety and
lead to heartache.
Yao Yuxin reports.
L
i Yuanyuan’s dog was miss-
ing. It was a little before 9
pm on March 14 when the
Beijing mother stepped
outside to get some potting soil for
her flowers and the dog slipped
away from her side in the darkness.
After returning with the soil, Li
casually closed the door, assuming
that her furry companion had fol-
lowed her back inside.
The 33-year-old cherishes the
dog, named M Bean after the Chi-
nese name for M&Ms. She brought
the black Teddy Bear breed home
from her husband’s place nine years
ago while they were still dating. It
was just 4 months old. Since her
husband died in January as a result
of COVID-19, Li has regarded the
dog as more than just a pet.
“She is the solace my husband left
for me. Just like the significance our
daughter holds in my life,” said Li,
who uses her husband’s photo as
her WeChat profile picture, while
the background image on her
WeChat moments is a wedding
photo of them holding hands.
Over the next two days, Li devot-
ed every moment outside of work
and sleeping to searching for her
beloved pet until midnight, only to
return home empty-handed, with
no trace of the female dog.
Having turned to the internet in
search of ways to retrieve her lost
pet, Li stumbled upon the profes-
sion of pet detectives. Approxi-
mately half an hour after receiving
a call for help on March 17, pet
detective Zhao Hui knocked on Li’s
door, to be greeted by her careworn
features.
The 38-year-old became a pet
detective for All Back Pet Search
Technology Co in Beijing last year. “I
enjoy intriguing and challenging
work,” said Zhao, who uses the name
“Against the Wind” on his WeChat
account.
Tough case
At first, he thought finding M
Bean would be a straightforward
task, considering the abundance of
surveillance cameras around Li’s
neighborhood. To make an initial
assessment of where the lost ani-
mal might have ventured, Zhao first
inquired about the dog’s personali-
ty, notable physical features and
whether she had been neutered.
For instance, at a crossroads, a
bold dog would likely cross the
street, while a timid one might turn
Knowledge of creature comforts and psychology secures success
By YAO YUXIN
Reviewing surveillance footage is
the first step for a pet detective
before heading out to search for a
missing animal as it can provide an
idea of the direction in which the
lost animal may have gone.
Clockwise from top left: Zhao Hui searches for a missing pet. The sort of equipment used by pet detectives. Zhao uses a detector to locate
the missing animal. Song Zhilong, who became a pet detective after he lost his own pet, plays with his corgi. PHOTOS BY ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY
a corner. A friendly dog is far more
likely to be taken in by a stranger,
whereas a less sociable one would
be more likely to roam the streets.
Communication with pet owners
is not always smooth. Over-
whelmed by the loss of their friend,
some weep as they explain how
important the animal is to them,
and they are unable to answer the
questions posed by the pet detect-
ive.
Some highly distraught people
may even provide incorrect or mis-
leading information.
On the back of Zhao’s right hand,
there are two raised scars running
from his wrist to his fingers. They
are reminders of the time he trust-
ed an owner who said their cat had
a gentle temperament and attempt-
ed to capture it without wearing
gloves. In another incident, Zhao
spent two days searching for a dog
with pink ears based on the photo
provided by the owner. Later, he
discovered that the photo was inac-
curate because the owner had actu-
ally dyed the animal’s ears several
months before so the pink color had
mostly faded away.
Before setting out to search in
earnest, Zhao made it a priority to
determine whether M Bean was
really lost, because he has encoun-
tered numerous situations where
the pet hadn’t even left the house,
had been secretly given away or
Dogs generally tend to choose a
roughly consistent direction and keep
walking in a straight line when they
go missing, pet detective Zhao Hui
said. That’s why the Teddy Bear and
Shiba Inu breeds give him the biggest
headaches as they can run up to 10
kilometers in a day.
abandoned by family members.
He was once engaged to find a
flight attendant’s missing cat, only
to discover that the animal had
been secretly discarded by the
woman’s mother. Despite being
confronted, the senior remained
tight-lipped about the cat’s where-
abouts, leading to a heated alterca-
tion between mother and daughter.
To crack the case, Zhao shifted
his focus from studying feline
behavior to understanding human
psychology. He discovered that the
older woman had a habit of taking
leisurely walks in a nearby park.
Zhao searched the area but found
no trace of the cat.
He found himself at a loss, but
during a cigarette break he instinc-
tively looked up and saw the cat sit-
ting above him — she had been
perched on a tree branch for nearly
28 hours without coming down.
Puzzling development
In the case of M Bean, it was evi-
dent to Zhao that the dog was no
longer in Li’s home. Surveillance
footage revealed that the little dog
had run around the residential
complex several times without
encountering its owner and had
eventually dashed out of the com-
pound.
However, what puzzled everyone
was the absence of any further
sightings of the dog by the surveil-
By contrast, cats tend to find a
secluded spot to hide and won’t come
out unless they are extremely hungry.
“No corners or crevices should be
overlooked,” Zhao said. “Even a small
hole or drain by the roadside, if disre-
garded, could mean missing out on
finding an errant cat.”
lance cameras 200 meters away on
either side of the community’s
entrance.
“It couldn’t just disappear into
thin air, could it?” Zhao asked him-
self.
He had no choice but to review
the surveillance footage of the last
time M Bean had been seen. This
time, he noticed a man who seemed
fixated on the animal. When the
dog disappeared from the camera’s
view, the man swiftly followed,
walking out of the frame as well.
After several seconds, the man
reappeared, holding M Bean in his
arms. Just as he reached the road-
side, a black Ford SUV arrived. The
man got into the car and it drove
away.
However, the night shots made it
difficult for Zhao to catch a glimpse
of the license plate number. To
make matters worse, the cameras
that could have provided a clearer
view were malfunctioning. As he
watched the car approach a high-
way, Zhao felt a wave of despair
wash over him.
Gaining access to surveillance
footage is no simple task for pet
detectives. Sometimes, the juris-
diction of cameras on different
sides of a street falls under the
responsibility of different police
stations, requiring additional time
for negotiation. Malfunctioning
cameras and a lack of maintenance
He has a deep understanding of the
psychology of cats and dogs: he
knows that cats are naturally inclined
to climb and explore high places, so if
one goes missing in a building it is
likely to be found by searching
upward along the stairs. Cats are also
highly alert so Zhao has to tread light-
ZOU HONG / CHINA DAILY
can further hinder the process.
Not everyone can grasp the
lengths people will go to locate a
lost pet. When Li, the pet owner,
sought access to footage at the local
police station, she was met with
amusement as the officers jokingly
questioned the value of such an
endeavor for “just a dog”.
Just as he was about to give up,
Zhao suddenly remembered his
previous searches for cats and dogs
in the same area. He recalled that a
large camera was installed on the
road the black SUV had passed
down. He hoped that it would have
a powerful light-suppression fea-
ture that could potentially enhance
the visibility of the license plate at
night.
He went to the police station, but
as often was the case, he was
denied access to the surveillance
footage because he was “only” look-
ing for a dog.
However, when he shared Li’s
story, telling the officers about how
her husband had recently died and
how the dog was a genuine source
of comfort, they relented.
The license plate number finally
appeared. After checking the
records, Zhao discovered the name
and phone number of the owner of
the vehicle, which was registered
in Anhui province, about 1,000
kilometers from Beijing. Then,
Zhao called the car owner.
ly. However, he often faces suspicion
or is mistaken for a thief when he is
holding a flashlight, quietly inspect-
ing every nook and cranny of a build-
ing or neighborhood.
However, most of the time dogs end
up in someone’s home, which
requires the extensive dissemination
CHINA DAILY
Heartbreaking moments
Zhao is always relieved when he
secures a happy ending. He has wit-
nessed too many heartbreaking
moments when pets were found to
have been hit by cars and were lying
dead on the roadside, while others
had disappeared without a trace, leav-
ing an eternal mystery about where
they had gone.
In one case, a young woman in
Yantai, Shandong province, posted
search notices on her WeChat
account every day. Her dog had run
up into the mountains, and despite
searching for two days, Zhao
couldn’t find it. He suspected that
the dog had most likely been eaten by
wild animals in the mountains.
“My heart aches: I truly don’t
know how to move forward,” the
young woman wrote in a WeChat
conversation with the pet detective.
“I know I still have work to do and
a life to live, but my dog is part of my
life. Its absence has taken a piece of
my soul with it.”
Desperate pet owners may even
turn to fortunetellers in the hope of
gaining hints about their pet’s
whereabouts. One owner told Zhao
that a fortuneteller had informed her
that her cat, which had been missing
for 13 days, had run 4 km south to a
place with water, where it was bask-
ing in the sun under a corner of a wall
near a garbage dump.
The vivid description left Zhao
feeling ridiculous. “It doesn’t make
sense,” he said. “Anyway, a cat
couldn’t have run that far.”
Many years ago, Zhao lost a Corgi
dog that he was unable to find. For a
long time, his son sat on the balcony
every day, looking down and eagerly
asking him, “Daddy, do you think
Dumpling (the dog’s name) will
come back?”
When Zhao first became a pet
detective, he was often moved to
tears when he witnessed owners
embracing their returned pets and
shedding tears of joy. He would
also feel guilty and blame himself
when he couldn’t find a pet.
Nowadays, he sees his work more
as a profession, and when he tries his
best but can’t find the lost pet he
accepts the situation with equanimi-
ty. He advises the owners to adopt
the same approach.
Happy ending
Li was finally reunited with M
Bean in Beijing. However, as the dog
had been taken for ransom, it came
at a cost of more than 10,000 yuan
($1,380), which was equivalent to
three months’ salary. She didn’t tell
her mother-in-law about the money
she had paid out.
“I feel very fortunate,” Li said. “I
believe that my dog’s life is worth
that much money.”
Contact the writer at
yaoyuxin@chinadaily.com.cn
of “lost pet” information, Zhao said. In
addition to posting notices in neigh-
borhoods, he has found that seeking
assistance from nearby pet stores —
for example, asking them to share
search information in their WeChat
customer groups — is highly effective.
“People who have pets themselves
can better empathize with the own-
er,” he said. “They know how heart-
wrenching it can be when their
beloved friend goes missing.”
 CHINA DAILY
CHINA
Walls blocking scenic
area upset tourists
Meri Snow Mountain promises to make rectification
after complaints that people must pay for views of site
By LIANG SHUANG
liangshuang@chinadaily.com.cn
A renowned scenic area in Yunnan
province on June 26 promised recti-
fication after it sparked public
annoyance by building walls along
highways to block views of the site,
which meant that the only way tour-
ists could get a glimpse of the natural
wonder was by buying a ticket.
The Meri Snow Mountain Scenic
Area in Dechen county, Yunnan, said
in a statement that it would make the
Feilai Temple and the Great Jinsha
River Winding scenic spots accessi-
ble to the public for free.
The statement said the highway
section contains many sharp turns
and steep slopes and advised tourists
to drive carefully, adding that there
are multiple angles and locations
available around the Feilai Temple
for them to enjoy the view. But it did
not provide details on what would
happen with the walls.
The promise of rectification was
triggered by a travel blogger who
recently posted a video complaining
about 3-meter-high walls being
erected on the side of the G214
national highway that passes by the
Great Jinsha River Winding scenic
spot.
The walls completely blocked
views of the site from the highway,
forcing tourists to pay to enter a pan-
oramic platform set up by the scenic
area if they wanted to witness the
breathtaking beauty of a horseshoe-
shaped bend of the river, which is the
upper reach of the Yangtze River.
The entrance fee to see the wind-
ing spot is 60 yuan ($8.30). Tourists
New Zealand special
NZ companies seek to
shine in expo spotlight
By YUAN SHENGGAO
With China making moves to
encourage foreign companies to
play a bigger role in its market,
business leaders expect that the
country’s prestigious trade fairs
such as the annual China Interna-
tional Import Expo and its ongoing
consumption upgrading will pro-
vide attractive growth opportuni-
ties for countries, including New
Zealand.
They said that the prospects for
economic and trade cooperation
between China and New Zealand
are broad, with consumption
upgrading forming a key growth
point for New Zealand companies
operating in the country.
Leo Liu, general manager for
China of Grin Natural Inc, an Auck-
land-based oral care brand and a
five-time CIIE participant, said as
the trade between China and New
Zealand grows stronger, Grin will
continue to increase its investment
in China and it will take part in the
sixth CIIE, which will be held in
Shanghai in November, to further
expand its presence in the country.
“We will partner with domestic
research and development insti-
tutes to introduce more healthy
and environmentally friendly
products into the Chinese market
and meet consumers’ demand for
segmented oral products,” he said.
Justine Arroll, trade strategy
manager of Fonterra Co-operative
Group Ltd, a New Zealand multi-
national dairy company, said that
the CIIE is now the seminal event
in Fonterra’s calendar in China.
“Fonterra has been involved with
the CIIE since its inception in 2018
and over that time, we have grown
the footprint of our booth from 50
square meters to 260 sq m this
year,” said Arroll, revealing that
Fonterra will launch a brand-new
high-protein ultra-high-tempera-
ture milk during the upcoming
event in Shanghai.
Similar views on the expo were
expressed by Terry Lee, managing
director of Milk New Zealand,
another dairy company. “Partici-
could also buy a joint ticket of 150
yuan that includes two more spots,
including the Feilai Temple.
The post resonated with many
tourists, who believe the scenic area
was unreasonably profiting from the
natural beauty. They also listed other
scenic areas that conducted similar
behavior.
For example, walls have also been
set up on the roads leading to the
Hukou Falls on both banks of the Yel-
low River, which is under the juris-
dictions of Yichuan county, Shaanxi
province, and Jixian county, Shanxi
province, respectively.
According to a report by China
Newsweek, officials in both counties
claimed that the walls were meant to
guarantee the safety of tourists rath-
er than prevent them from getting
“sneak peeks”. But tourists com-
plained that short, thick roadblocks
would have been enough if safety
was indeed the concern.
On Saturday, videos online have
shown that the wall on the roads that
lead to the Shaanxi side of the Hukou
Falls have been torn down, according
to a report by Xiaoxiang Morning
News, which is based in Changsha,
Hunan province. However, no expla-
nations were given to the newspaper
regarding the change.
The Meri Snow Mountain Scenic
Area told Red Star News in Chengdu,
Sichuan province, that the local gov-
ernment had entrusted a local tour-
ism company to operate the sites,
which signed contracts with local vil-
lages to return some of the profits to
villages to boost the socioeconomic
development of the region.
Some experts have called such
The enthusiasm of New Zealand companies
shows that the opportunities in the Chinese
market and the appeal of Chinese partners
are unparalleled for global companies. The
sixth CIIE will write a new chapter of
openness and cooperation. It will reinforce
China’s firm determination to support trade
liberalization and economic globalization”
Dong Yifan, assistant research fellow at the Beijing-based China
Institutes of Contemporary International Relations
pating in the CIIE brings great ben-
efits to Milk New Zealand. We con-
sider the CIIE as a platform for
launching new products, gaining
media attention, expanding distri-
bution channels, engaging in
exchanges and learning with our
peers.”
Liu, from Grin Natural Inc, said
that the Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership has also
provided fresh cooperation oppor-
tunities for Grin Natural, as the low
or zero tariffs on bilateral trade
between China and New Zealand
allow Chinese consumers to pur-
chase imported oral care products
from the Oceania country more
conveniently.
The Philippines became the final
member to activate the RCEP
agreement in early June.
The fully implemented RCEP
pact will facilitate businesses to
better explore new market oppor-
tunities, promote product and ser-
vice innovation, and improve their
competitiveness to better serve
consumers in the Asia-Pacific
region, Liu said.
According to China’s Ministry of
Commerce, the full-force imple-
mentation of the RCEP agreement
demonstrates the commitment and
actions of all 15 participating coun-
tries to support a multilateral trad-
ing system that is open, free, fair,
inclusive and rules-based.
behavior “shortsighted”.
“Without tourists attracted by an
area’s good reputation, various servi-
ces in the tourism sector, including
those centered on dining, accommo-
dation and shopping, would not be
possible, let alone sustainable devel-
opment,” Yu Haibo, a professor in
tourism at Nankai University, told
China Newsweek, adding that the
negative reputation of one scenic
area will potentially impede the
growth of tourism in the entire
region.
According to Li Lei, a lawyer at the
Ocean Law Firm in Beijing, scenic
areas that are built using public
resources such as natural wonders
should take into consideration pub-
lic interest based on the Tourism
Law, and should put social benefits
ahead of profits.
In addition, regulations state that
construction in scenic areas needs to
be done according to the master plan
of the area, and the composition of
the plan requires the solicitation of
public opinion, or public hearings if
necessary, Li said, adding that it’s not
clear if plans to build the walls had
included public feedback.
“It’s the scenic beauty that the
walls blocked, but it’s the tourists’
hearts that were lost,” Yu said.
Meri Snow Mountain has long
been a renowned scenic area due to
its natural grandeur as well as its
holiness in Tibetan Buddhism. Its
main peak, Kawagebo, which has an
altitude of 6,740 meters above sea
level, has never been summited, and
mountaineering activities have been
banned to show respect for locals’
beliefs.
Dong Yifan, assistant research
fellow at the Beijing-based China
Institutes of Contemporary Inter-
national Relations, said: “The
enthusiasm of New Zealand com-
panies shows that the opportuni-
ties in the Chinese market and the
appeal of Chinese partners are
unparalleled for global compa-
nies.”
“The sixth CIIE will write a new
chapter of openness and coopera-
tion. It will reinforce China’s firm
determination to support trade lib-
eralization and economic globaliza-
tion,” said Dong, adding that a
growing number of foreign compa-
nies are keen to display more prod-
ucts at the expo this year to meet
the surging needs of Chinese con-
sumers.
Over the past five CIIEs, compa-
nies from 171 countries and regions,
including 44 of the world’s least
developed countries, showcased
over 2,000 new products, technol-
ogies and services at the business
exhibition, and secured tentative
deals worth nearly $350 billion,
according to information released
by China International Import
Expo Bureau, the event’s organiz-
er, in May.
In the meantime, 131 countries
and international organizations
have participated in the expo to
promote global opening-up and
cooperation.
Traditional treatment
Medical workers in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, stick sanfutie plasters, traditional Chinese medicine
patches used to cure illness, on local children on Monday. WANG ZHENG / FOR CHINA DAILY
Linfen gets smart about pear farming
TAIYUAN — In Xixian county,
located in Linfen, Shanxi province,
a smart pear orchard spanning
33.3 hectares has been developed
in cooperation with the Shanxi
Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
In this orchard, every pear is
assigned a unique QR code that
enables monitoring of the entire
growth process, from flowering to
fruit development, including track-
ing watering schedules and detect-
ing any instances of infestation.
“The QR code serves as an ID
card, recording the life of a pear,”
said Wang Yibo, an agriculture offi-
cial from the county.
“I no longer need to spend my
entire day working in the fields,”
said local villager Liu Jianlong, who
explained how his son assists him in
remotely monitoring the orchard’s
condition through a smartphone,
enabling timely updates and mini-
mizing the need for a constant phys-
ical presence in the fields.
Established in 2020, the smart
orchard is operated with the help of
MitoQ: Revolutionizing cellular health
in China’s e-commerce landscape
By SONG MENGXING
songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn
During New Zealand Prime Min-
ister Chris Hipkins’ visit to China
from June 25 to 30, MitoQ, a pio-
neering cellular health brand, was a
key representative of the country’s
growing health products category at
a lunch briefing with Hipkins and
NZBRIC executives.
MitoQ’s Head of China Zoe Li took
the opportunity to share the brand’s
journey in China’s thriving e-com-
merce world.
Contrary to New Zealand’s well-
known and traditional reputation in
agriculture and primary industries,
MitoQ distinguishes itself as a high-
tech company dedicated to cellular
health.
Li said that the company’s hero
ingredient, the MitoQ molecule, is a
pioneering antioxidant that is sup-
ported by decades of global scientif-
ic research dating back to as early as
2000.
The brand’s mission is to empow-
er the health and ambitions of
everybody by starting from the
smallest unit of the body, cells.
Scientific breakthrough
tech: The MitoQ Molecule
“It all starts small, like everything
great in life,” Li talks about MitoQ’s
humble beginnings 20 years ago
when two professors at New Zea-
land’s University of Otago invented
the pioneering antioxidant known
as MitoQ, short for mitoquinol mes-
ylate.
This breakthrough antioxidant
possesses a superpower – the ability
to be absorbed directly into the
mitochondria, the powerhouses
within cells to support the body’s
reaction to oxidative stress as peo-
ple.
MitoQ is uniquely designed to
support better energy, vitality, skin
and healthy aging at the cellular lev-
el.
The efficacy of the MitoQ antioxi-
dant has been extensively studied,
with more than 730 research papers
cutting-edge technologies such as
the internet, big data, cloud comput-
ing and the internet of things. The
integration of a big data service cen-
ter has played a crucial role in elevat-
ing the intelligent production
capabilities of the orchard’s agricul-
tural cloud platform.
In comparison to the average yield
of 30,000 kilograms per hectare in
traditional orchards, the smart
orchard can double the output to
60,000.
Located in the Loess Plateau, Xixi-
an stands as a prominent fruit pro-
duction county boasting an
expansive pear fruit plantation area
of 25,333 hectares.
There are 64 villages in the county
that rely on pears as their primary
industry, accounting for 80 percent
of the farmers’ income.
Xixian has built a smart agricul-
ture integration platform composed
of 12 systems, including water-fertil-
izer integrated management, dis-
ease and insect monitoring, and the
monitoring and evaluation of the
MitoQ holds a brand activity in New Zealand in March.
PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
from over 100 reputable institutions
including University of Cambridge,
Harvard University, University of
Colorado and more.
The studies cover various fields,
including Parkinson’s disease, vas-
cular endothelial function and exer-
cise rehabilitation.
To date, MitoQ has accumulated
18 clinical trials with dozens more in
the pipeline.
Expanding in China:
A strategic market
“China holds tremendous signifi-
cance for MitoQ,” said Li, emphasiz-
ing the brand’s commitment to the
Chinese market.
Recently celebrating its 10th
anniversary, MitoQ entered China
in 2017 through e-commerce, estab-
lishing its first flagship store on
Tmall Global.
Since then, MitoQ has continued
to expand its distribution on Ali
Health, Tmall Direct and JD. Plans
are also underway to launch its Dou-
yin flagship store this year.
Strategy: Online presence
Looking ahead, MitoQ aims to
ADVERTORIAL
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 | 7
quality of cultivated land.
Thanks to this smart platform,
pear production in the county
includes a series of digital opera-
tions in seedling selection, planting,
pest control and meteorological
analysis.
According to Wang, the platform
not only helps with production but
also promotes sales, as its tracking
system can collect first-hand mar-
keting feedback data.
Pear farmers can learn about the
market demand through the system
to accurately identify their custom-
ers and carry out targeted promo-
tions.
In 2022, the county’s fruit produc-
tion hit 30 million kg, with online
sales accounting for 24 percent.
“My family harvested 46,500 kg of
pears last year, with almost 80 per-
cent sold online,” said Liu, adding
that they earned an annual income
of 120,000 yuan ($16,768) from
pears.
XINHUA
establish a robust online presence in
China.
Li emphasizes the brand’s focus
on using e-commerce platforms and
digital marketing initiatives to
enhance online visibility and
engage with consumers. Through
collaborations with prominent Chi-
nese retailers, MitoQ aims to ensure
broader accessibility to its products
and services.
Commenting on China’s diverse
e-commerce landscape, Li recogniz-
es its constant evolution, presenting
opportunities for agile brands. She
expresses confidence in MitoQ’s
ability to capitalize on these oppor-
tunities with its innovative product
pipeline, strong local team and stra-
tegic partnerships.
By establishing a robust presence
in China’s digital ecosystem, MitoQ
aims to forge strong connections
with customers and deliver optimal
cellular health solutions to the Chi-
nese market.
As MitoQ continues to revolution-
ize cellular health, it is poised to
make a lasting effect on China’s
health-conscious consumers and
shape the future of wellness.
8 | Tuesday, July 4, 2023
COMMENT
Editorials
Candid communication crucial to keep
China-US differences from boiling over
I
t is, as both countries acknowledge, of vital
importance for China and the United States
to maintain normal channels of communica-
tion in order to prevent the differences
between them from developing into conflict or
even confrontation.
It is crucial that both sides know about and
understand each other’s concerns, which will help
iron out the mistrust between them in the long run
and avoid misunderstandings.
Given the importance of China-US relations not
just to the two countries themselves, but also to the
global economy and world stability, there is more
than enough reason for the two sides to deepen
engagement as much as possible on all levels.
That US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will visit
Beijing from Thursday to Sunday is a positive sign
that communication between the Joe Biden
administration and Beijing is being stepped up as it
comes soon after US Secretary of State Antony
Blinken’s visit last month.
Central Intelligence Agency Director William
Burns said on Saturday that decoupling from Chi-
na would be foolish given the deep interdepend-
ence of the US and Chinese economies, echoing
Yellen’s remark in a House Financial Services Com-
mittee hearing that it “would be disastrous for us to
attempt to decouple from China”.
However, the noise in Washington about
decoupling will hardly abate unless the Biden
SCO can uphold multilateralism with unity
T
he clique-building of the United States
serves the purpose of divide and rule.
Being open and inclusive and dedicated
to promoting common development and
shared security, the Shanghai Cooperation Organi-
zation transcends traditional bloc politics, empha-
sizing partnerships rather than traditional
alliances.
Formed 22 years ago to combat terrorism,
extremism and separatism, the SCO’s cooperation
has expanded over the years to encompass eco-
nomic, cultural and other fields. The SCO’s achieve-
ments have also drawn more countries into its
orbit, and both its membership and number of
observer states have grown. Iran is set to be wel-
comed as the latest member.
The SCO has effectively promoted the expansion
and deepening of regional cooperation, and it has
proved it can interact effectively with other multi-
lateral institutions, making it a very attractive
alternative for countries uncomfortable with the
West and their foreign policies.
As Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao
Ning said in a news briefing on Friday, regional
countries as well as other members of the interna-
tional community are looking to the SCO to play a
bigger role in safeguarding regional security and
promoting common development.
China views the SCO as a priority in its foreign
affairs, and President Xi Jinping will deliver impor-
Underlying issues fertile ground for unrest
T
he riots in France, which erupted nation-
wide after a teenager of North African
descent was shot dead by police during a
traffic stop on June 27, have shaken the
country and shocked the rest of the world.
So far, more than 3,000 people have been
detained, with the violence accompanied by wide-
spread arson, looting and vandalism. Hundreds of
police and firefighters have been injured in the
worst social upheaval in the country for years.
The riots have forced Emmanuel Macron to
delay what would have been the first state visit to
Germany by a French president in 23 years which
was scheduled to start Sunday evening.
Racial discrimination in law enforcement seems
to have been the direct cause of the riots — there
have been 21 fatal police traffic-stop shootings in
France since 2020, most of the victims being of
Black or Arab origin. Yet the latest killing was just
the lighter that sparked the gas. The unleashing of
violence and fury on such a scale reflects the wider
problems in French society, such as poverty, jobless-
ness and increasing social alienation. By the end of
2020, there were 10 million French people living in
poverty, which was eight times more than in 1980.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine
conflict have further aggravated the problem.
Moreover, immigrants and their descendants are
more likely to be unemployed than non-immi-
grants in general. The jobless rate among immi-
grants reached 12.9 percent in France in 2020,
compared with 7.4 percent for non-immigrants.
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administration can figure out the right way to
maintain and develop the relations between the
two countries. The China hawks consider it natu-
ral that the administration make it a priority to
contain the rise of China even at the cost of the US
economy.
Even though they have come to realize that it is
foolish to decouple from China and it is impossible to
do so as the economies of the two countries are deep-
ly interdependent, they will not be willing to do
things conducive to the development of bilateral ties.
As a result, it is unrealistic to expect that the rela-
tions between the two countries will take a turn for
the better in a short period of time. It will take time
for politicians in Washington to realize that to
make the bilateral relationship tolerable, it is the
US that must make the greater compromises to
meet China halfway because in most cases the US
has been making one provocative move after
another.
Blinken said a couple of days ago in an interview
that the US will continue to do and say things that
China doesn’t like. Likewise, China will continue to
do things that the US doesn’t like. But that does not
mean the two countries are adversaries.
It means they need to keep talking candidly and
sincerely to ensure that things are kept in the right
perspective, and Washington must act on the
straight and narrow to ensure its words can be
trusted.
tant remarks at the 23rd Meeting of the Council of
Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Orga-
nization to be hosted by India via video links on
Tuesday.
Together with other participating leaders, he will
chart the course for the organization to achieve
greater progress and boost the development and
prosperity in regional countries.
If all the SCO member states take the meeting as
a chance to demonstrate their commitment to mul-
tilateralism by further strengthening their commu-
nication and coordination, they will ensure the
SCO continues to play an important and construct-
ive role in international and regional affairs.
By creating the conditions for more countries
to participate in global governance on an equal
footing, the SCO has transformed into an organi-
zation with profound significance. History has
proved and will continue to prove that multilater-
alism prevails over unilateralism, good-neighbor-
liness and friendship transcend beggar-thy-
neighbor policies, and mutually beneficial
cooperation is preferable to zero-sum games.
By acting on the Global Development Initiative,
the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civili-
zation Initiative proposed by China, the members
of the SCO and its wider “family” can forge an even
closer SCO community and uphold peace, develop-
ment, cooperation and mutual benefit for the Eura-
sian continent and the world at large.
According to the French National Institute of Sta-
tistics, the living conditions of the country’s 7 mil-
lion immigrants are marked by greater poverty and
difficulties related to employment.
For years France has been applying a “color-
blind” approach to public policy to reflect its tradi-
tion of universalism in the hope of uniting all
French citizens regardless of their color and race. It
even removed the word “race” from the country’s
Constitution arguing the term was outdated.
But turning a blind eye to the sensitive issue has not
prevented the gap between the reality and ideal from
widening, nor has it helped the government properly
address racial disparities that are becoming more
acute within the country. France, like many other
European countries, has taken in a large number of
immigrants and refugees from North Africa after the
“Arab Spring” and the wars and chaos caused by the
US-led Western powers in the Middle East. This has
aggravated racial tensions. Many people in France
have already called on the government to recognize
that universalism is a myth and explore alternative
ways to address the problems that have emerged.
At the same time, it should be noted that the vio-
lence is being exploited by some who hope to make
trouble for Macron, who has been a vocal critic of
Europe’s Washington-led stance on the Ukraine con-
flict. With the immediate anger seemingly burning
itself out, it is to be hoped that order can be restored
in France at an early date before the flames of unrest
are fanned and spread throughout an already troub-
led Europe.
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Zheng Huawei
Opinion Line
Economic recovery trend good,
but more momentum needed
China’s purchasing managers’
index was 49 in June, up 0.2 per-
centage points from May, indicat-
ing a marginal improvement of its
manufacturing industry.
However, the PMI has been below
the critical point for three months
since April, meaning the prosperity
index for China’s overall manufac-
turing industry is still weak. Accord-
ing to National Bureau of Statistics
data, the indexes of production and
new orders in equipment manufac-
turing and such high-tech manufac-
turing sectors as automobiles,
aerospace equipment, electrical
machinery, and computer commu-
nication electronic equipment are
in the expansion range, while real
estate has failed to meet develop-
ment expectation, and the weak
Washington most vulnerable in Taiwan bet
The US-based Rand Corporation
has released a report about playing
Taiwan, which is part of China,
against its central government,
where it concluded that “Taiwan is
vulnerable to defeat (by the Chinese
mainland) within 90 days.”
The report evaluated Taiwan’s
capacities and claimed that US
intervention is necessary in case the
Chinese mainland “attacks” Taiwan.
There is no way to know why
Rand published such a report, but
clearly the military-industrial com-
plex in the United States will bene-
fit the most from it. By scaring the
Taiwan authorities with a possibly
worst-case scenario, Rand’s report
What They Say
Decoupling, de-risking just political weapons
Editor’s Note: The following are excerpts of an address New Development Bank President Dilma Vana Rousseff,
former president of Brazil, made at the 11th World Peace Forum in Beijing on Sunday, as translated from the Chi-
nese reports about it:
The current global macroeconom-
ic situation is in a very uncertain
moment, facing the impact of infla-
tion, debt and many other issues. In
this disturbing situation, political
and institutional building and
adjustment have become urgent and
necessary. We should seek inclusive
and sustainable development and
create an environment of common
prosperity and peace for the benefit
of people of all countries. There can
be no peace without inclusive and
sustainable development, and no sta-
bility and security without peace.
The idea of cooperation and con-
sensus is different from the rhetoric
that seeks to impose an antagonistic
perspective on the development of
civilization, human rights and
democracy. Some political models
derived from the experience of a
particular country were once pro-
moted as the “sole standard” of the
world and enforced. Those who do
not accept these imposed values
would be punished accordingly,
with wars, coups, sanctions. The
richness and diversity of human civ-
external demand has produced a
negative transmission effect on
domestic demand.
The June PMI shows that the
employment index fell by 0.2 per-
centage points to 47.4, highlighting
the country’s employment situation
has not fundamentally improved.
The current high youth unemploy-
ment rate is not only a projection of
the insufficient vitality of supply and
consumption sides, but also a reflec-
tion of the systemic weakness of over-
all economic recovery. Stabilizing
employment is of particular impor-
tance to stabilizing the economy.
As the external market is still full
of uncertainties, China’s internal
demand is unlikely to ease in the
short term. China should be highly
wary of the weakening of its export
will promote US arms sales to the
island ruled by the Democratic Pro-
gressive Party, which claims it
wants to seek “independence”
against the historical tendency of
national reunification of China.
However, neither the DPP nor
the US should be fooled by the
advertisement. The DPP needs to
know the US has a tradition of
betraying its business partners and
sacrificing their interests for its
own. To quote Zhu Fenglian,
spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs
Office of the State Council, Taiwan
will be no exception to the US’
“America First” policy, and any
political force that acts as its chess
ilization is simply abandoned in this
way, and the model of different
development paths pursued by dif-
ferent peoples is ignored.
“Decoupling” and “de-risking”
have been the buzzwords on the
international stage recently. The
impact of these concepts has not
only weakened economic globaliza-
tion and financial relations, but
also been used as a political weap-
on to prevent the rise of new play-
ers on the international stage.
Globalization itself, although less
dynamic, has been producing deep
interdependence between econo-
mies and different parts of the
world, and this interconnectedness
has grown in equal proportion as
trade has increased, global value
chains have expanded, and capital
flows have doubled.
Cutting the world off has become
impractical. Trying to erect insur-
mountable barriers between coun-
tries is tantamount to a return to
the “Iron Curtain” and is anachro-
nistic. Under such influence, all
countries should make a choice: to
CHINA DAILY
engine, although the impact of
weakened external market on its
domestic economic circulation is
generally under control.
Based on the June PPI and con-
sumer price index alone, it is difficult
to conclude that China will face pro-
duction and life deflation, but it does
reflect insufficient production and
life demand. The low-level CPI
reflects people’s insufficient demand,
but it also provides the authorities
more room for monetary adjustment.
The government can implement
precise policies to inject impetus
into both ends of production and
consumption, thus consolidating
its economic foundation and main-
taining its economic recovery
momentum.
— BEIJING YOUTH DAILY
piece today will be an abandoned
chess piece tomorrow.
As for the US, it needs to know
that continuous arms sales to Tai-
wan is not going to help it in the
long run. Whatever weapons it sells
to Taiwan won’t undo the trend of
national reunification of China, and
its arms sales to Taiwan and hyping-
up of military assistance to it will
only arouse deeper splits in its own
society. To risk US soldiers’ lives for
a must-lose bet challenging China’s
core interests will be a fatal mistake
that will put any decision-maker in
the White House on the list of worst
presidents in US history.
— ZHANG ZHOUXIANG, CHINA DAILY
divide the world into camps or to
promote common prosperity, to
embrace the Cold War mentality or
to adhere to multilateralism, to
copy other countries’ development
models or to go their own way in
light of each country’s national
conditions, to address climate
change through effective resource
allocation or to simply maintain
the status quo.
One of the most serious threats in
the world today is the new protec-
tionism, such as curbing the devel-
opment of emerging countries. This
has been the case with containment
policies aimed at China — whether it
is unilateral tariff increases, moves
to shame the World Trade Organiza-
tion, or the US CHIPS and Science
Act, which has disrupted the global
semiconductor industry chain.
It is necessary for countries to seek
reform of the global governance to
break protectionism and unilateral-
ism, so that they can have a consen-
sus based on the principle of shared
prosperity, while condemning all
forms of unipolar models.
 CHINA DAILY
VIEWS
Bek Bumhym
Fostering harmony among China, Japan and ROK
C
hina and the Republic of Korea are
connected by the Yellow Sea, while
Japan and the ROK by the Korea
Strait, a waterway dotted with
innumerable islets. The three countries are
separated just by water.
Warm currents originating along the
equator travel through the East China Sea
and the Yellow Sea to reach the Liaodong
Peninsula. These currents flow along the
eastern coast of China, wrap around the
ROK’s Jeju Island, and continue moving
northeastward toward the North Pacif-
ic past the western side of Japan’s
Kyushu Island.
If you set sail from the coastal city
of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, and
head northeast, you will reach Yeon-
gam in Jeollanam-do in the ROK, and
will arrive at Fukuoka in Kyushu if you
continue further eastward.
Since ancient times, the sea has
served as a conduit for transport-
ing schools of fish, people, goods,
and a channel for cultural, sci-
entific and technological
exchanges. The seas have
indeed been a channel for
exchanges between diverse
civilizations.
China, Japan and the Korean
Peninsula have influenced each
other not only through land but
also through the sea. China,
Japan, and the Korean Peninsula
are geographically inseparable. There-
fore China, Japan and the ROK have
maintained a close relationship. This
is the reason why the country simi-
larity index between China and the
ROK, as well as between Japan
and the ROK, is higher than that
between most other countries.
Improving understanding
an urgent task
The Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, an
intergovernmental organization based in
Seoul, named “harmony” the word of the
year for 2023, which symbolizes the China-
Japan-ROK relationship, after people of the
three countries voted for it in an online poll
in January. This shows most of the people
in the three countries want “harmony”
among China, Japan and the ROK. It also
shows they want the three countries to
improve their mutual understanding which
has rapidly declined since the outbreak of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Besides, according to the results of public
opinion surveys conducted by the Center
for International Security and Strategy of
Tsinghua University, the Central European
Institute of Asian Studies in Slovakia and
the East Asia Institute in the ROK, in 2022
and 2023, improving mutual understand-
ing among China, Japan and the ROK is a
task that should not be delayed.
Since Japan and the ROK established
diplomatic relations with China in the late
20th century, economic and trade, and cul-
tural and people-to-people exchanges
among the three countries have significant-
ly increased, benefiting people on all sides.
China has established itself as the “world’s
factory” and become the “world’s second-
largest market”, while the ROK has become
a developed country in a short span of time.
And Japan has gained significant political
and economic benefits through exchanges
with China and the ROK.
However, the intensified strategic compe-
tition between China and the United States
Sanbei project’s success essential to further expanding green coverage
Kang Bing
The author is former deputy editor-in-chief
of China Daily.
kangbing@chinadaily.com.cn
Editor’s note: The Three-North Shelterbelt
Program has effectively curbed desertifica-
tion and become a green “Great Wall”, pre-
venting sandstorms, conserving water and
soil, and safeguarding agriculture in north-
western China, writes a veteran journalist
with China Daily.
since the 2010s and the pandemic have
weakened exchanges and cooperation
among Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul, and
increased their differences. The world is
entering the era of “new normals” at a time
when existing systems such as the World
Trade Organization-led multilateral trade
order, and the global value and supply
chains are crumbling under the impacts of
COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The world, including China, Japan and
the ROK, is placed in a precarious situation.
It is like a small boat swaying on a stormy
sea, not knowing how to find a harbor.
Every country has to rely on its own com-
pass to reach its own harbor.
A platform for discussions
and helping solve problems
Established in September 2011, the Trilat-
eral Cooperation Secretariat is similar to
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia. The
TCS consists of three consultative board
members, four directors and about 30 staff
members, all of them from China, Japan
and the ROK. The term of the secretary-
general (and two deputy secretaries-gener-
al) is for two years, and he or she is
appointed by rotation by the governments
of the three countries. The TCS functions as
M
any young Chinese people
today may be ignorant about
the Sanbei (the Three Norths)
Shelterbelt Project, although
they have greatly benefited from the
world’s biggest and longest tree-plantation
program.
President Xi Jinping’s inspection tour of
the Sanbei Shelterbelt Project in the Inner
Mongolia autonomous region in June once
again drew public attention to the 45-year-
old environmental campaign, which
according to the plan, will continue until
2050.
In 1978, the central authorities
announced a 72-year project to plant bil-
lions of trees to build a green screen along
China’s northwest, north and northeast
regions in order to prevent desertification,
reduce soil erosion and improve the envi-
ronment and conserve the ecology. The
launch of one of the biggest environmental
projects, however, failed to draw the world’s
attention, perhaps because few people
believed the Chinese people were serious
about such an ambitious project that would
take more than a lifetime to complete.
The Chinese people have proved those
skeptics wrong. Millions of people from 13
provinces, autonomous regions and munic-
ipalities in the northern region have been
mobilized to plant trees and grass on arid
land, deserts, including the Gobi Desert,
a small-scale “trilateral community” where
the people of China, Japan and the ROK
come together to discuss issues and help
resolve them.
Many TCS staff members can speak not
only English, which serves as the working
language, but also other languages includ-
ing Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
As for the trilateral meetings, they have
been regularly held since 1999. The cata-
lyst for these meetings was a breakfast
meeting between former Chinese premier
Zhu Rongji, former Japanese prime minis-
ter Keizo Obuchi and former ROK presi-
dent Kim Dae-jung on the sidelines of the
ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and the ROK)
meeting in Manila in November 1999. This
was possible because unlike the current
intensification of global confrontations
such as the US-China strategic competi-
tion and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in
the 1990s and 2000s, regional integration
and globalization were the prevailing
trends.
This breakfast meeting developed into
the annual China-Japan-ROK Trilateral
Summit from 2008, hosted by the three
countries in rotation. And it was former
ROK president Lee Myung-bak who pro-
posed the idea of establishing the TCS, with
former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and
After decades of painstaking
efforts, they have turned
what till a few decades ago
was a desert into huge sun-
flower farms, which draw
thousands of tourists in
summer and produce tons of
sunflower seeds in autumn.
and naked mountain slopes.
After generations of hard work, 336,000
square kilometers of desert land — equiva-
lent to the size of Finland or Vietnam — has
now turned green. A green belt covering
more than 30.14 million hectares is taking
shape along the country’s 10,000-kilometer
northern border.
The forest cover in the project area is
now 13.57 percent, a remarkable increase
from the 5.05 percent four decades ago.
These achievements show the project is
steadily marching toward achieving its
2050 goal of afforesting 35.08 million hec-
tares of land and raising the forest cover
percentage to 14.95 in the project area.
The emerging green “Great Wall” has not
only stopped further desertification from
the north but also remarkably reduced
LI MIN / CHINA DAILY
former Japanese prime minister Yukio
Hatoyama endorsing the idea.
Both Beijing and Tokyo hoped to play
host to the TCS headquarters, but Seoul,
located in the middle between Beijing and
Tokyo, became the host city. The TCS has
three goals: to maintain lasting peace, com-
mon prosperity, and shared culture among
the three countries. The TCS also supports
the Trilateral Summit and ministerial meet-
ings in various fields, apart from carrying
out various projects in the political, eco-
nomic and socio-cultural fields to improve
trilateral relations.
Although the TCS is an influential inter-
governmental organization, it has the
potential to evolve into a true multilateral
cooperative network with further institu-
tionalization. In fact, the TCS has been
making efforts, with special focus on the
future generations, to improve mutual
understanding among the three countries.
To achieve these goals, the TCS is imple-
menting 120 cooperation programs in the
three countries.
TCS organizes International
Forum for Trilateral Cooperation
To this end, it will also hold the Interna-
tional Forum for Trilateral Cooperation in
Qingdao. With “Revitalizing Trilateral
sandstorms in the Sanbei area. Beijing, for
instance, used to have on average 26 sand-
storm days a year in the late 1970s. Now
they have shrunk to three a year.
Women aged above 50 have their own
stories to tell about the sandstorms. They
will tell you how children in those days
were frustrated by the sandstorms, for they
couldn’t go to school or play outdoors dur-
ing the frequent sandstorms in April and
May. They will also tell you how decades
ago they had to cover their faces, even their
eyes, with scarves during sandstorms when
they were forced to venture outdoors to
attend to some work.
The younger generations should treasure
the improved environment and be grateful
to the participants in the Sanbei project
who devoted their career and life to make
the skies bluer and air fresher. Not to forget
that top Party and government leaders of
different generations have been planting
trees since 1979 on National Tree Planting
Day. It is thanks to such efforts that the
Sanbei Shelterbelt Project has been suc-
cessful until now.
“Such a project would be impossible
without the leadership of the Communist
Party of China,” President Xi told ministers
and provincial leaders in a meeting held to
discuss the future work of the Sanbei
project.
Today, few doubt that the project will
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 | 9
Cooperation in the Post-Covid Era: Com-
munication, Connectivity and Community”
as its mainstream, it is co-organized by the
China Public Diplomacy Association and
the Qingdao Municipal People’s
Government.
Keeping in mind that the cru-
cial issue for the trilateral cooper-
ation is mutual perception among
the countries, the TCS has made
“Public Diplomacy and Mass Com-
munication: Mutual Perception
among China, Japan, and
Korea” the theme of the first
(political) session, discussing
this issue from the public
diplomacy’s perspective, and
“Mutual Perception Improve-
ment: From the Lens of Local
Community Exchanges” the
theme for the third (socio-cultur-
al) session.
The TCS has also made “From
Exclusion to Inclusion: Connecting
the Digitalized World” the second
(economic) session, boosting trilat-
eral cooperation, and finding ways
to address the problems faced by
the three countries, in particular
the aging population. People
aged 65 or above accounted for
30 percent of Japan’s total pop-
ulation in 2022, are projected
to comprise 20 percent of the
ROK’s total population by
2024, and accounted for 14.2
percent of China’s total popula-
tion in 2021.
Some prominent figures,
including senior politicians
from China, Japan and the
ROK, as well as those from the
fields of diplomacy, economics,
media, and academics are expected
to take part in the IFTC and propose
solutions to the problems facing the
three countries.
Necessity for holding
the Trilateral Summit
As neighbors which cannot be changed,
the three countries should overcome the
common challenges together by improving
mutual understanding, maintaining peace
and pursuing common development, and
banishing the ghost of “exclusive national-
ism”.
The three sides should draw inspiration
from the story of crested ibises. There was a
time when crested ibises were on the brink
of extinction in Japan and the ROK. So Chi-
na, which had a healthy number of ibises in
Hanzhong, Shaanxi province, shared with
the two countries some of the wild birds
and helped them bring the ibis back from
the brink of extinction. The ibises are now
thriving in all the three countries through
trilateral cooperation.
It is essential for the three countries to
strengthen their cooperation to find a path
to meet the challenges of the era of “new
normals” amid global uncertainties espe-
cially by holding the Trilateral Summit. For
the future generations of China, Japan, and
the ROK, it is important that they broaden
their understanding and learn to accept the
differences and expand commonalities with
an open mind.
The author is deputy secretary-general of
the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat.
The views don’t necessarily reflect those of
China Daily.
achieve its goal despite its scale, complexity
and its length of time. During my visits to
the Sanbei region over the past decades, I
have frequently heard people talking about
the Party’s indispensable role in the project.
Farmers in Minqin county, Gansu prov-
ince, for instance, told me about the Party’s
role while harvesting sunflower seeds. After
decades of painstaking efforts, they have
turned what till a few decades ago was a
desert into huge sunflower farms, which
draw thousands of tourists in summer and
produce tons of sunflower seeds in autumn.
The same was repeated by farmers in
Kubuqi, Inner Mongolia, who were growing
watermelons on former arid land under the
shade of trees they had planted under the
Sanbei project. On the “reclaimed land”, they
were growing not only watermelons but also
herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine.
However, we should not indulge in pre-
mature celebrations, because the progress
made is still fragile. Any relaxation in
efforts and any mistakes in planting trees
could lead to the loss of all achievements.
No wonder President Xi has said the next
10 years are critical, for they will decide the
battle against desertification.
Only if the battle is won can the environ-
ment and ecology in northern China see
real improvement. And we cannot afford to
lose that battle.
It’s a battle we can and must win.
10 | Tuesday, July 4, 2023
WORLD
Swamped road
Cars run on a flooded road following torrential rains in Kurume City, southwestern Japan, on Monday.
Rain clouds have continued to develop since Sunday in Kyushu region, according to the Japan
Meteorological Agency. MASAKI AKIZUKI VIA YOMIURI SHIMBUN
Indian female wrestlers push for reforms
KHARKHODA, India — Indian
women wrestlers and their fami-
lies, demonstrating against alleged
sexual harassment by a top sports
administrator, are pressing for
reforms, ranging from guardians
accompanying contestants to
demands for more female officials
in senior ranks of the sport.
A trial court admitted last month
a case of sexual harassment and
intimidation against the chief of the
Wrestling Federation of India, or
WFI, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, an
influential lawmaker of Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi’s ruling party.
However, the delay in taking
action drew global attention when
top wrestlers threatened in May to
throw their medals into the Gan-
ges, the holiest river in Hinduism,
in protest about five months after
accusing Singh of groping young
women during tournaments.
In domestic media interviews,
Singh has denied the charges that
he sexually harassed the six female
wrestlers, who have represented
India internationally, with an aide
saying his innocence would be
proved by the judiciary.
If convicted, he faces up to three
years in jail.
“It is a matter of tremendous sad-
ness, but the wrestlers have done
the right thing by raising their voi-
ces,” said Mona Dahiya, the mother
of two teenagers Deepika and Ish-
anshu, who are training to be wres-
tlers in the northern Haryana state.
“We are worried if some of the top
wrestlers could experience this, then
it can happen with our girls too.”
The Dahiyas, along with nine
female wrestlers and their parents,
are setting their eyes on WFI elec-
tions scheduled this month to
achieve their demand for reforms
of a system that provides guidance
to more than 53,000 young female
wrestlers.
Some parents said they want
women appointed at all levels of
training and running the wres-
tling federation, while others
want the government to set up an
official group of guardians to trav-
el to events along with women
contestants.
“I can assure you that every girl
will feel protected and we are work-
ing toward addressing all the con-
cerns raised by female wrestlers,”
Sports Minister Anurag Thakur said.
Yet in Haryana, home to more
than 5,000 wrestling schools with a
history of turning out top female
athletes in India, women wrestlers
expressed dismay.
“We couldn’t believe how some
of the top wrestlers were forced to
leave their practice ground and
take to the streets to seek justice,”
wrestler Anjani Kashyap said.
“It showed a scary side of the
sports culture in the country.”
AGENCIES VIA XINHUA
Grandmother wants
French riots to stop
Overnight unrest appears to slow on 6th
night after teen’s death in Paris suburbs
By CHEN WEIHUA in Brussels
chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn
The grandmother of the 17-year-
old boy who was fatally shot by
police in a Paris suburb last week
has called for an end to the worst
rioting in France in nearly 20 years
that stretched into the sixth night
after his killing.
Nahel, who was of Algerian
descent, was shot in the chest by an
officer in Nanterre after he failed to
stop the car during a traffic check on
June 27.
His grandmother, identified as
Nadia by French media, said on
Sunday the rioters were using the
teenager’s death as an excuse to
cause unrest and that the family
wanted peace.
“I say to the people who are break-
ing things: Stop. Don’t break win-
dows, don’t damage schools, don’t
damage buses. Stop it,” Nadia told
BFM Television. “Nahel is dead. My
daughter had just one child, she’s
lost him. ... My daughter has no life
left. I have lost my grandson and my
daughter.”
While unrest across France
appeared to slow on its sixth night,
President Emmanuel Macron post-
poned a state visit to Germany to deal
with the crisis. He was scheduled to
meet leaders of both houses of parlia-
ment on Monday and with more
than 220 mayors of towns and cities
affected by violence on Tuesday.
The riots appeared to be driven by
a teenage backlash. Macron has
blamed social media for the spread
of the unrest and called on parents
to take responsibility for their teen-
agers. Justice Minister Eric Dupond-
Moretti told France Inter radio that
I say to the people
who are breaking
things: Stop. Don’t
break windows, don’t
damage schools,
don’t damage buses.
Stop it.”
Nadia, grandmother of Nahel
parents who abdicated that respon-
sibility “either through disinterest or
deliberately” would be prosecuted.
Nearly 45,000 police personnel
were deployed again on Sunday
night to deter rioters who have
torched cars, looted stores and tar-
geted town halls and police stations,
including the home of the mayor of
a Paris suburb, which was attacked
while his wife and children were
asleep inside, French Interior Minis-
ter Gerald Darmanin said.
Many of the rioters and protest-
ers are young people from working-
class communities. The average age
of the more than 2,000 people
arrested is 17, Darmanin said on
Saturday.
The situation appeared less tense
on Sunday. Overnight, 157 people
were arrested in relation to the
unrest nationwide, according to the
Interior Ministry — a fraction of the
number taken into custody the
night before. Three police officers
were also wounded. It was a sharp
drop from the 719 arrests made on
Saturday and the 1,300 on Friday.
The biggest overnight flashpoint
was Marseille, where police fired
CHINA DAILY
tear gas and fought street battles
with youths around the city center
late into the night. There was also
unrest in Paris, in the Riviera city of
Nice and in Strasbourg in the east.
Across France, 297 vehicles were
torched overnight along with 34
buildings, many of them linked to
the government. In all, a total of 99
city halls have been attacked,
according to the Interior Ministry.
Nahel’s funeral was held on Satur-
day with hundreds of people attend-
ing the service to pay their respects.
He was buried at the Mont-Valerien
cemetery in Nanterre. The police
officer who fatally shot him was
charged with culpable homicide
and jailed on Thursday.
The riots amount to the worst cri-
sis for Macron since the “Yellow
Vest” protests gripped much of
France in late 2018.
‘Particularly shocking’
French Prime Minister Elisabeth
Borne condemned the attack on the
home of Vincent Jeanbrun, mayor
of L’Hay-les-Roses, as “particularly
shocking” during a visit to the town
on Sunday. She called for tough pun-
ishment for the perpetrators.
“We were all very shocked” by this
“intolerable” attack, she told the
press after the visit.
Borne assured all mayors that
the Macron government would
not “allow any violence to go
unchallenged”.
The unrest delivers a blow to
France’s image a year before the
Paris Olympic Games. Several
nations have warned their citizens
to be vigilant, which could pose a
significant challenge for France in
the peak summer tourism season if
protests were to envelop prominent
attractions.
Agencies contributed to this story.
 CHINA DAILY
WORLD
Saudi Arabia
to enhance
economic ties
with China
By JAN YUMUL
and LESLEY LIU in Hong Kong
The ongoing visit of a Saudi Arabi-
an delegation to Chinese cities is
enhancing official and business col-
laboration in technology and indus-
tries, with agreements and exchanges
being made.
Saudi Minister of Communications
and Information Technology Abdul-
lah Alswaha is leading the delegation
on the first official tour of senior gov-
ernment officials since the China-Sau-
di Arabia summit last December. They
visited Hong Kong on Sunday before
coming to the Chinese mainland.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John
Lee Ka-chiu said on Sunday that he
has felt “a deep sense of warmth and
friendship” in the exchanges since
his visit to Saudi Arabia in February.
Lee said Hong Kong’s annual Belt
and Road Summit will celebrate the
10th anniversary of the Belt and
Road Initiative in September and
will feature a dedicated Middle East
forum for the first time.
He also said his government has
prioritized revitalizing its relations
with the Middle East in general and
Saudi Arabia in particular, and invit-
ed the Saudi delegation to explore
opportunities in the Guangdong-
Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The Saudi delegation had a tour of
the Hong Kong Science and Technol-
ogy Parks, or HKSTP. Alswaha said it
is an opportunity for Saudi Arabia to
diversify to a factor-based economy,
join hands with Hong Kong and
build an innovation bridge and a
gateway for humanity.
“If there’s a gateway for humanity
and a partnership for life to join
hands and how we can continue to
empower people, and safeguard the
planet, it is definitely this partner-
ship between the kingdom and
Hong Kong,” Alswaha said.
HKSTP Chairman Sunny Chai
Ngai-chiu said Hong Kong and Saudi
markets offer complementary val-
ues. “I’m proud to see our park com-
panies grow in our city and scale into
Saudi Arabia, as well as the new
paths being paved for Saudi compa-
nies to come to Hong Kong,” he said.
Jerry Li, managing and founding
partner of eWTP Arabia Capital and
director-general of the Saudi Ara-
bia-China Entrepreneur Associa-
tion, said Hong Kong has the
potential to play a role in technolog-
ical advancements between the
whole of China and Saudi Arabia.
Nicolas Aguzin, CEO of Hong
Kong Exchanges and Clearing, said
investors around the world are
aware of the economic importance
of Asia. He said that as Saudi Arabia
is diversifying its economy and mov-
ing from energy toward technology,
Hong Kong is in a unique position to
help with this as it is “the most inter-
national city of China”.
Contact the writers at
jan@chinadailyapac.com.
S. Africa takes aerial route to fight rhino poaching
By NDUMISO MLILO
in Johannesburg, South Africa
For China Daily
South Africa’s national parks have
put in place various measures to
combat rhino poaching which
threatens the existence of the endan-
gered animal.
Isaac Phaahla, media specialist for
South African National Parks, a lead-
ing conservation authority in the
country, said they have been constant-
ly revising their strategies to fight
poachers, who keep changing their
tactics. One of the measures adopted
recently is the use of helicopters that
carry rangers and deploy them when-
ever required to arrest poachers.
South Africa is home to the largest
rhino population in the world,
accounting for 80 percent of the
world’s total. A total of 448 rhinos
were killed in South Africa for their
horns last year as against 451 in 2021.
“We have installed cameras in are-
as with the highest number of rhinos
at Kruger National Park. The camer-
as help us to track suspicious-look-
ing vehicles (in the park), which we
intercept and search,” said Phaahla,
adding the measure has resulted in
several arrests.
Floral spectacle
Artists from Italy’s Flower Sway Poles perform during the B-FIT in the Street! international festival in
Bucharest, Romania, on Sunday. The festival took place over the weekend in the Romanian capital.
ANDREEA ALEXANDRU / AP
Biden’s Europe trip to
focus on NATO boost
Alliance meeting comes at critical point
as fierce fighting reported on battlefield
WASHINGTON — US President
Joe Biden will head to Europe in a
week on a three-nation trip, includ-
ing a NATO summit, focused on
reinforcing the Western coalition
backing Ukraine as the conflict
with Russia extends well into its
second year.
The main focus of Biden’s five-day
visit will be the annual NATO sum-
mit, held this year in Vilnius, Lithua-
nia. Also planned are stops in
Helsinki, Finland, to commemorate
the Nordic country’s entry into the
31-nation military alliance in April,
and the United Kingdom, the White
House announced on Sunday.
Biden will begin his trip on Sun-
day in London, where he will meet
with King Charles III. In June, Bid-
en hosted British Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak at the White House,
where the two leaders pledged
more support for Ukraine.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secre-
tary-general, visited the White
House on June 13, where he and
Biden made it clear the Western
alliance was united in supporting
Ukraine.
Finland joined NATO in April
and the move effectively doubled
Russia’s border with the world’s
biggest security alliance. Russia
has long complained about NATO’s
expansion eastward.
Sweden is also seeking entry into
NATO, although alliance members
Turkiye and Hungary have yet to
endorse the move. Biden will host
Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kris-
tersson, at the White House on
A rhino is dehorned amid mounting fears of a rebound in rhino
poaching at the Balule Nature Reserve in Hoedspruit, Limpopo
Province, South Africa, on April 26, 2021. SIPHIWE SIBEKO / REUTERS
He said 12 more cameras will be
installed in strategic areas. South Afri-
ca has also signed a memorandum of
understanding with China, Mozam-
bique, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Viet-
nam to tackle rhino poaching.
Last year, a South African man
named Gumede Sthembiso Joel was
arrested at Changi Airport in Singa-
pore with 34 kilograms of rhi-
no horns worth $1.2 million.
The officials of national parks have
Wednesday to discuss Stockholm’s
NATO ambitions.
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan has said Sweden is too lax
on “terrorist groups and security
threats”. He denounced Stockholm
last week for allowing a protest dur-
ing which a man burned pages from
the Quran.
All nations in the alliance have to
ratify the entry of a new member
country.
The NATO meeting comes at the
latest critical point on the battle-
field. Ukraine’s President Volodym-
yr Zelensky says counteroffensive
and defensive actions against Rus-
sian forces are underway.
Zelensky said on Saturday he
wanted his country to receive an
“invitation” at the Vilnius summit
to join NATO once the conflict with
Moscow is over.
Key goal
The Kremlin has said preventing
Ukraine from joining NATO is still
a key goal of its military operation,
arguing that Kyiv’s membership in
the alliance would pose an existen-
tial threat to Moscow.
In the latest developments,
Ukraine said on Sunday that Rus-
sian troops were advancing in four
areas in the east of the country
amid “fierce fighting” but reported
its forces were moving forward in
the south.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minis-
ter Hanna Maliar said that Russian
troops were advancing near Avdiiv-
ka, Mariinka, Lyman and Svatove.
been visiting schools to educate stu-
dents about wildlife conservation.
These communities share informa-
tion with the park officials about sus-
picious movements of people,
Phaahla said.
The Southern African Wildlife
College is working with South Afri-
can National Parks to fight poach-
ing. Dian Kobus Louw, from
Southern African Wildlife Col-
lege, said they have been able to
Kyiv has urged Western allies to
escalate pledges of military support.
The latest developments came
after Ukrainian officials said Rus-
sia launched its first overnight
drone attack on Kyiv in 12 days.
Ukraine said all the drones were
downed.
A Russian military official said
on Monday there is no need for fur-
ther mobilization in Russia to
replace Wagner troops who have
left the battlefield in Ukraine.
“There is no threat at all regard-
ing a drop in the combat potential,
both in the midterm and long-
term perspective,” Andrey Karta-
polov, head of the State Duma
Defense Committee, was quoted
as saying by the state-backed TASS
news agency.
In developments related to the
grain deal, Russia’s envoy to the
United Nations in Geneva said
there are currently no grounds to
maintain the “status quo” of a deal
that grants safe passage for Ukrain-
ian grain to be exported via the
Black Sea.
Western capitals were blocking
progress on reconnecting the Rus-
sian Agricultural Bank to the
SWIFT banking system, Gennady
Gatilov told the state-backed Izves-
tia newspaper.
“What we are seeing now does
not give us grounds to agree to
maintain the status quo” on the
deal, he said in the interview, pub-
lished early on Monday.
The deal, allowing grain from
Ukraine to reach the global market,
was renewed again in May but for
only two months, until July 17.
AGENCIES VIA XINHUA
track and arrest poachers with the
help of dog squads.
The dogs are monitored through
GPS collars. As they close in on the
poachers, the helicopter airdrops
rangers who catch them. The chan-
ces of success with this method are
80 percent, Louw said.
He said: “The GPS shows how
many times the dogs bark every min-
ute and how fast they are running.
They run at a maximum speed of 45
kilometers per hour during a chase.”
According to Louw, 200 suspects
have been arrested in the last five
years and 90 firearms recovered,
saving the lives of 80 rhinos.
He said that Kruger National Park
started using dogs when the arrest
rate was between 3 and 5 percent,
but now it has risen to 80 percent.
Isaiah Mashaba, a headman in
the Ximhungwe area in Bushbuck-
ridge Municipality, said they are
working with the national parks to
tackle poaching.
Meanwhile, Phaahla said South
African National Parks is in the pro-
cess of procuring drones to be used
to fight poaching.
The writer is a freelance writer for
China Daily.
Beijing wins applaud
among the Arab youth
By YANG RAN
yangran1@chinadaily.com.cn
China’s sense of responsibility and
capability has helped it win approval
among the more than 200 million
Arab youth, a recent poll has shown,
while the United States faces declin-
ing support in the Muslim world.
The 15th annual Arab Youth Sur-
vey conducted by public relations
firm ASDA’A BCW this year inter-
viewed 3,600 people aged 18-24
across 53 cities in 18 Arab states
from Saudi Arabia, Syria to Egypt
and Sudan.
Eighty percent of the respondents
see China as a “strong ally” or “some-
what of an ally”, making China the
second among 11 countries on a list
that included Turkiye, the United
States, the United Kingdom, France,
Germany, India, Pakistan, Russia,
Iran and Israel. Turkiye topped the
ranking and the US was the seventh.
There is a “move away from his-
torical allies in the region like the
US, the UK and Europe”, because
“young Arabs are a little bit tired of
foreign meddling in their country”,
said Juman Jarallah, an editor
from the National News, in a video
released by the Dubai-based news
agency.
“With China, you don’t have the
kind of tarnished history as you
would have with the US,” she said.
The survey showed that in
recent years China’s popularity
among young Arabs has been grad-
ually increasing, an expert said.
“In the post-pandemic era when
young Arabs focus their attention
on social and economic develop-
ment and employment, the three
Global Initiatives for Develop-
ment, Security and Civilization
proposed by China suit the core
demands of the Arab youth,” said
Liu Chen, associate professor of the
School of Arabic Studies, at Beijing
Pouring out woes
Community leaders hold a news conference at the site of a mass
shooting in the Brooklyn Homes neighborhood on Sunday in
Baltimore, Maryland. At least two people were killed and 28 were
wounded during the shooting on Saturday night. NATHAN HOWARD / AFP
German right-wing party
scores another victory
By EARLE GALE in London
earle@mail.chinadailyuk.com
The right-wing, anti-immigrant
Alternative for Germany party, or
AfD, took another big step toward
major political power on Sunday
by getting its candidate elected
mayor of a town.
The success at the mayoral level
followed the AfD’s first election victo-
ry at the district level a week earlier.
The wins came as the party
enjoyed record-high levels of sup-
port in opinion polls, with pollsters
giving it between 18 and 20 percent
of the popular vote, putting it on par
with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social
Democrats.
Hannes Loth, who was elected
mayor of Raguhn-Jessnitz town in
the eastern Saxony-Anhalt state,
will serve as the AfD’s first full-time
mayor. The party has had part-time
mayors and unpaid officials elected
before in smaller communities.
Raguhn-Jessnitz has a popula-
tion of around 9,000.
After his win, Loth took to social
media to thank his supporters,
describing the result as “wonder-
ful” and saying, “I will be mayor for
everyone in Raguhn-Jessnitz.”
The party’s success a week earlier
saw lawyer Robert Sesselmann,
elected as district administrator in
Sonneberg, in the state of Thuringia.
The AfD, which was formed in
2013 to oppose the perceived collec-
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 | 11
Foreign Studies University.
“Through these global initia-
tives, the Arab youth sees China as
a responsible major country.”
China is proven to be a reliable
partner for development and a pro-
moter of peace in the Middle East.
After years of economic cooperation
based on common interest, China
has grown to be the largest trading
partner of the Arab states collectively.
China is this economic and
industrial powerhouse, so people in
this region are starting to see the
potential of a stronger tie with Chi-
na, and “there is also a warming of
diplomatic ties in the region, specif-
ically in the Gulf”, said Jarallah.
Peace agreement
In March, China brokered a peace
agreement between Iran and Saudi
Arabia, ending years of tensions.
The rapprochement triggered a
wave of reconciliation in the Middle
East. Last month, China hosted Pal-
estinian President Mahmoud Abbas
and reiterated its willingness to play
a positive role to assist Palestine in
achieving internal reconciliation
and promote peace talks.
“China is always trying to make
everything good with Arab countries,
trying to fix things between Saudi
Arabia and Yemen, also with Iran.
China’s role as the promoter of peace
makes it popular in the region,” said
Mohammed Ahmed, 24, from
Yemen. He now studies e-commerce
at University of International Busi-
ness and Economics in Beijing.
In contrast to China’s growing
popularity among Arab youth, sup-
port for the US has been declining
over the years.
“Many young Arabs now feel
that the US plays a destabilizing
role in their societies. The unilater-
alism and hegemonic policies of
the US have caused a lot of disas-
ters in the Arab world,” said Liu.
tivizing efforts of the European
Union, subsequently became
known as anti-Islam after mor-
phing against the backdrop of high-
profile instances of terrorism. The
party has since branched out again,
by criticizing the financial policies
of Scholz’s three-party coalition
government, again harnessing dis-
quiet among many voters, in this
case about the nation’s relatively
high rate of inflation and the loom-
ing cost of its transition to a green
economy.
The party first created waves in
2017 when it secured 13 percent of
the vote in a general election. Many
pundits expected that success to be
short-term.
However, Ursula Munch, direct-
or of the Tutzing Academy for Polit-
ical Education in Bavaria, told
German state broadcaster Deut-
sche Welle that the party has bene-
fited recently from voters
perceiving the government as una-
ble to act decisively.
“The politics of the coalition gov-
ernment are unsettling people,” she
told DW. “And I think people who
were also dissatisfied by politics in
general are now getting mobilized
more and more by the AfD.”
Silke Borgstedt, director of the
Sinus Institute, told DW the party
has also seen a broadening of its
base, with its mainly older, poorly
educated rural supporters now
joined by others.
12 | Tuesday, July 4, 2023
WORLD
Sweden
condemns
Quran
burning
STOCKHOLM — Sweden’s
government on Sunday con-
demned last week’s burning of a
Quran outside Stockholm’s main
mosque, calling it an “Islamopho-
bic” act, after an international
Islamic body called for measures
to prevent future burnings.
“The Swedish Government
fully understands that the Islam-
ophobic acts committed by indi-
viduals at demonstrations in
Sweden can be offensive to Mus-
lims,” the foreign ministry said in
a statement.
“We strongly condemn these
acts, which in no way reflect the
views of the Swedish government.”
The condemnation came in
response to a call for collective
measures to prevent future Qur-
an burnings from the Organiza-
tion of Islamic Cooperation.
The 57-member body met at its
Jeddah headquarters to respond
to Wednesday’s incident in
which a 37-year-old Iraqi citizen
living in Sweden, Salwan Momi-
ka, stomped on the Islamic holy
book and set several pages alight.
The OIC urged member states
to “take unified and collective
measures to prevent the recur-
rence of incidents of desecration”
of copies of the Quran, according
to a statement released after the
extraordinary meeting.
“The burning of the Quran, or
any other holy text, is an offen-
sive and disrespectful act and a
clear provocation. Expressions of
racism, xenophobia and related
intolerance have no place in Swe-
den or in Europe,” the Swedish
foreign ministry said.
Countries, including Iraq,
Kuwait, Morocco and the United
Arab Emirates, have summoned
Swedish ambassadors in protest
against the burning incident.
Saudi Arabia has summoned
Sweden’s ambassador to
denounce the incident, the offi-
cial Saudi Press Agency reported
on Monday.
The foreign ministry sum-
moned the ambassador on Sun-
day to urge Sweden “to stop all
actions that directly contradict
international efforts seeking to
spread the values of tolerance,
moderation and rejection of
extremism, and undermine the
necessary mutual respect for
relations between peoples and
states”, the agency reported.
Swedish police had granted
Momika a permit in line with free
speech protections, but authori-
ties later said they had opened an
investigation over “agitation
against an ethnic group”.
On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign
Minister Hossein Amir-Abdolla-
hian said Iran is holding off send-
ing its new ambassador to
Sweden, Hojjatollah Faghani,
following the burning.
AGENCIES VIA XINHUA
Briefly
JAPAN
4 injured in Tokyo
building explosion
An explosion tore through a build-
ing in downtown Tokyo on Monday,
scattering debris across a busy
intersection and sending smoke
into the air, but the fire was soon
contained and four people were
injured, Japanese media reported.
Video footage aired by public broad-
caster NHK showed flames through
the windows of the shattered sec-
ond floor of the building, in Tokyo’s
downtown area. The cause of the
blast was not immediately clear.
Splash of colors
Participants celebrate after the Colorful Run in Luzhniki, Russia, on Sunday. The 5-kilometer route
includes four color zones where colored powder is thrown at runners. SERGEI KARPUKHIN / TASS
China’s role in global
food security hailed
Qu Dongyu’s reelection as FAO chief to
boost cooperation with member states
ROME — Delegates from mem-
ber nations of the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization
praised China’s remarkable contri-
butions to global food security, and
expressed anticipation for closer
collaboration in the fight against
poverty and for zero hunger.
The remarks came after Qu Dong-
yu, incumbent FAO director-gener-
al, was reelected earlier on Sunday,
winning 168 of 182 votes cast during
the 43rd session of the FAO Confer-
ence, the highest governing body of
the Rome-based UN agency. His sec-
ond term will run from Aug 1, 2023,
to July 31, 2027.
Qu, who was elected in June 2019
to head the UN agency and the first
Chinese national to serve in the
position, is expected to further
boost China’s cooperation with the
FAO and its member nations in the
coming years, said delegates to the
session on Sunday.
China’s efforts in eliminating pov-
erty and ending hunger have greatly
impressed many delegates, including
Bassam Essam Rady Abdelhamid
Rady, Egypt’s permanent representa-
tive ambassador to the FAO.
“I think China has made a tremen-
dous job during the past years and it
will continue to make progress,
especially at this critical moment
that the world is witnessing, after
the crisis of COVID-19 and the crisis
of Russia-Ukraine,” said Rady.
Egypt, an active participant in
FAO’s South-South Cooperation Pro-
gram, appreciates China’s “major
and pivotal role” in this field, he said.
Since the South-South Coopera-
tion was launched by the FAO in
1996, China has always been active-
ly involved and played a very
important role in the SSC and has
donated $130 million to the FAO
ISRAEL
Scientists make cancer Ailing elephant returns
cells ‘commit suicide’ home for medical care
Israeli researchers have developed a
method that makes cancer cells pro-
duce their own toxins and thus
“commit suicide”, Tel Aviv Universi-
ty said on Sunday. In a study pub-
lished in the journal Theranostics,
the researchers encoded a toxin pro-
duced by bacteria into mRNA mole-
cules and delivered these particles
to cancer cells. The cancer cells pro-
duced the same toxin, as they were
the bacteria itself, killing them with
a success rate of up to 60 percent.
since 2009, exclusively for South-
South and Triangular Cooperation.
The Chinese government has
also provided considerable agricul-
tural technical assistance to devel-
oping countries. To date, China has
dispatched more than 1,000 Chi-
nese experts and technicians,
through the FAO, to Africa, Asia, the
Caribbean and the South Pacific.
Egypt is honored to have a part in
the China-proposed Belt and Road
Initiative by aligning the initiative
with Egypt’s national projects in the
seaports and Suez Canal, said Rady.
The collaboration serves not
only the interests of the two coun-
tries, but also that of the world and
all humanity, he added.
Exploring new areas
“Bangladesh and China enjoy
extremely cordial bilateral relations,
and we have a multifaceted collabo-
ration,” said Shameem Ahsan,
Bangladeshi permanent represent-
ative to the FAO. “And I think both
countries can immensely benefit by
collaborating and even exploring
new areas of cooperation.”
During the session, the Chinese
Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Affairs Tang Renjian reaffirmed the
country’s international responsi-
bilities as a major developing coun-
try for global food security.
China will firmly practice multi-
lateralism, and work with other
countries to ensure global food
security, eradicate poverty, achieve
zero hunger, and push to achieve
the UN 2030 Sustainable Develop-
ment Goals, said Tang.
Founded in 1945 in Quebec City,
Canada, the FAO is a specialized UN
agency leading international efforts
to defeat hunger. It has been head-
quartered in Rome, Italy, since 1951.
Fire fury
A general view
shows a fire in a
makeshift parking
lot in Bad Wimpfen,
Germany, on
Sunday. At least 12
cars were damaged
by flames and heat
in the fire on
Sunday, some of
them severely. AP
THAILAND
An ailing elephant that Thailand
had presented to Sri Lanka more
than two decades ago returned to
his native land for medical treat-
ment on Sunday. The male elephant
was flown directly from the South
Asian island nation’s capital to Chi-
ang Mai Province in Thailand. A six-
person team accompanied the
elephant on the flight, which took
about six hours.
AGENCIES—XINHUA
Its goal is to achieve food security
for all and ensure people have regu-
lar access to enough high-quality
food to lead active, healthy lives. With
195 members, including 194 coun-
tries and the EU, the FAO works in
more than 130 countries worldwide.
China is one of the founding mem-
bers of the FAO. Since resuming its
seat in the organization in 1973, Chi-
na has maintained close cooperation
with the UN agency, broadly joining
and supporting its campaigns.
FAO’s partnership with China
has covered many of the country’s
food and agricultural development
priorities. Around 500 FAO pro-
jects have been launched across the
country since 1978.
XINHUA
Potential of krill oil market in
China is huge, says Aker BioMarine
By ZHANG LINWAN
zhanglinwan@chinadaily.com.cn
Aker BioMarine, a biotech innova-
tor from Norway, expects China to
become one of its largest markets in
the next few years.
“Chinese consumers are really open
to new products and technologies.
China now is the fastest-growing mar-
ket in the world for krill industry,” said
Matts Johansen, CEO of the company
that harvests the shrimplike crusta-
cean.
Aker BioMarine was founded in
2006 based on the health benefits of
krill. Rich in phospholipid omega-3s,
krill oil has a positive effect on the
health and well-being of humans, ani-
mals and fish. This has been proven
by extensive scientific research.
“Our mission is to improve human
health, while ensuring the planet also
stays healthy,” Johansen said.
“To us, it makes no sense to take
something out of the ocean to
improve our health, if it simultane-
ously compromises the health of the
ocean,” he added.
Today, the company has become
one of the largest krill harvesters and
suppliers in the world. Its business
covers offshore harvesting and pro-
duction, logistical operations, as well
as onshore manufacturing and sales
of krill-derived products.
“We are proud to have established
an entire supply chain — from har-
vesting to production — and devel-
oped innovative and sustainable
harvesting methods,” Johansen said.
In China, Aker BioMarine has set
up two offices: one in Shanghai and
one in Beijing.
All its products including those for
dietary supplements, aquaculture
and pet food have been introduced
into Chinese markets.
“China holds particular signifi-
cance to us due to the close ties and
collaboration between China and
Norway, the market outlook and our
good teamwork with existing part-
ners,” Johansen said.
The company’s newest vessel, Ant-
arctic Provider, for example, was built
Relocations spur change
in fortunes of US states
By HENG WEILI in New York
hengweili@chinadailyusa.com
The shifting economic situations
of the four largest US states by popu-
lation — California, Texas, Florida
and New York — also mirror the
political gap in the country.
New York and California saw the
steepest drops in tax revenue this fis-
cal year, while Florida and Texas pad-
ded their wallets, largely thanks to
COVID-19 pandemic-fueled migra-
tion, according to a recent report.
Relocations can have a major
impact on state revenue because New
York, with Wall Street, and California,
home to Silicon Valley, have some of
the highest earners in the country.
New York and California saw their
populations fall by nearly 300,000
each in the fiscal year ending in June
2022 — while Florida and Texas,
which have no state income taxes,
added 888,000 people collectively,
according to US Census Bureau data.
The population gains and losses
among the four states were even more
significant going back to April 2020.
Different approaches to the pan-
demic, such as whether schools and
restaurants should have remained
open, were factors in the reloca-
tions, along with the cost of living.
There also have been political
skirmishes among the four states.
In the past year, Texas Governor
Greg Abbott and Florida Governor
Ron DeSantis have sent migrants
who entered the US at the border
with Mexico to “sanctuary” locations,
such as New York City and Chicago,
and famously in 2022, to affluent
Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
In New York and California, the
Democratic Party has long been
dominant while Republicans run
Florida and Texas.
DeSantis is seeking the 2024
Republican presidential nomina-
tion, while California Governor
Gavin Newsom is regularly men-
tioned as a potential Democratic
presidential candidate, although he
maintains he is not running.
Executives from Aker BioMarine, a biotech innovator from Norway,
attend the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin.
PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
by CIMC Raffles Group in Yantai,
Shandong province.
Aker BioMarine is concerned with
the aging population in China and is
trying to be part of the solution.
According to projections made by
the National Health Commission, the
number of Chinese people aged 60 or
above will exceed 400 million by
around 2035, accounting for about 30
percent of the total population.
“I think how to stay healthy will
become a focus for both governments
and people. What we really need is
preventative health measures, not
just therapeutic medication,” said
Johansen.
Over the past few years, the krill oil
supplier has made huge investments
in science, research and development,
as well as intellectual property, with
the aim of understanding the nutri-
tional value of krill oil and ensuring
their products are supported by scien-
tific evidence.
According to the company, krill oil
has the potential to lower the risks of
various lifestyle diseases. Meanwhile,
it can help improve overall life quality
and thus save billions of dollars for
society. Currently, Aker BioMarine is
seeking cooperation with Chinese
partners in order to provide the best
krill oil possible for the benefit of con-
sumers.
“We know that China is building a
batch of krill-harvesting vessels, krill
industrial parks and oil-extraction
ADVERTORIAL
CHINA DAILY
The two governors, whose states
sit on opposite coasts, also have
sharply criticized each other’s poli-
cies, for example, on abortion access.
Newsom has called DeSantis a
“sixth-grade bully”.
“California continues to be the
dominant economic engine,” he said
in a Fox News interview last month,
adding he would be willing to
debate DeSantis.
DeSantis has called Newsom’s
focus on Florida “bizarre” and
recently visited San Francisco to
highlight the city’s crime and drug
problems. He filmed a video saying
the “once great city” has collapsed
due to leftist policies.
Taxpayer exodus
New York State, which had some
of the strictest regulations, has seen a
taxpayer exodus to low-tax locations
as its revenue is down nearly 20 per-
cent, according to Bloomberg News.
Texas, meanwhile, reported 12.2
percent growth in tax revenue,
while Florida has brought in 9.9 per-
cent more, according to data com-
piled by the Urban-Brookings Tax
Policy Center in Washington, DC.
In Texas, the windfall has resulted
in a record $33 billion surplus, lead-
ing Abbott to propose tax cuts.
Recent data from the Internal
Revenue Service shows that New
York and California combined lost
more than $90 billion in adjusted
gross income of residents during the
pandemic.
Also, for the first time, six rapidly
growing states in the South — Flori-
da, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina,
South Carolina and Tennessee — are
contributing more to US GDP than
the Northeast, home to the long-dom-
inant Washington-New York-Boston
corridor, according to Bloomberg.
The Southeast accounted for
more than two-thirds of all job
growth across the US since early
2020, almost doubling its pre-pan-
demic number. It also has 10 of the
15 fastest-growing large cities in the
US, according to Bloomberg.
Matts Johansen, CEO of Aker
BioMarine
facilities,” Johansen said.
“We hope to work with our Chinese
counterparts to develop the krill oil
market in a sustainable way, from
harvesting to products, ensuring a
win-win situation for suppliers, con-
sumers and society,” he said.
Johansen also emphasized their
commitment to sustainability during
the Summer Davos Forum that con-
cluded on Thursday in North China’s
port city of Tianjin.
In the last 10 years, Aker BioMarine
has cut its carbon dioxide emissions
per ton of krill produced by approxi-
mately 50 percent. By implementing
sustainability initiatives, such as the
reuse of energy and efficiency projects
on vessels, it aims to reduce carbon
intensity per ton of krill produced by
2030 and reach net-zero carbon emis-
sions by 2050, according to Johansen.
 BUSINESS CHINA DAILY | CHINADAILY.COM.CN/BUSINESS Tuesday, July 4, 2023
Critical sectors
key to future
growth path
Industries include next-gen IT, AI,
biosciences, new energy, materials
By FAN FEIFEI
fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn
China will double down on efforts
to nurture strategic emerging
industries including next-genera-
tion information technology, artifi-
cial intelligence, biological sciences,
new energy and new materials and
foster new growth engines. This will
be part of a broader push to speed
up the construction of a modern
industrial system backed by the real
economy amid external uncertain-
ties, according to the country’s top
economic regulator.
In an article published on Satur-
day in Qiushi Journal, a flagship
magazine of the Communist Party
of China Central Committee, Zheng
Shanjie, head of the National Devel-
opment and Reform Commission,
called for efforts to beef up research
and development in tech frontiers
and forward-looking fields, while
highlighting the need to consoli-
date the country’s leading position
in competitive industries.
Heightened efforts will be made
to transform and upgrade tradi-
tional industries by leveraging
advanced technologies, re-engi-
neering the industrial foundation
and tackling key issues in major
technologies and equipment,
while shoring up weak links in
industrial chains, Zheng said.
He said China should advance
high-level opening-up, further
attract foreign investment, support
enterprises to enhance their capaci-
ties in global operations and take an
active part in formulating interna-
tional economic and trade rules.
Zheng also stressed the efforts to
promote the in-depth integration
of digital and real economies, accel-
erate the industrialization of digi-
tal technologies and the digital
transformation of industries, and
establish digital industrial clusters
with global competitiveness.
China’s emphasis on speeding up
the building of a modern industrial
system underpinned by the real
economy will help improve the
resilience of its industrial and sup-
ply chains, strengthen the capacity
to buffer against external risks and
shocks, and gain a competitive edge
in strategically important fields,
Briefly
Logistics activity
picks up pace in June
China’s logistics sector expand-
ed at a faster pace in June as
market demand and business
operations improved, industry
data showed on Monday. The
index tracking the country’s
logistics market performance
stood at 51.7 percent last month,
up 0.2 percentage point from
May, according to the China
Federation of Logistics and Pur-
chasing. A reading above 50
indicates expansion, while a
reading below reflects contrac-
tion. Most subindexes edged up
in June.
300 supercharging
stations in pipeline
South China’s Shenzhen, Guang-
dong province, has announced
plans to construct 300 new
supercharging stations over the
next three years in a bid to fur-
ther facilitate charging for new
energy vehicles. The announce-
ment was made at International
Digital Energy Expo 2023, where
the city also debuted its first ful-
ly liquid-cooled supercharging
demonstration station. The pro-
posed construction project is
part of a broader initiative to
establish Shenzhen as the “City
of Supercharging” by 2030.
XINHUA - CHINA DAILY
said Li Xianjun, an associate
researcher with the Institute of
Industrial Economics at the Chi-
nese Academy of Social Sciences.
More efforts should be made to
achieve breakthroughs in core
technologies in key fields includ-
ing basic materials and software,
precision components, integrated
circuits and high-end equipment,
to enhance China’s independent
innovation capacity, Li added.
“The manufacturing sector, as
the main part of China’s real econ-
omy, is playing an increasingly
crucial role in motivating enter-
prises to bolster technological
innovation, facilitating the devel-
opment of other strategic emerg-
ing sectors, and enhancing the
country’s core competitiveness on
the global stage,” Li said.
China has maintained its posi-
tion as the world’s largest manu-
facturing nation for 13 straight
years, accounting for nearly 30
percent of global manufacturing
output in 2022, according to the
Ministry of Industry and Informa-
tion Technology.
Pan Helin, co-director of the Digi-
tal Economy and Financial Innova-
tion Research Center at Zhejiang
University’s International Business
School, underlined the importance
of stepping up support for micro,
small and medium-sized enterprises
and further optimizing the business
environment, given that enterprises
have played a prominent part in
driving technological innovation.
“Faced with increasingly fierce
international competition, the
construction of a modern industri-
al system is of great significance to
push the manufacturing sector
toward higher-end, smarter and
greener production, and inject
strong impetus into China’s eco-
nomic recovery,” Pan said.
Li Dongsheng, chairman of con-
sumer electronics maker TCL Tech-
nology Group Corp, said, “China’s
manufacturers should transition
from exporting products to export-
ing industrial capacities, ramping up
localized operations abroad and
speeding up their layouts in overseas
markets to cope with changes in the
global economic landscape and ris-
ing trade protectionism.”
Fonterra to expand into
premium dairy segment
By WANG ZHUOQIONG
wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn
Fonterra Group, a New Zealand-
based dairy and nutrition multina-
tional corporation, said it will
expand its China business into pre-
mium categories to serve health-
conscious consumers.
Fonterra executives said the com-
pany will focus on lower-tier cities
and on enhancing innovations, to
encourage consumption of cheese
and butter at restaurants in China.
Peter McBride, chairman of Fon-
terra, who visited Beijing and
Shanghai last week as part of a
business delegation accompanying
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris
Hipkins, hailed “healthy” bilateral
ties between the two sides.
He said: “We have benefited
greatly from the healthy bilateral
relationship between China and
New Zealand. China is a vast mar-
ket, a growing economy in pursuit
of high-quality development, and
provides ample opportunities to
New Zealand companies, including
Fonterra, in expanding our pres-
ence and success in this market.”
Since the signing of a bilateral
free trade agreement in 2008, New
Zealand’s dairy exports to China
have grown from 6 percent of total
exports to over 30 percent now.
Last year, the China-New Zealand
Fruit from Africa is on display during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha,
Hunan province. GU PENGBO / FOR CHINA DAILY
China-Africa business ties set to shine
By ZHONG NAN in Beijing and
FENG ZHIWEI in Changsha
Economic and trade ties between
China and African countries will get
further enriched on the back of an
improving business environment of
both sides that will enable compa-
nies to engage in each other’s mar-
kets — and this, in turn, will help
maintain the stability of global
industrial and supply chains in the
years ahead, government officials
and business leaders said after the
conclusion of a key expo.
They also said growing coopera-
tion between the two sides will cre-
ate a conducive environment for
businesses to expand their opera-
tions, thus creating jobs, fostering
growth and driving green develop-
ment.
Both China and Africa can work
toward win-win as China’s remarka-
ble success in pursuing high-quality
development and achieving sus-
tained economic growth can inspire
African countries, said Ashish Shah,
director of country programs at the
Geneva-based International Trade
Center, at a seminar during the third
China-Africa Economic and Trade
Expo, which concluded in Chang-
sha, the capital of Hunan province,
on Sunday.
Agreements for 120 projects val-
ued at $10.3 billion were signed
during the four-day expo, accord-
ing to the organizers. And 99 coop-
eration projects valued at $8.7
billion were announced, including
74 big-ticket projects involving 11
African countries — the highest
number ever recorded.
The event attracted 1,700 foreign
and over 10,000 domestic attend-
ees — another record. The cumula-
Free Trade Agree-
ment and the
Regional Compre-
hensive Economic
Partnership pact
came into effect.
“The Chinese
market is incredi-
Peter McBride bly dynamic and
is strategically
important to Fonterra. The bilater-
al cooperation continues to create
exciting new products to cater to
the changing tastes of consumers
in China,” he said.
Fonterra’s presence in China
spans consumer brands, food and
ingredients. The third-quarter
results for its financial year 2022-23
showed its normalized earnings
before interest and tax for the Chi-
nese market were 342 million New
Zealand dollars ($210 million), up 12
percent year-on-year on the back of
reduced tariffs on liquid milk, butter
and cheese under the New Zealand-
China FTA, which took effect on Jan
1, 2022, the company said.
The company has now priori-
tized the introduction of high-qual-
ity nutritious dairy products from
New Zealand into the China mar-
ket. “Our strategy is to sell premi-
um dairy to more people, online
and in-store,” McBride said.
Dairy consumption in China has
grown significantly and is expected
tive value of expressions of intent
for transactions was $400 million,
said Hunan’s provincial depart-
ment of commerce.
The exhibition showcased 29
African countries’ products span-
ning 1,600 categories, up a stagger-
ing 166 percent from the previous
edition.
Government officials and busi-
ness executives who attended the
expo said they are keen to explore
potential opportunities across vari-
ous sectors, including agriculture
and energy.
$10.3
billion
value of agreements for 120
projects signed during the
expo in Changsha
They also said the platform has
helped expand trade relations
between China and African coun-
tries, facilitating valuable exchanges
and fostering mutual growth.
Solomon Telila, minister of the
embassy of Ethiopia in Beijing,
said China has notable advantages
in the field of new energy and
stands well-positioned to assist
African nations in establishing var-
ious renewable energy projects,
including solar power plants, wind
farms and hydropower initiatives.
These collaborative endeavors
hold the potential to enhance the
quality of life of people in Africa
while contributing to the conti-
nent’s energy security, said Telila.
Agreed Simplex Banda, Malawi’s
minister of trade and industry.
“Malawi is prioritizing new energy
and mining sectors for investment.
A view of the booth of Fonterra Group during an expo in Shanghai.
PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
to continue to do so, said Teh-Han
Chow, Fonterra Greater China CEO.
According to the China Agricul-
ture Outlook 2023-32 published by
the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Affairs in May, the country’s
dairy sector has maintained a
strong momentum of growth. The
report forecasts dairy consumption
in China to reach 60.98 million
metric tons this year, up almost 4
percent year-on-year. The number
is expected to climb to 79.02 tons by
2032 at average annual growth rate
of 3.3 percent.
Chow said Chinese consumers
have recognized the benefits of
dairy in terms of not only nutrition
but also taste.
“We are always looking at inno-
vative ways of using dairy products
in local cuisine such as cream
cheese, tea macchiatos, cheese lolli-
Clean energy has gained heavy
attention, as the government aims
to drive energy transformation
toward sustainable sources.
“Our government is also eagerly
seeking the assistance of Chinese
companies to facilitate the devel-
opment of its local travel industry.”
Zhou Xiaoyan, vice-president of
the Beijing-based China Council for
International Investment Promo-
tion, said by leveraging their respec-
tive strengths and resources, China
and African countries can foster
greater integration in key sectors
like manufacturing, agriculture,
infrastructure and technology.
Such integration, she said, can
lead to increased productivity,
improved efficiency and enhanced
competitiveness for businesses
operating in both sides.
These moves will also help Afri-
can economies reduce vulnerability
to external shocks and strengthen
their resilience, said Zhou.
Apart from exporting construc-
tion machinery like excavators
and bulldozers to Africa, Zoom-
lion Heavy Industry Science and
Technology Co Ltd plans to ship
more agricultural machinery to
promote the modernization of
agriculture in Africa this year,
said Wang Yongxiang, vice-presi-
dent of the Changsha-headquar-
tered engineering equipment
manufacturer.
China-Africa trade soared more
than 16 percent year-on-year to
822.32 billion yuan ($113.52 billion)
in the first five months of this year,
data from China’s General Adminis-
tration of Customs showed.
Contact the writers at
zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn
pops and even cheese dumplings.
Other examples include our
‘Cheese Pro’ products, which are a
mix of cream and cheese, and help
customers to save time when mak-
ing tea macchiatos,” Chow said.
Such innovations and localization
reflect Fonterra’s research capabili-
ties, he said. This year, Fonterra
opened its fifth Fonterra Application
Centre in China. The facility in
Shenzhen, Guangdong province, fol-
lows those in Beijing, Shanghai,
Chengdu in Sichuan province and
Guangzhou in Guangdong province.
In response to the rising demand
for health- and wellness-related
products in China, Fonterra has
developed new products like its
new brand Nutiani, and probiotics
and protein drinks launched last
year, which seek to boost immunity
and cognition.
Shares
rebound led
by major
market
movers
By SHI JING in Shanghai
shijing@chinadaily.com.cn
China’s A shares jumped on Mon-
day, the first trading day of the sec-
ond half of the year, on strong
performance by market heavy-
weights.
Experts said the bullish senti-
ment was supported by the coun-
try’s on-track economic recovery
as well as a rally by emerging sec-
tors.
The benchmark Shanghai Com-
posite Index rose 1.31 percent to
close at 3,243.98 points, while the
Shenzhen Component Index
gained 0.59 percent to end the day
at 11,091.56 points. The total trad-
ing value of the Shanghai and
Shenzhen bourses stood at 1.02
trillion yuan ($140 billion).
There was a net inflow of 2.69
billion yuan in northbound capi-
tal, which refers to the amount
overseas investors put into the
A-share market via a stock connect
program linking the Shanghai,
Shenzhen and Hong Kong
exchanges.
A robust performance by finan-
cial services providers, perennial
market heavyweights, contributed
to Monday’s rally.
A-share insurance companies
reported the biggest daily increase of
4.63 percent on average. Bank shares
rose 1.45 percent on average, while
stock prices of securities brokerages
rose 1.38 percent.
Other market heavyweights,
such as listed airport management
providers, reported an average
increase of 4 percent, while shares
of hotel companies climbed 3.95
percent.
1.02
trillion yuan
total trading value of the
Shanghai and Shenzhen
bourses on Monday
The Caixin China General Manu-
facturing Purchasing Managers’
Index, which updated its numbers
on Monday, came in at 50.9 for
June. Though the reading fell from
51.3 in May, it has remained in
expansion territory for a second
consecutive month.
The better-than-expected Caixin
PMI data in June translated into an
overall buoyant sentiment on the
A-share market on Monday and
may lead to a bullish stock market in
July, said Li Daxiao, chief economist
of Yingda Securities.
Listed carmakers surged 4.34 per-
cent on average, with these compa-
nies witnessing the biggest daily
capital inflow of 2.35 billion yuan on
Monday.
According to data released by the
China Automobile Dealers Associa-
tion on Friday, 1.85 million passen-
ger cars were sold in June, 5.7
percent higher than the month
before.
Whole-year sales of passenger
cars are expected to grow positively
this year, the association said.
Analysts from Shenyin Wanguo
Securities said a price war waged by
carmakers has started to subside
since April and pent-up demand
from consumers is likely to be
released.
Combined with a number of stim-
ulus measures, car consumption will
pick up, benefiting shares of automo-
tive companies.
Trading in new energy firms
remained active, with nearly 1.35
billion yuan of capital inflow seen
on Monday.
Shares of glass fiber provider
Shandong Jinjing (Group) Co Ltd
and wind power equipment suppli-
er Dajin Heavy Industry surged by
the daily limit of 10 percent.
A-share prices of new energy
companies have been overly
slashed in recent months and the
sector is expected to bounce back,
said Wang Liying, chief wealth
consultant at Orient Securities in
Beijing.
14 | Tuesday, July 4, 2023
BUSINESS
Employees load anchovies for export to China at a facility in Kwale, Kenya.
Kenyan fishermen upbeat over exports to China
NAIROBI — Braving an early
morning chill that swept over a
scenic beachfront in Kenya’s coast-
al county of Kwale recently, Abdi
Dura offloaded a bucket full of
anchovies, locally known as dagaa,
onto a waiting truck for delivery to
a processing factory in a nearby
village.
The 30-year-old father of two,
who was born into a fishing family
in a village on the shores of the
Indian Ocean, said venturing into
the deep waters in search of ancho-
vies, a popular delicacy along the
Kenyan coast, has always felt sur-
real.
Currently, Dura is among hun-
dreds of fishermen in Kwale who
are supplying anchovies to Hua-
wen Food (Kenya) Export Process-
ing Zone Ltd, a Chinese firm that
has established a factory for pro-
cessing, drying, and packaging the
small fish in a serene village on the
edge of Kwale.
Huawen Food recently facilitat-
ed the export of the first batch of
dried anchovies to China at a cere-
mony graced by senior officials,
investors, and local fishermen.
Salim Mvurya, Cabinet secretary
for the Ministry of Mining, Blue
Economy and Maritime Affairs,
termed the inaugural shipment of
anchovies sourced from local fish-
ermen “a historic moment for the
country”.
The first batch of anchovies was
showcased at the third edition of
Now that we have
secured a new
market for the small
fish, we expect our
income to increase
and look forward to
purchasing new
fishing gear to help
improve the volumes
of our catch.”
Abdi Dura, a fisherman based
in Kwale, Kenya
the China-Africa Economic and
Trade Expo held from June 29 to
July 2 in Changsha, capital of Cen-
tral China’s Hunan province.
Earlier, on hand to witness the
flagging-off ceremony were Dura
and his fellow fishermen, who
cheered the move, as they always
look forward to improved revenue
streams.
“It is an exciting moment to
witness the maiden export of
anchovies to the Chinese mar-
ket,” Dura said. “Now that we
have secured a new market for
the small fish, we expect our
income to increase and look for-
ward to purchasing new fishing
WANG GUANSEN / XINHUA
gear to help improve the volumes
of our catch.”
He said he is currently able to
supply 3 to 4 metric tons of ancho-
vies daily to the processing factory
established by Huawen Food, cush-
ioning him from market volatility
locally.
Granted permission by Chinese
Customs authorities to export
sun-dried and frozen anchovies
to the Asian nation, Huawen Food
has forged a partnership with
local fishermen to facilitate a
seamless supply of the small fish
caught in the Indian Ocean, said
Liu Zhiyong, the firm’s executive
director.
Liu said the factory, upon com-
pletion of the two phases of devel-
opment, is expected to process
about 200 tons of anchovies daily,
boosting revenue streams for local
fishermen.
Mohamed Salim, 56, said since
entering into a partnership with
Huawen Food to supply anchovies
to the company’s factory, his
income has been on an upward tra-
jectory. With 36 years of experience
as a fisherman, Salim said the
export of anchovies to China is a
giant stride that marks the begin-
ning of transformed livelihoods for
local fisherfolk and their depend-
ents.
“It is my hope that the export of
anchovies to China will be sus-
tained and open new opportunities
for local fishermen,” Salim said.
In January 2022, Kenya and
China signed two protocols
aimed at facilitating bilateral
trade in avocados and aquatic
products, setting the stage for the
export of anchovies, popular
worldwide for their rich nutrient
content.
Daniel Mungai, director-general
of the Kenya Fisheries Service, said
by securing a new market in China
for its anchovies, the country’s
economy stands to gain from new
foreign exchange earnings.
Mungai said Kenya looks for-
ward to cooperation with China in
order to boost value addition on
anchovies and revitalize the entire
fisheries subsector that contributes
0.5 percent to the country’s gross
domestic product.
Rishadi Iki Hamisi, the
70-year-old chairman of a fisher-
men’s lobby in Kwale that has
inked a deal with Huawen Food to
supply anchovies, hailed the
opening of a Chinese market for
the small fish, describing it as a
“watershed moment” for coastal
fishermen yearning for economic
vitality.
Mwanamgeni Juma, a 28-year-
old mother of one, said attending
the flagging-off ceremony of the
first batch of anchovies destined
for China has reassured her that
the economy of her fishing village
will be revived.
XINHUA
Red Hat bullish
on market of
open source
US firm to offer digital solutions, help
Chinese partners become IT self-reliant
By CHENG YU
chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn
China has become not only one of
the world’s most vibrant open-
source communities but an impor-
tant contributor to the global open-
source ecosystem, said Victor Tsao,
president of Red Hat, a US-based
open-source solutions provider.
“To help China’s open-source
development, we will offer local
companies with digital solutions
that can help them achieve self-reli-
ance in information technology and
ensure the safety of related industri-
al chains,” Tsao said.
Open source,
which anyone can
inspect, modify and
share, creates shar-
ing and openness in
software develop-
ment. It is consid-
ered a driver of Victor Tsao
software technology
and industrial innovation worldwide.
“No company can ignore the Chi-
nese market. It’s not only an impor-
tant open-source market but a
critical contributor to an innovative
open-source ecosystem,” Tsao said.
“The market is home to a large
number of open-source profession-
als who have been increasingly con-
tributing software and industrial
innovations for global technological
advancement.”
The US company earlier said it
plans to build a new data center in
China this year, to gather data for Chi-
nese language courses. It will also
invest to support the country’s open-
source ecosystem as well as the boom-
ing digital transformation market.
According to the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technolo-
gy, the number of Chinese developers
Visitors gather at the Red Hat booth during a high-tech expo in
Shanghai in June. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
CHINA DAILY
of open-source software exceeded 8
million as of April, ranking only
behind the United States.
Data from CSDN, a leading devel-
oper community in China, showed
the number of Chinese developers
registered last year was 35 million.
Up to 94 percent of them use open
source and 42 percent have partici-
pated in open-source projects.
“The Chinese market is full of
opportunities,” Tsao said. “More
Chinese companies have gradually
realized the value and openness of
open source and only when they
embrace it can they give birth to
more technological innovations.”
Red Hat, whose business includes
hybrid cloud infrastructure, middle-
ware and cloud-native application
and covers 40 countries and regions,
has supported Chinese companies in
a variety of industries, such as manu-
facturing and finance.
“More opportunities will arise as
the country has striven to build an
open-source ecosystem and is beef-
ing up efforts in driving the digital
economy,” he said.
Wang Huaimin, an academician at
the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said
in a note that China has developed
rapidly in the global open-source eco-
system and has transformed from a
participator to a leader in terms of
global open-source development.
The country has highlighted the
role of open source in driving the
software industry and the construc-
tion of a digital China in its 14th Five-
Year Plan (2021-25) for the software
and information technology services
sector.
By 2025, China aims to build two
to three open-source communities
with international influence and
cultivate more than 10 high-quality
open-source projects, the plan said.
 CHINA DAILY
BUSINESSFOCUS
Northeast city shows way in seafood trade
Landlocked Hunchun in Jilin province develops its marine economy to become key export-import hub
By ZHU WENQIAN in Beijing and
LIU MINGTAI in Changchun
Previously, Wang Jindong never
imagined making a living selling
seafood in a small landlocked city in
Northeast China. But now, in a
strange twist of fate, Wang has
become widely known in the sea-
food industry as the “king of king
crabs”.
“I traveled through numerous
port cities before finally settling
down in Hunchun. Despite being
remote, it is a land of treasure that
faces eastward and has access to the
Pacific Ocean,” the seafood mer-
chant said.
Hunchun is a city in the Yanbian
Korean autonomous prefecture
located in the eastern region of Jilin
province. It is about 15 kilometers
away from the Sea of Japan.
The city, which achieved a break-
through by focusing on seafood
trade, has vigorously developed its
marine economy and has been
approved as the only national
marine economic development
demonstration zone that is not
directly coastal.
Hunchun has taken a unique path
to development by leveraging its
strengths and deviating from con-
ventional norms.
Despite lacking direct access to
mud flats, seaports, coastlines and
other resources, the city, located at
the junction of China, Russia and
the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea, is surrounded by several
high-quality Russian ports.
This was just the right mix for
Wang, who seized the opportunity
to establish the Hehe Seafood Co in
the marine industrial park of the
Hunchun international cooperation
demonstration zone.
King crabs caught in the deep sea
in Russia the night before are
shipped to Hunchun the next day
and distributed to various regions in
China, helping Wang’s business to
expand continuously.
In 2021, his company imported
4,260 metric tons of king crabs and
other seafood products from Russia,
achieving a trade value of 1.26 bil-
lion yuan ($173.7 million).
Despite being close to the sea,
Hunchun is not directly coastal.
It was once a border town known
as “the bottom of the pocket”, indi-
cating the underdeveloped state of
its infrastructure and the local
economy.
However, with the opening of the
Changchun-Hunchun expressway,
the Changchun-Hunchun intercity
railway, and the resumption of the
Hunchun-Makhalino railway
between China and Russia, Hun-
chun has successfully implemented
a strategy of utilizing nearby ports
for sea trade.
Hunchun’s foreign trade partners
now cover 72 countries and regions
globally, including Asia, Europe and
North America.
The inland city, pushed to think
outside the box over the past few
Self-heating hot pot set to make waves
By ZHANG XIAOMIN
in Dalian, Liaoning
zhangxiaomin@chinadaily.com.cn
Recently, a batch of packaged self-
heating hot pot products was
shipped to Tokyo from a port in Jin-
pu New Area of Dalian, Liaoning
province.
This marked the first-ever sea-
borne shipment of Chinese self-heat-
ing hot pot products in their entirety.
“Previously, self-heating hot pot
products were only exported as indi-
vidual ingredients and heating
packs, which were shipped sepa-
rately from various ports in China
and then assembled at the destina-
tions,” said Zhang Lei, general man-
ager of Dalian Maruyama Food Co.
The company, which is based in
Wafangdian, Dalian, received certifi-
cation from Japan’s Ministry of Agri-
culture, Forestry and Fisheries in
1995, and has been exporting meat
products, such as chicken, pork and
beef, to Japan for over 20 years.
Last year, it exported nearly 2,000
metric tons of meat products,
including about 20 tons of beef, for a
well-known hot pot brand.
In 2021, the company started pro-
ducing beef hot pot packs for the
brand, specifically for its Japanese
market, where it has hot pot restau-
An employee at a seafood trading company displays a king crab in Hunchun, Jilin province, in April.
years, has sounded a clarion call for
“strengthening itself through the
marine economy”.
In the process, Hunchun has
shaped a comprehensive industrial
chain that includes cold-chain sea-
food trade and processing.
The city has attracted more than
20 aquatic processing companies
and over 100 seafood trading
enterprises.
In fact, the volume of live crabs
that Hunchun imports from Russia
accounts for about 80 percent of
China’s total live crab imports from
Russia, according to the local
government.
“Hunchun will further speed up
the building of transportation infra-
structure connecting Northeast
Asia, and build itself into a national
logistics hub with ports bordering
the land,” said Sheng Xiaoru, Party
chief of Hunchun.
Last year, port throughput at
Hunchun reached 3.92 million tons,
up 22.6 percent year-on-year. Its
total foreign trade value was 15.3 bil-
lion yuan, up 44.1 percent over the
previous year and achieving a
record high, said the local
government.
In the first two months of this
year, despite relatively weak
demand globally, its total import
and export value reached 3.16 bil-
rants as well as convenience prod-
ucts sold in supermarkets.
However, the cost of assembly in
Japan was much higher than in Chi-
na due to higher labor costs. This
prompted the company to seek a
more efficient method of exporting
its products.
The successful seaborne ship-
ment of the first batch of self-heat-
ing hot pot products in their entirety
was a result of that strategy.
“It expands our business. We used
to only provide part of the ingredi-
ents. Now, vegetables, soup base,
vermicelli, pickled vegetables, table-
ware, and heating packs are all
transported from qualified suppli-
ers across the country to Dalian,
where they are assembled and
exported by us,” said Zhang.
Recently, self-heating hot pot
products have developed rapidly to
satisfy picky palates in the form of
instant meals. They are popular
among youngsters in China, and
demand for such exports is increas-
ing each year.
Self-heating hot pot requires no
external heat source like fire or elec-
tricity. When the components in the
heating pack are mixed with a bottle
of cold water, they release heat ade-
quate for cooking the food.
One of the biggest challenges in
A crane transports seafood containers at a railway port in Hunchun in March.
lion yuan, up 31.7 percent year-on-
year, which accounted for 13.3 per-
cent of the province’s total foreign
trade value, the local government
said.
Smooth Customs
In the past few years, Jilin has
exporting a self-heating hot pot in
its overall package form is the heat-
ing pack, a critical component that
releases a flammable gas when it
comes in contact with water, said
Wu Jinlian, general manager of Da-
lian Linghang International Logis-
tics Co.
“The heating pack is classified as
a dangerous good for export. But,
since there are clear international
shipping rules for heating packs, it
is not a problem to ship them sepa-
rately,” said Wu.
There are no clear regulations on
how to transport the assembled self-
heating hot pot products, which
contain both food and dangerous
chemicals, she added.
With the help of staff from the
Dalian section of China (Liaoning)
Pilot Free Trade Zone, Wu contacted
Luo Wei, the research office director
of the Dalian dangerous goods
transport research center of Liao-
ning maritime safety administra-
tion, who has for long researched
safe transport technology of danger-
ous goods carried by ships.
“We purchased a dozen brands of
self-heating hot pot products,
repeated trials and tests and verifi-
cation, assessed their safety risks,
and constantly optimized the cargo
transportation plan,” said Luo.
PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
established several foreign shipping
routes for domestic trade. It has
shipped goods to major Chinese
ports such as Ningbo, Zhejiang
province; Qingdao, Shandong
province; and Shanghai via the Port
of Zarubino in Russia.
This has become an important
Consumers check out self-heating products at a supermarket in Shanghai in January.
PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Based on the solid test conclu-
sions, they determined the interna-
tional general safety transportation
requirements for the product and
issued the first domestic identifica-
tion report on the safe transporta-
tion conditions of self-heating hot
pot by sea.
Luo and her colleagues also went
to the product assembly workshop
and packing site for guidance.
YAN LINYUN / XINHUA
communication and cooperation
channel linking Northeast China
with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei
region, the Yangtze River Delta and
the Pearl River Delta.
Meanwhile, Hunchun has further
enhanced the “smooth Customs
clearance” coordination mecha-
“With this identification, we can
find a suitable warehouse that can
meet the storage requirements of
both dangerous items and animal
goods,” said Wu.
She said that since Japan’s Cus-
toms clearance requirements for
food and hazardous chemicals are
particularly strict, this batch of over-
all packaged goods has not yet been
cleared.
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 | 15
nism with railways, Customs, and
other organizations to continuously
improve the level of opening-up.
This has led to a one-hour Customs
clearance in advance at highway
ports and 24/7 Customs clearance at
railway ports.
At the Hunchun Northeast Asia
Cross-Border E-Commerce Indus-
trial Park, a variety of products —
including food, chemicals used in
daily life, and unique handicrafts
from the Republic of Korea, Japan,
Russia and other countries — are for
sale.
“For many years, our company
has been mainly processing seafood
products for import and export.
Now, we would also like to expand
our business through e-commerce
channels,” said Zhao Kuizheng, gen-
eral manager of Hunchun Xingyang
Seafood Co Ltd, which is located in
the industrial park.
From being approved as one of
the first border cities to open up to
the world in 1992 to the establish-
ment of a marine economic devel-
opment demonstration zone in
2020, Hunchun has focused on
developing the marine economy
and expanding international
cooperation.
This trend has accelerated with
China’s further opening-up and the
Belt and Road Initiative.
Hunchun firmly believes that
building more projects will serve as
a strong engine and foundation for
the growth of the marine economy,
and the city has already embraced
new business opportunities.
At Hunchun Laoji Food Co Ltd,
located in the Jilin Hunchun mutual
trade goods landing and processing
industrial base, workers are busily
slicing, processing and packaging
various seafood products.
These prepared dishes will soon
be shipped to regions nationwide,
and consumers can easily enjoy a
seafood feast by simply heating up
the dishes.
Semi-cooked and quick-frozen
Chinese food requires only simple
reheating, and can be delivered with
extended quality guarantees. Such
food has become increasingly popu-
lar since the COVID-19 pandemic,
given that only minimum prepara-
tion is involved.
“Hunchun is blessed with abun-
dant seafood resources, and the pro-
cessing industry has a strong
foundation. We have identified and
utilized such advantages. We have
extended our business line and suc-
cessfully developed some 20 types of
precooked seafood dishes, which
have been highly popular in the
market,” said Li Jing, a representa-
tive of Hunchun Laoji Food.
By 2031, annual sales of China’s
ready-to-cook meal market are fore-
cast to exceed 1 trillion yuan, grow-
ing some 60 percent from 634.1
billion yuan in 2026, according to a
research report by CITIC Securities.
Contact the writers at
zhuwenqian@chinadaily.com.cn
“Basically, nothing goes wrong.
With the significant reduction of
production and logistics costs, the
resulting price advantage will fur-
ther enhance the competitiveness of
self-heating hot pot products in the
international market,” said Wu,
whose company is currently work-
ing to export self-heating hot pot
products to the Republic of Korea
and Southeast Asia.
16 | Tuesday, July 4, 2023
LIFE
T
here is a household prov-
erb in China which says:
“Water and fire could nev-
er tolerate each other”.
However, Elemental, the latest Dis-
ney and Pixar animated film, makes
it possible.
Premiered as the closing film of
the 76th Cannes Film Festival earli-
er this year, the tale was released
simultaneously in China and North
America on June 16.
Blending bold imagination with
universal themes like family connec-
tion and parenting, the 102-minute
movie fictionalizes a fantastic
metropolis where four “races” —
with each representing one of the
four natural elements: fire, water, air
and earth — live together.
Due to their differing characteris-
tics, the daily lives of the residents
are always filled with unpredictable
and fun-filled events. For instance, if
the Fire members get exposed to
rain, their flame-like hair might be
extinguished, but they can quickly
reignite themselves and regrow
their hair.
Ember Lumen, a 20-something
member of the Fire “race”, lives
with her immigrant parents and
helps run their grocery store. How-
ever, trouble ensues when she loses
her temper one day and accidental-
ly causes a fire in the basement,
which leads to a burst water pipe.
As a result of the accident, Lumen
meets Wade Ripple, a health
inspector from the Water “race”
who is unexpectedly sucked into
the pipe. Despite their supposed
inability to touch and hug each oth-
er, a romantic spark is ignited
between the two.
When you pitch your
ideas or tell a story,
having supportive yet
critical people around
you can be
invaluable, regardless
of whether the idea is
good or bad.”
Peter Sohn, American director
The movie’s Chinese version,
which has pop idol Wang Yuan sing
the end credit song, casts actress
Song Zu’er and actor Zhang Xin-
cheng to voice for the two protago-
nists.
During an interview with China
Daily, director Peter Sohn says that
his original idea for the story start-
ed seven years ago when he drew a
little doodle and became fascinated
with the concept of how fire and
water could be connected.
After pitching his idea to deci-
sion-makers and fellow animators
at Pixar Animation Studios, the vet-
eran director, who has been work-
ing there since 2000, recalls that
they were intrigued by his pitch but
did not entirely understand the
concept of the story.
Throughout years of character
and plot development, the movie
gathered input from more than 100
first- and second-generation immi-
grants working at Pixar. They
CHINA DAILY
shared their personal experiences,
which injected the story with a
depth that explores how people
from different cultures handle
their differences, and sometimes,
frictions.
Cultural metaphors are preva-
lent throughout the movie.
Lumen’s parents, also immigrants
from a remote city belonging to the
Fire “race”, take a ship voyage to
begin a new life in Elemental City.
Despite growing up in a culturally
diverse environment, Lumen is
asked to make a promise to marry a
fellow Fire member before her
grandmother passes away.
This scene is inspired by the real-
life experiences of the director.
Sohn’s parents emigrated from
South Korea to the United States in
the 1970s and held a family belief
that Sohn, who was born and raised
in New York, should marry a wom-
an of Korean descent.
“It was crazy when I was in high
school. When my grandmother was
passing away, we were all around
her. She suddenly said in Korean:
‘Marry a Korean!’ And then she
passed away. It created a lot of pres-
sure for me growing up, especially
when I fell in love with someone
who wasn’t Korean,” recalls the
director, whose wife is an Italian-
Mixing the elements
American.
As Sohn has transferred his
youthful memories into inspiration
for the movie, he has also faced
many challenges in visualizing the
Elemental City — a work of fantasy
that requires everything to be built
from scratch.
With inspirations from canal cit-
New Pixar film explores the challenges and triumphs of the immigrant ies like Venice and Amsterdam, the
movie assembled a team of over 50
experience in a multicultural society, Xu Fan reports. special effects artists. They were
divided into two teams, with one
group responsible for creating big
action scenes, such as explosions or
floods, and the other group in charge
of bringing the characters to life.
“Every piece of fantasy starts
from something real, and this was
our biggest challenge. We built
brick by brick a city which I would
call an immaculate reality,” says
Sohn.
Beyond its stunning visuals, the
film explores a timeless and relata-
ble theme: the conflict between fol-
lowing one’s dreams and fulfilling
one’s parental obligations. Despite
her father’s wishes for her to take
over the family grocery store after
he retires, Ember Lumen, who has
a natural talent for art, yearns to
explore the world beyond.
Sohn says that Ripple, the Water
man, growing up in a vastly differ-
ent environment that allows him to
pursue his dreams, creates a con-
trast that helps the audiences con-
nect with the female protagonist’s
struggles and encourages them to
reflect on their own pursuits.
For the veteran filmmaker, who
has worked in Pixar for more than
two decades, the most valuable
thing is that the artists could share
their ideas in a safe environment.
“When you pitch your ideas or tell
a story, having supportive yet criti-
cal people around you can be invalu-
able, regardless of whether the idea
Top: Pixar’s latest movie Elemental recounts the unlikely relationship between a woman from the Fire “race”, named Ember Lumen, and is good or bad,” he explains.
a man from the Water “race”, named Wade Ripple. Clockwise from above left: A poster for the movie. Elemental City is home to residents of
“races”, each representing one of the four natural elements, including the Earth “race”. A panoramic view of the city. Chinese pop idol Wang Contact the writer at
Yuan at the movie’s Shanghai premiere. Lumen joins a family dinner of the Water figures. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY xufan@chinadaily.com.cn
 CHINA DAILY
LIFE
Pitch-perfect ode to the past
A fresh take on old rites and music steeped the Dragon Boat Festival in the sights and
F
or a moment, the concert
hall of the National Centre
for the Performing Arts,
where works by Western
composers such as Beethoven and
Mozart are usually performed, was
transformed into an imperial palace
of ancient China.
Twelve yellow bronze bells were
hung on the back of the stage. Two
traditional Chinese-style folding
screens stood on the sides of the
stage.
Musicians clad in traditional Chi-
nese clothes came onto the stage
playing various musical instru-
ments, such as Chinese drums, bam-
boo flutes, sheng ( Chinese free reed
wind instrument) and guqin (the
seven-stringed Chinese zither), that
originated centuries ago.
On June 21 and 22, the China
National Traditional Orchestra,
under the baton of conductor Liu
Sha, performed two concerts at the
NCPA titled Ode to Huangzhong
Dalyu.
Huangzhong and Dalyu are the
names fort two relative pitches of
the 12 fundamental pitches of Chi-
nese music, also known as the 12
laws of music, which are used for
tuning purposes. It’s closely related
to liyue, or rites and music, a vital
part of Chinese traditional culture,
as recorded in the Confucian clas-
sic The Book of Rites which writes:
“Music is an echo of the harmony
between heaven and the Earth;
rites or ceremonies reflect the
orderly distinctions in the opera-
tions of heaven and the Earth”.
In olden days, rites and music
were believed to be essential for
maintaining a harmonious and
orderly society. They were promi-
nent in big ceremonies and sacrifi-
ces.
Legend has it that a man, named
Ling Lun, who was in charge of the
court’s music, was assigned by the
ruler to explore the rules of music
Young talent injects new vitality into village
HANGZHOU — When he learned
that Yucun village in Anji county,
East China’s Zhejiang province, was
recruiting “global partners” last
July, Anji native Chen Zhe decided
to return from Shanghai to his
hometown.
“It’s pretty bold for a small village
to call for talent from all over the
world,” says Chen, who had been
working in brand marketing before
his move back home.
Yucun is rich in quality limestone
resources, and more than half of its
locals relied on quarrying in the
1980s and ’90s. But as its environ-
ment deteriorated and several peo-
ple lost their lives when mining for
limestone, the locals decided to
make a change.
In June 2003, Zhejiang launched
a “Green Rural Revival Program”
which aimed to renovate about
10,000 incorporated villages and
transform about 1,000 central villa-
ges among them into examples of
moderate prosperity in all respects.
In the two years afterward, Yucun
shut down limestone quarries and
sounds of tradition at the NCPA, Chen Nan reports.
Clockwise from top left: Noted pipa player Zhao Cong (center) at the concert Ode to Huangzhong Dalyu. The stage of the performance is
designed in the style of an imperial palace. Conducted by Liu Sha, the concert also features musical instruments of the ethnic groups in the
Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
Below: A children’s choir singing at the concert. PHOTOS BY JIANG DONG / CHINA DAILY
and make harmonious sounds that
could be played at grand ceremo-
nies. He traveled to the mountains
where he saw bamboo around him.
He cut some of the reeds down and
to various lengths and carved some
holes in them and began blowing.
After modifying his bamboo pipes
he discovered the 12 fundamental
pitches.
The concerts featured 12 music
works that corresponded to the 12
fundamental pitches. The first
work, titled Huangzhong — Ode to
cement factories. And it boosted
eco-tourism industry, and has today
become a model of China’s beautiful
countryside.
In 2021, Yucun was named one of
the “Best Tourism Villages” by the
United Nations World Tourism
Organization.
“Thanks to the program, Yucun
has entered a new stage of develop-
ment, and its rural areas are becom-
ing more and more attractive to
young people,” says the village’s Par-
ty chief Wang Yucheng.
When Chen returned home last
year, he had only planned to stay
there for a day or two, but his visit
stretched to three months. During
that time, local authorities invited
more than 60 young people, includ-
ing Chen, to work together to devel-
op new business models for the
village.
Chen opened a Chinese comic-
themed cafe in the newly built youth
library in the village, in March, lead-
ing a team with an average age of
under 30. The modern building,
converted from a cement factory, is
shaped like a key, and it relies on a
renewable photovoltaic power sys-
tem to offset carbon emissions.
Chen cooperated with the Shang-
hai Animation Film Studio to install
models in the cafe that were based
on characters from animations pro-
duced by the company, such as Mon-
key King Sun Wukong, Calabash
Brothers and Black Cat Detective.
“It feels like Yucun is a laboratory
with many possibilities, and it can
inspire the development of villages
across China,” Chen says.
“Rural revitalization depends on
people, especially the younger gen-
eration with ideas and vitality,” says
He Miao, Party chief of Tianhuang-
ping town which administers
Yucun.
She notes that since the village’s
global partners program was
launched, 42 projects have been
introduced there, covering research
and education, cultural creativity,
the digital economy, and the agricul-
ture and forestry industries. The
program has attracted over 1,100
young people from home and
We came to Yucun
from the city because
we yearned for the
waters and green
mountains here. ...we
have improved both
our moods and
working efficiency.”
Zhang Hang, digital nomad,
in Anji county, Zhejiang
province
abroad to work and live in Yucun
and surrounding villages.
In order to support young people
starting businesses in Yucun, the
local government proposed the
establishment of a large community
of young talent. The Qinglaiji
Project, which has a scale of more
than 30,000 square meters, will be
open soon to provide young entre-
the Chinese Ensemble, was com-
posed by Hao Weiya. It featured
musicians of the China National
Traditional Orchestra playing 10
ancient Chinese musical instru-
ments, such as qing (chimes used as
a percussion instrument in ancient
Chinese music), sun (Chinese pot-
tery flutes) and xiao (Chinese verti-
cal end-blown flutes).
The second music work, titled
Dalyu, composed by Gu Jianfen,
was performed by a children’s choir
and the orchestra.
preneurs a working environment
and accommodation facilities.
He says the community provides
apartments, youth hostels, digital
nomad communes and boutique
homestay facilities for the young
people working in Yucun, with a
total of more than 4,000 beds availa-
ble.
Xu Song, owner of a digital
nomad commune in the young tal-
ent community of Yucun, says that
digital nomads — people who work
remotely and have professional
skills — are an important group for
rural vitalization. His commune
aims to gather young people in the
village, bringing new blood into
local development.
“Even before the construction of
our commune has been completed,
it had attracted more than 40 digital
nomads from across the country,”
Xu says.
“A single room in the commune
costs 2,000 yuan ($279) a month,
and a bunk in a room for six people
only costs 400 yuan a month,” Xu
says. “We are providing an inex-
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 | 17
The other 10 music works were all
named after one of the 12 funda-
mental pitches, such as Taicu,
Jiazhong and Nanlyu.
According to Zhao Cong, a veter-
an pipa player and president of the
China National Traditional Orches-
tra, the 12 musical works were
arranged based on the 12 funda-
mental pitches.
“Some of the music works were
adapted from ancient Chinese
music pieces and some were com-
posed by contemporary Chinese
composers. The new arrangement
allowed the audience to enjoy music
on the basis of the 12 fundamental
pitches,” says Zhao, adding that the
program took the orchestra about
three years to prepare.
Some of the music works are well-
known to the audiences, such as A
Moonlit Night on the Spring River, a
signature pipa piece of the Chinese
classical repertoire, which is named
after a Tang Dynasty (618-907) poem
by Zhang Ruoxu, and the ancient
Chinese melody, Three Variations on
the Plum Blossom, which was origi-
nally conceived for the guqin.
To provide the audience with an
immersive experience, Tian Qinxin,
a renowned theater director, who is
the president of the National Thea-
tre of China, was invited to be the
director of the concerts.
“The concert is a combination of
different ways of presenting
ancient Chinese music, such as
solo performances, ensembles, a
large orchestra, vocals and dance.
My job is to not only let audiences
listen to the music but also see the
music from ancient China,” says
Tian, noting multimedia technolo-
gy and the set created a space from
the past.
Zhao says that the concert will
tour overseas next year.
Contact the writer at
chennan@chinadaily.com.cn
haustible supply of talent resources
for the countryside.”
Zhang Hang, a digital nomad, and
his team opened their studio in
Yucun last year, focusing on making
short videos. “We came to Yucun
from the city because we yearned for
the waters and green mountains
here,” he says. “Working in such an
idyllic environment, we have
improved both our moods and
working efficiency.”
Chen says that 10 percent of his
cafe’s revenue this year will be
returned to Yucun as part of the vil-
lage’s collective income.
Last year, Yucun received 700,000
tourists, with its tourism revenue
totaling about 35 million yuan and
the per capita income of locals hit-
ting 64,000 yuan.
“We believe that hope for the
future lies in the youth, and we hope
to work with them to build a more
beautiful countryside and expand a
new path of green development,”
says Wang, Party chief of Yucun.
XINHUA
18 | Tuesday, July 4, 2023
LIFE
A career scripted in history
Oracle bone specialist innovates to bring her message to a wider audience, Yang Feiyue reports.
L
i Ying has her eyes wide
open, apparently in shock,
as she points out the rarity
of her college background
in oracle bone script studies.
“You can’t possibly imagine how
obscure this profession is. Every-
one who hears about my profession
reacts with this flabbergasted
expression,” she explains with a
theatrical look in one of her most
popular videos on her Douyin
account.
As she shares related embarrass-
ing moments, like being asked if
her graduation paper was written
in the form of oracle bone script, a
resigned smile appears.
For the rest of the 150-second vid-
eo, Li concisely explains the origin,
functions and significance of the
ancient script and gives her audi-
ence a comprehensive picture of
the field.
“Many of the words we use now
don’t have a counterpart in the oracle
bone script, which was mainly used
by official historians for divination
during the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th-
11th century BC),” explains Li, who
was born in Tonglu county, Hang-
zhou, East China’s Zhejiang province.
Nearly 160,000 pieces of scripted
oracle bones have been discovered
over the past 120 years, and they
are scattered among museums at
home and abroad, as well as librar-
ies, and science and technology
institutes, according to He Yuling, a
researcher with the Institute of
Archaeology, Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences.
With sheer volumes that have
been discovered, the oracle bone
scripts have now been put into sev-
eral categories for deeper studies,
including those on weather, hunt-
ing activities and sacrificial rituals,
Li says.
One of the major approaches in
studying the language has been
identifying the meaning of specific
words, she adds.
“It’s extremely difficult, and
that’s why our country is offering
substantial prize money for those
who manage to decode an unsolved
word,” Li says.
Other study directions include
analyzing the scripts’ grammatical
structure and interpreting their
content to better understand social
conditions of the past.
The video was her first work, and
took her more than five hours to
finish.
“I felt the initial draft was writ-
ten in a too cryptic and specialized
manner, overly difficult to under-
stand, so I revised it word by word,
sentence by sentence, ensuring
that every sentence could be
understood by people not in the
field,” she says.
Moreover, she made a point of
interlacing her delivery with funny
emoji to make it more audience
friendly.
To date, the video has received
more than 160,000 thumbs-up on
her account, where she is known by
the alias Li Youxi and has more
than 220,000 followers.
“It was the middle of the night
when I finished filming,” she
recalls.
When she got up the next
morning, the video was viewed
more than 1 million times and
earned her more than 10,000 fans
overnight.
The sudden popularity of her
Trip to the barber for a cut above the rest need not be hair-raising
Getting a haircut can be a hair-
raising experience in China, espe-
cially if you’re an expatriate, if it’s
your first time and if you don’t
know the language.
The problem,
though, is not insur-
mountable.
I managed to
devise a way to
explain to the barber
Manjunath what kind of haircut
R. Setty I would need.
Second A background in
Thoughts engineering helps.
Not that I have one,
but a few things I learned at school
during the sheet metal class seems
to be coming in handy.
Take, for instance, the knowl-
work has made her determined to
publicize the ancient words that
have been very close to her heart.
So far, she has delivered more
than 40 videos that cast light on
oracle bone scripts in various
aspects.
Her vivid explanations conjure
up images of the historical scenes
and seem to bring the hieroglyph-
ics closer to modern life, as she
demonstrates a ruler’s “love letter”,
and ancient people’s anxiety
toward body image.
“Many people find these charac-
ters intriguing, because the forma-
tion of characters at that time was
inherently interesting,” Li says.
“By delving into those oracle
inscriptions, we can get a glimpse
into the thoughts and culture of the
people of that era … and perhaps
also learn their wisdom in dealing
with mundane matters,” she adds.
Li has loved literature since high
school, and she didn’t think twice
edge I gained about isometric or
orthographic representation of
objects. The isometric view reveals
as much detail as possible, while
the latter shows an object from a
certain angle.
The first time I went for a hair-
cut, I shared my photographs so it
could give him a fair idea about my
frontal appearance, current hair-
style, the partition line, among oth-
er things. That, in a nutshell, is the
isometric view for you.
I’m not a selfie person, but I’m
glad I did have some photos of
myself on my mobile.
I had also taken selfies of my
hairstyle from different angles,
especially sideways, as I wanted
the hairstylist to know how my
about choosing Chinese language
and literature for her undergradu-
ate years at Zhejiang Normal Uni-
versity, where she then went on to
zoom in on oracle bone scripts for
her Master’s degree.
She was initially drawn to the
mystery and poetic meaning
behind the strokes of the ancient
characters in her sophomore years.
“I was particularly interested in
the origins of things at that time,
so I chose the direction of oracle
bone inscriptions,” Li says, adding
that they are the earliest and most
mature writing system discovered
in China to date and helped shed
another 1,000 years of light on
history.
However, there was only one
professor at the university who
specialized in the study of oracle
bone inscriptions, and in that par-
ticular year, Li was literally in a
class of her own as a student.
Students from different grades
sideburns would look like. This is
the orthographic, or the angled,
view.
I have had some close calls in the
past, with some barbers trying to
knock off the sideburns with a
swish of the knife, or to “mow” it
off with an electric razor.
Timely intervention has averted
imminent disaster several times.
I’m not trying to imitate those rock
stars of the ’60s or ’70s with side-
burns so long they would almost be
touching the jawline. Mine are of
decent length, and not too thick or
thin. But, of course, I would like to
retain them.
Now for the rear hairstyle, whose
photos I obviously could not take.
The solution: The internet. A quick
Clockwise from top: Li Ying reg-
ularly visits the library to study
oracle bone scripts and ancient
history; preparing to film a short
video publicizing oracle bone
scripts; Li (left) pays a visit to
her tutor upon graduation with a
fellow student; a book of oracle
bone scripts helps her find
topics for short videos.
PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Everyone who hears
about my profession
(oracle bone script
studies) reacts with
this flabbergasted
expression.”
Li Ying, vlogger
search churned out umpteen num-
ber of photos of both Hollywood
and Bollywood celebrities with dif-
ferent kinds of hairstyles. I ran-
domly selected some of them and
copied them onto my mobile photo
album.
While I shared these pictures
with the hairstylist, I let him
decide which one was good for me.
After calling out meiyou, a couple
of times, he finally gave his OK for
the third photo.
But sadly, despite all the home-
work, I realized I’m not happy with
the haircuts I’ve been getting.
Compare that with my experi-
ence back in India. I make an
appointment with a hairstylist I
am comfortable with. At the
would often gather at the profes-
sor’s place, drinking tea and listen-
ing to his stories about oracle bone
inscriptions.
“These gatherings became our
class time,” Li says.
She says she spent most of the
time reading and studying books
recommended by the professor.
“Every week, we would gather
with fellow students to exchange
ideas, present reports, and engage
in discussions at our mentor’s
home,” she says.
“Looking back now, I find it quite
remarkable.”
Li soon met with another embar-
rassing situation after graduation
last year.
She found pertinent job opportu-
nities were slim pickings.
Eventually, she landed a job
being a short video director at a
new media company in Zhejiang’s
provincial capital Hangzhou.
In the following months, she
appointed time, I arrive at the
salon, and after an exchange of
pleasantries, I take my seat.
I shoot my usual instructions,
and I share no photos with them.
“It’s the usual,” I tell either him or
her in the local language or the lan-
guage we both speak, and they
understand.
I also don’t hesitate to point out
when I’m not happy with the hair-
cut. Some don’t like it, but some
don’t mind it.
Meanwhile, in Beijing, I came
across a salon that gives a haircut
for an unbelievable price: 10 yuan
($1.39), thanks to a colleague who
introduced me to it.
It entailed two things: scanning
a QR code for making the payment
CHINA DAILY
developed more than 100 scripts,
and the data traffic was steadily
increasing.
“But I sensed a lack of meaning
and value,” she says.
She eventually listened to her
inner voice and launched her own
career.
“I gave myself up to six months,
and even if I failed, I figured it
wouldn’t be too late to find a job
again,” she says.
From the beginning, she made a
detailed schedule, with set goals.
“I wanted to use actions to prove
my seriousness,” she says.
In order to trace the origins of the
Chinese characters in use today, Li
needs to spend time consulting dic-
tionaries, reading up on extensive
literature and books, and then con-
verting them into concise and
accessible copy for only two or
three minutes of delivery.
One of the difficulties is to find
informative content.
“Currently, there are over 1,000
characters unveiled, but not every
character has a fascinating and
engaging story behind it. There-
fore, I need to search through a
large amount of information to find
a suitable subject and an interest-
ing angle to talk about the charac-
ter,” she says.
Her efforts have paid off, as many
of her fans have urged her to
update her works.
Chen Nianfu, professor from
Zhejiang Normal University, says
Li’s efforts have helped to fill a void
in the popularization of oracle bone
script knowledge.
As compared with other disci-
plines, there are relatively few
researchers specializing in oracle
bone script, and as a result, efforts
to promote the science among the
public are far from enough, Chen
says.
Lei Liming, professor from Zheji-
ang Gongshang University, believes
the popularity of Li’s video is not
accidental.
“At the moment, there is a high
level of attention given to tradition-
al culture, including oracle bone
scripts and other ancient scripts,
which has become a common
awareness and shared concept
among the nation, society and the
public,” Lei says.
“However, the dissemination of
oracle bone scripts and other
ancient scripts still relies mainly on
traditional books, newspapers and
specialized databases, which are
not only expensive but also have
limited reach and impact.”
Lei considers the enjoyable and
educational approach Li has
applied to appeal to the public wor-
thy of promotion.
At the moment, Li spends a con-
siderable number of hours reading
every day, and going to the muse-
ums and secondhand book markets
to get inspiration in integrating
ancient and modern knowledge.
“In a broader sense, oracle bone
script studies can grow our cultural
confidence, while on a personal lev-
el, it allows me to remain focused
on a subject that I truly love and
avoid being restless,” Li says.
“Currently, I consider myself
more of a promoter, but my goal is
to become a researcher in the field
in the future.”
Contact the writer at
yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn
and typing some instructions on
the translation app, such as “please
keep it short, keep the sideburns
and keep it uniform on all sides”.
Those were enough. Scissors and
the razor did the rest.
My haircut was finished in no
time. A 10-minute haircut for 10
yuan. The rating: Almost a perfect
10!
With this, my search for a salon
that can give a decent haircut
seems to have ended. Otherwise, I
was even contemplating a Yul
Brynner look.
The moral of the story: Commu-
nication is the key.
Contact the writer at
manjunath@chinadaily.com.cn
 CHINA DAILY
SPORTS
SOCCER
Pay dispute
disrupts
S. Africa’s
World Cup
build-up
CAPE TOWN, South Africa —
A standoff between South Afri-
ca’s Women’s World Cup squad
and the national soccer associa-
tion over pay and other issues
forced officials to field a make-
shift team of little-known players
that included a 13-year-old for a
game against Botswana on
Sunday.
The game was supposed to be
the final warm-up match for the
African women’s champion on
home soil before it headed off to
the Women’s World Cup in Aus-
tralia and New Zealand, but it
turned into an embarrassment
on and off the field as the entire
World Cup squad sat out the
game.
South Africa’s team of replace-
ment players hastily pulled
together from local clubs lost 5-0
to Botswana at Tsakane Stadium
near Johannesburg. They were
4-0 down at halftime in a game
that was delayed for an hour at
the request of the South African
Football Association (SAFA) so it
could scramble and put together
a team.
South Africa coach Desiree
Ellis said one of the players she
drafted in was aged 13. In a post-
match interview, Ellis didn’t
comment on the problems.
The World Cup players only
arrived at the match at halftime,
when they emerged to watch
from the stands.
SAFA also didn’t immediately
comment on what sparked the
standoff but Thulaganyo Gao-
shubelwe, the president of the
South African Football Players
Union, said the incident was
partly caused by poor pay for
the players.
“They are fighting for their
rights,” Gaoshubelwe said of the
South African players in a video
posted on his union’s official
Twitter account.
“SAFA doesn’t want to
include money in their con-
tracts. We must fight for the
rights of these players.”
Gaoshubelwe, who was
standing next to some of the
players outside the team hotel
in the video, said their com-
plaints had been “dismissed” by
SAFA. He was also seen in dis-
cussions with the players and
accompanied them to the stadi-
um when they turned up at half-
time.
Gaoshubelwe claimed SAFA
president Danny Jordaan was to
blame for the standoff.
South Africa’s sports minister,
Zizi Kodwa, said in a statement
he would be meeting with the
players’ union on Tuesday “to
hear the serious concerns
expressed by the team”.
The meeting would be about
the players’ “welfare” and issues
related to their contracts, Kod-
wa added.
The squad is due to fly to New
Zealand in two groups on Tues-
day and Wednesday.
The South African Broadcast-
ing Corporation reported that
players were also annoyed that
their farewell game before the
World Cup was held at Tsakane
Stadium, which holds just 5,000
people and is not a high-profile
soccer venue.
The players viewed that as a
mark of disrespect from their
national soccer association, the
SABC reported.
SABC and other television
networks broadcast images of
the World Cup squad members
standing around outside their
team bus at a hotel shortly
before the game was due to kick
off. SAFA CEO Lydia Monyepao
was seen speaking with the
players.
South Africa won the Wom-
en’s Africa Cup of Nations last
year for its first major title, yet
the players have often com-
plained that they aren’t given the
recognition or benefits that the
men’s team gets.
AGENCIES VIA XINHUA
MOTOR SPORTS
Max Verstappen (left) celebrates his Austrian Grand Prix win with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who finished third, following Sunday’s race in Spielberg.
Verstappen stays on track for title
Defending champion increases overall lead as tricky Spielberg circuit frustrates chasing pack
Reigning Formula 1 champion
Max Verstappen continued his
relentless march toward a third
straight world title with another
dominating win at the Austrian
Grand Prix on Sunday, far away
from the chaos behind him as multi-
ple drivers were given time penal-
ties for going off track limits.
Verstappen started from pole
position for the fourth straight race
and notched his fifth straight win
and seventh in nine races so far this
season. He increased his champion-
ship lead to 81 points over his Red
Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
“I think our stints were perfect so
a great day, I enjoyed it a lot,” Ver-
stappen said. “I am just enjoying
driving this car and racing for this
team.”
So much so that he even got his
way to come in two laps from the
end for a shot at the fastest lap,
despite his team’s reluctance to take
the risk. Typically, he got the bonus
point for it on the final lap to com-
plete a perfect weekend after his vic-
tory from pole in Saturday’s sprint
CYCLING
Tour’s increasingly bumpy ride puts safety in spotlight
VITORIA-GASTEIZ, Spain —
Mark Cavendish and the bulked-up
fast men were due to dispute the
first bunch sprint of the Tour de
France at Bayonne on Monday in an
ever more dangerous competition.
While the death of Gino Maeder on
the Tour of Switzerland last month
was a reminder of the dangers of
high-speed mountain descents, fren-
zied sprint finishes on flat city-center
roads have always carried the risk of
spectacular crashes.
In recent years, as the urban envi-
ronment has become a slower, safer
place for casual cyclists, one of the
culprits increasing the risk for the
professionals is the bike lanes them-
selves.
And that is causing concern for
the Tour de France which tradition-
ally finishes with high-speed laps
through the glamorous center of
Paris.
“It’s getting more difficult to orga-
nize finish lines in town centers,”
Tour de France race designer Thier-
ry Gouvenou told AFP.
Thrilling finales in downtown
areas are hugely popular with fans
and provide a televisual spectacle to
rival the Tour’s summit showdowns
in the mountains.
Kerbs, roundabouts, traffic
islands, speed bumps and the newer
phenomenon of cycling lanes, pro-
tected by a small ridge of concrete or
stone, are all meant to slow traffic
and create a safer urban environ-
ment.
The opening stage of this year’s
Tour, around Bilbao in the Basque
Country on Saturday, bounced over
race. “From the outside maybe it
looks like a big risk, but when you’re
in the car it doesn’t feel like a risk at
all,” Verstappen said.
The victory also took the 25-year-
old Dutchman onto 42 F1 wins over-
all, one ahead of the late Ayrton
Senna and alone in fifth place on
F1’s all-time list.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc — last
year’s winner here — finished 5.2
seconds behind Verstappen in sec-
ond place, with Red Bull’s Perez
placing third, 17.2 sec behind.
But Verstappen’s winning margin
was shortened by his late pit stop on
his team’s home track in Spielberg.
Making a clean start, he held off
Leclerc on Turns 2 and 3 and easily
regained the lead from him follow-
ing a tire change at the halfway
point of the 71-lap race at the Red
Bull Ring.
“Most important to me was lap
one, stay in front after that,” Verstap-
pen said.
It was only Leclerc’s second podi-
um of the season, but put him in
optimistic mood. “The upgrades we
The peloton powers up a hill during stage two of the Tour de France from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebas-
tian in Spain on Sunday. Victor Lafay won the stage as Adam Yates retained the yellow jersey. REUTERS
96 speed bumps, a race record. And
the pack will continue to find obsta-
cles in its path after crossing the bor-
der on Monday.
“In a country such as France roads
are not made for going fast any-
more, but to slow speeds down,” said
former world champion Philippe
Gilbert of Belgium.
‘Mark their territory’
Tour director Christian Prudhom-
me says road furniture is “doubling
in presence every six or seven years
along the Tour route”.
brought made me feel better. It’s
looking good for the future,” Leclerc
said. “Obviously, there’s still a lot to
do, Max and Checo (Sergio) have a
lot of pace.”
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton,
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. and several
other drivers received five-second
time penalties for going off track
limits. After Aston Martin lodged a
protest that some penalties had not
been imposed, the race classifica-
tion changed as Sainz, Hamilton
and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly were given
additional five-second penalties.
This moved McLaren’s Lando
Norris up to fourth spot and Aston
Martin’s Fernando Alonso into fifth,
while Sainz dropped from fourth to
sixth and Hamilton fell to eighth
behind his Mercedes teammate
George Russell. Aston Martin’s
Lance Stroll jumped up one position
to ninth as Gasly fell to 10th.
Perez started 15th and passed
Sainz with 10 laps left to collect his
first podium since his second place
at the Miami GP two months ago.
“It’s a good comeback,” Perez said.
“In daily life this is just the ticket,
but for cycle racing it doesn’t make
an easy fit,” said Prudhomme.
More and more bike lanes and
roundabouts are appearing.
“Local politicians need to mark
their territory this way by showing
voters they are doing something.
After every election there’s a new
traffic island filled with flowers
along the road,” grumbles Philippe
Mauduit, director of the Groupama-
FDJ team.
The omnipresence of road furni-
ture has massively increased the
“It’s been a bit of a rough patch for
me so now hopefully we are back
and we can keep that consistency
now.”
Red Bull has won all nine races,
all 11 when including the two sprint
races with Verstappen’s victory in
Saturday’s sprint following Perez’s
success in Azerbaijan.
After a safety car came out briefly
at the end of Lap 1, Verstappen got
away cleanly on the restart.
Hamilton, who had started well
and was fourth in the early going,
began struggling to control his car
and started to go off track limits.
When a virtual safety car (VSC)
came out on Lap 15, most teams opt-
ed to make another tire change. But
Verstappen and teammate Perez
stayed out.
“I could see already a few laps
before the (VSC) that we were pull-
ing out quite a gap so I knew I would
get it back,” Verstappen said. “Just
following our own plan was the best
way forward.”
Drivers kept going wide of track
limits on the 4.3-kilometer circuit
likelihood of a high-speed crash
when the speeds tip toward 80 kph
approaching the finish.
“Since COVID there has been an
explosion of them and so much the
better. But for us it’s one more obsta-
cle,” says Gouvenou.
Changes along Paris’ world-fa-
mous Champs Elysees and on Rue
de Rivoli, which now has a bike-lane
divider down the middle, have orga-
nizers in a cold sweat.
The pressure increases in the Tour
de France. A rider can dine out for
life on one stage win and that win
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 | 19
AFP
that is known to be particularly dif-
ficult to stay within the white lines.
“Has he got a penalty yet?” Hamil-
ton asked about Perez, and contin-
ued complaining about other
drivers going wide after his own
penalty, forcing team principal Toto
Wolff to intervene.
“The car is bad, we know, please
drive it,” Wolff said.
Governing body FIA said it had
not had enough time to complete all
of its track-limit reviews during the
race and will recommend to the cir-
cuit to add a gravel trap at the exit of
Turns 9 and 10 where several of the
track infringements occurred.
Many drivers have called for grav-
el to be added but the track owners
have been reluctant because the cir-
cuit also hosts a motorbike race in
mid-August, and such a move would
be unpopular with MotoGP riders.
“The stewards very strongly rec-
ommend that a solution be found to
the track limits situation at this cir-
cuit,” was the FIA’s conclusion.
AGENCIES VIA XINHUA
might earn him a blockbuster con-
tract and his team a new advertising
deal. The most determined riders
pursue victory regardless of danger.
‘Switch off your brain’
“In a bunch sprint even though
the risks are high you need to switch
off your brain. If you don’t you have
no chance,” said Axel Zingle of the
Cofidis team.
The death of Swiss cyclist Maeder
brought not only safety into the
spotlight but also the behavior in
the peloton.
“Falls are often caused by the rid-
ers themselves,” Dutch star Mathieu
van der Poel said this week.
“With Gino it looks like it was
sheer bad luck though.”
Tour organizers are working with
urban authorities to temporarily
remove as much of the road furni-
ture as possible.
“But we can’t tear everything
down,” ASO said.
Tuesday’s stage-four finish is on a
motor racing circuit at Nogaro, but
those kinds of finales are less
attractive to fans and TV viewers.
Races will end up finishing in
“supermarket parking lots”, said Ste-
phen Delcourt, manager of the FDJ-
Suez team and president of the
UNIO, which works for safety in
women’s cycling.
Meanwhile, roadside spectators,
armchair fans and cyclists alike, will
continue to hold their breath as the
peloton charges over obstacles
toward the finish.
AFP
20 | Tuesday, July 4, 2023 CHINA DAILY

SPORTS
MMA

Tightening her grip on greatness

Zhang Weili looks to cement legacy as China’s UFC champ steps back into Octagon for latest title defense
By SUN XIAOCHEN
sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn

W
ith the Ultimate Fighting Championship
expected to imminently confirm its return
to China, reigning strawweight queen
Zhang Weili is determined to keep hold of
her belt and bolster mixed martial arts’ soaring momen-
tum in her homeland.
Back on top again in one of the most competitive wom-
en’s divisions, the superstar is opening a new chapter of
her storied career, with renewed focus on extending her
supremacy and helping to accelerate MMA’s move into
China’s sports mainstream.
The mission got underway on Monday as she departed
for combat sports capital Las Vegas to prepare for the
first defense of her second reign against Brazilian chal-
lenger Amanda Lemos — an opponent Zhang has long
held in high esteem.
“I remember watching her fight a few years ago when
she was not even ranked. I felt back then that she was
capable of climbing the ranks, because of her punching
power and her impressive movement,” Zhang said of Lem-
os in an online interview last week.
“Somewhere and somehow I felt we would meet in the
future and here we are.”
But while Zhang clearly rates and respects Lemos, she
is confident of ultimately seeing off the challenger when
they meet in the co-main event of UFC 292 in Boston on
Aug 19.
“Amanda is a very complete fighter, but I’m even bet-
ter,” said Zhang, who dethroned American veteran Carla
Esparza via a second-round submission in New York in
November to recapture the 115-pound (52-kilogram) belt.
“I’m bracing myself for all possible scenarios and per-
fecting my all-around craft — striking, grappling and
wrestling.
“Yet I am preparing for and fighting against only one
opponent — myself. I believe I can retain the belt against
any challenger as long as I deliver my best in a bout.”
Schooled in the traditional sanda, or Chinese kickbox-
ing, system, “Magnum” Zhang, who holds a 23-3 record
with 11 KOs, shot to fame in August 2019 when she wrest-
ed the strawweight belt off another Brazilian fighter, Jes-
sica Andrade, with a TKO win in Shenzhen, Guangdong
province.
She lost the crown in her second defense to American
challenger Rose Namajunas two years later. However, a
second straight win against former titleholder Joanna
Jedrzejczyk of Poland with a spectacular KO secured with
a spinning backfist last June landed her a second shot at
the title, then held by Esparza.
Been there, been knocked down and now back strong-
er — but Zhang says her evolution as a fighter is not just
about the work she puts in at the gym.
“I’ve become calmer, not just as an athlete but as a
human being,” said Zhang, whose UFC career hit an all-
time low when she lost her rematch against Namajunas
via split decision in November 2021.
“After all the ups and downs, I’ve learned to always focus
on myself and the present, and to not get carried away by
any attention, praise or criticism from the outside.
“A fighter is powerful when she beats her opponent,
but one steps closer to greatness only after going beyond
oneself.
“I feel like I still have a lot of potential technique-wise
and physically to tap into even though I’ve won the divi-
sion twice. I’d like to try to go beyond myself and see
where I can be.”
Bantamweight prospect Song Yadong will fight at
UFC 292 in Boston on Aug 19. GETTY IMAGES
Lemos, aka “Amandinha”, is considered a sizable
underdog against Zhang but is predicting a fierce battle.
“Weili is very dangerous, so I have to stay alert to all
her moves,” Lemos (13-2) told MMA Fighting’s recent
Trocacao Franca podcast.
“We’re studying her explosiveness in training. It’s
going to be a super tough fight. We’ll give our all in there.
She wants her belt, I want that belt for myself, so it defi-
nitely won’t be left in the hands of the judges.”
‘Exciting moment’
UFC 292 will feature another Chinese talent — men’s
bantamweight fighter Song Yadong, who will square off
against American Rob Font in a preliminary 135-pound
bout.
Song (20-7) has won four of his last five fights and is
ranked eighth in the division. The “Kungfu Monkey” is
looking to leapfrog the seventh-ranked Font to establish
himself as a potential title challenger in his next bout.
“We have a big and exciting moment next month with
UFC 292 featuring two of our biggest stars Weili and Ya-
dong from China,” Kevin Chang, UFC senior vice-presi-
dent and head of UFC Asia, told China Daily in a recent
interview.
“Weili is defending her belt against a very tough oppo-
nent in Lemos but feels confident as ever. She’s a beast
and she has a global fan following because of her style.
It’s pretty obvious from her recent performances to say
the least.
“We’re confident of seeing some impressive things
from her again.”
Chang anticipates Song’s bout could be another step
for the bantamweight on the road to becoming the first
male Chinese world-title challenger in UFC.
“Yadong is right on the cut of title contention, and with
a victory over Rob Font he might be next in line (for a
title shot), just depending on that fight and how it goes,”
he said.
With Chinese stars performing well and the country
now open again for international sporting events, Chang
indicated that a live UFC fight night in China is on the
way.
“It’s still a bit too early for us to make any official
announcements, but you can expect to hear from us very
soon,” he said.
“We have this huge pool of our next generation of Chi-
nese athletes and they need a chance to shine on the
China’s Zhang Weili will defend her UFC strawweight title against Brazil’s Amanda Lemos world stage and where better to do it than in China. So
when they square up in the co-main event of UFC 292 in Boston on Aug 19. GETTY IMAGES we do have big plans going forward.”

Get fit with UFC’s help!

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is sharing
its high-performance training expertise with the
launch of a nationwide fitness contest in China.
The UFC, with support from Migu Co Ltd, a
subsidiary of China Mobile, recently announced
a partnership with the General Administration of
Sport of China’s leisure sports administrative
center to jointly host an MMA-inspired physical
fitness competition series.
The first-of-its-kind series, featuring training
methods and standards tailored for MMA ath-
letes, kicked off its opening leg in Chengdu on
Saturday and is scheduled to conclude its first
season at the UFC’s Performance Institute in
Shanghai.
The competition is divided into three age
groups — 6-12, 12-16 and adult – and will feature
a variety of contests such as striking skills, wres-
tling test, reactions and grip strength test.
The series is aimed at raising awareness of
the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle,
improving fitness levels among the Chinese pub-
lic, and encouraging greater sports participation
of all ages and backgrounds.
“In collaboration with China Mobile Migu and
the UFC, the new ‘Comprehensive Physical Fit-
ness Competition’ aims to make use of interna-
tional scientific training experience to engage
more people in scientific fitness through the
mass media, stimulate their enthusiasm for
sports, explore their sports potential and make
sports and fitness a part of public life,” said Hu
Qin, secretary general of the China Martial Arts
Development Commission.
Recognized as a global standard-setter for
high-performance physical and rehabilitation
services, the UFC has designed the programs
and tests, established the rules and scoring sys-
tem and provided the equipment for each event.
“We know how to test and evaluate the vari-
ous techniques in our sport. And these have all
been integrated into this mixed martial arts-in-
spired fitness competition,” said Kevin Chang,
UFC senior vice-president and head of UFC Asia.
“We also have expertise in training the non-
technical aspects of all sports of which strength
and conditioning are particularly relevant here …
We’ve trained countless elite-level athletes of all
sports disciplines, and this has contributed
greatly to how we’ve designed the format of the
competition.”
The joint initiative to launch the fitness con-
test reflects the UFC’s commitment to not just
helping develop the country’s burgeoning MMA
scenes but also facilitating the entire sports and
fitness sector, Chang added.
“I think it goes much broader than that,”
Chang said of the UFC’s investment in China
including the establishment of the Shanghai PI.
“We want to come in and lend our expertise in
overall sports science in the various aspects of
training for athletes of all disciplines to improve
their chances of success.”
Migu, a major digital content aggregation plat-
form, and China Mobile, the largest wireless car-
rier in China, will promote the competition via
their extensive platforms and by producing
“compelling original content”.
— SUN XIAOCHEN

BASKETBALL

Hoopsters aiming high in the villages of Xinjiang

Just as his idol Kobe Bryant did in
the NBA, Hazritili Emin is pursuing
his passion on the basketball court
— but for this young farmer, the
game is more about community
than championship rings.
Hazritili is one of many hoops
enthusiasts participating in a com-
petition that recently tipped off in
Bachu county, Kashgar prefecture in
Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur
autonomous region.
Hazritili, a graduate of Xinjiang
Normal University, was the star of
the show in a recent game, scoring
17 points to lead his Yenge Awat vil-
lage team to a 40-32 victory over a
neighboring village.
“As the competition is held in my
village, I couldn’t wait to step on the
court,” he said proudly.
Nearby the court, swarming ven-
dors sold fruit, cakes and noodles.
“In the past, when our village
organized basketball games, people
from other villages were unwilling
to join us, but now even people liv-
ing far away are willing to come to
play here with us,” he said.
In the Uygur language, Yenge
Awat means “new prosperity”, and
the village, which has 508 house-
holds and a population of over
1,900, benefitted from the local gov-
ernment’s financial aid, training
programs and other business-
friendly policies.
Yenge Awat has witnessed a rise
in livestock farming in recent years
and was lifted out of poverty in 2019.
In addition, Yenge Awat has also
embraced the power of the internet,
with the village organizing a three-
hour livestream almost every even-
ing to promote local specialties such
as walnuts and red dates.
“Through our livestreaming, more
people across China have learned
about our specialties, and our vil-
lage’s income has grown as well,” said
Adil Amat, a young village leader.
As Hazritili showcased his basket-
ball skills, Raziye Amar, a Serikbuya
township official, was live-broad-
casting the game on a popular short-
video platform.
“After watching my live broadcast
and knowing there are basketball
matches in Yenge Awat, they come
here to earn money,” said Raziye,
who often livestreams the prepara-
tion of local food on social media.
After finishing his game, Hazritili
bought a watermelon nearby and
shared it with his teammates.
For him, the chance to shoot
hoops with his old buddies played a
big part in his decision to return to
Yenge Awat.
“Now that we have a decent court
in our village, we are more motivat-
ed to play basketball. Young villagers
prefer playing basketball to drinking
and gambling,” said Hazritili.
The 1.90-meter guard took up the
sport in a rural primary school
under the guidance of his uncle,
known locally for his prowess on the
court. Hazritili excelled in high-
school games and later earned the
chance to compete in the Chinese
University Basketball Association
(CUBA) league. That might be the
reason why he was chosen to repre-
sent players taking an oath at the
opening ceremony of his hometown
competition.
Hazritili joined the armed forces
as a sophomore and resumed his
studies two years later. When he
graduated this summer, he decided
to return to Yenge Awat to run his
own business, raising cattle and
sheep.
“My family started cultivating
sheep in my childhood, so it’s not
unfamiliar to me,” he said.
After setting up the cattle and
sheep sheds, Hazritili applied for a
300,000 yuan ($41,480), three-year
interest-free loan, aiming to house
no fewer than 100 sheep and 20 cat-
tle at the beginning.
“I hope that I can pay back the
loan next year, and then I’ll think
about expanding the business,” Haz-
ritili said of his ranch.
Hazritili also hopes to help his vil-
lage team qualify for the regional
competition finals to be held in
Hotan prefecture in late July.
Perhaps a bigger goal has already
taken root in his mind — to compete
in the national “Gorgeous Country-
side” tournament — better known
as the “CunBA” or “Village BA” — in
Southwest China’s Guizhou prov-
ince in October.
XINHUA *