Volume No.

124 September 2023

CULTURE
Epic Proportions:
New mythic trilogy
takes more than
SPECIAL REPORT movie magic
Livestream Fraud:
How ‘poverty porn’
videos dupe consumers

ECONOMY
Alibaba Reshuffle:
Tech giant bets on
going back to its roots
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03235093530

STORM WARNINGS
Arid North China is likely to see more severe weather
and floods. How can it adapt to a new climate reality?

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EDITORIAL

Technology competition between China and the US

is set for the long term
Published by China News Service
Publisher: Chen Lujun

U
Executive Director:
S President Biden signed an ex- system, welcoming international inves- Chen Lujun
ecutive order on August 9 that re- tors to explore the Chinese market.
stricts new investments by Ameri- It has now become very clear that China-US Editor-in-Chief: Tan Hongwei
Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Li Jia
can companies in competition is structural and Deputy Managing Editor: Du Guodong
certain key technology sectors long-term in nature, and that
Editorial Office
in China, raising concerns competition in high-tech sec-
The government Copy Editors: Kathleen Naday, James Tiscione
about the escalation of global tors will be a key battleground. Lead Writer: Yu Xiaodong
tensions between the two
vowed that China Among the pillars of the US’s Senior Editors: Wang Yan, Yi Ziyi

powers. is committed to global hegemony, including

Editors: Xie Ying, Xu Ming, Wu Jin
Consultant Editor: Chen Shirong
The order, which is planned high-level opening- military, industry, finance and Address: 5th Floor, 12 Baiwanzhuang South

to take effect next year after

Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, China
up and building cultural soft power, its advan- Post Code: 100037
coordination with US compa- an open economic tage in technology has played Tel: 86-10-88395566
Fax: 86-10-88388045
nies, sends a clear political sig- a fundamental role, allowing
system, welcoming Email: audience@chinareport.co.uk
nal that US investors should the US economy and its com-
steer away from China, and
international prehensive national strength
Website: www.ChinaReport.co.uk

aims to step up the US’s “de- investors to to maintain resilience in the

Art Department
Art Director: Wu Shangwen
coupling” agenda. Analysts explore the long-term cycles of the world Art Editor/Designer: Zhang Dawei

believe the short-term impact Chinese market economy.

Marketing/Advertising/Subscription
of the restrictions on critical The US’s technology advan- EMEA Office
technology investment in China will be limited, tages are built upon three institutional systems Foremost 4 Media

but its long-term impact will be significant.

Duty Editor: Sophie Lang
– its sci-tech research and development system, Email: sophie@foremost4.media
Amid sweeping sanctions and restrictions higher education system and capital market Tel: +44 7947 500129
+44 20 7224 8812
imposed by the US on China in recent years, system. According to some US strategists, Chi- Website: foremost4.media
US investment in China has exhibited a no- na’s rapid rise in industrial and technological
Marketing Office in China
ticeable downward trend. According to data strength is based upon China’s embrace of glo-
Director: Wang Chenbo
from the Ministry of Commerce, actual US balisation. Through decades of comprehensive Account Manager: Ren Jie
investment in China in the first half of the year learning from Western developed economies, Tel: 86-10-88388027
Circulation Manager: Yu Lina
amounted to US$2.59 billion, a year-on-year China has established its own research and Tel: 86-10-88311834
decrease of 31.1 percent. A China Securities re- development system, higher education sys-
London Office: Ouyang Kaiyu
port shows that Credit Suisse data reveals that tems and capital market system, which closely
New York Office: Wang Fan, Liao Pan
nearly 60 percent of US investment in China in resemble those in the West. Therefore, they Washington Office: Chen Mengtong, Sha Hanting
the period was concentrated in industries such argue that the best strategy to contain China’s Los Angeles Office: Zhang Shuo

as consumer goods, financial services and real rise is to cut the connection between China and
San Francisco Office: Liu Guanguan
Toronto Office: Yu Ruidong
estate, with the high-tech sector accounting for the West, to “let China be China” again. Tokyo Office: Zhu Chenxi
Paris Office: Li Yang
less than 10 percent. China must be acutely aware that these are
Bangkok Office: Wang Guoan
The move indicates that the US will continue crucial moments in history, and that the rise Kuala Lumpur Office: Chen Yue
to weaponise trade and investment issues in and fall of great powers ultimately depends on Moscow Office: Tian Bing

its efforts to decouple from China. In the long the level of innovative institutional capabilities.
Manila Office: Zhang Xinglong
Berlin Office: Ma Xiuxiu
term, the US is likely to gradually expand its To counter the US strategy of containment, Brussels Office: De Yongjian
Astana Office: Zhang Shuo
restrictions to secondary markets and other China must adopt a rational and pragmatic Rio de Janeiro Office: Mo Chengxiong
sectors such as biotechnology and new energy. approach and endeavour to establish its own Johannesburg Office: Wang Xi
In response, the Chinese government technology research and development system, Jakarta Office: Lin Yongchuan

announced a 24-point guideline to attract higher education system and capital market Legal Advisor: Allen Wu
foreign investment, with measures in- system with a more open, inclusive, innovative
ISSN 2053-0463
cluding easier visa policies and better tax and exploratory spirit. Whoever becomes the
treatment. The government vowed that world’s innovation centre in the next techno-
China is committed to high-level open- logical revolution will gain the initiative in stra-
ing-up and building an open economic tegic competition.

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

1
CONTENTS

Deep Relief
ChinaReport looks at the response to the unprecedented floods in
and around Beijing, and asks what needs to be improved

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

2
 EDITORIAL 14 Will tensions over tech,
01 Technology competition between China and the US is set
for the long term Taiwan and the South
INTERNATIONAL
China Sea further derail
14 China-US Relations: US-China talks?
A Shaky Detente

COVER STORY 32 Drought in Sichuan’s

18 Flood Control: south sparks urgency for
Tipping Point/Northern Exposure
new diversion projects to
POLITICS feed region’s growth
28 AI Legislation:
Smart Moves
56 Sleeper hit Chang An
ENVIRONMENT
32 Water Shortage: reanimates the life, legend
Tapped for Solutions and prose of beloved
SPECIAL REPORT Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai
36 Livestream Fraud:
Under the Influence/Sympathy Farming

18 ECONOMY
44 E-commerce:
Wholesale Change

INTERVIEW
49 Music:
Heart Strings

CULTURE
52 Film:
A Legend Retold 52
HISTORY
56 Li Bai:
‘The Banished Immortal’

OUTSIDE IN
60 Ulanqab:
Space Mountains

ESSAY
62 You’ve Been Served
63 What’s in a name?

04 SNAPSHOTS
08 MEDIA FOCUS
09 VERBATIM
10 NEWS BRIEF
12 NETIZEN WATCH
48 CHINA BY NUMBERS
64 GOOD TASTE/REAL CHINESE

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

3
 SNAPSHOTS

4
1
1. A Sichuan opera artist performs a traditional face-changing (bianlian) act for
the crowd at the shooting event at the 31st FISU Summer World University
Games in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, July 29, 2023 (Photo by CNS)

2. The opening ceremony of the 31st FISU Summer World University Games
kicks off with a fireworks display, July 28, 2023 (Photo by CNS)

3. Visiting athletes for the 31st FISU Summer World University Games get a taste
of local cuisine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, August 2 (Photo by VCG)

4. Turkish track and field athlete Subatan Burcu tries her hand at traditional
shadow puppetry, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, August 2, 2023 (Photo by CNS)

5. A visiting athlete for the 31st FISU Summer World University Games reacts
while getting a head massage at Universiade Village, Chengdu, Sichuan
Province, August 4, 2023 (Photo by CNS)

6. Performers gather under images of pandas on giant screens during the closing
ceremony of the 31st FISU Summer World University Games, Chengdu,
Sichuan Province, August 8, 2023 (Photo by VCG)

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

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 2 3

5 6

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

5
SNAPSHOTS

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

6
 1. A giant thangka painting of the Maitreya Buddha is
displayed during a ceremony at Drepung Monastery
for the start of the seven-day Sho Dun Festival,
August 16, Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region (Photo
by CNS)

2. More than 900 fishing boats depart Zhapo Central

Fishing Port in Yangjiang, Guangdong Province as
the fishing season begins in the South China Sea,
August 16, 2023 (Photo by CNS / IC)

3. An aerial view of the colourful saltpans on the

coast of Rongcheng, Shandong Province, August 16,
2023 (Photo by VCG)

4. Visitors enjoy cool air and scenic views on Mount

Fanjing, Tongren, Southwest China’s Guizhou
Province, July 23, 2023 (Photo by VCG)

5. People celebrate the Torch Festival in Shilin

Yi Autonomous County, Kunming City, Yunnan
Province, August 10, 2023. The annual festival, held
from August 9-13, attracted more than 760,000
visitors (Photo by IC)

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

7
MEDIAFOCUS

Business Sense and

Transparency Underlie
Universities Open Doors Wider to Young Athletes Rural Reform
ChinaReport, Chinese Edition August 7, 2023
Honesty Outlook
China is set to implement stan- July 10, 2023
dardised national-level athletic
examinations starting in 2024 to Amid ongoing reforms aimed at revitalis-
standardise the college recruitment of ing the rural economy, villages are embarking
aspiring sports students. As of 2020, on initiatives such as tourism, hospitality and
283 universities had enrolled young modern agriculture to lift residents from poverty.
athletes, a departure from convention- However, persistent and entrenched issues,
al sports schools that solely focus on such as moribund business practices, regional
training. The recruitment of athletes to universities started in the 1980s, but was inequalities and corruption impede the endeav-
initially challenged by meagre budgets and resources. The dividends of these ef- ours. Farmers are encouraged to invest in local
forts, however, became evident in the ensuing decades. For example, Hu Kai from businesses, but the new rural market-oriented
Tsinghua University secured the men’s 100m championship at the FISU World entities are protected from bankruptcy and liqui-
University Games in Izmir, Turkey in 2005. Nowadays, to avoid deceitful admis- dation, which runs counter to established market
sions and academic dereliction by athletes, the country tightened supervision principles, rural development experts said. Geo-
over accreditation tests and embraced flexible teaching. With the conclusion of graphical imbalances still see better developed
the 31st FISU in Chengdu, Sichuan Province on August 8, experts are convinced regions in the east holding a larger proportion of
that China can nurture athletes who excel in both sports and academics. business assets compared to landlocked areas in
the west. Corruption has also cast a shadow over
rural reform efforts. Recently, the country set up
Middle-Class Families Seek New Solutions a transaction platform to record and disclose all
to Treat Adolescent Depression rural asset transactions. Now local officials are
required to be professional both in business and
GQ Magazine July 23, 2023
in balancing the books.
The impact of adolescent depression can be profoundly
distressing for a Chinese middle-class family as they grapple
with the challenges of supporting emotionally vulnerable dropouts. The recovery Unemployed Young Graduates
is both financially and phychologically consuming. Afflicted young individuals Change Job Market
exhibit erratic mood swings, struggle to maintain focus in school, and are prone to
Yi Magazine
self-harm. Rehabilitation organisations have emerged, employing group activities July 14, 2023
and communication to aid their recovery. In searching for innovative ways to allevi-
ate depression, some parents encourage their children to travel, but parents who The urban unemployment rate
are facing an increasingly competitive society cannot afford to go with them. There of the labour force aged between
is a growing need for comprehensive support systems that address adolescent 16 and 24 reached 20.8 percent
mental health struggles while considering the broader challenges families face. by May, up 2.6 percent year-on-year. The number
of college graduates in 2023 reached a record
high of 11.58 million, a staggering nearly six-fold
Historical Legacy Animated by AI Technology growth compared to 2003, four years after China
Oriental Outlook July 27, 2023
started to increase college enrollment. From
robust economic expansion and globalisation to
Chinese museums are applying AI technologies to create the present era fraught with uncertainties, young
interactive and immersive 3D experiences for their visitors, Chinese graduates aged 28 and below are chal-
targeting students on summer holiday. The captivating digital lenged by downsizing, economic decoupling and
innovations have changed the usual educational approach of museums, where stratification of social classes. Amid the changing
guides lead visitors around inanimate relics while lecturing. AI-powered exhibi- situation, young people prefer stable government
tions have been introduced at sites such as Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in Gansu jobs or to work in State-owned enterprises,
Province, the Central Axis in Beijing and Sanxingdui Ruins Site in Guanghan, while others opt for flexible employment or
Sichuan Province. AI can also help in the restoration of relics. However, archae- creative jobs in lucrative AI sectors. Experts con-
ologists point out that these exhibitions rest on the shoulders of those who tend that the competition for desirable positions
conducted diligent, in-depth and meticulous research, like Fan Jinshi, former head will intensify in the coming years, necessitating
of Dunhuang Academy who studied the site for 30 years. Without archaeological a combination of skill adaptation and strategic
expertise, digital recreations will become superficial and uninspiring, they said. career choices among young people.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

8
 VERBATIM

“Future housing market

policies should meet and
release demand through
supply side reforms, such as
satisfying young people’s
demand to rent first and
buy later, and efficient use
of apartment stock to meet
demand, including refurbishing urban villages and
old communities to more fully develop the market
and provide residents with better housing and living
environments.”
Li Yujia, chief researcher at the Housing Policy Research
Centre under the Guangdong Urban & Rural Planning and
Design Institute, on the recent real estate reforms in a July
interview with Jiemian.com

“The prevailing UN
standards for defining senior
populations were set decades
ago. Humanity has since
experienced tremendous
demographic changes in
population, health and
disease, as well as economic
and social changes. Shouldn’t the standards conform
to these changes? If so, how? It’s an issue for scholars to
research, and for government departments to reach
consensus. Countries and all sections of society should “China has the most IMAX and Dolby cinemas in the world, complete with
work together to shape the public discourse.”
the world’s best projecting equipment. After watching CGI blockbusters
Peng Xizhe, director of the Fudan Institute on Ageing, at a
seminar on population development hosted by the Shanghai for years, audiences’ tolerance for special-effect laden films that do not
Population Society and the Shanghai Family Planning display any true innovation will hit the ceiling, no matter how much you
Association in late July
spend on effects or how hard you work on it. That is why [Chinese]
audiences like Hollywood films less and less.”
“Humans understand the Film analyst “Liancheng Yicui” on the declining box office of
world through their senses. Hollywood films in China in a July interview with guancha.cn
Large learning models will
develop this way. Large
learning models with more
modalities will be equipped
with corresponding sensors
and collect relevant data, “When we keep discussing the‘imperfect’victim, we are talking about subjective matters while
giving them ‘five senses.’Thus they will understand downplaying structural issues [the patriarchal society we live in, which makes it easy for a powerful
the world as humans do, and even surpass them.” man to sexually harass or rape a woman without any cost.] It weakens our stance, and imperceptibly
Yu Yang, head of the Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab, at an lets these structural issues off the hook.”
annual meeting about AI technologies hosted by The Paper
in Shanghai on July 22 Zeng Yuli, a commentator for news portal The Paper on the recent popular TV series Imperfect Victim, which
follows a female lawyer who helps another woman sue her boss for rape
“Looking back, the reason
why private enterprises’ “The so-called‘political correctness’has permeated American society. Over the past month and more
present overly cautious and since my arrival, I have been talking to people from various sectors. I can feel that there are many
conservative investment supporters of China-US relations, but they are under pressure. They are becoming reticent under the
strategies may come from chilling effect. Few want to express different opinions amid the anti-China chorus.”
their being hurt during
the pandemic years, Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng talking with Steve Clemons, founding editor-at-large of Semafor,
during which they suffered at the Aspen Security Forum held on July 19
from drastic policy changes. Now they are quite
uncertain and worried about the future direction of “People expect sincere, diligent and strict safety inspections rather than only doing them after an
government policies... Private enterprises care more
about long-term goals. If our policies are adjusted too accident. Inspectors should not care about people’s safety only after innocent people are killed, and
frequently in a short period of time, it will be difficult then conduct inspections to appease public outrage. To some extent, such formalistic safety checks lay
to maintain consistency and that will disrupt private the groundwork for the next tragedy.”
investment.” State media China Central Television’s official website publishing a critical editorial on the collapse of the gym
Zhang Jun, dean of the School of Economics, Fudan roof at No.34 Middle School in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province on July 23, which killed 11 people, including
University, in a July interview with news portal guancha.cn students and teachers
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

9
NEWSBRIEF

China Rolls Out More Measures to Attract Foreign Investment

The State Council rolled out a document on further opti- China’s foreign investment in actual use fell by 2.7 percent
mising the environment for foreign investment on August year-on-year, though the number of new foreign enterprises
13, aiming to attract more foreign investors and increase increased by 35.7 percent.
their trust in China. Experts warned that such figures are based on relatively
The document calls to expand the channels for foreign in- low figures during the pandemic and that China needs to
vestors to invest or operate in China and pledges to improve keep attracting foreign investment, which will play an im-
services to make it easier to operate, such as improving visa portant role in China’s economic recovery and industrial
policies for executives of foreign enterprises and their fami- upgrading.
lies, ensuring data security and decreasing investigations into According to a 2022 report by the Xinhua News Agency,
enterprises with low credit risk. foreign enterprises, though accounting for less than 3 per-
The document pledges to strengthen the protection of in- cent of the total number of enterprises in China, have cre-
tellectual properties and give more financial support to those ated around two-fifths of China’s foreign trade, contributed
investing in State-encouraged fields. With tax incentives and to one-sixth of total tax revenue and provided one-tenth of
other government allowances, the document encourages for- urban employment. The report described foreign enterprises
eign enterprises to reinvest in China with their profits and as “an important force” for China’s economic growth.
participate more in the innovation and R&D of advanced China, as the central government often stresses, has been
technologies. working hard to be more open to foreign investment and en-
It stresses that foreign enterprises should receive the same terprises, with the negative list for foreign investment getting
treatment as domestic firms. It supports foreign enterprises increasingly short. Although the federal government of the
to equally participate in government purchasing based on US often preached “decoupling” or “de-risking” from China,
laws and to equally engage in designing standards. many foreign enterprises still prioritise the China market and
The document prioritises the quality of foreign invest- intend to continue investing.
ment, encouraging foreign investors to set up R&D centres Over the past several months, senior Chinese officials
in China or cooperate with domestic enterprises in tech- have received and talked with an array of senior leaders from
nological development or make breakthroughs in China’s multinationals, including Apple, Tesla, Qualcomm and Intel
key technological projects. The document also encourages from the US, Airbus and bank BNP Parisbas from France and
foreign enterprises to launch vocational training in key fields chipmaker ASML of the Netherlands.
like advanced manufacturing, modern services and the digi- Chinese government departments are encouraged to in-
tal economy by partnering with Chinese vocational schools crease and deepen communications with foreign enterprises
or training centres. and send delegations abroad to woo foreign investors.
The measures come against the backdrop of a sluggish The document also proposes to set up a “round-table con-
global economy and the tense international environment ference” system that would keep existing foreign enterprises
amid aggravated Sino-US relations. New data from China’s and dispel concerns from those that are reluctant to invest
Ministry of Commerce shows that in the first half of 2023, in China.

Track Laying Commences on High-speed Rail to Vietnam Border

Track laying has commenced on a railway in Vietnam from Hanoi to Mong
new section of high-speed railway to the Cai, just over the border from Dongxing.
Vietnamese border, which will form an It is of great significance, Nanning Group
important part of a future high-speed rail said, to connect Guangxi’s northern eco-
link to China’s southern neighbour. nomic zones and even the Greater Bay Area
Workers from China Railway Nan- of Guangdong, Macao and Hong Kong
ning Group started laying tracks for the to ASEAN countries to facilitate bilateral
46.9-kilometre Fangchenggang-Dongxing trade.
Railway on August 8. The railway connects The line, which will form the western-
Fangchenggang and Dongxing in South- most point of China’s southern coastal line,
west China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autono- will have a top speed of 200 kilometres tracklaying is scheduled for completion by
mous Region. per hour, and will reduce travel time to the end of September and the line will go
The line will connect to a planned 20 minutes between the two cities. The into use by the end of this year.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

10
 More Destinations Documentary on
for Group Tours Harrowing WWII
Given Go-ahead Rescue Reunites
China, UK
In the latest round of post-
pandemic travel relaxations, A documentary about the
China has released a new list of shared history of China, the UK
countries eligible for outbound and the US during World War
11 Killed on Volleyball Court group tours, increasing the II screened at the British Film
After School Roof Collapses number of destination countries Institute Southbank Theatre in
to 138. London on 15 August. Produced
China’s Ministry of Emergency Management This is the third list of by Zhejiang Laurel Films, The Sink-
announced on August 14 that authorities in countries authorised by China’s ing of the Lisbon Maru recounts how
Heilongjiang Province have been ordered to Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Chinese fishermen rescued 384
conduct a thorough investigation into a roof China released the first list of 20 British prisoners of war aboard
collapse at No.34 Middle School in Qiqihar destinations in February and the the vessel Lisbon Maru in October
which caused the deaths of 11 people, who are second list of 40 in March. The 1942.
members of the school’s volleyball team and latest list covers 78 countries, The Japanese freighter had been
teachers. including the US, UK, Germany, transporting more than 1,800
The tragedy happened on the afternoon of Japan, South Korea and Australia. British POWs from Hong Kong
July 23 when the roof of the school’s gym col- Data from DTG Corporate to Japan when a US submarine
lapsed, burying students and teachers who were Travel showed that as soon as the torpedoed it off the coast of East
practicing volleyball. list was released, visa inqui- China’s Zhejiang Province, un-
Rescuers pulled 15 victims from the rubble. ries increased by three times aware allied POWs were on board.
Five were already deceased, six died in hospital compared to the same period About 450 people attended
and four survived. Their identities have not of the previous day. Data from the screening, including retired
been revealed. travel platform Ctrip showed that major Brian Finch, who has been
Preliminary investigations indicate the col- searches for outbound tourism collecting historical documents
lapse was caused by a construction company products increased more than on the Lisbon Maru for years, and
working on a nearby building. Workers had ille- 20-fold, with Japan and Australia representatives of the families of
gally piled up perlite, which absorbs high levels the hottest tickets. British POWs on board the Lisbon
of water, on the roof. After days of rain, the load Official data shows the weekly Maru. Chinese Ambassador to
on the gymnasium roof became so heavy that it number of cross-border flights London Zheng Zeguang noted
led to the collapse. has recovered to 50 percent of that history must not be forgotten
The victims were mostly key members of the the same period of 2019, with and called for joint efforts to carry
girls’ volleyball team who were practicing for a the average ticket price dropping forward the shared remembrance
national match in Hunan Province several days by nearly 80 percent compared and turn it into a new linchpin for
later. The tragedy caused public outrage over lax to the same pandemic-impacted friendship between the Chinese
supervision of construction safety. period of 2022. and British peoples.

Huge Anti-Corruption Campaign Sweeps Medical System

China has ramped up its sweeping to last a year, began on July 21. Unlike embezzling health insurance payments.
anti-corruption campaign in the public previous campaigns, this one covers With nearly all medical-related
healthcare and medical sector. More each link of the medical system, with activities suspended, some worry the
than 180 hospital bosses and Party bribe-taking and giving bribes defined as campaign is going too far, and that it
secretaries are under investigation, with particular areas for crackdown. Hot lines will damage the reputations and the
hundreds of more people working in have been set up for whistleblowers. enthusiasm to work of overworked and
hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical enter- Media reported that suspects are underpaid health workers.
prises and insurance companies caught accused of taking bribes in procurement Experts said the campaign should be
up in the anti-graft probe. of medicines and medical equipment, conducted alongside deeper reform of
The aggressive campaign, planned giving patients unnecessary tests, and the public healthcare system.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

11
NETIZENWATCH

A Sina Weibo post from pop fiction

writer Su Xiaolan about the apparent
increase in hostility towards children
in China has stirred heated debate
nationwide. Many have since voiced
concerns that the trend has spread
from online to offline.
In the July 22 post, Su described an
incident that occurred while travelling
with her young daughter in Guang-
dong Province on a high-speed train,
where an attendant cautioned her
twice to control her child. Su was of-
fended, claiming that her daughter was
quietly drawing and not making any
Are Kids the Latest Target of noise at all. She noticed all passengers
travelling with young children received
Discrimination in China? the same warning the moment they
boarded the train.
Su argued this was a form of
Netizen Comments: discrimination, as everyone in the
•“I admit I have a pedophobia complex. But I don’t despise all children, just spoiled brats and their train car was being noisy. Su lodged
irresponsible parents who do nothing to school their kids.” a complaint with railway authorities,
•“Those pedophobes are merely cowardly bullies who only pick on the weak – infants, toddlers and who said that crew were required to
their mums. There are still many adult men who make noise on public transport – even more than a communicate these concerns to fami-
baby makes, but no one complains.”
lies travelling with children for safety
•“It would be dangerous if we let pedophobia sentiments spread. If a society becomes increasingly reasons, and blamed the attendant
hostile to children, it will also become more and more intolerant towards pregnant women, the
elderly, the disabled and all disadvantaged groups.” for causing a misunderstanding. The
writer’s post triggered a deluge of
Source: Sina Weibo
opinions online.
There has been a sharp rise in online
Expert Comments: posts of video clips showing kids be-
Zhou Anping, law professor at Nanjing University: In society there are two separate sets of having badly in public spaces, particu-
social norms and expectations for adults and children. Behind the pedophobia sentiment lies a larly on high-speed trains, planes, in
misplacement of social behavioural expectations – many people are applying norms for adults on restaurants and ladies’ bathrooms.
children, who are still incapable of conforming to them. The current low birth rate, in particular, may
account for the rise of pedophobia sentiment in our society. Many unmarried adults who have no The trend was so conspicuous on
experience of raising children are more inclined to discipline children with a set of norms for grown- social media that they sparked heated
ups. It’s worth noting that if more and more unmarried people develop pedophobia, it would surely discussions. Many pointed out they
dampen their willingness to have children. A lower birth rate may further aggravate pedophobia were not averse to young children, but
sentiments, and that leads to a vicious cycle. rather to irresponsible parents who al-
Source: Shanghai Law Journal low such behaviour. They argued they
Wei Zhou, freelance writer: To most people, the current trend is not a product of poor family education have the right to peace while on public
– even the most educated parents cannot really make a naughty child behave like an adult in public. transport and in restaurants.
It’s unrealistic to demand that each kid follows the rules and norms of adults. To solve the problem, Parents expressed they have grown
more child-friendly public spaces need to be created to allow children to liberate their playful nature.
And more social institutions need to guide parents in teaching their kids adult social skills. increasingly worried about travelling
with their young children on trains or
Source: WeChat
planes, where it is nearly impossible
Qie Qie, staff writer for Beijing-based media outlet Youthology: Instead of moulding each kid into to keep them quiet for an extended
a“model child,”it’s urgent that we create child-friendly spaces and environments. Our society still
gravely lacks child-friendly infrastructure for families with children, such as babycare rooms and period. Netizens voiced their concerns
gender-neutral bathrooms. In the meantime, urban planning in most cities in China leaves little safe over the increasing hostility towards
public space for children to play. All these inconveniences and constraints suggest that our country children, arguing it was a sign of
still has a long way to go to become a child-friendly society. intolerance towards vulnerable groups,
Source: Youthology as well as a reflection of growing social
pressures and anxieties.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

12
Time to Dump INFLUENCER
Rich Girl/Poor Dao Lang
Guy TV Tropes After a decade-long hiatus, Dao Lang is hot again. The 52-year-old singer-songwrit-
er, whose real name is Luo Lin, first rose to fame in 2004 for his phenomenal album
No TV show drew more ire from The First Snow of 2002. He withdrew from the spotlight only to reemerge and rock the
audiences this year than Fireworks of C-pop world with his hit “Raksha Haishi.” Released on July 19, 2023, the song imme-
My Heart. Upon its release on July diately took the country by storm with its catchy tune and cutting lyrics. On Douyin,
5, 2023, the romantic drama soon it had 9.5 billion views by mid-August. The song is the lead single from Dao Lang’s
become the most discussed TV show latest album, which is based on the classic satire Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by
on social media. It scored 3.2/10 on Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) novelist Pu Songling.
China’s leading media review website “Raksha Haishi” draws from a Pu short story about a young man who goes to the
Douban, making it the year’s lowest- fictional country of Raksha, a Bizarro World of sorts where right and wrong, good and
rated show by far. evil, beauty and ugliness are reversed. The lyrics, loaded with barbs, innuendos and
The show’s plot essentially follows sarcasm, stirred heated discussions online, where numerous theories popped up about
two teens, a girl adopted by a super their implications. Many
rich family and a boy from a poor speculated the song was
one. She falls in love with him in aimed at Na Ying, a popular
high school, but her family forces singer who years back had
them apart. The two meet 10 years belittled Dao Lang’s output
later, and she gives up her family’s as “songs for farmers.”
wealth for their love. Others posited the song was
Viewers bemoaned the woman’s not about some narrow-
lack of gratitude for her adoptive minded personal feud, but
family and the privileged life they a sharp critique of today’s
provided her. They also criticised social injustices and the
the male protagonist for his lack twisted beauty standards of
of education, ill-bred manners and pop culture. The musician
chauvinist attitudes. has yet to chime in on the
Rich girl/poor guy is a common intended meaning.
trope in Chinese romantic dramas,
particularly in the popular 1990s TV
adaptations of works by Taiwanese
writer Chiung Yao. The core mes-
sage: love transcends all barriers.
TFBoys Fans Swarm Xi’an for Anniversary Concert
Now Chinese audiences are not buy- Seldom has a concert stirred up more frenzy than the TFBoys’ 10th anniversary
ing this notion. More people think show did in Xi’an on August 6.
love cannot last between people from Ever since their debut in 2013, TFBoys (short for The Fighting Boys), consisting of
incompatible family backgrounds, heartthrobs Karry Wang, Roy Wang and Jackson Yee, have been China’s most high-
and female viewers increasingly profile pop idols. It was widely rumoured that the event was their goodbye concert.
prefer independent characters who Superfans showed up en force and armed with their wallets. Over 6.79 million
prioritise their careers over love and users on ticketing platform Damai scrambled for a mere 33,000 tickets. Some paid
marriage. up to 10,000 yuan (US$1,378) to scalpers to grab any ticket they could. On the black
Many critics point out that such market, front-row seats went for 200,000 yuan (US$27,642). Chinese video site Youku
changes reflect a shift in values as the broadcast the concert as a pay-per-view event. At its peak, the livestream had over 1.68
economy slows and social mobility million viewers.
becomes more rigid. “‘Love above all’ Scalpers were even renting out tall trees that provided distant views of the concert
is already an old-fashioned notion… for 5,000 yuan (US$690) an hour, with an extra 500 yuan (US$69) for binoculars
You can’t discover new lands with and another 500 yuan for insurance waivers. The craze posed challenges to the city’s
an old map. Creators need to catch authorities. Two days prior to the concert, a brawl broke out outside the stadium as
up with the values of contemporary fans vied for better spots to support their favourite TFBoy.
audiences,” CCTV.com commented According to media reports, the concert grossed 35.7 million yuan (US$4.9m), and
on the show. brought the city another 416 million yuan (US$57m) in tourism revenue.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

13
INTERNATIONAL

China-US Relations

A Shaky Detente
Amid the resumption of high-level talks between China and the US, the world’s two
largest economies may drift further apart as tensions over technology, Taiwan and
the South China Sea continue to intensify
By Yu Xiaodong

the US for the APEC Ministers Respon-

U
S President Joe Biden economic coercion and technological
signed a long-anticipated bullying,” it said that China reserves the sible for Trade Meeting 2023, Chinese
executive order on August right to take countermeasures. Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met
9, restricting US-based in- with US Commerce Secretary Gina
vestments in Chinese entities in three High-Level Exchanges Raimondo and US Trade Representa-
sectors, including semiconductors and It is notable that the Biden adminis- tive Katherine Tai. They agreed to es-
microelectronics, quantum information tration’s latest move to ban US invest- tablish channels of communication. On
technologies and artificial intelligence ment in China’s high-tech sector came June 18 and 19, US Secretary of State
systems. despite recent concentrated high-level Antony Blinken visited China, meet-
The move adds to sweeping rules the exchanges between the two countries. ing with Chinese President Xi Jinping
US announced in the past year that aim China suspended high-level defence and other top officials. In early July, US
to cut off high-tech semiconductor tool communication mechanisms and other Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited
exports to China, while the US rallied high-level dialogues with the US in re- China. She was followed by US climate
key chip-making allies such as Japan and sponse to the controversial visit of for- envoy John Kerry, who visited China
the Netherlands to do the same. mer US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to between July 16 and 19. Media reports
China countered in July by restrict- Taiwan last August. Since then, the US suggest that Raimondo could be the
ing exports of gallium and germanium, has repeatedly called for the resumption next cabinet member of the Biden ad-
two metals key to the manufacturing of high-level defence talks, arguing that ministration to visit China.
of semiconductor. The decision, which it is imperative for the two sides to es- Given the strained relationship be-
took effect on August 1, requires export- tablish “guardrails” to prevent inadver- tween the two countries, few observers
ers to seek a licence to ship some gal- tent military clashes and crises, while expected that these exchanges, which
lium and germanium compounds. other serving US officials have voiced typically featured “candid and construc-
Biden’s executive order, which ob- their interest or intent to visit China. tive” talks according to readouts of both
servers described as “unprecedented,” China insists that the US must lift sides, would lead to breakthroughs on
marks a significant escalation of the the sanctions it imposed on China’s De- any concrete issues. They did not. But
US’s technology war against China, fence Minister Li Shangfu in 2018 over most analysts believe high-level talks
which has expanded from export con- China’s purchase of Russian arms that could inject some certainties and result
trols to investment restrictions. year before high-level bilateral defence in a stable detente between the two
On August 10, China’s Foreign Af- talks can resume, but agreed to restore countries. Washington’s recent moves
fairs Ministry lashed out at the US’s high-level exchanges in other areas. indicate that the downward spiral of the
decision. Calling it an act of “blatant On May 25 and 26 during his visit to US-China rivalry is far from over.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

14
 Li said the reason behind Washing-
ton’s emphasis on dialogue in recent
months stems from the unpopularity
of its policy of “decoupling” from Chi-
na among its allies and the rest of the
world. As a result, the Biden adminis-
tration has adjusted its tactics. And by
coercing China to conduct high-level di-
alogues, the US is seeking to normalise
its containment policy against China so
it can exert more influence on other na-
tions to join its anti-China strategy.
Senior US officials’ rhetoric, like
Blinken’s pledge that “the US does not
seek a new Cold War with China” and
Yellen’s comments that “the US does
not see the relationship between the US
and China through the frame of great
power conflict” are just lip service, Li
said.
“By manipulating certain issues,
including repeatedly raising the issue
of communication and dialogue, the
purpose of the US is to gain a more
advantageous position so it can exert
greater influence over other countries,”
Li added.
According to Professor Wang Hong-
gang, Vice President of the China In-
stitutes of Contemporary International
Relations (CICIR) and Director of the
Top: Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Beijing, June 19, 2023 CICIR Institute of American Studies, the
(Photo by Xinhua) Biden administration’s recent moves in-
Bottom: Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with visiting US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Beijing, July 7, dicate that the US has adopted “new dual
2023 (Photo by CNS) tactics” of “competition+competition
management.”
In a commentary published in the
Chinese version of chinausfocus.com,
an opinion-focused website, on August
‘Dual Tactics’ not driven by a genuine intention to 10, Wang argued that in the decades
For many Chinese experts, the recent stabilise the bilateral relationship,” said since the establishment of diplomatic
round of high-level talks between the Professor Li Haidong, Director of the relations between the US and China,
US and China, mostly sought by Wash- Centre for American Studies at China the US has adopted a dual strategy of
ington, suggests tactical adjustments to Foreign Affairs University. “It’s more “engagement+control.”
its strategy towards China rather than a about offering a new pretence to pur- According to Wang, the US actively
policy change. sue the same objective [of containing sought to integrate China into the
“The US’s emphasis on dialogue is China],” he told ChinaReport. international system and broaden
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

15
INTERNATIONAL

This handout photo taken on June 3, 2023 by the US Navy shows the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile
destroyer USS Chung-Hoon being observed by the Chinese PLA Navy vessel Luyang III (top) while on a
transit through the Taiwan Strait with the Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Montreal (photo by VCG)

cooperation. Yet it also quietly advanced management,” which Wang said is not with Washington’s recent use of “de-
measures to infiltrate China and limit an uncommon strategy in the history of risking,” rather than “decoupling,” all
China’s global influence. Wang said great power competition over the past fall within the realms of the strategy
this duality is aimed at maintaining a few centuries, including the US-Soviet of competition management, “which is
balance between cooperation and con- Cold War. primarily tactical and serves the purpose
tainment in the US-China relationship, “It serves several purposes. First, it of enabling effective ‘competition.’”
which is why the bilateral relationship sends mixed signals to cause confusion
has been very complex. and increases the opponent’s difficulty Deteriorating Ties
“Competition” is the core compo- in properly assessing the situation. Sec- Amid the disputes over Washington’s
nent of the US’s new approach towards ond, it demonstrates ‘self-restraint’ to investment ban, the Taiwan question,
China. Under the Trump administra- prevent excessive reactions from the which China considers its “core of core
tion, the US sought to achieve a swift opponent. Third, it reserves a ‘dialogue interests” and which caused the suspen-
victory over China, but failed to do so. window’ to seek limited cooperation sion of high-level talks between the US
The Biden administration has opted from the opponent,” Wang said. and China last year, returned to centre
for a long-term strategy of competi- Wang maintained that concepts stage.
tion. In doing so, Washington empha- raised by US officials like “guardrails,” After announcing a new weapons aid
sised the importance of “competition “parameters” and “bottom-line,” along package to Taiwan worth up to US$345
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

16
million on July 28, Biden signed into law responded on August 3 that it is “will- held between US President Joe Biden,
on August 7 the “US-Taiwan Initiative ing to maintain communications” with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
on 21st-Century Trade First Agreement the US on such a visit, without confirm- and South Korean President Yoon Suk
Implementation Act,” which aims to ing whether Wang had accepted the -yeol at Camp David in Maryland on
eventually negotiate and reach a trade invitation. August 18, the three countries signed
agreement between the US and the Tai- It is no secret that recent high-level agreements including a multiyear mili-
wan region. exchanges between the US and China tary exercise plan, deeper coordination
The US also allowed Lai Ching-te, Tai- have been more actively sought after by on ballistic missile defence and the
wan’s deputy leader and a self-claimed the US. Although China agreed to host establishment of a new crisis-commu-
“separatist” who is the current front- various visiting senior US officials, it nication hotline. Turning this first-ever
runner in the island’s general election has only shown lukewarm enthusiasm trilateral summit into an annual event,
scheduled in January next year, to make towards these talks, which prompted the mechanism is widely considered as
two stopovers in New York and San Washington to complain that 100-year- targeted at China, with some observ-
Francisco on his way to and from Para- old Henry Kissinger had more meetings ers warning that it could be the first
guay on August 12 and August 16. in China than sitting US officials. step to establish an Asian NATO. In a
China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said China rolled out the red carpet for joint statement, the three countries said
on August 10 that Washington’s move the former diplomat, known to be an they “strongly oppose any unilateral at-
violates the three China-US joint com- architect of the normalisation of the tempts to change the status quo in the
muniqués which serve as the political diplomatic relationship between the US waters of the Indo-Pacific,” while urging
foundation of the China-US relationship and China in the late 1970s. During his “stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
and contravenes the US’s own commit- visit to China on July 20, Xi met with China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry
ment of maintaining only unofficial re- Kissinger, referring to him as “an old spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded
lations with the Taiwan region, which friend” of China. on the same day that “the international
includes not negotiating or signing any China has long insisted that high- community has its fair judgement on
agreement with an implication of sover- level exchanges are not without condi- who is stoking conflicts and exacerbat-
eignty or of an official nature. tions. During Yellen’s visit to China in ing tensions.” Accusing the US and
In the meantime, tensions are sim- July, China laid out four lists of issues its allies of turning the region “into a
mering in the South China Sea as Wash- and concerns that China requested the wrestling ground for geopolitical com-
ington vowed support for the Philip- US to address – “the list of US wrongdo- petition again,” Wang said “Attempts
pines after China’s Coast Guard blocked ings that must stop, the list of key indi- to cobble together various exclusionary
Philippine military supply boats carry- vidual cases that the US must resolve, groupings and bring bloc confrontation
ing building materials on August 6 to an the list of Acts in the 117th Congress and military blocs into the Asia-Pacific
atoll known as Ren’ai Reef in China and of high concern to China, and the list are not going to get support and will
Second Thomas Shoal or Ayungin Shoal of cooperation proposals in eight areas, only be met with vigilance and opposi-
in the Philippines, which is claimed by which the Chinese side hopes will be tion from regional countries.
both sides. taken seriously by the US side.” It appears that the two countries are
During a meeting with Blinken on so entrenched in their positions on cer-
Further Talks? July 13 in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wang Yi tain issues that even if high-level talks
The rising tension has dimmed the again urged the US to turn its pledges continue, it would be insufficient to sta-
prospects of further high-level exchang- into concrete actions to “remove ob- bilise the bilateral relationship.
es between the two countries, including stacles, both expected and unexpected, “Even if there are signs of easing ten-
a potential visit of Chinese Foreign Min- to accumulate momentum for a stable sions in the latter half of 2023, it won’t
ister Wang Yi to the US and a possible China-US relationship.” be due to a change in US policy, but be-
meeting between Chinese President Xi Just as Blinken said during her China cause of China’s growing capability to
Jinping and Biden during the G20 sum- trip that the US will “continue to say and reshape the dynamics of the China-US
mit in New Delhi, India in September. do what China does not like,” Washing- relationship,” Li Handong said.
The US State Department said on ton’s recent moves show clearly that it Wang Honggang warned, “China
August 1 that it has formally invited has no intentions to change its approach must be prepared to face serious chal-
Wang Yi to visit the US, though the two to China. lenges posed by tumultuous and even
sides have not confirmed a date. China In the high-profile trilateral summit stormy waters.”
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

17
COVER STORY

SPILLOVER EFFECT

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

18
Extreme rainfall and floods, exacerbated by climate change, displaced
millions and caused untold damage in North China. Experts point to lack of
standardised urban planning, and call for more awareness of flood control,
an emphasis on resilient cities, as well as bringing infrastructure up to code

Tazhao Village of suburban Zhuozhou, Hebei

Province, is seen submerged on August 1, 2023
during a heavy rainstorm that lashed parts of
North China from July 29 to August 3 (Photo by
Zhai Yujia)

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

19
COVER STORY

Flood Control

Tipping Point
Extreme weather-induced natural disasters expose the shortcomings of planning
and response mechanisms, as experts call for stricter flood-control standards and
an emphasis on building resilient cities
By Yang Zhijie, Huo Siyi and Wang Yan

Emergency rescue teams evacuate residents, Zhuozhou, Hebei Province, August 2, 2023. Zhuozhou
was one of the most affected areas by an extraordinary rainstorm that swept Beijing and neighbouring
areas from the end of July to early August (Photo by Cui Nan)

in early August that the whole Yesanpo

A
fter a summer of extreme summer destination, with many home-
heat waves that broke re- style guesthouses lining the banks of area, which includes 15 towns and 284
cords for the number of the Juma River, which splits the moun- villages, had suffered devastating floods.
consecutive days over 35℃, tainous settlement in two. Liu Bin, who
Beijing and surrounding regions were runs an inn, received an alert on July 30 Early Warning
pounded for nearly a week by severe that all tourists must leave. The Juma In August 2016, Jiao Meiyan, then
rain after the remnants of Typhoon River, which runs in Laiyuan in Hebei, deputy director of the China Meteoro-
Doksuri ground its way from south to is famous for its gorges and peaks. Ye- logical Administration, told ChinaReport
north. From the end of July to early Au- sanpo, 200 kilometres southwest of the that an integrated meteorological early-
gust, North China suffered floods and Beijing metropolitan area with a popula- warning system, using satellites, radar
destruction at a huge scale. At least 33 tion of some 20,000, has many homes and widespread automatic stations
people died in Beijing, 18 are still miss- squeezed close to the river. across the country, had been created to
ing, and tens of thousands of people After Liu’s guests left, he moved his provide accurate and timely forecasting.
have been displaced, their homes, busi- valuables and electronics to the sec- Ahead of the typhoon-induced rainfall,
nesses and farmland destroyed. ond floor. His house, 10 metres high, authorities issued alerts for rain and
Authorities did issue extreme weath- is 20 metres from the river. The next floods.
er warnings and notices to evacuate day, while children were evacuated to a In early August, Zhang Hengde, dep-
in many areas. But unused to extreme school on higher ground, he and his wife uty director of the National Meteorolog-
floods in dry northern China, many did elected to stay. At 6pm, the river started ical Centre, told media that such heavy
not realise the potential severity. While rising, taking only an hour to reach the and sustained rainfall in Beijing, Tianjin,
the flood waters have receded, residents second floor. The couple, in their 50s, Hebei and other regions was extremely
are left counting the cost. clambered to the roof, and using a lad- rare in China’s history. Beijing Meteoro-
Yesanpo in Hebei Province is a popular der were able to escape. Authorities said logical Bureau said that the maximum
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

20
rainfall reached 744.8 millimetres in water volume was 27.5 billion cubic me- Department, it was estimated that an
the capital region between July 29 and tres, over twice the total storage capacity additional 300 million to 400 million cu-
August 2, the most since records began of large and medium-sized reservoirs in bic metres of water would pass through
in 1883. the province. Some 1.22 million people Zhuozhou after the flood event. Cheng
Settlements in the Haihe River Basin, were displaced, and among them were Xiaotao, an expert in flood control at the
the largest river system in northern Chi- 857,200 people relocated from flood di- China Institute of Water Conservancy,
na, which drains areas to the west and version and storage areas. told ChinaReport on August 3 that after
south of Beijing and enters the Bohai Zhuozhou, located where the Taihang so much sustained heavy rainfall, the
Sea near Tianjin, were subject to devas- Mountains and Yanshan Mountains mountain soils became saturated. This
tating flooding. There were destructive meet, is also where several rivers con- moisture will be gradually released, and
flash floods in the mountainous Fang- verge. Jia Shaofeng, a researcher at the the water will continue to converge on
shan and Mentougou districts of west Institute of Geographical Sciences and the downstream region. “At least the
and southwest Beijing, and regions in Human Resources, Chinese Academy flood peak has passed, so this releases
the flood plains of the Haihe River were of Sciences, told ChinaReport that the the pressure we saw a few days ago on
inundated, including Zhuozhou, a city terrain exacerbated the severity of the the downstream region,” Cheng said.
of 662,000 people to the southwest of flood in Zhuozhou. Rain and floods
Beijing’s outlying Fangshan District. usually only occur from late July to early Engineering Conundrum
In a speech in 2022, Zhang Jianyun, August. In the last 100 years, Zhuozhou Zhang Cunlong, Director of Inter-
a scholar at the Chinese Academy of has experienced three major floods – national Cooperation and Science and
Engineering, said that due to its terrain in August 1963, August 1996 and July Technology Division of Haihe Water
and the climate impact, the North Chi- 2012. Resources Commission, Ministry of
na Plain is experiencing more frequent “Zhuozhou hadn’t experienced a se- Water Resources, told ChinaReport in
storms and flooding, and that extreme vere flood for many years, so residents early August that unlike previous floods
weather events will increase. lacked awareness of the risk, opting in Hebei, the storm was concentrated
On the afternoon of August 1, over to take their chances despite the dan- in the mountains, which caused a large
100 villagers were trapped by flood- ger,” an anonymous employee from amount of rainwater to build up and
waters in Sanbuqiao Village, part of Zhuozhou Water Resources Bureau told flow rapidly to the confluence of the
Zhuozhou. Resident Zhang Liang told ChinaReport. Juma and Dashi rivers, which threat-
ChinaReport the flood arrived suddenly Rescue workers told ChinaReport that ened downstream areas even more.
at 11pm on July 31. Village leaders had operations were much more challeng- After the extreme flood event of July
told them to move immediately to a ing than in previous floods. Jin Shaohui 21, 2012, in which 79 people died in
school at a higher elevation. But after from the China Canoeing Association Beijing and nearby regions, authori-
sending senior citizens and children to told the reporter that his group arrived ties in Hebei Province said there were
the evacuation centre, Zhang, like most in Zhuozhou with kayaks before dawn no water conservancy or flow projects
villagers, waited at home. “Most of us on August 1. “Many roads were blocked, in the upper Juma River, which flows
preferred to stay home to safeguard live- so we just had to try to make our way through Yesanpo. It also suffered severe
stock and property,” Zhang said. But as in as best we could,” Jin said. When the floods in 2012. However, the local gov-
the water levels rose so quickly, he had flood waters reached the flatter plain ar- ernment said they needed central gov-
no time to run. Grabbing a few packs eas, the momentum slowed. But debris, ernment approval to build a reservoir.
of instant noodles, he climbed onto his branches, wires and other obstacles lit- Water resource experts from
roof. With no drinking water, he waited tered the flooded area, blocking passage Zhuozhou blamed the lack of water
for 30 hours before volunteer rescuers for their boats or damaging them. They conservancy projects in the upper Juma
reached him. often had to clear a path through the ob- for the extensive flooding. Cheng Xiao-
Despite accurate weather forecasts of stacles before they could rescue anyone. tao said that a reservoir along the up-
heavy rainstorms and early warning of The waters in Beijing, Tianjin and per Juma would have allowed the flood
major meteorological disasters on July Hebei did not start to recede until Au- peak from the Dashi River, which also
29, the intensity and the damage went far gust 3, and it will take much longer for flows through Zhuozhou, to pass be-
beyond people’s expectations. According river water levels to get back to normal. fore allowing the Juma flood peak to
to Hebei Provincial Flood Control and According to Li Na, deputy director of pass. “It’s like cars queuing up on the
Drought Relief Office, the accumulated the Hebei Provincial Water Resources highway. Allowing the orderly passage
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

21
COVER STORY

Rainstorm Distribution in Beijing and Neighboring Areas from

Late July to Early August
Source：National Climate Center

of many cars a day is safe. But with no

control, there’ll be a traffic jam,” Cheng Chengde
said, adding that lack of coordination
between Beijing and Hebei resulted in
the failure to build a reservoir along the Zhangjiakou
Juma River.
In an interview with The Beijing News
in 2004, Hebei Water Resources Bureau Beijing Qinhuangdao
said the province disagreed with build-
ing a dam in Beijing’s Fangshan District Tangshan
Mentougou
over water rights issues. Hebei was Fangshan
Yesanpo
worried an upstream dam would curtail
water for them. Zhuozhou Tianjin
Langfang
ChinaReport learned from various
Baoding
sources in Zhuozhou that because of
water shortages in recent years, areas
in the lower Juma River did not expect
an upstream reservoir would be built. A Cangzhou
source from Zhuozhou Water Resource
Bureau said there was a conflict in the Shijiazhuang
department over building an upstream Hengshui
dam. “Reservoirs are needed to regulate
flood peaks, but we shouldn’t let flood
Xingtai
control override the need for agricul- (Unit: millimeters)
tural and industrial production. This is > 600

not a simple black and white issue, it 400~ 600

300~ 400
requires multidisciplinary and multi- Handan 200~ 300
100~ 200
agency input,” the source said. 50~ 100
10~ 50
0~ 10

Flood Resilience
Like other places, Zhuozhou set aside
flood storage areas on the flood plain,
which should be free of constructions or
agriculture. However, many farmers still
grow crops there, as they do not think
floods will come. These areas were des-
ignated to receive flood overflows from near flood discharge channels some- of flood as much as possible. However,
the upper stream. times took soil from dikes and levees in China, limited land resources result-
The source from Zhuozhou Water to build houses. “The lesson of these ed in people and water competing for
Bureau said the areas had not been used floods should be that local governments land,” Cheng said.
for almost two decades, quite common must pay attention to and enhance man- Yuan Jun, director of the Planning
in usually dry northern China. Many agement of flood storage and detention Department of Haihe River Water Re-
residents, even local officials, do not areas and build and design secure and sources Commission, Ministry of Water
know which areas can be flooded dur- strong levees,” the source said. Resources, said in an article published
ing extreme weather events. Unaware of “In theory, when planning a city, im- in 2022 that only 65 percent of levees
the potential danger, construction was portant infrastructure, residential areas along the Haihe River met flood stan-
allowed in the flood plain, and residents and factories should avoid areas at risk dards. Yuan said that river management
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

22
Extreme Rainstorms in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province over
the Past 60 Years Source: National Climate Center

Place of Maximum
Date Rainfall Level of Precipitation
cities was written into the country’s
14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and
Zhangmu Village, 950mm in maximum
in a single day
August 2-8, 1963 Qiu County, 1,458mm in three days Vision 2035.
Hebei Province 2,051mm in seven days The OECD defines resilient cities as
those with “the ability to absorb, re-
Hebei Town, cover and prepare for future shocks,” in-
July 21-22, 2012 Fangshan District, 541mm in total cluding economic, environmental, social
Beijing or institutional shocks.
Many places in North China saw
Lincheng County,
power, water, transportation and com-
July 29-August 1, 2023 Xingtai City, 1,003 mm in total
munications outages complicating res-
Hebei Province
cue efforts and leaving residents in dire
situations during this storm. Compared
with southern China, many northern
cities are less prepared for floods.
Yang Saini said there is an urgent need
to reassess the impact of infrastructure
was insufficient and because floods evaluation and timely maintenance of in some areas more vulnerable to cli-
were rare, river channels and beaches the resettlement site in advance, all of mate change, and whether existing pre-
were impeded by constructions, crops which require funds, resources and ad- ventative measures should be upgraded.
and other obstacles that affect the flood vance preparation,” Yang said. The World Resources Institute to-
discharge process. Cheng said these areas have insuf- gether with the National Centre for
Yuan proposed strengthening the coor- ficient flood response mechanisms and Climate Change Strategy Research and
dinated planning and management of riv- lack flood simulations, shortcomings International Cooperation released a
er basins, improving the quality of flood revealed in their delayed responses. report titled “The Acceleration of the
control projects for major river courses As of mid-August, authorities in Construction of Climate-resilient In-
and tributaries, and improving the com- Hebei announced compensation for frastructure” in 2021. It found that
munication and early warning facilities in people who lost their homes and live- Chinese climate resilient infrastructure
flood storage and detention areas. lihoods. According to the China Flood faces finance shortages, and in the next
Professor Yang Saini at the School of Control Law of 1997, the compensation five years, the annual finance gap would
National Security and Emergency Man- scheme covers up to 70 percent of the be nearly 500 billion yuan (US$69b).
agement, Beijing Normal University cost of the damage. Developing resilient city capacities is
told ChinaReport that extreme weather a complex and systematic project with
forecasts should include more informa- Resilient Cities high costs, which requires each city to
tion, such as informing people about China is not alone in facing more fre- construct and invest according to its
how high water levels could get. “The quent extreme weather. According to a own economic situation and develop-
alert should include information such as March 2023 article in international jour- ment characteristics, Yang said.
degree of the flood affecting local trans- nal Nature Water, satellite data shows hy- In the aftermath of the flood, Beijing
portation, communications and power droclimatic extreme events are increas- and Hebei governments vowed to prior-
facilities, and damage to farmland. ing in frequency, duration, and extent itise flood control and building resilient
People need to know this information so under warming conditions globally. cities. On August 11, China’s Ministry
they can take precautionary actions and Resilient cities are seen as one solu- of Water Resources decided to review
make better preparations,” Yang said. tion. In response to extreme weather, the flood control processes for each
During this flood, in many mountain- cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen river in the Haihe Basin, and develop a
ous areas the evacuation and relocation and Nanjing have included the con- long-term plan to improve flood control
process was rather chaotic. “It depends struction of a resilient city in their gov- capacity.
on whether there is a suitable relocation ernment work report or in their urban
site, and whether there is good resource plans. The construction of resilient Liu Bin and Zhang Liang are pseudonyms
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

23
COVER STORY

Flood Control

Northern Exposure
Climate expert Chao Qingchen warns that authorities need to do much more to
mitigate and adapt to extreme weather events and climate shocks
to future-proof the country
By Huo Siyi

Trees are downed along the Yongding River,

Mentougou, Beijing, August 3, 2023 amid a
heavy rainstorm lasting from late July to early
August in the capital and its surrounding areas
(Photo by VCG)

P
recipitation levels across Bei- issued an initial warning, predicting that and their severe consequences as a re-
jing, Tianjin and central and multitudes of strong extreme weather sult of climate change,” and improve
southern parts of Hebei Prov- events would affect the country. data-sharing and coordination between
ince reached 100-600 millime- Chao Qingchen, director-general of different departments on forecasting
tres during the severe rainstorm caused the NCC and co-chair of the Global Cli- and pre-warning of possible disasters
by the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri mate Observing System Study Group, in urban areas. She proposed that laws
from late July to early August. Com- has long been involved in the negotia- and regulations on climate mitigation
pared to rainstorms covering similar tions of the United Nations Framework should be amended, which means re-
areas over the past 60 years, the amount Convention on Climate Change and ducing climate change by decreasing the
of precipitation surpassed the previous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate amount of greenhouse gases going into
two recorded during the showers on Change (IPCC). Over the past few the atmosphere, and adapting urban
July 21, 2012 and July 20, 2016 and was years, she has been calling for growing and rural areas to the new realities of
second only to the torrential rains that social awareness of extreme weather extreme weather events.
flooded the Haihe River Basin of north- events while building a climate-resilient
ern China in 1963. society, and adapting to and mitigating ChinaReport: What trends do you
The analysis was released on August 3 the effects of climate change. observe for extreme precipitation events
by the National Climate Centre (NCC) “The casualties of the disasters are in China? In the context of climate
affiliated to the China Meteorological too overwhelming to allow us to think change, will China become more prone to
Administration. The NCC is responsible that we are fortunate enough to stay extreme rainstorms?
for monitoring climate change and ex- safe,” Chao warned in an interview Chao Qingchen: The frequency
treme weather events while forecasting with ChinaReport after the storm. The and degree of extremely huge precipita-
meteorological disasters for precaution- key to building a climate resilient city, tion events have increased across our
ary measures since it was established she stressed, is to be “highly aware of country since the start of this century.
in 1995. As early as February, the NCC and serious about the natural disasters Theoretically, when the temperature
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

24
increases by 1℃, atmospheric water of annual average. There will be more This rainstorm, which was the stron-
content grows by 7 percent. Over the strong precipitation events, some of gest in the 140 years since meteorologi-
past few years, even though there hasn’t which may last for five consecutive days. cal records began, is an extreme case in
been a notable change in total precipita- There will be an increase in the number Beijing. Scientifically, the difficulty in
tion, its intensity per hour has increased of rainy, moderately rainy and heavy forecasting and ability to issue warn-
dramatically. Simply put, if in the past rain days. Torrential rains will expand ings of extreme weather in advance is
we tended to experience more light to more places that are characterised by a global problem. We don’t have many
rain [over a longer period], now we urban sprawl. historical records of extreme precipita-
get much more torrential rain [over a tion. The mechanisms by which each
shorter time]. CR: How would you evaluate local case of extreme precipitation is formed
Geographically, strong precipitation, governments’ forecasting and precau- are different. Factors that could cause
which occurred more often in the south tionary measures during the storm? disasters, including the multi-level in-
of the country, is now increasing in the What should be improved? teraction of meteorological systems,
north. For instance, the latest rainstorm CQ: The forecasting of the rainstorm terrains and urban underlying surfaces,
in the north is not only a result of sea- in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province vary in each case. There are common
sonal rains that usually fall between late this time was good enough for its ac- rules and uniqueness for systematic
July and early August, but also due to curacy in its timing, degree and regional scientific analyses.
Typhoon Doksuri. Over the past few scope. In Beijing, the alarm was issued By and large, our knowledge about
years, it has been increasingly obvi- two days in advance and the red alerts extreme weather events still needs im-
ous that typhoons are starting to track were updated in the ensuing days. proving. And we need to be more precise
northward. This has brought a higher Residents in areas likely to be affected and provide more details on forecasting
probability of strong precipitation in the were well informed with alert messages the intensity, scope and length of time of
north. about the possible disaster and danger- precipitation. In addition, more time is
However, habituated to frequent ous places. needed for residents to get prepared. To
droughts, infrastructure in the north is But this does not mean we are able achieve this, breakthroughs are needed
vulnerable to strong precipitation. For to make accurate forecasts every time. in many technologies.
example, compacted ground surfaces,
lack of permeable ground surfaces [due
to urbanisation] and the loose network
of canals and rivers are not able to cope
with the destruction wrought by ex-
treme rainstorms. Amid rapid urban
development, the underground drain-
age system, which is essential for urban
flood discharge, is inadequate even if
it’s been upgraded. It can’t relieve disas-
ters in overpopulated living conditions.
With dense populations, buildings and
other facilities, cities are surrounded by
humid heat waves, which escalate the
frequency and degree of rainstorms.
Northern cities will face the risk of
higher exposure and vulnerability to
heavy precipitation.
Based on our forecast models, we
think precipitation in China will see
an obvious upward trend. From 2026
to 2045, Beijing, Tianjin and cities in A courier rides through heavy rain, Beijing, August 1, 2023 (Photo by VCG)
Hebei Province are projected to experi-
ence more rain in summer and in terms
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

25
COVER STORY

But weather forecasting is not the

only weakness. Coordination and data
sharing among different departments is
another weak link. For instance, because
of the different underground drainage
systems and anti-flood facilities along
rivers, the same amount of precipitation
may have different effects in different
streets and communities. So forecasts
should not only indicate the possible
level of precipitation, but also integrate
hydrological data, disaster statistics
and the designs of underground drain-
age networks to make a comprehensive
“disaster-based” forecast. Coordinating
this will involve different departments
with different data, which is hard to
share right now due to different stan-
dards [each uses to collect data]. Proper
warning forecasts and emergency mea-
sures to deal with calamities caused by
extreme meteorological events are not
possible without coordination among
different departments and good gover-
nance of cities.
Another big problem this latest storm
event revealed in North China is that
residents in the north are concerned less
than their southern counterparts about
the danger of heavy precipitation. I’ve Top: Residents wait to be evacuated, Zhuozhou, Hebei Province, August 3, 2023 (Photo by VCG)
seen lots of northern villagers who his- Bottom: Blue Sky Rescue, a well-known Chinese civilian emergency rescue team, evacuates villagers in
torically have had to deal with drought suburban Zhuozhou, Hebei Province, August 3, 2023 (Photo by Zhai Yujia)
underestimate the severity of upcom-
ing rainstorms and their consequences.
This is a problem in many cities in the on rainstorm-inflicted disasters. Their name just a few. Over the past few years,
north even after they were deluged by evaluations should be taken into consid- there has not been nearly enough sys-
several torrential rainstorms in recent eration by other government agencies tematic coordination among them for
years. The rainstorms this time will involved in urban planning, city man- extensive city planning and major urban
alarm northern urban residents and offi- agement and construction of key proj- construction projects. There’s always a
cials again. But no one can say they will ects. For example, drainage systems, temporary positive effect in the after-
be well-prepared to deal with the next urban river courses and electricity grids math of natural disasters, but it never
heavy precipitation event. have to withstand extreme weather, and lasts long. Of course, this level of coordi-
outdoor billboards should not be in- nation needs huge financial, human and
CR: How would you advise northern stalled in places where the wind blows material investment. Many northern
cities to increase their rain and flood most heavily. Chinese cities are economically back-
emergency preparedness? The whole process involves compre- ward, which restricts their expenditure.
CQ: Based on the trend from past to hensive coordination among meteoro- They are loath to spend much of their
present, meteorological agencies should logical, housing, emergency manage- budget on mitigating climate change,
provide comprehensive risk evaluations ment and water resources agencies, to especially when they perceive they do
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

26
not face any imminent natural disasters. resilience evaluation is just part of the impacts in case another similar storm
Following the recent rainstorm in the environmental impact assessment, and comes. Particular attention should be
north, many cities should revise their many don’t treat it very seriously. Some paid to rebuilding affected communities
planning standards to cope with severe cities have done it well, and some have with building materials resilient enough
weather conditions and for urban flood not. I propose to regulate these evalua- to stand up to the rainstorms. Deci-
prevention. The classification of precipi- tions at the national level. sions on whether to strengthen exist-
tation levels varies in different regions. In addition, climate resilience feasibil- ing buildings or relocate residents who
In many old cities, drainage systems ity studies have generally been based on live in high-risk areas must be based on
were designed to deal with the heaviest data of natural disasters over the past comprehensive analysis.
rain recorded every one or two years, or few decades, but climate change won’t
even every few months. Even new cit- develop in a linear trajectory. Evalua- CR: When an area experiences a
ies’ drainage is designed to cope with a tions should be based on climate mod- severe storm, government and public
once-in-a-year or once-in-two-year rain- els to detect potential risks. Despite the attention often focuses on big cities.
fall. But many natural disasters now are uncertainties of the forecast, it can at But there are many vulnerable groups
the most severe seen in the last 30-50 least be an important reference. in less-developed villages and towns
years. Therefore, the gap between the In the wake of the flood in Zhuozhou, where emergency response and post-
current urban design and reality gets Hebei Province, the entire city is in need disaster recovery are much slower due
even wider. of a holistic risk evaluation on potential to lack of resources. How would you
There is no one-size-fits-all policy. meteorological calamities. A systematic comment on the inequity when we are
First and foremost, a city has to survey and in-depth analysis is necessary to addressing climate change?
its own risk of natural disasters. Then review the problems that emerged from CQ: Climate change may have a big-
it can recheck its drainage systems and the emergency rescue, the sub-stan- ger impact on suburban and rural areas
improve facilities that are not up to dard infrastructure, and the risks and than big cities, although these capture
code. For instance, we need to upgrade everyone’s attention. Sometimes, outly-
underground facilities by increasing ing areas are inundated with floods dis-
their anti-flood capacities. The first na- charged from big cities to protect urban
tionwide comprehensive survey on the areas. Inhabited largely by vulnerable
risks of natural disasters was launched populations of the elderly, children, peo-
in 2020. But the recommendations ple with chronic diseases and disabled
based on the survey need to be extended people, those villages and towns do not
to urban management practices. have anywhere enough agency to draw
attention to their plight. Therefore,
NC: The main thrust of what you are inequity must be underscored when
proposing is to highlight climate evalu- governments make policies to address
ation in urban planning. Climate evalu- climate change.
ation is included in feasibility studies of During the recent rainstorm, villages
urban construction projects. How well and towns such as those in Beijing’s
has it been implemented? suburban Mentougou District suffered
CQ: All I know is that the job isn’t great losses. Many houses built on
good enough. In my view, climate re- mountains were washed away. After the
silience feasibility studies should have disaster, the limited budgets of town-
at least been integrated into the plan- ship governments won’t be enough for
ning and management of megacities. It recovery and restoration. I suggest that a
would be better to list big cities’ major special national fund be established in
plans and projects, such as airports partnership with non-public assistance
and railways, where feasibility evalua- providers to support vulnerable groups
tion should be compulsory. So far, such A man wades in waist-high floodwaters, with rescues and compensation for
Zhuozhou, Hebei Province, August 3, 2023
studies depend on contractors’ willing- (Photo by VCG) vulnerable groups affected by extreme
ness. In some projects today, climate weather events.

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

27
POLITICS

AI Legislation

Smart Moves
Seeking to gain a technological lead amid increasing concerns over the risks AI poses,
countries worldwide are rushing to legislate AI management while trying not to hinder
development
By Xie Ying and Ha Like

tories of scammers using AI Xinhua News Agency, because officials Telecommunication Industrial Group,

S to pose as relatives pleading

for money over video calls are
increasingly popping up in
Chinese media. Given the suspects look
and sound exactly like their relative,
are public figures, scammers can easily
harvest samples of their video and audio
from media. An unnamed official told
the magazine that someone has used
his face and voice to cheat many of his
told Outlook.
Aggressive use of AI technologies
has triggered worldwide debate, with
people increasingly voicing concerns
over threats to data and network safety,
victims often hand over money without friends on WeChat. infringement of intellectual property,
question. “Audio synthesis requires at most profiling and discrimination.
These scams also target officials 32 words and a minimum of only 10,” Earlier this year, British-Canadian
and their families. According to news Zhao Mingming, a cybersecurity ex- computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton,
magazine Outlook under the State-run pert with the State Grid Information & known as the “Godfather of AI” for his
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

28
 leaders in signing an open letter calling
for at least a six-month halt on training
AI systems more powerful than GPT4.
“AI systems with human-competitive
intelligence can pose profound risks
to society and humanity, as shown by
extensive research and acknowledged
by top AI labs... Powerful AI systems
should be developed only once we are
confident that their effects will be posi-
tive and their risks will be manageable,”
the letter reads.
These risks, according to the letter,
include flooding the internet with false
information, automating away jobs and
developing an intelligence that could
potentially deprive humans of their con-
trol over civilisation. Within a month,
the letter received more than 1,000 sig-
natures from scientists, researchers and
business leaders.
The letter was published through the
Future of Life Institute (FLI), a non-gov-
ernment organisation in the US found-
ed in 2014 that studies threats from AI.
Musk, an FLI co-founder, launched his
own AI startup, xAI, in July.
The late cosmologist Stephen Hawk-
ing, a founding member of FLI’s Sci-
entific Advisory board, told the BBC in
2014 that AI “could spell the end of the
human race.” The same year, Musk told
The Washington Post that AI use is like
“summoning the demon.” Since then,
Musk has tweeted frequently about the
(Photo by VCG) management of AI development.
At a US congressional hearing held on
May 16, OpenAI founder Sam Altman
demanded that lawmakers regulate AI
and voiced his concerns over the tech-
pioneering work in deep learning, called about whether such government over- nology’s potential harms. In late May,
AI’s potential to falsify data and infor- sight will obstruct the development of Altman proposed an international regu-
mation “more urgent” a threat to hu- the emerging industry remain. latory body to govern AI development.
manity than climate change. He ended Previously, the Business Software
his decade-long stay at Google in May Global Guardrails Alliance (BSA), which represents tech
to speak more openly about the looming Concerns about AI’s negative influ- giants like Microsoft, Adobe and IBM,
dangers of the technology. ence have grown in step with its devel- publicly implored the US government
Calls to legislate the development and opment. Soon after OpenAI released to work out AI regulations based on
use of AI technologies are increasing, its language learning model GPT4 in privacy laws.
with many countries and regions issuing March, Elon Musk – an early backer of This is already underway in the Eu-
laws and regulations. However, worries OpenAI – joined AI experts and industry ropean Union. On June 14, the EU
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

29
POLITICS

Parliament green-lighted negotiations jurisdiction of data management,” Peng new social problems and contradictions
for its AI Act, with 499 votes in favour, Xiaoyan, executive director of Beijing brought about by the fast development
28 against and 93 abstentions. The Par- V&T Law Firm Hangzhou Branch, told of AI technologies like ChatGPT also
liament, EU member countries and the ChinaReport. spur legislation,” she added.
European Commission will hold talks to Her view is shared by Jin Ling, who The EU’s AI Act has been in the
finalise the articles. in an article for People’s Tribune in Febru- works since April 2021, with added re-
The AI Act is expected to pass in late ary 2022, a magazine under the People’s visions for generative AI services.
2023, marking the world’s first law of Daily, wrote that the AI Act is the EU’s One requires transparency for general
its kind. attempt to fill its technological dis- purpose AI like ChatGPT. For example,
“There have always been arguments advantage by playing a fuller role in developers must label AI-generated con-
worldwide about whether to legislate management. tent for users and curb illegal content.
AI technologies. The EU’s AI Act will That is why British PM Rishi Sunak Developers must release what informa-
spur other countries to pass similar spoke with Biden about an international tion they use to train their models, espe-
legislation,” Zhao Jingwu, an associate governing body for AI management on cially when copyrighted.
law professor at Beihang University in June 8. The next day, French President Risk assessment is a primary feature
Beijing, told ChinaReport. Emmanuel Macron announced a plan of the AI Act – it categorises risk into
A week after the EU vote, US Presi- to establish an AI management body in four levels, the highest being “unaccept-
dent Joe Biden met with tech industry France. able.” For example, a system that clas-
leaders in San Francisco to discuss the sifies people according to social behav-
risks of AI. Although the US issued Different Directions iours or personality is banned.
guidance on the management of AI In early June, China’s State Coun- In the latest draft, the EU expanded
applications in early 2020, the federal cil announced a draft AI law would be the highest-level risk category to include
government has not yet taken any strict submitted to the Standing Commit- AI that is “invasive” or “discriminatory.”
measures or issued laws or regulations. tee of the National People’s Congress For example, it bans use of biometric
In October 2022, the White House (NPC), China’s highest legislative body. identification in public places, emo-
released the AI Bill of Rights, which In July, China’s Cyberspace Administra- tion and sentiment analysis, predictive
provides a framework for the manage- tion joined six other agencies in issuing policing based on profiling, location or
ment of AI technologies, though it is not tentative management measures on criminal records, and harvesting facial
compulsory. generative AI services, which experts data from the internet.
On June 21, Senate Democratic believe will lay the foundation for future The latest version also raised the fine
Leader Chuck Schumer proposed his AI AI legislation. cap from 30 million euros (US$32.8m)
framework during a speech at the US China began planning in 2017, when or 6 percent of the company’s operating
Centre for Strategic and International the State Council rolled out an AI devel- income from the previous year to 40
Studies (CSIS), where he called for an opment programme. In this document, million euros (US$43.7m) or 7 percent,
AI Act. To speed up legislation, Schumer the government proposed to work out much higher than in the EU’s General
said he planned to launch a series of AI ethics and regulations for AI technolo- Data Protection Regulation.
insight forums starting in September to gies in specific fields by 2020 and es- “This shows the EU’s resolution to
discuss innovation, intellectual prop- tablish a suite of laws and policies for supervise and manage AI technologies.
erty, national security and privacy issues AI-related safety by 2025. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft and
regarding AI technologies. According to the Artificial Intelligence Apple could face tens of billion dollars
Chinese experts said that the EU and Index Report 2023 issued by Stanford in fines if they violate the law,” Peng
US ramping up AI legislation indicates University on April 3, legislation men- said.
their intentions to take the lead in plan- tioning AI increased nearly 6.5 times China’s latest tentative measures,
ning digital strategies. worldwide since 2016. which took effect on August 15, propose
“The EU’s AI Act will not only be “The haste to legislate is a result of to conduct “deliberate” and “classified”
applied within the EU but also to the heated competition and develop- supervision of generative AI services.
foreign users who receive data from ment of AI technologies,” Peng said. The document states that such services
AI systems within the EU... It has ex- “Data has increasingly become a crucial should not harm China’s national se-
panded the range of management and strategic element, and all countries hope curity and should respect others’ legal
implied the EU’s intentions to seize the to lead the legislation... Meanwhile, interests and rights. The document
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

30
stresses that no illegal or tortious data denied they ever signed the FLI open legislation to balance encouraging inno-
should be used to train AI models. Like letter. Thomas G. Dietterich, an Ameri- vation and protecting rights.
the EU, China requires AI-generated can pioneer of machine learning, tweet- Zhao Jingwu agrees. He told Chin-
content to be labeled and puts the onus ed that the letter is “such a mess of scary aReport that AI legislation faces many
of monitoring user input on service rhetoric and ineffective/non-existent challenges, given the fast development
providers. policy prescriptions.” of technology and governments’ lack of
“China’s current AI management is Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist of experience in managing what he calls
scattered across different fields and de- Facebook’s parent Meta, tweeted on the three major key elements of AI:
partments... and measures and policies March 29: “Nope. I did not sign this let- “data, algorithm and computational
usually target a specific technology or ter. I disagree with its premise.” During power.” Moreover, debate continues
service... normally this is designed and an April 8 livestream on tech news site over whether legislation should focus
released by competent departments, but VentureBeat about the FLI letter, LeCun on risk control or ensuring industrial
they have not yet made it law,” Peng told criticised the call for a “pause” as back- development.
ChinaReport. ward, saying people cannot slow down In an interview with social media
According to Zhao Jingwu, compared the progress of science and knowledge. account Jiemian in June, Zhu Fuyong,
to the EU and China, the US’s manage- In the same livestream, renowned an AI professor at the Southwest Uni-
ment prioritises commercial develop- British AI scientist Andrew Ng argued versity of Political Science & Law, said
ment to maintain its competitiveness. that AI will create enormous value for that while legislation can define respon-
Schumer’s framework aims to realise many industries and pausing its prog- sibility, protect people’s legal rights and
the potential of AI technologies and ress would obstruct AI from benefitting prevent abuses, many risks have not
support US-led innovation. the world. yet occurred and are based on mere
“US management of AI development LeCun and Ng suggest managing speculation.
remains weak, and its society is inclined content rather than development and Chen Jidong, a professor at Shanghai
to be open and encourage the innova- research, and argue that concerns about Tongji University, agrees, and said the
tion and expansion of AI technologies,” human safety are premature. biggest hurdle for legislation is scientifi-
Peng said, adding that management is cally appraising the risks of AI systems
conducted according to the state while Hard to Balance while the industry is emerging.
being “general” and “non-specific” at Their ideas are reflected in China’s That is why some experts believe
the federal level. tentative measures on generative AI in China’s July measures do not provide
“The AI Bill of Rights, a milestone in July, which are less strict than original more detailed rules or cover all applica-
the US’s management of AI develop- drafts, according to experts. Instead, tion scenarios, making them difficult for
ment, for example, proposes only five they focus on the supervision of “con- enterprises to implement.
basic principles without more detailed tent” and stress equally prioritising LeCun and Ng argued that AI devel-
articles or measures... It’s only a frame- development and safety. The document opment should be similar to other in-
work for guiding the design, use and devotes an entire chapter to encourag- dustries, where risk control progresses
planning of AI systems,” Peng said. ing the innovation and exploration of AI in step with development.
“Such documents are not compulso- technologies and their applications. “China’s legislation should be based
ry... since intensified management will Even the more detailed and stricter on encouraging innovation and en-
surely obstruct the development and AI Act requires EU member countries abling AI to develop in a relatively open
innovation of an emerging industry like to provide enterprises and startups with space... We can just draw a red line,”
AI,” she added. at least one sandbox to test for compli- Peng suggested.
Despite signing the FLI open letter ance. The measure aims to help AI en- “We should have an industry devel-
calling for a suspension of AI training, terprises with management and allow opment-oriented AI law,” Zhao Jingwu
Musk has switched on an AI project on them to concentrate on innovation. said. “Present measures and norms
X (formerly Twitter) and recruited AI ex- In her article, Jin Ling argued that are enough to meet management de-
perts, calling some to question whether the EU’s AI Act would increase enter- mands... our ultimate purpose is to
he intended to hobble the progress of prises’ costs and chill investment given develop the industry, since legislation is
OpenAI, which Musk left in 2018 and is the uncertainties of risk appraisal. Al- not for curbing industrial development
now competing with. though the EU claims to support the but rather guiding and guaranteeing its
Some scientists and AI leaders have digital economy, Jin said it is difficult for benign development,” he added.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

31
ENVIRONMENT

Water Shortage

Tapped for Solutions

Water-abundant Sichuan Province is seeing persistent drought in the south, with
authorities rushing to complete new diversion projects. Some experts warn it might
not be enough to support the region’s fast economic development
By Han Yuan and Wang Yan

“
The white dragon has left the reserves were enough for a month. alleviated somewhat due to water being
dragon king’s palace!” tourists Southern Sichuan, including Zigong diverted from the Tuojiang River, a
at Bailong Lake exclaimed in late and neighbouring Neijiang, has suf- tributary of the Yangtze. “The drought
May, referring to an emerged fered continuous drought and water situation for farming and agriculture
rock that resembles a dragon in the shortages for some years. While some has been alleviated, but there are still
middle of the shallow lake. Bailong, experts blame natural conditions and problems over the drinking water sup-
or White Dragon Lake, is located in climate change, others say issues with ply in rural areas,” admitted the source.
Hulukou Reservoir in Weiyuan County, water conservancy and hydrological Zigong could guarantee water supplies
Neijiang City in southern Sichuan projects have exacerbated systemic until July, the water bureau employee
Province. After a prolonged drought, shortcomings. said.
water levels were so low, it exposed the The summer drought for southern
cracked lake bed. Chronic Drought Sichuan was forecast in April. Sichuan
On May 31, water authorities in In May, the household water provider Meteorological Bureau announced that
Weiyuan County issued a notice that for Huidong County, which sits by the flood season this year from May
supply from Changhu Reservoir would the upper stream of the Yangtze in to September would see slightly lower
be limited due to the drought. “Due to southern Sichuan, issued a proposal. To average precipitation than other years,
the continuous drought and little rain, encourage residents to save water, the with higher average temperatures, and
Changhu Reservoir, the only drinking company suggested that “showering more high temperature days. There
water source in the county, has encoun- frequently is not good for the skin, and would be more rain in western Sichuan,
tered severe water shortages. The pres- it is better to do it two to four times and less in the east. Sichuan Hydrology
ent total storage capacity is only about per month.” Again, the lack of rain in Centre warned of floods along some
20 million cubic metres, deducting the 2023 was blamed, and if the situation tributaries of the Yangtze, but it warned
minimum reserve storage capacity of 8 persisted, stricter water restrictions of drought across the northeast, central
million cubic metres, the rest can only would be imposed. and southern parts of the Sichuan
last for about 60 days,” said Weiyuan Huidong borders Yunnan Province, basin.
Qingxi Water Company, the county’s and like Weiyuan and Fushun coun- This year’s drought is not a new
sole water provider. ties, is close to the Yangtze River, yet situation. Southern Sichuan experi-
In Zigong, a few dozen kilometres around one million people are affected enced high temperatures, drought and
south of Weiyuan, Fushun County by drought. water shortages in 2022. According to
Water Bureau implored the public to In early June, Weiyuan County Water the China Meteorological Administra-
reduce water use, reminding locals to Resources Bureau told ChinaReport the tion, in August 2022, extreme heat
“turn off the faucet while not using it.” drought has been alleviated, and that waves occurred in the Sichuan Basin
The issued notice blamed extreme dry household water capacity was sufficient in the middle and lower reaches of
weather which had continued since for two to three months. Zigong Water the Yangtze River. There were more
August 2022. It warned that current Bureau said the drought had been than 25 high temperature days, 10 to
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

32
Hulukou Reservoir in Weiyuan County (Screenshot from video produced Changshaba Reservoir in Weiyuan County (Screenshot from video
by Weiyuan Lingjuli) produced by Weiyuan Lingjuli)

20 more than average. According to precipitation is 488.975 billion cubic Yu Song, a lecturer at the Institute of
the Water Conservancy chapter of the metres, and the total water resources Water Science at Beijing Normal Uni-
official Records of Sichuan Province, is 348.97 billion cubic metres, giving it versity, told ChinaReport that precipita-
“Analysis of 30 years’ data of Sichuan the highest per capita water resources tion is the main source of surface water
Meteorological Bureau from 1951 to in the country. resource replenishment. Decreasing
1980” found that except the two years The Jinsha River, the westernmost precipitation is accompanied by intensi-
of 1954 and 1956, drought occurred in of the major headwater streams of the fied evaporation, which leads to the
the other 28 years in Sichuan to varying Yangtze River, flows through south- decrease of water inflow from rivers,
degrees.” ern Sichuan, and it is already heavily water reduction in reservoirs, lakes
dammed. In 2002, construction started and underground water resource, thus
Engineering Problem on the Jinsha River Hydroelectricity causing drought and water shortage.
Yet Sichuan is not short of water. A Base. With 27 cascade reservoirs either Dong Zengchuan, former vice presi-
little larger than the US state of Cali- already in operation, under construc- dent of Hohai University in Nanjing,
fornia and with a population of around tion or scheduled for construction, it is told ChinaReport that southwest China’s
83 million, it is known as the “province the largest hydroelectricity base in the water shortage problems stem from
of a thousand rivers.” It is gener- country. the westerly wind belt, which usually
ally characterised by a hot and humid Experts disagree on the causes of brings humid and warmer conditions,
sub-tropical climate, with monsoonal the water shortages in parts of water- moving northward. Dong also cites
rains. According to the official Sichuan abundant Sichuan, with some saying weakening air convective activity, which
Almanac, the province has nearly meteorological and climate conditions lessens the amount of moisture in the
1,400 rivers, more than 1,000 lakes are to blame, while others say human air that could condense into rain.
and over 200 glaciers. Annual average factors must be considered. Others point to human factors for
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

33
ENVIRONMENT

at least exacerbating water shortages.

Chen Ajiang, director of the Centre for
Environmental and Social Studies at
Hohai University, said that how people
act when faced with water shortages
can exacerbate them. In essence, water
shortages are a social problem.
Some see the issue as primarily
due to insufficient built water storage
solutions.
“Sichuan is not short of water,
but short of large and medium-sized Built in the 3rd century BCE, Dujiangyan irrigation system regulates the waters of the Minjiang
irrigation facilities,” Leng Gang, then River and distributes it to the fertile farmland of the Chengdu Plain. It is hailed as a good model for
effective water control and irrigation (Photo by VCG)
director of Sichuan Provincial Water
Resources Department, told the West
China Metropolis Daily in 2016. The
professional term for this is built water Alleviating water shortages requires and Hunan Province had a total water
storage solutions. Rainfall is concen- engineering, some experts believe. Yu storage capacity of 23.807 billion cubic
trated in July, August and September, Song said southern Sichuan should metres as of November 2022. Total
while the other nine months witness focus on “strengthening reservoirs, storage capacity of water conservancy
relatively little rainfall. Over 75 percent improving water diversion projects, and projects combined in Sichuan Province
of rainfall flows away in the form of increasing the construction of water- as of April 2022 was merely 8.109 bil-
floods, and water storage resources as saving facilities for farmland irrigation.” lion cubic metres.
a result can’t retain it,” Leng told the The number of large reservoirs in Yang Yong, a Sichuan-born geologist
newspaper. Sichuan lags significantly behind the and director of the Hengduan Moun-
To put it simply, Leng said, “there are national average. According to the 2021 tain Research Institute, is one of the
not enough jars and containers to store National Statistical Bulletin on Water first scientists to have investigated the
this rainfall, so there is no water for dry Conservancy Development released geology and hydrology of the upper
areas.” by the Ministry of Water Resources in Yangtze. In terms of built storage
December 2022, 805 large reservoirs capacity, Yang told ChinaReport that the
Engineering Solutions? – with a capacity of over 100 million boom in hydropower in Sichuan has
In spring 2010, a severe drought in cubic metres – were built by 2021 in significantly changed the hydrological
Sichuan affected over eight million the Chinese mainland, with about situation.
people and caused direct economic 26 in each provincial administrative “Hydroelectricity development has
losses of 1.3 billion yuan (US$180m). region. According to Sichuan Provincial boomed in the last three decades along
Chen Lei, who was in charge of the Water Resources Department in April rivers of various scale in Sichuan. These
Ministry of Water Resources, pinned 2023, the province has only 10 large water diversion and hydropower proj-
the blame on uneven distribution of the reservoirs. ects changed the original hydrological
province’s abundant water resources. Sichuan Province has a huge water situation of rivers. Insufficient planning
As well as regional geology, Chen said storage gap, with far fewer conservancy and design of these water conservancy
the drought was exacerbated by “insuf- projects relative to other provinces with and hydropower projects resulted in
ficient large and medium-sized water- a similar population along the Yangtze the hidden problem of insufficient built
control projects and facilities, and a lack River. According to open statistics, water storage capacity,” Yang said.
of supporting water diversion facili- combined storage capacity of reservoirs Structural water shortage and water-
ties.” There is an evident lack of built in Hubei Province amounted to 13.59 quality-induced water shortage are
water storage solutions, he said. billion cubic metres in September 2022, also to blame, Yang said. In southern
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

34
Sichuan, cities including Yibin, Luzhou from built water storage shortages.” Department show per capita water
and Zigong are key centres of economic Accordingly, Sichuan Province stepped consumption in Sichuan was 292 cubic
growth. The original river system can up efforts to build more water conser- metres in 2021, 127 cubic metres less
no longer support the development vancy projects. Data released in May than the national per capita level.
momentum of urbanisation and indus- this year shows that total investment Data from the seventh national cen-
trialisation in the area, known as the in water conservancy projects under sus found the permanent population in
South Sichuan Economic Zone. construction in Sichuan has reached a southern Sichuan was 14.47 million in
As a result, Yang said, the Xiangjiaba record high of up to 130 billion yuan 2020. To reach the national average per
water diversion project has been devel- (US$18.2b). capita water consumption, total water
oped to transfer water from the existing The Xiangjiaba irrigation project, consumption in southern Sichuan
Xiangjiaba Hydropower Project via with a total investment of about 30.5 needs to increase by about 1.82 billion
canal pipelines to irrigate agricultural billion yuan (US$4.3b), according to an cubic metres. The belief is that if the
lands. estimate by Sichuan Provincial Water Xiangjiaba irrigation area project func-
Xiangjiaba Dam, at the border of Resources Department in 2020, is tions as expected and it provides 1.78
Sichuan and Yunnan, sits on the lower expected to serve more than a mil- billion cubic metres of water per year,
Jinsha River not far from where it lion people and significantly increase southern Sichuan will no longer suffer
meets the Min River at Yibin to become agricultural yields. water shortages.
the Yangtze proper. It is China’s fifth- The official plan shows that the Yang, one of a group of specialists
biggest hydropower station in terms project will provide 1.782 billion cubic who expressed concerns over big
of generation capacity and the 11th meters of water every year, irrigate dam projects in the region, sounds a
biggest in the world, as of 2022. 3,533 square kilometers of farmland, note of caution over whether China
Extensive development has led to and provide supplemental water to 143 can “engineer” its way out of water
river pollution, water quality deteriora- counties and towns with more than shortages as a permanent solution.
tion, and even loss of water resources four million rural residents. He feels that plans and the design of
in many water systems. These have Its completion “will solve the water existing projects did not fully take into
caused water shortages due to poor shortage issue of agricultural irrigation, account issues like water shortages in
water quality, Yang said. “This situation urban and rural production and living surrounding areas, and that even the
has slightly improved through better water consumption, and improve drink- current Xiangjiaba diversion project
governance and industrial adjustment, ing water security within the region,” a may present future problems, which
but it hasn’t fundamentally changed. manager of Xiangjiaba Irrigation Project may require even more “engineered
Southern Sichuan is a centre for the Construction and Development told solutions.”
chemical industry, including paper NewsChina under condition of anonym- “China’s water resources management
making, and there is still a very difficult ity. The first phase of the project which has always followed an ‘engineering
and long way to go in addressing the started construction in December 2018 mentality.’ The initial insufficient plan-
pollution-induced water shortage,” he will cost 11.69 billion yuan (US$1.64b) ning of [hydropower and water conser-
said. “Local and seasonal water short- and will go into operation in August vancy] projects may require follow-up
ages may occur in different periods and 2024. The whole construction period is adjustment projects, and further result in
in different years in southern Sichuan. planned to last 15 years. a vicious cycle,” said Yang.
The present-day water shortage is a Water consumption per capita New projects may be required to cor-
systemic, overall and even a long-term in Sichuan is much lower than the rect the initial shortcomings of earlier
problem.” national average. According to a release projects, he said. “The Xiangjiaba water
On December 31, 2010, central by the Ministry of Water Resources in diversion project has been decided and
authorities issued a decision that pro- June 2022, China’s per capita water launched, but solutions like this that
posed to “accelerate the construction consumption was 419 cubic metres for purely rely on [more] projects can’t
of key water source projects in south- 2021. Figures for 2021 released by the solve the [systemic] problems,” he
west China and other areas suffering Sichuan Provincial Water Resources said.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

35
SPECIAL REPORT

Livestream Fraud

Under the Influence

Rural livestreamers are a big hit, selling local produce to help farmers. But all is not
what it seems. ChinaReport investigates how the system works to trick sympathetic
buyers into a fraudulent purchases, prompting platforms to take action
By Liu Xiangnan

I
n the summer of 2022, recalled La wood is set among mountains with a was a handsome herder when Zhao met
Luo, who lives in Gumo Village in stream running through the centre, and him near his home in the mountains.
a remote mountainous region of it has been used for film shoots before. Zhao, who did not previously have a
Sichuan Province, strangers arrived This is why the appearance of online substantial online following, comes
and asked to rent four buildings. influencers did not cause a big stir, at from Huili, a city in southern Liangshan.
The villagers told ChinaReport they first. “I recognised some internet ce- When Zhao posted videos about Qu’s
want instead to promote rural cultural lebrities like Zhao Ling’er and Qu Bu life on short-video platform Douyin
tourism and the buildings will be re- among the group,” La Luo, who is in his (China’s TikTok), the reaction was in-
served as visitor accommodation. La’s 20s, said. stant. Qu shared stories about his fam-
family owns one of them. ily’s “miserable” life in impoverished
Gumo, in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Dramatic Arc Liangshan. Support and sympathy from
Prefecture, is in the southwest corner Qu and Zhao became famous over- hundreds of thousands of viewers flood-
of Sichuan, bordering Yunnan Province. night in August 2022. The story goes ed in. Qu’s good looks and air of unso-
Though in one of China’s most impov- that they met “accidentally” in Hagan phistication appealed to netizens. Now,
erished regions, the bucolic village with Town, around 35 kilometres from Zhao and Qu each have over two mil-
its two-storey houses made of brick and Gumo. Qu Bu, from the Yi ethnic group, lion followers on Douyin, and the video
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

36
 Left: People sort walnuts, Yanyuan, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, August 18, 2022 (Photo by VCG)

Right: Villagers carry local agricultural products downhill to the local market, Zhaojue County, Liangshan,
September 30, 2019. The area became famous in 2016 for a steep bamboo ladder residents had to use to
get down the mountain to market or school (Photo by VCG)

of the two encountering each other has a company. She insisted the livestreams over six months, the group kept to
2.49 million likes and 119,000 reposts. were filmed at Qu’s home. themselves. “They minded their own
The pair then started leveraging their However, after ChinaReport visited business, they rarely spoke with us,” La
online fame to sell agricultural prod- Gumo, it became clear that a video re- said. He said they occasionally donated
ucts through livestreams. A resident of leased by Zhao in mid-April was shot some “charity” gifts to residents while
Liangshan with knowledge of the busi- there. Residents had paid attention to livestreaming their show. After each
ness told ChinaReport on condition of the comings and goings of the outsiders. show, they paid villagers who took part
anonymity: “Every time they sell prod- They went out in the day and returned 100-200 yuan (US$14-29).
ucts online, they make sales worth mil- to the rented properties at night. La Luo It was stormy on April 14 when the
lions of yuan.” said he knew they were making videos reporter arrived in Gumo. Ah Liu, who
Some viewers were sceptical. They and livestreaming, and had millions of said he works with Qu and Zhao, was
questioned the authenticity of Qu’s followers. “They rented abandoned old very excited, explaining that the produc-
story, guessing the videos were scripted houses in the mountains to shoot their tion team had planted a corn crop, but it
and made professionally. Zhao defended videos. Sometimes they’d make a fire would die without rain.
their output on August 25, 2022, claim- and cook there,” La said. Ah Liu said he had been in the vil-
ing the pair was not backed or funded by Even though they stayed in the village lage for over eight months producing
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

37
SPECIAL REPORT

videos. The team rented three buildings

for 1,000 yuan (US$144) a month each.
He admitted that they had produced
videos for celebrities like Qu, and he
said he stayed with him in Gumo. “But
Qu’s been at home for the last couple of
months to help on the farm,” said Ah
Liu, claiming that a local girl had intro-
duced Qu as a potential protagonist for
their designed videos.
Ah Liu complained that livestreaming
is very competitive in Liangshan. “Many
people come from big cities like Hang-
zhou or Chengdu. They all make similar
videos, so they’re locked in fierce com-
petition with each other,” he said.
Ah Liu’s team has 30 people. They
look for local suppliers for rural prod-
ucts, and facilitate screening, packaging
and delivery. Ah Liu is responsible for
marketing and attracting online traffic.
Qu Bu, the newly emerged celebrity,
was chosen and packaged by his team.
The “accidental encounter” scenario
is a common device used by livestream
teams in Liangshan to hook people.
Many of the videos make superficial
changes then reuse the same scenarios.
On August 19, 2022, Zhao Ling’er re-
Top: A storehouse for products sold on livestreams, Pujiang County, Sichuan Province (Photo by Liu
leased a video of her “encountering” Qu Xiangnan)
Bu. She was invited to his home, intro-
Bottom: A derelict house in the mountains of Gumo Village (Photo by Liu Xiangnan)
duced to his family and listened to sto-
ries about their lives. Qu said his father
died when he was 8, and his mother
brought him and his three younger sis- traffic” and an “internet celebrity IP” impoverished counties in Liangshan
ters up alone. This video went viral, and that allows for quick exposure and gains identified when the campaign started
Qu Bu became an overnight celebrity. netizens’ attention. Short-video produc- in 2015, but by 2020, these were re-
An anonymous insider who works in ers took note and flocked to the region. moved from the extreme poverty list,
the livestream business told ChinaReport Previously cut off from modern de- the Global Times reported. Still, earnings
that these overnight success stories are velopment, Liangshan was a particular are below the national average, though
mainly due to the setting in Liangshan, target of China’s campaign to eradi- much improved. In 2022, average an-
which was once China’s least developed cate extreme poverty by 2020. It first nual per capita income in Liangshan
area. Home to the 2.1 million people of became famous in 2016, when photos was 18,000 yuan (US$2,470), while
the Yi ethnic group among a population by a Chinese journalist of children the average annual per capita national
of some five million, and with a reputa- clambering up a precipitous mountain income was 36,900 yuan (US$5,059),
tion for an unspoiled natural environ- on a rickety bamboo ladder to get to according to government data.
ment and unique customs, Liangshan is school went viral. There were 2,072 “A lot of people want to take advan-
considered a “natural hotspot for online impoverished villages and 11 deeply tage and gain personal popularity, so
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

38
they come,” a business person in Liang- Company, which ChinaReport found was
shan told the reporter: “People think established in August 2019, and the le-
Liangshan is a poor, backward place gal representative is Ren Yanbing. The
and an ethnic area, so it’s easy to gain address of the company is the same as
sympathy.” the speciality shop in Lianhe Village,
around 25 kilometres from Xichang
Know Your Onions City.
Another Douyin celebrity account A source in Xichang who knows Ren
named “Liangshan Meng Yang” has Yanbing told ChinaReport that Ren runs
3.65 million followers. In 2018, Meng a company that supplies products for
Yang, an 18-year-old Yi girl shot to fame. Liangshan influencers, including the
One of her early followers was San Bao “Baisha” onions. “The company is the
from Beijing, who said she had seen a intermediary and buys [products like]
video of her in 2019 talking about her those onions from elsewhere and then
miserable life in the mountains. “She sells them through these celebrities.
was very poor and had to take care of Ren pays these celebrities commis-
her brothers and sisters, so she had to sions,” the source said.
drop out of school. She claimed her
family was impoverished, and she only Pi Te and his wife Ah Mo, a couple from Supply Chain
had potatoes for every meal,” San said. Zhongsuo County, Liangshan, were hired According to ChinaReport’s investiga-
by an influencer known as Han Wen, to do
San felt sympathetic, and she and her livestream sales. Han, whose real surname is tion, other Douyin celebrities in Liang-
friends donated money through Douyin. Liu, is under police investigation shan work with Ren. Liangshan Ah Ze,
But in 2020, San went to Jiequ Village in an account with 529,000 followers, sells
Zhaojue County where Meng suppos- the same onions Meng recommends.
edly lived. When she arrived, she re- Topping the product list on Qu Bu’s ac-
alised everything was staged. The rural released a new video which showed a count are the same onions.
backdrop for the videos was real, but in stamped letter purportedly from resi- “These internet celebrities claim they
the village at the foot of the mountain, dents of Baisha Village administered receive invitations to support farmers to
Meng Yang’s family owned new houses by Xichang, a county-level city, which sell their products, but what they sell
and enjoyed a pretty affluent life. claims they asked her to help sell on- comes from suppliers,” the Xichang
On May 15, as ChinaReport arrived in ions. On April 16, ChinaReport visited source said. He said almost all the online
Jiequ, residents said they all knew Meng Baisha, 20 kilometres to the northwest celebrities in Liangshan are managed
was an online celebrity, but her real of Xichang. Though this agricultural by a marketing and production team
name is Ah Er Mei Mei. Her aunt, who village is full of plastic-covered green- and a boss like Ren, who is in charge of
did not give her name, said Meng was houses, hardly anyone plants onions, product suppliers. These bosses mostly
working in Guangdong Province before residents said. The greenhouses are for come from Pujiang, a city around 100
she returned to set up her online video grapes. No one had heard of inviting an kilometres southwest of Sichuan’s capi-
business. “She just shot some videos of online celebrity to help sell onions. tal Chengdu, which is a centre for agri-
the pigs and sheep on the mountains, Meng’s account lists “onions from cultural products logistics.
then she became famous overnight,” the Liangshan” under items she sells. The The bosses who specialise in pro-
aunt said. “Meng’s parents are farmers price is 16.9 yuan (US$2.4) for 2.5 ki- viding goods for online celebrities are
and own sheep and cattle. The family is lograms and 26.9 yuan (US$3.9) for most often employed by the celebrities,
pretty rich in our village.” Villagers said 4.5 kilograms. The supplier’s address although they are likely the biggest fi-
her family also owns a flat in the urban is “Xichang City Xingsheng Yanbing nancial beneficiaries. In this industry
area of Zhaojue County. Local Speciality Shop in Lianhe Village, chain, the role of the online celebrity is
The main goal for these Douyin ac- Xichang.” On the road outside Baisha, to attract online traffic to promote sales
counts is to earn through selling agricul- there is a business called Liangshan and they receive a commission from a
tural products. On April 11, Meng Yang Yanbing Agricultural Development boss like Ren.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

39
SPECIAL REPORT

products elsewhere, like walnuts from

Yunnan Province.
Some netizens have questioned the
authenticity of the local specialities rec-
ommended by online celebrities. For ex-
ample, netizens found Liangshan honey
recommended by Qu and Zhao was
sent from Nanjing, East China’s Jiangsu
Province. As of April 15, this honey that
cost 98 yuan (US$14) had 24,000 or-
ders. The honey producer, Nanjing Jin-
ran Food Company, was established in
August 2016 and is registered in Liuhe
District, Nanjing.
“Some internet celebrities shot vid-
eos of them carrying baskets up to the
mountains to collect local products
Farmers in Jiequ Village, Zhaojue County (Photo by Liu Xiangnan) like walnuts. It seems that what they
sell comes from the mountains,” the
livestream industry source told Chin-
aReport. “In reality, this can’t possibly
be true – they only collect a dozen ki-
The anonymous livestream indus- the biggest winner who gets the most lograms of walnuts, but they sell hun-
try source said they mostly collaborate profits is the supply chain owner. They dreds of orders at once. The customers
in two ways: one is when the supply can really make a fortune,” added the don’t question how much they really
chain boss designs and facilitates the source. gather themselves. This is the chaotic
emergence of an existing influencer, and Many products Liangshan influencers situation of the livestreaming e-com-
the other is the supply chain boss who sell come from Pujiang, some 360 kilo- merce industry.”
scouts for new influencers and seeks metres away. The reporter bought some One businessman in Liangshan told
them out if they have potential. Liangshan green peppercorns from Qu ChinaReport he is very concerned about
The “protagonists” chosen by the Bu and Zhao Ling’er on Douyin, and the sales of goods that allegedly come
boss should be visually appealing and the logistics information indicated the from Liangshan. “Eventually, there will
have a “miserable” backstory to share. product was sent from Pujiang, not be a real negative impact on the sales of
They should be eloquent too. “What- Liangshan. real Liangshan products, and it will strip
ever boy we pick to work with us should A supply chain boss based in Puji- away all the benefits for people here.” A
be good looking, he doesn’t have to be ang involved in “Liangshan” products lawyer who spoke on condition of ano-
handsome, but he needs to have his surnamed Lin told the reporter that nymity told ChinaReport: “From the civil
own style so viewers will easily remem- his company has deals with online ce- law perspective, these internet celebri-
ber him,” producer Ah Liu said. lebrities across the country and sells ties are conducting fraud, and if their
The online celebrities get differ- dozens of products. He disclosed that fraud involves huge amounts of money,
ent amounts of commissions. The some herbs like ginseng and saffron they are indeed suspected of conducting
livestream source said that walnut sales tagged with a Liangshan provenance are criminal acts.”
attract some 18 to 20 percent commis- purchased from neighbouring Yunnan Thanks to media attention, online
sion, but honey garners 30 percent. Province, apart from a limited number platforms including Douyin have start-
“The more followers, the more sales, of seasonal fruits that may be grown in ed to take action to regulate some of the
the higher the commissions,” the source Liangshan. livestreamers. ChinaReport learned that
said, adding the highest commission Liangshan produce, due to the moun- since mid-June, Qu and Zhao’s Douyin
goes up to 40 percent. Meng Yang can tainous remote location, is of higher accounts have been banned.
make up to 500,000 yuan (US$71,856) a quality and tastes better, and therefore is
week selling walnuts online. “However, more expensive. Suppliers buy cheaper Zhao Chenyan contributed to the story
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

40
Livestream Fraud Photo by Xinhua

Sympathy Farming
From spun sob stories to bait-and-switch schemes, fraud among livestreamers selling
farm produce is damaging China’s poverty alleviation efforts, and legal experts are calling
on streaming agencies, online platforms and local governments to weed it out
By Zhang Xinyu

C
oncerns over false advertis- Some feature teary-eyed elderly farm- However, instead of selling local pro-
ing among livestreamers ers toiling in their fields, lamenting how duce, many source low-quality products
are on the rise – and they their harvests are rotting on the vine be- from other parts of the country and pass
stem from produce sellers cause no one is buying. Vying for sym- them off as those grown by Liangshan’s
in China’s countryside. According to a pathy, they plead with viewers to help impoverished farmers. This hurts the
2022 consumer rights report released by purchasing their fresh produce – at a local economy and damages the region’s
in April, false advertising ranked second low discount. reputation for its varieties of oranges,
among the top seven issues raised by Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefec- green peppers, apples, pomegranates
surveyed Chinese consumers at 37.82 ture in the south of Sichuan Province, and grapes.
percent. bordering Yunnan Province, is one of Though local governments have
Livestreaming has been a major com- the country’s poorest regions. Amid taken measures to curb the trend, agen-
ponent in China’s poverty alleviation the central government’s call for pov- cies known as multi-channel networks
efforts, in which agencies help farmers erty alleviation, e-commerce streamers (MCNs) continue to cash in on Liang-
sell their agricultural products to a na- descended on Liangshan, seeking op- shan by pulling at the nation’s heart-
tionwide market across multiple online portunities to partner with its fruit and strings with sob stories – many of them
platforms. vegetable farmers. works of fiction.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

41
SPECIAL REPORT

Su Haopeng, director of the

Research Centre for Consumer
Protection Law, told ChinaReport
that streamers, MCNs, platforms
and local governments should work
together to remedy false advertising
in e-commerce.

Strange Fruit . Each

fecture
In 2018, an article titled “Liangshan tonomous Pre
n Yi Au ke”
farm girl cries over 250,000 kilograms iangsha
Huili, L jia, meaning
“fa
tes from r
na cte
of unsold apples” appeared on popular megra hinese cha ra
s for po
g video rked with the
C
news platform Toutiao. Photos showed v e rtisin
False ad to is ma
an old man and a girl weeping in a r’s pho
streame
shabby house. The article claimed that farmers took off
bad weather had prevented lorries from the same year.
delivering their apples to market. Major players such as Wei Ya and
The article went viral, and before long naReport revealed. cosmetics influencer Li Jiaqi have also
businesses promoting Yanyuan apples, An employee from Liangshan’s promoted agricultural products on their
a local variety, were seeing 100,000 or- market supervision bureau said such livestreams.
ders a day. Soon after, Yanyuan County practices suppress market prices, dam- As short videos and livestream-
announced the news story was fake, and age the interests of local agricultural ing grew in China, platforms such as
the photo was copied from the internet. workers, and destroy Liangshan’s brand- Douyin and Kwai promoted poverty
Then in 2021, similar videos show- ing. “For example, some livestream- alleviation projects more aggressively.
ing orchards of Huili variety pome- ers sell Huili pomegranates at half the An e-commerce industry insider who
granates in Liangshan popped up on normal price, but they aren’t grown in operates over 20 agricultural product
short video platforms Douyin (China’s Liangshan and the taste is not com- promotion bases in Liangshan told Chi-
TikTok) and Kwai. For example, one parable, which affects the reputation naReport that Douyin, Kwai and other
streamer surnamed Liu told Jiemian. of Huili pomegranates. This dumping platforms drove online traffic to agricul-
com in November 2021 about an elderly also profoundly affects the local pome- tural product livestreams as part of the
farmer who pleaded with him to sell granate businesses,” the source told country’s highly touted rural revitalisa-
his rotting harvest of pomegranates, so ChinaReport. tion strategy.
he called on his followers to help out. An industry insider who works at According to data from Kwai, influ-
Sensing something else was rotten, ne- Qianxun Holdings, the MCN company encers hosted around 2,600 livestreams
tizens and farmers in Liangshan alerted behind online influencer Wei Ya, who promoting agricultural products from
authorities. An investigation revealed has over 17 million followers on Tao- impoverished areas in 2022, making
that the video had been sourced from bao Live and over 9 million on Douyin, it the third-most popular category of
the internet and doctored, and there told ChinaReport: “Top companies in the livestream content on the platform.
were no unsold piles of pomegranates industry certainly won’t engage in false The source from Qianxun Holdings
in Liangshan. advertising because they don’t want to told ChinaReport that legitimate produce
Over the past two years, a number ruin their credibility and reputation.” vendors are certified, meet strict quality
of internet celebrities have emerged In 2016, Alibaba led the market standards for size, granularity, sweet-
from Liangshan, many of them touting by offering livestreaming services on ness and flavour, and have inventory
well-crafted backstories dreamed up their e-commerce platform Taobao, and order fulfillment services.
by MCNs. The products they hawk are enabling vendors to generate orders On the contrary, false advertising
mostly sourced from elsewhere in Sich- during livestreaming sessions. The in livestreams often occurs during
uan and neighbouring Yunnan Province, format was quick to pop up on other one-off sales. After watching mul-
an investigation conducted by Chi- apps. Livestreaming services to support tiple livestreams of several Liangshan
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

42
influencers, ChinaReport found that of 2021, which is still being piloted. In place compared to the millions in profits
many did not provide clear details addition, the Consumer Rights and In- earned make regulation difficult.
for their products, in particular their terests Protection Law, Advertising Law Supervision is also flawed in Liang-
origins. and Anti-Unfair Competition Law pro- shan, experts said. Personnel and fund-
vide legal recourse for consumers. ing are limited, and many influencers or
Legal Perspective In March 2022, the Supreme People’s businesses suspected of false advertis-
Ma Kainong, a lawyer at Zhejiang Court issued 20 articles on regulating ing do not operate locally. “The actual
Zeda Law Firm in Hangzhou, said e-commerce activities, seven of which place of operation has jurisdiction over
there are two stages to false advertis- involved livestreaming. Su believes the issue,” the head of the internet su-
ing in livestreams. “In the early stages, that as legal precedent for regulating pervision department of the Liangshan
internet celebrities attract followers by livestreaming e-commerce increases, Prefecture Market Supervision Bureau
creating false narratives. This does not more articles will be added in the told ChinaReport.
infringe on consumers’ rights and inter- future. The sheer number of operators and
ests, because there was no transaction The provisions clarify civil liability of transactions on e-commerce platforms,
and the two parties had not entered a livestreaming. Article 11 stipulates that and the brief instances of false claims on
contract relationship,” Ma said. “How- courts will award compensation to con- hours-long livestreams, make it difficult
ever, in the next stage, if an internet sumers for any damages incurred from for authorities to collect evidence and
celebrity promotes products and follow- false advertisements in livestreaming. build a case.
ers buy them, then the two parties have In June 2021, a Liangshan court In Su’s opinion, livestreamers should
entered a sales contract. The followers ruled against a production team for be held responsible first and fore-
then become consumers. When the pro- false advertisements. The team’s head most, and MCN agencies must con-
moted products are falsely advertised, it surnamed Zhao received seven days of duct mandatory legal training for their
does infringe on the rights and interests administrative detention, while another influencers.
of consumers,” Ma said. two primary members were fined a Su said that MCNs should also be sub-
Professor Su Haopeng pointed out mere 500 yuan (US$69). ject to stricter regulations. “Platforms
that China’s consumer rights law re- In addition, Ma Kainong said that should not only regulate the behaviour
quires that vendors provide truthful and livestreamers who fabricate stories to of the influencers themselves, but also
accurate information about their com- boost business are committing criminal regulate the MCN agency behind them
modities or services, including quality, fraud. The Criminal Law defines fraud according to the provisions of their user
performance and use. as the act of acquiring public or private agreement,” Su said.
Su added that livestreamers who pitch property through fabricated facts or “The platform must ensure the inter-
false narratives about a product’s origin concealed truths. ests and rights of the majority of con-
are infringing on the law, no matter the However, Ma Kainong said that sumers, since they created the platform,
quality of the product. prosecuting these cases is challenging, cultivated the influencers, set the trans-
“Just because a product is real doesn’t because physical products have been ex- action rules and benefit from collected
necessarily mean the promotion is changed and proving their true origins data,” Liu Junhai said.
truthful. False advertising damages the can be difficult. Platforms are obligated to monitor
rights and interests of consumers,” Su false advertising, and should cooperate
said. Case and Point with regulatory authorities to strength-
Ma told ChinaReport that false narra- Since 2021, Liangshan Prefecture has en supervision, Liu added.
tives spun by influencers prevent con- tried to address false advertising of its “If livestreamers infringe on regu-
sumers from making informed choices. agricultural products. According to the lations, authorities should focus on
They are instead manipulated into mak- Liangshan Prefecture Market Supervi- prosecuting the top earning ones,”
ing charitable ones. sion Bureau, several departments will said Su Haopeng, adding that authori-
Authorities are still working to regu- launch targeted programmes this year. ties should also punish their contracted
late the industry, with the E-commerce Liu Junhai, a law professor at the MCNs. “Only tough punishment will
Law of 2018 and the Online Live Broad- Renmin University of China in Beijing, reverse the chaotic situation as soon as
cast Marketing Management Measures told ChinaReport that the paltry fines in possible,” Su said.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

43
ECONOMY

E-commerce

Wholesale Change
Alibaba’s structural overhaul aims to shift attention back to e-commerce brand
Taobao and reactivate business across its subsidiaries
By Meng Qian and Xu Ming

I
n a June 20 statement, Alibaba LatePost in June. Analysts interpreted The changes come as the giant e-com-
Group announced that Daniel the announcement as signalling a re- merce platform is facing headwinds due
Zhang Yong will step down as turn to its origins, promoting small to complex macro situations, including
chairman and CEO to oversee de- businesses and cost-effective products, a slower recovery than expected after
velopment of Alibaba Cloud, the group’s as consumption suffers in China amid strict pandemic controls were lifted, and
digital technology and intelligence spin- economic stagnancy. external economic shocks.
off to be listed in a few months. The Ma seldom appeared in public since
group is listed in both New York and the Chinese government blocked the Identity Crisis
Hong Kong. blockbuster IPO of Ant Financial in The tech press inevitably connected
Zhang will be succeeded by Joseph late 2020, which was expected to raise Ma’s reappearance in June, where he
C. Tsai, current executive vice chairman upwards of US$30 billion, following popped up at all sorts of occasions, with
of Alibaba as chairman, and Eddie Wu, regulatory concerns over risks in the the company’s restructuring. The an-
chairman of Taobao & Tmall Group, as Chinese fintech sector. nouncement came just a day after Ma
CEO. Tsai and Wu are both co-founders The reshuffle in senior Alibaba per- was spotted in China for the first time
of Alibaba. The reshuffle will take effect sonnel came after the group announced in a year when he visited a school in
on September 10. a sweeping organisational restructure. Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, home to
The announcement saw Alibaba’s On March 28, Zhang announced what Alibaba’s headquarters. Hong Yong, an
Hong Kong-listed shares fall 1.5 percent the Group termed a new “1+6+N” associate researcher at the e-commerce
after the announcement, in line with a structure, which consists of the Ali- institute of the Chinese Academy of
1.6 percent drop in the benchmark in- baba Group and six of its major groups International Trade and Economic Co-
dex, Reuters reported. On the New York to be spun off. The six new groups are operation under the Ministry of Com-
Stock Exchange, its stock price dipped the Cloud Intelligence Group, Taobao merce, told ChinaReport that Ma resur-
by over 4 percent. & Tmall Commerce Group, Local Ser- faced because Alibaba is at a crunch
It could indicate that market senti- vices Group, Cainiao Smart Logistics point.
ment is somewhat guarded about the Network Limited, Alibaba International “On the one hand, its e-commerce
result of the executive reshuffle and Digital Commerce Group and Digital business faces challenges and pressure
company restructure, some analysts Media and Entertainment Group, with from market saturation, intensified
said. the “N” referring to other divisions in- competition and consumer demand
A month prior, Alibaba founder Jack cluding grocery chain Hema, Alihealth upgrade, and on the other, it needs to
Ma, who quit as chairman in 2019 and search app Quark. Alibaba said adjust its development strategy to suit
and then from the board in 2020, held the groups will have their own boards a new market environment,” Hong said.
a meeting with company leaders and and CEOs and will operate indepen- In 2019, the growth of online retailing
stressed that Taobao and Tmall will dently. Zhang said it will “make the in China started to decline, and dropped
need to “return to Taobao, users and organisation more agile, shorten the below the global average for the first
the internet,” especially Taobao, re- decision-making process and increase time, according to the annual report
ported Chinese technology news outlet responsiveness.” on Chinese e-commerce development
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

44
 total revenue increased by only 2 percent
year-on-year, the worst performance
since it went public, while its domestic
retail business, its main source of in-
come that includes Tmall and Taobao,
declined by 3 percent to 132.06 billion
yuan (US$18.1b). In 2022, Alibaba an-
nounced total revenue growth of 19
percent, down on the average of 30 per-
cent for previous years. In comparison,
Pinduoduo’s revenue rose by 58 percent
year-on-year.
Between 2019 and 2022, the com-
bined market share of Tmall and Taobao
declined from 66 percent to 44 percent.
Forecasts predict this share may slide
to around a third of the e-commerce
Visitors check out Alibaba’s booth at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Shanghai,
July 6, 2023 (Photo by IC) market, even if Alibaba’s restructuring
is effective. Upstarts like Pinduoduo,
which focuses on rural markets and dis-
counted goods, and livestreaming plat-
form Douyin have grown rapidly.
released by the Ministry of Commerce. 618, which means the figure is “too low The Covid impact, the deceleration of
In 2022, online retail sales of physical to utter,” said big data service provider e-commerce across the board and fierce
goods grew by 6.2 percent year-on-year Syntun. competition are all factors in the slow
to reach 11.96 trillion yuan (US$1.67t), According to Syntun, overall e- growth of Alibaba, analysts said.
while in countries and regions witness- commerce sales grew by 14.7 percent “For Alibaba, its position in tradi-
ing rapid growth of e-commerce, the year-on-year to 798.7 billion yuan tional e-commerce is threatened by new
rate reached 20 percent. (US$110.2b) between May 31 and June forms of e-commerce and its growth in
The growth of domestic e-commerce 18, the slowest growth in three years. the cloud business is challenged. The
has slowed in the last two years, noted Newer platforms like short-video e- overall economic environment is chang-
Li Yongjian, a researcher with the Chi- commerce livestreamer Douyin, equiva- ing. It’s not enough for Alibaba to be
nese Academy of Social Sciences. lent to TikTok, did see sales growth of the best version of its old self,” noted
In 2021, online retail sales of physical 27.6 over last year. However this is a Cui Lili, executive director of the e-
goods increased by 12 percent year-on- sharp drop from 2022’s 124 percent commerce research centre of Shanghai
year, yet were still 2.8 percentage points growth. Established platforms like Ali- University of Finance and Economics.
lower than the previous year. baba-owned Tmall, JD and Pinduoduo
In the first cross-platform sales pro- increased sales by only 5.4 percent. Taobao Redux
motion of the year, known as 618, Retail sales of Douyin increased by 66 Media reported that in June, Ma met
nominally after June 18 when it culmi- percent during the 618 sales promotion, with key executives, saying that in such
nates, sales were lukewarm, according while fellow short-video platform Kwai challenging times, the company needs
to market watchers. Seen as a barometer saw orders surge by 40 percent, accord- to return to its roots of supporting
to measure consumer spending nation- ing to multiple sources. small- and medium-sized enterprises
wide, even though all platforms offered Established platforms like Alibaba through Taobao, with lower priced
billions of yuan in direct subsidies to and JD face increasingly fierce competi- products, rather than focusing on Tmall
vendors on their platforms which are tion from platforms like Pinduoduo and with higher-priced brands.
passed on as discounts to buyers, con- Douyin. In 2022, JD’s GMV grew by 5.6 It could herald a return to the low-
sumption remained soft. Neither Ali- percent year-on-year, while Douyin’s in- price era for the e-commerce industry,
baba nor its main rival JD revealed their creased by 80 percent. noted interviewed analysts. Taobao,
gross merchandise volume (GMV) for In the first quarter of 2023, Alibaba’s established in 2003, had dominated
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

45
ECONOMY

e-commerce. In 2008, Tmall was estab-

lished as an upgraded version of Taobao
to focus on brand merchants and pro-
vide consumers with a better shopping
experience. It was seen as a timely step
to embrace the trend of consumption
upgrading. Taobao was marginalised
particularly after Tmall became an im-
portant source of revenue for Alibaba
and it was prioritised within the compa-
ny, focusing on better-quality products.
“For years before 2020, with China’s
rapidly expanding economy and increas-
ing disposable income, consumers paid
more attention to the shopping experi-
ence and product quality. In this period,
the market share of high-end shopping
platforms led by Tmall expanded quick-
ly,” Xing Xing, director of financial ad-
visory firm Bestar Consultant’s research
institute, told ChinaReport.
During this time, Alibaba neglected
markets in small cities, counties and
rural areas, leaving an opening for new
platforms like Pinduoduo and Douyin.
The focus on Tmall and brand mer-
chants also led to an exodus of smaller
merchants who found it increasingly
difficult to earn money on Taobao. Many
turned to Pinduoduo and Douyin.
The last three years during the pan-
demic saw unprecedented headwinds.
As the economic recovery stalled, con-
sumers prioritised saving or spent only
on cheaper items. This has upturned Top: An aerial view of the new headquarters of Cainiao Smart Logistics Network (Cainiao Network),
Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, April 17, 2023 (Photos by VCG)
the market for platforms like Tmall and
highlights the importance of Taobao, Bottom: Cainiao logistics workers sort goods at its logistics hub, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, April 21,
2023 (Photos by VCG)
Xing said.
As Taobao and Tmall have different
market positioning, shifting the focus
back to Taobao is an important strate- of the new e-commerce landscape. 2022 promotion.
gic adjustment, Yang Delong noted. Alibaba is already making efforts to Meanwhile, Alibaba is striving to
“The biggest advantage of e-commerce get small sellers back. In May, the Tao- strengthen its livestreaming platform
remains low prices. The quick rise of bao and Tmall Group set up a centre on Taobao.
Pinduoduo and JD’s return to low prices to assist individual sellers and small In June, it started allowing viewers
are impacting Tmall’s business mode businesses, including support policies to tip livestreamers who are content
that relies on high-quality and higher- during 618 promotions. The 2023 event creators but do not sell products. This
priced products,” Yang said. saw 2.56 billion transactions for SMEs attracted many livestreamers who are
Observers say price wars are a feature on the platform, higher than for the either new to the field or from Douyin
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

46
or Kwai. If their follower numbers grow After Taobao and Tmall, which con- and Tencent Cloud have lowered prices,
rapidly, Taobao offers subsidies. tribute 70 percent of Alibaba’s income, starting a new price war.
“The logic here is using content to the cloud unit is expected be the sec- Separating the cloud unit from Aliba-
increase user engagement. The longer ond-biggest source of income, although ba Group is seen as a step to allow it to
they stay, the more likely they may buy it faces challenges both in expanding complete an IPO and attract more out-
or the more they buy,” Zhuang Shuai global market share and fierce competi- side investors to help it compete with
told ChinaReport. tion at home. other domestic cloud service providers.
This is likely why Daniel Zhang is pri- On May 18, Zhang announced that
Cloud Competition oritising it, observers said. Alibaba Cloud would completely spin
In his resignation letter, Daniel Zhang A report published by market re- off from Alibaba Group and is expect-
said the spinoff of Alibaba Cloud had search platform IDC in April shows ed to complete its IPO in the next 12
reached a crucial stage, which required that Alibaba Cloud remains the top months. The cloud unit will accept stra-
his undivided attention. IaaS+PaaS (platform as a service) pro- tegic investors from abroad.
This unit is regarded as having high vider in China, followed by Huawei Cainiao, the logistics unit, and the
potential at a time when the cloud Cloud and China Telecom’s cloud unit grocery brand Freshippo with its Hema
computing market is rising, as well as CTYun, accounting for 31.9 percent of brick-and-mortar shops, have also
enormous development in big data and the domestic market. But its market started the listing process, while Ali-
artificial intelligence. share dropped from 36.7 percent in the baba International Digital Commerce
Data from the Forward Industry Re- first half of 2022 and 42.7 percent in Group, which includes platforms like
search Institute shows that in 2020 the second half of 2018. Huawei Cloud AliExpress and Southeast Asia-focused
and 2021, the scale of the domestic and CTYun both increased their market Lazada, has brought in external financ-
cloud computing market increased share in the latter half of 2022. ing, and the six major business groups
by 56.7 percent and 48.4 percent re- In recent months, domestic cloud ser- have officially established their boards
spectively, totalling 310.2 billion yuan vice providers including Alibaba Cloud of directors, according to Alibaba’s 2023
(US$43.22b) in 2021.
In Alibaba’s financial year of 2023 up
to March 31, Alibaba Cloud’s revenue
rose to 77.2 billion yuan (US$10.76b),
according to Alibaba’s financial report
released on May 18, which accounted for
9 percent of the Group’s total income. It
posted 1.42 billion yuan (US$197.8m)
in adjusted EBITA (earnings before
interest, taxes, and amortisation, a
measure of company profitability), a
year-on-year growth of 24 percent, hav-
ing only been in the black for two years
since its establishment in 2008.
The market share of Alibaba Cloud
has expanded for six years, ranking third
in the global IaaS (infrastructure as a
service) market in 2021, behind Ama-
zon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft
Azure, according to data released by re-
search firm Gartner in 2022.
By March 31, the cloud unit had pro- A Tmall poster for the "618" cross-platform sales promotion advertises cheap prices at a bus stop,
Beijing, June 11, 2023 (Photo by IC)
vided services to over four million cus-
tomers worldwide, including 80 percent
of Chinese tech companies.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

47
ECONOMY

China By Numbers
Year-on-year 5.5%
-0.9% growth of （%）
6
5.1%
4.7%
China’s fixed
Year-on-year change asset invest- 4.0%
in investment in ment in the 3.8%
financial report released in July. primary industries first seven
4 3.4%
The spinoff and separate listing will between January and months of
2023
bring brand new challenges for both July 2023, totalling
Alibaba Group and the six business 606.6 billion yuan 2

groups, according to analysts.

(US$83.2b)
The “1+6+N” structure means the Source: National Bureau of
0 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7
holding group will manage the subsid- Statistics of China
iary groups: It needs to both think as a
whole and coordinate sections and as-
sist in innovation, Cui Lili said.
-4.4% Year- 0 Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July

The purpose of the spinoff is to let on-year （%）

change to -1
these business groups be responsible Year-on-year China’s PPI -0.8%
for their own profits and losses, point-
change to China’s between -2 -1.4%
PPI (Producer Price January
ed out Wong Yi, a senior researcher Index) in July, a pre- and July -3
-2.5%
with DE Thinktank. He believes that cursor of inflation 2023
the spinoff will strengthen each one and profitability of -4
-3.6%
and test their market capabilities. enterprises -5
-4.6% -4.4%
But ensuring synergy and avoiding Source: National Bureau
-6 -5.4%
internal competition while following of Statistics of China
a consistent strategy will be an issue,
director of Bestar Consultant Xing
Xing noted. With separate listings, the
parent company will focus on manage- 115,000 11.1%
ment and improving its subsidiaries’ tons Year-on-year
profitability. But after the advanta- Total amount of recycled growth in per
geous assets are separated, maintain- and reused waste power capita income
ing the parent company’s investment batteries between Janu- migrant work-
ary and May 2023, sur- ers sent home
value will be a challenge, Xing said. passing that of the entire in the first half
On August 10, Alibaba announced year of 2022 of 2023
its financial results for the second quar-
Source: Ministry of Industry Source: National
ter of the year, the first following its and Information Technology Bureau of Statis-
organisational restructure. The results of China tics of China
show year-on-year growth of 14 per-
cent in revenue while income from op-
erations increased by 70 percent year- Year- （%） 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

on-year. Among the main spin-offs, 12.7% on-year

change in Value added of
6.6%
the revenue of Taobao & Tmall Group Year-on-year the per- wholesale and retail

grew by 12 percent year-on-year while growth of formance

China’s per of China’s Value added of
15.5%
its local service, logistics and cloud consumer hotel and catering
capita service
service spin-offs respectively grew by consumption
service Value added of
industry transportation,
6.9%
30 percent, 34 percent and 4 percent. expenditure
warehousing and
in the first postal services
Its China commerce retail business in the first half half of 2023
Business passenger
115.8%
increased by 13 percent over the same of 2023 turnover

period of 2022. The result was better Source: National Theater box
office returns 52.9%
than market expectations, and analysts Bureau of Statistics of
China / China Film
believe it shows tacit market approval Administration
for Alibaba’s reshuffle.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

48
 INTERVIEW

Music

Heart Strings
An international string competition in China’s ‘City of Music’ is set to offer a feast
for the ears and stir the spirits of people from around the world
By Wang Nina

blending music from the East and West.

Many European musicians moved to
Harbin in the early 20th century, mak-
ing it one of the first Chinese cities to
embrace Western music. At the open-
ing ceremony of the 36th China Harbin
Summer Music Festival on August 6, Lu
Yingchuan, China’s vice-minister of cul-
ture and tourism, declared the date the
city’s annual “Music Day.” The SISC is
part of the festival.
In an interview with CNS, Xue talks
about the East-West exchanges behind
the competition, and how it has brought
Xue Suli China and the world closer.

CNS: Why did you want to bring the

SISC to Harbin?
Xue Suli: First and foremost, it’s
out of my love for my hometown. I’m

F
rom September 5-17, China’s in Harbin biennially since 2014 thanks
northeastern city of Harbin in part to the efforts of internationally a Harbin native, and early on in my vio-
will host the 5th Schoenfeld renowned Chinese-American violinist lin studies, the city’s older generation
International String Compe- Xue Suli, a member of the Los Angeles of musicians such as conductor Zhuo
tition (SISC), an international music Philharmonic Orchestra and artistic di- Mingli and music theorist Liao Shutong
competition founded in 2013 in honour rector of Schoenfeld International String as well as many other local artists, of-
of legendary German-American violin- Competition. Born in Harbin in 1959, fered me care and guidance. My success
ist Alice Schoenfeld (1921-2019) and he became a protege of Alice Schoen- would have been impossible without
her sister, cellist Eleonore Schoenfeld feld at the Thornton School of Music at this fertile ground to grow musically.
(1925-2007). the University of Southern California In addition, Harbin was one of the first
The first competition was held in (USC) in 1986. places in China to embrace Western
Hong Kong in 2013, and it has been held Harbin has a rich cultural heritage of music: the city established China’s first
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

49
INTERVIEW

full-size symphony orchestra in 1908, as is among the most prestigious US Mehta was about to conduct a concert,
well as the country’s first professional conservatories. the SISC was underway, and Fu had just
music school in 1921. So Harbin is en- Alice Schoenfeld visited Harbin in performed in two concerts.
dowed with a rich musical culture, and 2014 and 2016 to help with the compe-
is recognised by the United Nations as a tition. She was particularly fond of this CNS: This is the third Harbin SISC.
“City of Music.” city, and saw it as her Chinese home- What was it like to start it from scratch?
The SISC was founded by world- town, commenting there is music in the XS: Everything is difficult at the be-
renowned violinist Alice Schoenfeld and air of this beautiful city. She held public ginning. For an international competi-
her sister, cellist Eleonore Schoenfeld. masterclasses at the Old Synagogue tion, a key step is to invite young talent
They were my mentors. Born into a Concert Hall and the Glasnov School of with potential from all over the world.
musical family in Germany, they were Music (both of the city’s Sino-Judaic In- We’ve worked really hard to promote
famous educators and performers of the stitute), which children rushed to join, this competition in international music
20th century, devoting their lives to mu- hoping to showcase their talents for an media, on social media platforms, and
sic performance and education. international master. Schoenfeld was important events. Today, it has attracted
Since I left China and studied abroad very fond of Chinese children. She lis- over 1,000 participants, 75 percent of
in 1986, I have always cared about tened attentively to their performances whom come from overseas, with a year-
China. When Professor Alice Schoen- at the Glasnov School of Music, offered on-year applicant growth rate of 10 per-
feld founded the SISC, my first thought them valuable suggestions, and held cent. This is very impressive for China,
was to bring it to Harbin. Music knows them in her arms for photos. and even Asia. The SISC has become a
no borders, and it’s an important way In 2016, Alice Schoenfeld attended truly international competition.
to communicate between cultures. So the opening ceremony of the 33rd Har- Harbin SISC follows high global stan-
organising a large-scale comprehensive bin Summer Music Concert. At the age dards, with an ever-growing influence
string competition in Harbin is a way of 95, she became the oldest interna- across the world. In 2017, the com-
to bring young, gifted musicians from tionally renowned musician to attend petition joined the World Federation
countries around the world to China, to the opening ceremony. Towards the end of International Music Competitions
Harbin, to experience the musical cul- of the event, we suggested she return (WFIMC), which is part of UNESCO’s
ture here. This will not only help people to Los Angeles ahead of schedule, out International Music Council. On De-
overseas better understand Harbin and of consideration for her health. But she cember 30, 2019, Harbin became the
China, but also offer more opportunities said the competition was not over yet, event’s permanent host. In 2021, Ye
for exchanges between musicians and and she had not stayed long enough in Sisi, CEO of the SISC, became the first-
music lovers both home and abroad. her “city of music.” ever Chinese member of the WFIMC
In July 2016, world-class conductor board. In addition, Harbin will host the
CNS: Schoenfeld visited Harbin to Zubin Mehta led a concert with the Har- WFIMC’s 2025 Annual Meeting, the
consult on the Harbin SISC. How did bin Symphony Orchestra. At the end of first time the event is being held in Chi-
she feel about the city? the event, he met with Alice Schoenfeld na. It’s an unprecedented breakthrough
XS: The Schoenfeld sisters [first] and 81-year-old Chinese musician Fu for Harbin.
visited China in the early 1980s, per- Gengchen. The three elders gathered
forming at the Central Conservatory of in Harbin, making it an unforgettable CNS: What role has the SISC played
Music and the Shanghai Conservatory and touching moment in music his- in promoting exchange between China
of Music, and had fruitful exchanges tory. Mehta and Schoenfeld knew each and the West?
with Chinese musicians from Beijing, other and had performed together since XS: I studied abroad, and later joined
Shanghai and other places. With their they were young. As a music educator, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orches-
recommendations, over 100 Chinese Schoenfeld trained many string musi- tra as a tenured performer. And I pro-
students received scholarships to the cians, some of whom later worked with mote Chinese music wherever I can. In
USC Thornton School of Music, which Mehta. At the time of their meetup, 1998, I founded the Pacific Harmony
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

50
 countries around the world, Harbin
SISC not only promotes cultural ex-
changes between China and the US, but
also between China and European coun-
tries, as well as countries along the Belt
and Road Initiative. Under the WFIMC
framework, we share resources, learn
from each other, and work with over
100 of the world’s top music competi-
tions, which greatly enhances coopera-
tion and exchange, and contributes to
the common prosperity of the world’s
music culture, as well as the building of
a shared future for humanity.
Harbin went from not even having
a music conservatory to being home
to Harbin Concert Hall, Harbin Grand
Theater, Harbin Conservatory of Music
and Harbin Music Museum, all of which
further highlight the competition as an
international and professional event.
Since the SISC was first held in Har-
bin in 2014, it has attracted more than
100 top music conservatories around
the world and more than 1,000 top
string musicians. With global competi-
tors and renowned artists gathering in
Harbin, a top platform for international
exchange has been built for music per-
formance and education.
Music is a wonderful bridge that con-
nects people across time and space. As
WFIMC president Peter Paul Kainrath
said, the SISC has brought the world to
Top: Xue Suli rehearses with children from a violin group in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province China, to Harbin, as well as brought Chi-
na’s and Harbin’s cultures to the world.
Bottom: Harbin Grand Theatre, one of the venues for the Schoenfeld International String
Competition (SISC), August 9, 2023 (Photo by VCG) Through the competition, the world could
learn more about China’s string music,
and the country as well. It will serve as an
important window and bridge that con-
String Quartet, which enjoyed great heard such wonderful music from the nects the WFIMC and China.
popularity in the US, Europe and other East, and they asked us for autographs,
countries. When we performed Chi- which I think is the charm of cultural This article was originally published by
nese works in the UK, audiences were communication. W.E. TALK, a China News Service produc-
very excited, saying they had never With participants from dozens of tion. Reprinted with permission from CNS
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

51
CULTURE

Film

A Legend Retold
The most ambitious and expensive Chinese film project to date, epic fantasy Fengshen
trilogy, dubbed China’s ‘Lord of the Rings,’ updates an ancient saga with contemporary
values while re-engineering domestic film production to achieve it
By Ni Wei and Yi Ziyi

was so intense I couldn’t forget it.”

W
hile watching the epic accomplishments earned him the op-
Lord of the Rings trilogy The seed of ambition was sown. portunity to realise his dream – make
in the early 2000s, Wuershan proved his prowess in a fantasy trilogy on par with Lord of the
Wuershan said he was producing blockbusters, with three suc- Rings with Chinese source material.
overcome by jealousy. cessful commercial films – The Butcher, Wuershan’s Fengshen trilogy of films
“I kept asking myself why didn’t The Chef, and the Swordsman (2011), is based on the most well-known
I make this series?” the 51-year-old Painted Skin 2 (2012) and Mojin: The classic fantasy novel in China, Feng-
ethnic Mongolian director told ChinaRe- Lost Legend (2015). Earning 700 million shen Yanyi, or The Investiture of the Gods,
port. “This was a sort of habit of mine. yuan (US$96m) at the box office in written by Xu Zhonglin and Lu Xixing
Every time I saw an extremely good China alone, Painted Skin 2 once held during the Ming Dynasty (1368-
film, I always wished I’d made it. When the record as the Chinese mainland’s 1644). It is a romanticised telling of
I watched Lord of the Rings, the feeling highest-grossing domestic film. These the overthrow of King Zhou, the last
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

52
 Left, Middle and Right: Still photos of Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms

ruler of the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty China’s leading media review website The Fengshen set covered over 33
(1600-1046 BCE). He is depicted in Douban, with dozens of previous cine- hectares of the Oriental Movie Me-
Chinese history as a depraved tyrant matic and TV adaptations of Investiture, tropolis, an enormous film production
who invented tortures that mainly critics and netizens alike are describing complex in Qingdao, on the coast of
involved grilling his victims alive. it as the best version to date. Shandong Province.
With a budget of 3 billion yuan On his visit, Guo Fan said he was as-
(US$414m) and a crew of over 8,000, Unprecedented Project tonished by how such a gigantic project
the Fengshen trilogy is one of the most During the Shanghai International could be run so efficiently and quietly.
ambitious and expensive projects in Film Festival in June 2019, Guo Fan, “There was no hustle and bustle at all.
Chinese film. Starting in 2014, the proj- director of the groundbreaking sci-fi Everyone was disciplined, and it was so
ect’s screenplay took five years to write, blockbuster The Wandering Earth series, quiet you could have heard a pin drop,”
and another 18 months to shoot. spoke of his visit to the Fengshen set and Guo said.
The first installment of what will the project’s scale, professionalism and What surprised him most was the
be three films – Creation of the Gods I: exceptional management. schedule – the crew worked regular of-
Kingdom of Storms – was released on “I was in awe of Fengshen’s level fice hours. For The Wandering Earth, Guo
July 20th, 2023. By August 13, it had of production. In comparison, The recalled how his crew once shot for 27
grossed over 2 billion yuan (US$275m) Wandering Earth was like a handicraft hours straight.
at the domestic box office. For refer- workshop, like raising livestock,” Guo Casting such a monumental film
ence, China’s highest grossing domes- said at the press conference. required the same efficiency. Eleven
tic film of all time is war film The Battle Guo’s remark aroused curiosity casting crews took a year finding actors
at Lake Changjin (2021) at 5.8 billion within the industry, as The Wandering in China and abroad who could clear
yuan (US$799.2m). Earth series was already lauded for be- two years for the project. Wuershan
Comparing Wuershan’s latest film, ing nearly on par with top Hollywood personally auditioned 1,400 actors from
which earned a rating of 7.8/10 on productions. a list of 15,000. He eventually chose 30,
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

53
CULTURE

Musicians in period costume at a premiere for Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms hosted by video platform Bilibili, Shanghai, July 18
(Photo by VCG)

who underwent six months of intensive public usually regards visual effects Investiture tells the story of King
training that involved acting, horseback as the most prominent indicator. He Wu, who overthrew the Shang in the
riding, swordplay, archery, ancient ranks it last. Instead, the director 11th century BCE to found the Zhou
music and etiquette. stresses creativity, both screenplay Dynasty, which lasted 800 years and
The sets took years to build, employ- and visual aesthetics, and production set the foundations of Chinese politics
ing more than 1,000 woodcarvers and management. and culture. Meanwhile, it taps into
carpenters. “Ensuring the effective cooperation indigenous religion Taoism and its rich
A recreation of Longde Palace, of every sector and guaranteeing daily cultural and mythological tapestry.
the main palace of the Shang court, operations over such a long time were “Journey to the West involves Bud-
took more than seven months. The already quite big accomplishments in dhism, while Investiture is purely
17-metre-tall structure is exquisitely Chinese film production,” Wuershan Chinese – it’s an imagined world of
decorated with more than 1,500 orna- told ChinaReport. Chinese people, from which we can
mentations made from wood, clay and perceive the roots of our people’s
stone. An imposing wooden folding China’s Lord of the Rings mindsets. So I think it’s an ideal choice
screen carved with images recounting When the idea of making a Lord of to adapt such a story,” the director told
the 500-year history of the Shang and the Rings-like trilogy based on Chinese news outlet The Paper.
its rulers, sits behind the throne. source material came to him, Wuershan Wuershan enlisted the help of
“It creates a sense of trust,” Fengshen carefully mulled his options. screenwriters Lu Wei (Farewell My Con-
art director Qiu Sheng said about the He considered standard fare such as cubine) and James Schamus (Crouching
necessity of elaborate sets. “Our crew the Buddhist fantasy adventure Journey Tiger, Hidden Dragon) over the five years
could feel it and audiences will also feel to the West and historic war drama of revisions.
it eventually.” Romance of the Three Kingdoms. But Wuer- He also consulted producer Barrie M.
Wuershan told ChinaReport that there shan arrived at Investiture of the Gods for Osborne (Lord of the Rings), who gave
are three major criteria in appraising its blend of history and mythology told Wuershan sage advice – film the three
a blockbuster’s production level. The as an epic saga. installments at once to reduce costs.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

54
 Wuershan told ChinaReport this “The core of our adaptation is to relationships and shows how each
made sense because the trilogy’s plots bring myths and legends back to hu- individual makes choices in a quandary
occur sequentially, so the sets could be man nature. As modern people living in of morality, justice and family. In this
reused. “After all, it’s much harder to the real world, we don’t have supernat- story, it is patriarchy itself, instead of
refurbish an old house than to refur- ural powers, but we understand fathers women, that leads to the collapse of the
nish an empty one,” he said. The actors and family… Such basic emotions of dynasty. The film presents a fresh new
would also be primed for their best humanity are something that every interpretation of an ancient old text,”
performances following their six-month one of us can relate to,” Wuershan told “Xu Ruofeng” commented on Douban.
training. Yangcheng Evening News. With post-production for the next
Audiences praised the film for two installments underway, their
Father-Son Complex subverting the prevalent misogynous release still depends on box-office
While most adaptations focus narratives in Investiture and its past revenue from the first.
on Jiang Ziya, an elderly sage and adaptations. For example, Su Daji, King “We never thought of cutting corners
resourceful military strategist, the Zhou’s concubine, has always been – there’s no shortcut for us to take,”
Fengshen trilogy centres on the story of a portrayed as a scheming femme fatale Wuershan said. “We are devoting our-
young man – Ji Fa, who would become that spells the downfall of the Shang. selves to ploughing an uncertain field,
King Wu and found the Zhou Dynasty King Zhou, notorious for his and we’ll harvest it only after all three
(1046-256 BCE). debauched cruelty, is often portrayed films have been released.”
As Ji Fa is not a focal point in the as Su Daji’s easily-manipulated puppet.
novel, Wuershan told ChinaReport that It is a standard trope in Chinese drama
it leaves more room to develop his and conventional: beautiful women of
story about the growth of a young hero, the court like Su Daji are often blamed
which resonates with contemporary for the fall of a dynasty, rather than the
young audiences. folly of its emperors.
Father figures also play an important In Wuershan’s film, King Zhou is
role. Fengshen reinterprets the relation- no marionette. He is a competent
ship between Ji Fa and Yin Shou, who commander-in-chief and unscrupulous
would become the Shang King Zhou royal who murdered his father and
that he eventually overthrows, from elder brother for the throne.
avuncular to adversarial. In the original Su Daji is recast as the incarnation of
novel, these two characters never meet a fox spirit who King Zhou saves purely
until the final Battle of Muye in 1046 by accident during a battle. In gratitude,
BCE. she devotes her supernatural powers to
In the film, the crown requires each his service – which he uses to fulfil his
Shang duke to send one son to the twisted ambitions.
royal court as collateral to ensure their “The most laudable point about the
loyalty. Ji Fa, the second son of the latest Fengshen film lies in the reshap-
Western Duke Ji Chang, was among ing of Su Daji. She is no more a Helen
them. There he grew up with other of Troy figure. Women are no longer
boys of the aristocracy and trained in portrayed as the bane of a country’s
combat by military official Yin Shou, fall,” “strawberriiia” commented on
who Ji Fa sees as a father figure. Sina Weibo.
After Yin Shou becomes King Zhou, “The first installment of Fengshen
Ji Fa discovers that his father, Ji Chang, unveils an excellent opening chapter
was conspiring with other dukes to beyond expectations. Very few battle
overthrow the king. Torn between scenes between deities and demons Poster for Gods of Honour, a 2001 TV series
loyalty and love, Ji Fa is forced to make are depicted. Instead, it focuses on adaptation of Investiture of the Gods, which
aired on TVB in Hong Kong
difficult decisions. the dynamics of multiple father-son
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

55
HISTORY

Li Bai

‘The Banished Immortal’

An animated blockbuster brings to life some of the most iconic figures in Chinese literary
history and has revived interest in a Tang Dynasty poet whose name evokes legends
By Lü Weitao and Zhang Jin

A
mid this summer’s scorch- Guinian, as well as members of the im- of four of his poems into his monu-
ing heat waves and raging perial family such as Princess Yuzhen, a mental orchestral work The Song of the
typhoons, a Chinese animat- celebrated patron of the arts. Earth (1908), and American poet Ezra
ed film heated up the box The film not only won praise for Pound’s translation of his poems in
office. Unexpected blockbuster Chang seamlessly weaving 48 well-known the collection Cathay (1915), which is
An raked in more than 1.7 billion yuan Tang poems into its plot, but also for lauded for introducing Li to the greater
(US$234m) since its release on July 8. reviving interest in classical Chinese Anglosphere.
The animated feature earned a rating of literature. Media reports from cinemas However, the work of celebrated Chi-
8.1 out of 10 on Douban, China’s largest across the country described how school nese translator Xu Yuanchong (1921-
media review platforms. children recited the poems aloud as they 2021) captures the metre and rhyme of
The film draws inspiration from the watched the film, their parents explain- Li in English like no other. This article
most celebrated poets of the Tang Dy- ing the plot as it unfolded. features his translations.
nasty (618-907), one of the most pros- Renowned Australian translator and Wine and the moon are the two mo-
perous eras of Chinese history. At its writer Linda Jaivin assisted with the tifs featured prominently in Li’s poems.
largest, the empire stretched from the English subtitles of the film to convey In one of Chang An’s most memorable
entirety of China’s prosperous east to a the beauty and cultural context of the scenes, Li recites his seminal work
corridor along the Silk Road stretching Tang poetry. With decades of experience “Invitation to Wine” as he stands with
into what is today’s Xinjiang Uyghur in Chinese translation, Jaivin’s work in friends by the roaring Yellow River, then
Autonomous Region. cinema includes subtitling Farewell My soars into the sky on the back of a crane.
Chang’an was the name of the ancient Concubine, which won the Palme d’Or at Li was born in 701 to a wealthy mer-
Tang capital, now Xi’an in Northwest the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. chant family in present-day Kyrgyzstan.
China’s Shaanxi Province. In its heyday, According to legend, when his mother
it was one of the largest and richest cit- Wandering Soul was pregnant with him, she dreamed of
ies in the world. Considered the golden age of Chinese a white star falling from heaven. This
The 168-minute film zooms in on the poetry, more than 50,000 Tang poems partially gave rise to the myth that he
decades-long friendship between Li Bai, have survive, composed by some 2,000 was a “banished immortal,” which later
arguably China’s most famous poet, poets. Li Bai, credited with around 1,100 became his nickname.
and Gao Shi, a military general and re- poems, as well as Du Fu, are considered When Li was four years old, the
nowned poet in his own right, amid the the two greatest poets of Chinese liter- family moved to Qinglian, Southwest
Tang’s slow transition from prosperity ary history. China’s Sichuan Province. He grew up
to decline during the mid-8th century. Li’s poetry is celebrated for its unre- reading Chinese classics and practised
Chang An also spotlights some of Li’s strained imagination and conversational horseback riding and fencing. Accord-
most famous contemporaries, including tone. His influence even resonates in ing to legend, Li wrote his first poems
poets Du Fu and Wang Wei, calligra- Western culture, including Austrian at 10 years old. However, the boy was
pher Zhang Xu and palace musician Li composer Gustav Mahler’s integration not a hardworking student and tended
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

56
 Chinese idiom “with sufficient time and
effort, you can grind an iron rod into a
needle.”
As an adult, Li Bai set his sights on
a career in politics. But his merchant
family background was an insurmount-
able obstacle. In Confucian society,
merchants were a lowly caste and not
allowed to sit the imperial examination,
the gateway to officialdom and social
mobility. Instead, Li took another tack.
He would pass his writings to powerful
officials seeking their patronage, a prac-
tice known as “passing the scroll.” But
young Li had no takers.
Instead, Li left home at 24 to travel,
financed by a substantial amount of
money his father left him after he died.
Li sailed down the Yangtze River all the
way to present-day Yangzhou and Nan-
jing in East China’s Jiangsu Province.
During his travels, he associated with
many famous people and spent extrava-
gantly on entertaining friends. He was
still trying to secure a patron, but even-
tually burned through all his money
and had to return home. To express his
nostalgia for this period, he wrote the
masterpiece “A Tranquil Night”:

Abed, I see a silver light,

I wonder if it’s frost aground.
Looking up, I find the moon bright;
Bowing, in homesickness I’m drowned.
Top, Middle and Bottom: Li Bai depicted in his youth, middle age and old age in film
(Translated by Xu Yuanchong)
Chang An
Rivals and Rebels
Twenty years later in 742, Li finally
found a patron. Through a well-con-
to spend most of his time outdoors. thinking the old woman had lost her nected friend, Li presented his writings
Some folk legends surrounding Li’s mind. But the old woman admonished to Emperor Xuanzong in Chang’an. The
early life are preserved as Chinese idi- him, saying, “Don’t laugh young man. emperor took a great personal liking to
oms. Among the most well-known to- As long as I keep grinding, I will make Li, and granted him a position at the
day is the “rod and needle” story: One a fine needle out of this coarse rod Hanlin Academy, an elite institution
day while roaming around, Li saw an someday.” that provided the court with scholarly
old woman in front of a straw-thatched Li pondered her words. After that, he and literary services.
hut, grinding an iron rod on a big stone. became a very dedicated student and During his time in Xuanzong’s ser-
When asked why, she said she was paid undivided attention to his studies. vice, Li wrote many poems compli-
fashioning it into a needle. Li laughed, Over the years, the story gave rise to the menting the beauty of the emperor’s
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

57
HISTORY

favourite concubine, Yang Guifei. But religion. A student of Taoism since his I only want to get drunk and never to
in a drunken gaffe, he asked the court’s youth, Li officially became a Taoist after wake.
most powerful eunuch, Gao Lishi, to enduring a physically challenging ritual How many great men were forgotten
help remove his boots in front of the witnessed by friends. In the autumn of through the ages?
emperor. Gao was furious. In revenge, that year, he met the poet Du Fu. The But great drinkers are more famous
Gao persuaded Yang Guifei to take of- two connected over a shared love of po- than sober sages.
fence at Li Bai’s poems about her. Em- etry and wine, and lived together for a The Prince of Poets feasted in his pal-
peror Xuanzong dismissed Li from the time. ace at will,
imperial court in 744, but not without It was through Du Fu that Li met Drank wine at ten thousand a cask and
a generous severance of gold and silver. Gao Shi, the co-star of Chang An. While laughed his fill.
After leaving Chang’an, Li found the decades-long friendship between A host should not complain of money
Li and Gao began in their 40s, Chang he is short,
An takes a liberty by portraying the two To drink with you I will sell things of
meeting in their 20s, perhaps to main- any sort.
tain the interest of younger filmgoers. My fur coat worth a thousand coins of
For the next 10 years, Li continued to gold
travel the country, writing poems and And my flower-dappled horse may be
meeting with friends along the way. It sold
was during this period that he penned To buy good wine that we may drown
the timeless classic “Invitation to the woe age-old.
Wine”: (Translated by Xu Yuanchong)

Do you not see the Yellow River come But the good times would not last. In
from the sky, 755, the An Lushan Rebellion erupted.
Rushing into the sea and never come An Lushan, a Tang general, declared
back? himself emperor in northern China by
Do you not see the mirrors bright in establishing the short-lived Yan Dynasty
chambers high, (755-763) and even seized the capital
Grieve over your snow-white hair Chang’an for a time.
though once it was silk-black? Though eventually quashed, the
When hopes are won, oh! Drink your rebellion, which spanned eight years
fill in high delight, and the reigns of three Tang emperors,
And never leave your wine-cup empty shook the most glorious empire in Chi-
in moonlight! nese history to its core.
Heaven has made us talents, we’re not During the chaos, Emperor Xuan-
made in vain. zong’s 16th son, Prince Yong, made
A thousand gold coins spent, more will an attempt to occupy regions south of
turn up again. the Yangtze River. Seeing his chance to
Kill a cow, cook a sheep and let us fulfil his political aspirations, Li joined
merry be, the prince to become his poet laureate.
And drink three hundred cupfuls of But the prince was accused of treason
wine in high glee. in 756 and executed the following year.
Dear friends of mine, Accused of guilt by association, Li was
Cheer up, cheer up! arrested and imprisoned.
I invite you to wine. In 758, Li was exiled to Yelang, a city
Do not put down your cup! on the western fringes of the Tang em-
I will sing you a song, please hear, pire in present-day Guizhou Province.
O hear! lend me a willing ear! He stopped for prolonged visits with
A depiction of Li Bai by Liang Kai, a painter in What difference will rare and costly friends on the way, leaving poems with
the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) dishes make? detailed descriptions of his long journey.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

58
 Meanwhile, things were not going
so well back in Chang’an. The empire
was suffering from a severe drought
that threatened the Tang’s grip on
power. Emperor Suzong, who reigned
from 756-762, offered general am-
nesty for all convicts. This was a pro-
tocol among emperors during natural
disasters, as it was believed the act
of mercy would curry blessings from
heaven.
Li was pardoned before he arrived in
Yelang. Regardless of whether the em-
peror’s order pleased the heavens, Li
was elated by the news, and composed White Emperor City, an ancient scenic spot in Chongqing, mentioned in Li Bai’s poem “Leaving the
the poem “Leaving the White Emperor White Emperor City at Dawn” (Photo by VCG)
City at Dawn” to express his joy in re-
turning home:

Leaving at dawn the White Emperor 61. Legend has it he drowned in the exile, never to see her again. He had
crowned with rainbow cloud, Yangtze River, falling from his boat altogether two sons and one daughter
I have sailed a thousand miles through while trying to embrace the moon’s re- with the first wife and the third wife,
Three Georges in a day. flection – while drunk, of course. but never settled down to raise them.
With monkeys’ sad adieus the river- In a final bit of irony, Li realised his He came from wealth, but preferred life
banks are loud, political ambitions in death. The next as a vagabond. He gambled in politics,
My boat has left ten thousand moun- emperor, Daizong, issued a decree in and always fell on the losing side.
tains far away. 764 appointing him as his counsellor, His poetry reflects this undulating
(Translated by Xu Yuanchong) unaware that Li had already been dead spirit: he can be lyrical or descriptive,
for two years. wildly celebratory or sombre and self-
Li eventually made his way to Dan- Li lived as he wrote – unbridled. He reflective. It is these contrasts, and
gtu, now Dangtu County, East China’s married four times. His first and third the universal emotions he so elegantly
Anhui Province, to live with a relative, wife died, he left the second one, and captured in a wine cup, that make his
where he passed away in 762. He was was separated with his last wife during poetry immortal.

This article is a transcript of an episode

of NewsChina’s Podcast The Context.
Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music,
Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Deezer, Listen
Notes, Player FM, Podcast Index and RSS Feed.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

59
OUTSIDEIN
A view of
Ulanhada Volcano
Geopark, Ulanqab,
Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region
(Photo by Kathleen
Naday)

Ulanqab

Space Mountains
Get spaced out on a visit to Ulanhada Volcano Geopark, where you can admire the
alchemy and brimstone in an as yet undeveloped tourist hotspot
By Kathleen Naday

I
f space-bro Elon Musk fails in his problem, although getting to the dispersed in the grassland around the
stated ambition to get to Mars, he could nearest city of Ulanqab is easy by park, offering a choice of yurt-style
perhaps find an alternative in the other- high-speed train from Beijing, it’s or regular rooms. Food is fairly basic,
worldly landscape of Ulanhada Volcano still 70 kilometres to the park, with but they all offer Mongolian lamb and
Geopark. They even provide the spacesuits. no public transportation. Many mutton dishes. Vegetarians might
Or Harry Potter cloaks, though magic might people drive, hire a car in Ulanqab, want to bring their own food, as
not work as well as a rocket. They have those or join a bus tour. My solution was there are no shops or restaurants and
too, in the form of gigantic fireworks on sale to to persuade a Chinese friend with a the nearest town of Baiyinchagan is
“recreate an eruption.” driving licence to come, though I felt about 20 minutes’ drive. The place
The volcano park lies just inside the border slightly guilty when we were faced was quiet when we went, though the
of China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous with extra steps at the train station owner was ominously testing a kara-
Region, in Charhar Right Rear Banner of so I could register and pick up tickets, oke system. He had invested some 8
Ulanqab, some 450 kilometres north of Beijing. and when the first guest house million yuan (US$1.1m) in this and
This sticky summer, a trip to the cooler climbs said I couldn’t stay as police said no a nearby resort, he said, obviously
of the Mongolian grasslands, where the eroded foreigners allowed. We found a newly expecting things to get much busier.
volcanic remnants stick up precipitously from opened resort, where the owner said
the flat landscape, has been popular with fami- on the down-low that because his Cone Climbing
lies, as local authorities are eager to promote place was new, he wasn’t connected So far, the park is free to enter, a
the area. to the registration system. rarity in China. A road winds through
As a volcano nerd, I was keen to go – one Much of the accommodation is the main volcanic cones, and you can
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

60
stop where you like for photos or Screensaver Landscape
to walk around. The last burst of Driving back to Ulanqab, certainly the
volcanic activity in the area was cleanest Chinese city I’ve ever seen, with its
some 10,000 years ago, and the wide boulevards and enormous new civic
cones form the southern-most end buildings, we took the scenic route through the
of a chain of ancient volcanos that Huitengxile Grassland, famous for its Valley
sweep to China’s northeast for of the Flowers and extensive windfarms. I had
some 1,000 kilometres. looked at this as an alternative accommodation
There are eight main volcanos base, but many comments on guesthouse sites
and peaks, all numbered, though pointedly said that if you liked views of wind
they have fanciful Chinese names turbines more than grasslands, then this was
too. The most popular are No.3, for you. I do like wind turbines, but perhaps
where there is a wooden staircase not in front of my window. The accommoda-
to the summit, No.6, where there tion choices did not look as good as around
are off-road quad bikes for hire, as the volcano, and the area as a whole was much
A child wears an astronaut costumes at
well as the astronaut costumes in a No.6 volcano, Ulanhada Volcano Geopark, more commercial, with many places offering
range of mostly pastel colours, and China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region activities like horseback riding and archery.
(Photo by Kathleen Naday)
No.5, an almost perfect conical If you wanted to see the actual Valley of the
volcano with a sunken crater. No.4 Flowers, you must brave a one-way driving
volcano has a small museum. system with occasional traffic jams, navigate
We started at No.6 volcano, or the huge welcome centre (though it did have
South Alchemy Furnace. It has reasonable toilets and food options), dodge the
been extensively mined, leaving crowds, and pay an entrance fee. We opted to
a deformed cone, half blasted drive around outside, where it was free. There
away to reveal the red rocks and are marked places to stop on the road, and as
a distinct whiff of sulphur. This long as you are careful, you can walk among
is the hot spot for “spacewalks”, the flowers, which after the rain were bloom-
as people descend to the base to ing in sprigs of white, purple, yellow and blue.
pose among the barren rocks in their by strong winds, sent people scur- After a rainy morning, the afternoon was
bulky space suits and wonky helmets. rying for cover. Together with its marked by clear blue skies and rainbows. “It
A crushed-rock path around the cone neighbour, South Jianshan Mountain, looks like the old Microsoft screensaver,” my
affords good views of the adjacent the two are poetically known as friend remarked.
mountains. “Double Breasts Peaks.” Not vol- While pleasant to see the flowers and
Next stop was No.3, the place to canos, these landforms are tectonic extensive grasslands, the commercialism is in
view the sunset, we were assured. formations. A path to the top brings stark contrast to the still-undeveloped volcano
However, after slogging up the panoramic views of Nos.5 and 6 park. But more tourists, and the ubiquitous
steps to the top, around 700 metres cones, although on this occasion, the influencers, are certainly on their way, judging
high, the wind became so strong we weather was a little too extreme to by the construction and road improvements,
were almost blown off. Descend- linger. It had been an usually dry year, and possibly entrance gates. As Laozi almost
ing into the actual crater, a small the guesthouse owner had assured probably didn’t say, “Go now, before the ravag-
tornado formed in the centre. It’s also us, and the winds didn’t normally ing hordes descend.” Or Elon Musk.
known as “Little Mount Fuji,” for its blow in summer. Certainly the skinny
snow-covered winter slopes, a literal herds of sheep, goats and horses
landscape of ice and fire, or even roaming around were evidence that
more grandly, the “Alchemy Furnace the grass was not flourishing. A word
of the Lord Laozi,” the ancient Taoist of warning – although the high winds Practicalities
philosopher who is credited with we experienced were unusual and High-speed rail from Beijing North or Qinghe stations
writing the Tao Te Ching. provided a welcome break from the has frequent trains to Ulanqab and further on in Inner
The following day, after a karaoke- stifling heat of Beijing, I wished I’d Mongolia, which also has a station in the old city that
less night, we visited the park once brought walking poles, as the rocks serves slower trains to destinations like Datong. It is
more. At No.2 peak, or North Jian- are loose and slippy, and I abandoned possible to hire a local driver to go to the volcano park,
shan Mountain, tourists fossicked for my summit attempt with just a few and there are bus tours from Beijing that take in Hohhot
rocks, until a rainstorm, accompanied metres to go out of safety concerns. and the grasslands as well.

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

61
ESSAY

You’ve Been Served

By Leila Hashemi

I took in the scene – peanuts and

O
ne of the most overwhelm- arriving on the night of my grandmoth-
ing culture shocks I had edamame were thrown on the floor with- er’s birthday, so my mum said we were
when moving to China was out caution, and everyone was washing going to Joe’s Crab Shack as soon as they
the food scene. I remember down their salty treats with local beer picked me up from the airport.
walking down the street and it felt like on draft. I still don’t know what that When we sat down it seemed like the
there was a little mum-and-pop Chinese beer was but you either chose brown or server literally ran up to us. I didn’t even
restaurant almost every other door. The yellow. get myself fully in the booth when the
small tables and wooden chairs filled If the ambiance, used very loosely, barrage began. “Hi, how are we doing
with diners slurping their noodles or wasn’t strange enough,
dipping their dumplings. I was sent for another
Initially, I played it safe. I was one loop when I realised in I took in the scene – peanuts and
of those expats who only patronised how service is done in
Western restaurants and only ate the China. edamame were thrown on the floor
Chinese dishes I was really familiar with. I had worked as a
All of that changed one fateful night server in the US for
without caution, and everyone was
when a new local friend invited me to eat over 15 years and washing down their salty treats with
lamb leg. prided myself on my
The restaurant was on the street work. We even had local beer on draft
where I lived. As we walked up, I could secret shoppers who
smell the sizzling meat in the air. To the would come in under the guise of a regu- tonight? It’s Friday, so we have the
right of the entrance, there were at least lar guest to spy on our skills. I thought shrimp special, and the beers are US$4.
seven shirtless guys grilling huge legs of that service style would be the same as it We also have…” I felt like I had just been
lamb over hot coals. was in the US, but I was very wrong. word-bombed.
We walked in and it felt like I was in a When we sat down, no one rushed She came back to the table to check on
scene from a film. You would think there over to tell us their name or ask if we us and the drinks a few times. I found it
was a sign on the door that said, “Dress had been there before. And then I heard annoying and fake. But I knew it wasn’t.
Code: Beijing Bikini.” The air was thick it – “Fuwuyuannnn!” My friend yelled the I was that same bubbly, talkative server
with the smell of roasting meat, rice Chinese for waiter to one of the servers for 15 years. Why was this getting under
wine, sweat and cigarettes – I loved it! while gesturing for them to come over. my skin?
I was mortified. I would refuse service While some of that experience was
to someone who yelled and motioned at reverse-culture shock paired with travel
me. fatigue, I realised in that moment, and
From there, the server came and still believe, that I now prefer the way
took the food order and then was off. things are done in China.
Someone else brought the beers and There’s no need to make small talk
when mine got low, I was waiting for with your server, or have them come
them to come back and check on us. I interrupt you to ask how your food is.
asked my friend and before I could finish It’s more of a transaction with the food
my sentence – “Fuwuyuannnn!” being the experience. While I do enjoy a
That night was a crash course that nice dinner out with fine dining service
led to my love affair with Chinese food every now and then, I am now a firm
and dining experiences. While not every believer in the more hands-off approach
restaurant in China is as down and gritty restaurant experience.
as the lamb leg restaurant, I had finally However, I should be careful I don’t
realised how things work and that it was find myself yelling out for servers and
not as scary as I thought. waving them over back home. I doubt
After almost a year in China, I had they have the same sentiment to the
booked a visit home. I happened to be customer dining culture as I do.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

62
What’s in a name?
By Michael Jones

N
ames are only labels; they do people. For example, in a surprising
not define us. Our personali- number of workplaces these English
ties are distinct and separate names are used at times between Chi-
from them. As Shakespeare nese colleagues even when speaking Chi-
wrote so eloquently “What’s in a name? nese. This is in part because they allow
That which we call a rose by any other the avoidance of complicated hierarchical
name would smell as sweet.” However, connotations associated with addressing countries, select trendy names that really
research has increasingly shown that people using formal Chinese names and belong in hippy communes in California,
people hold stereotypes about other titles. However, the choices that Chinese or ones that don’t traditionally align with
people due to their names. Moreover, individuals make when selecting names their identified gender. Nevertheless,
there is even research to suggest that our for themselves or their children can despite the occasional female Bob or
names may influence our choices in life. sometimes leave foreigners bemused, Samuel, or the curiosity of Esmeralda,
This may be in part due to the way oth- amused and occasionally shocked. Zakiya or Crystal, at least these are
ers around us treat us due to our names There are essentially four different identifiable as names.
and the impressions they form of us due categories of Chinese “English” names. The third category is what I like to
to them. In other words, if your name is The first is “adaptation” names, where refer to as the borderline names. These
perceived to be strong then people are someone bases their English name on are names that hopefully make more
more likely to interpret your actions as their Chinese one. Done well, this can sense in Chinese than they do in English.
being strong and this may in turn boost create a beautiful harmony. For example, Many are related to animals or mythical
your confidence, a self-fulfilling prophecy someone whose Chinese name is Di creatures, others to natural phenomena.
of sorts. This might be good news for Wen might select the English name Examples such as Tiger, Rainbow and
Superman, a Chinese boy I am familiar Wendy. This creates a cross-cultural Dragon are popular and are rather fitting
with, although I am not sure what it synergy that unifies the cultures of that for small children. However, they seem
means for the little girl called MyFace. person’s world. less so when used by a middle-aged
As any international person within a business context. Other
visitors to China will soon notable examples I have seen include
Shark, Ducky, and I have even heard
discover, it is quite normal
for Chinese people to be
This might be good news for wind of a Dog.
given an unofficial English Superman, a Chinese boy I am The final category is what I call the
moniker. This practice eccentric. This category has no bounds,
is common even within familiar with, although I am no limitations, and no end to surprises.
Any international person who has lived
families with little or no
English knowledge. These
not sure what it means for the in China long enough will know at least
names are obviously useful little girl called MyFace a few of these individuals because their
for Chinese people when names quite simply stick in the mind.
interacting with foreigners, Some are based upon fandom, such
and they eliminate the risks associated The second category are “traditional” as Jagger, while others are based upon
with foreigners butchering Chinese names. These are established names interests, such as Shopping. Others seem
names and naming customs in broken chosen from varied international sources. rooted in fantasy, such as Batman, while
Chinese. Indeed, one of my friends has Names like George, William, Vivian and others don’t really bear thinking about,
even adjusted her family name as well as Grace abound, and probably form the such as Hymen. In all situations one
her first name in English, which is a very single biggest category of English names. must question whether the individual, or
unusual practice. She did so because her However, some choices can still raise an their parents, were aware of the research
family name happens to be only a tonal eyebrow or two. For example, Chinese linking people’s names with the way
mistake away from an expletive term people sometimes choose unorthodox others treat them. Mind you, if Elon
that would make my grandmother faint. spellings for traditional names, select Musk has named his child “X Æ A-12,”
English names have practical uses rather antiquated names, select names then perhaps Skillet and Ultraman will
within certain social contexts for Chinese from more obscure languages or be OK.
CHINA REPORT I September 2023

63
GOODTASTE

Suck on a Rock. Really, It’s Good!

By Mina Yan

How about we talk about a dish that main ingredients are the same – ginger,
really rocks! Like, literally, rocks… It’s lots of garlic and spicy chilli, and they’ll
also low in calories and 100-percent have you reaching for your ice-cold beer
eco-friendly. or bottle of baijiu (liquor).
It’s called suodiu. Back in the olden It’s the perfect drinking snack for
days on the coasts of Hubei Province, bored fishers to pass the time while at
fishers would be stuck on shipping sea. And instead of tossing the rocks
vessels in port for long periods waiting in the garbage when they’re done, they
for their turn to dock. When their food wash and reuse them for the next batch.
ran out, they came up with the creative Reuse and recycle!
and unconventional idea of cooking up So why are we talking about a non-
smooth river rocks to pass the time. food dish this month? Well, for some Personally, I can’t help but see them as
The rocks were cleaned, boiled and reason, suodiu has made a comeback a potential choking hazard, since they’re
then stir-fried with oil, garlic, ginger and this summer. It’s all over foodies’ social primarily sold as a drinking snack. Your
a blend of sauces. media feeds, going viral like it’s got a natural reaction to putting food in your
So did they actually eat the rocks? No Barbie logo on it or something. This mouth is to chew and swallow, and ev-
way. They’d suck on the rocks for the summer, every foodie in China has been erything about suodiu goes against that.
flavour and spit them out. Hence, the on the lookout for suodiu to post about I mean, suodiu is dubbed “the world’s
name suo – which means to suck, and diu this culinary oddity. hardest dish” for a very good reason.
– which means to get rid of. Essentially, Now it’s still enjoyed as a drinking Would you give it a go or give suodiu a
it all comes down to the secret sauce snack and many street vendors have rock-hard pass?
recipe. even traded in their usual signature It’s definitely going to be one of those
Since the only thing edible in suodiu is dishes to cash in on the suodiu craze, and dishes that gets people taking Insta pics.
the sauce, every street vendor is bound street food connoisseurs are sucking Definitely try them, perhaps with some
to have their own secret recipe. But the them up like… suodiu. medical professionals on stand-by.

REALCHINESE
xiǎn yǎn bāo

xianyanbao
Eye-catching characters, livewires

While the 31st FISU World Univer- athlete Jens Christian Mergenthaler group happily playing a counting game
sity Games concluded in Chengdu on who won gold in the men’s 3,000m at a small restaurant they just learned
August 8, video clips of athletes being steeplechase event, also earned the from some locals.
xianyanbao, meaning “eye-catching title xianyanbao after he rushed to shake Unlike established Chinese phrases
characters” were still making the hands with every one of his competi- like xiaochou (“clown”) or diuren xian-
rounds on popular short-video plat- tors, even those who were too tired to yan, which means “making a fool of
forms like Douyin, China’s TikTok. stand up. Netizens said they could feel oneself” or “hamming it up,” the term
With xianyan meaning “eye-catch- Mergenthaler’s enthusiasm through xianyanbao, which only blew up several
ing” and bao as a suffix used for emoji their screens. months ago, has a positive connota-
stickers, xianyanbao describes a person Other examples include video of a tion. It conveys that a person is active,
who gets attention with some distinct group of athletes dancing on a sight- enthusiastic, appealing and can spread
moves or words. For example, German seeing bus in Chengdu, and another happiness to others.

CHINA REPORT I September 2023

64
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CHINAREPORT I June 2021

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