THIS WEEK

pUppET SHOW

The Quanzhou Marionette Troupe of China presents a traditional play in Jakarta,Indonesia, on March 24.

Quanzhou, a city of southeast China’sFujian Province, is home to the most sophisticated form of marionette performance in the country. The Quanzhou puppetry, rooted in the Qin Dynasty of 2,000 years ago, has been well preserved through generations with over 700 traditional plays and more than 300 unique music pieces.

The Quanzhou Marionette Troupe, established in 1952, has won reputation for exquisite performing skills. It has thrilled audiences in over 30 countries and regions.

Celebration Gala

People in Xigaze, Tibet Autonomous Region, dance in celebration of Serfs Emancipation Day on March 28.

On this day 54 years ago, the Central Government announced it would dissolve the aristocratic local government of Tibet and replace it with a preparatory committee for establishing Tibet Autonomous Region.

About 1 million serfs and slaves,accounting for 90 percent of the Tibetan population in the 1950s, were thus emancipated from harsh feudal living conditions under a theocratic regime.

Organ Donation

Seven hundred Chinese donated 1,918 organs from the start of 2010 to March 20, national newspaper Health News reported on March 22,citing the National Organ Donation Center.

With China legalizing posthumous human organ donation in 2010,the center said that the 700th donator was a 15-year-old boy from east China’s Shandong Province, whose organs saved three lives and helped two patients recover their sight.

There are currently 18,745 registered volunteer organ donors across the country.

The center said that its donation information database might come into service this year, facilitating equal distribution of donated organs.

Prior to 2010, no legal channels existed for posthumous human organ donation in China.

Government Microblogs

An annual report by the

E-Government Research Center under the China Academy of Governance said that China had 176,714 government microblog accounts at the end of 2012, almost 2.5 times more than the previous year.

Some 113,382 of these accounts are run by Communist Party of China committees, legislatures,governments, political advisors,Party disciplinary watchdogs as well as judicial and procuratorial agencies and government-sponsored institutions, said the report, which was released on March 27.

The remaining 63,332 are kept by officials and staff members of such agencies, according to the report.

It added that a great number of these accounts are run by agencies and individuals associated with the public security and police system,with the proportions respectively accounting for 37 percent of authorities’ microblogs and 39 percent of individual accounts.

ART EXPO

Artist Chen Yanmei displays her works at Artexpo New York in the United States on March 21. The expo celebrated its 35th anniversary as the world’s largest fine arts trade show

Award on China Studies

Ezra F. Vogel, an 82-year-old Harvard University social sciences emeritus professor and author of Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, was honored on March 23 with two other renowned researchers for their outstanding contributions to China studies.

Dr. Sergei Leonidovich Tikhvinsky, 94, academician of the Russian Academy of Science and former ambassador to China,was also presented the Award for Outstanding Contribution to China Studies at the opening session of the Fifth World Forum on China Studies.

Jao Tsung-I, a 95-year-old emeritus professor of Chinese language and literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, earned the Award for Outstanding Contribution to China Studies by an Overseas Chinese, a newly minted version of the general award.

Initiated in 2004, the high profile forum aims to nurture new views and approaches in China studies while promoting mutual understanding and academic exchanges between Chinese and overseas scholars.

COLORFUL WORK

A primary student from Yantai City, east China’s Shandong Province, paints a Peking Opera mask on March 27, World Theater Day

Wheat Gene

Scientists from China and the United States have mapped a key genetic code for bread wheat, a discovery that will help improve the crop’s productivity and ability to withstand extreme conditions.

The sequencing and drafting of the A genome, one of the three basic genomes of wheat, was published by journal Nature online on March 24.Researchers present the generation,assembly and analysis of a wholegenome shotgun draft sequence of the genome of wild wheat T. urartu,the source of the A genome.

The ident ification of around 38,000 wheat genes is expected to help provide a valuable resource for accelerating deeper genomic breeding studies and offer a new foundation for the study of wheat evolution, domestication and genetic improvement.

The research, launched by a team from the Institute of Genetics and Development Biology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences,was conducted by Shenzhen-based BGI, a leading genomics organization, and the University of California,Davis.

Bread wheat, T. aestivum, is one of the most widely cultivated and consumed food crops in the world.It feeds about 40 percent of the world’s population and provides 20 percent of a human’s daily recommended amounts of calories and protein. Major efforts are underway around the world to increase the crop’s yield and quality by boosting genetic diversity and resistance to cold, drought and disease.

However, the extremely large size and polyploid complexity of the wheat genome have so far posed substantial barriers for researchers to gain insight into its biology and evolution.

Weather Monitoring

China has built an integrated weather monitoring system that provides better information about potential weather disasters, the country’s meteorological authority said on March 23.

A total 419 ground observation stations, 87 aerological stations and seven Fengyun weather satellites will provide weather information for nearly 100 countries and regions to help cut down damage caused by adverse weather, said Zheng Guoguang, Director of the National Meteorological Center.

ln the past five years, economic losses caused by weather disasters dropped from 1.22 percent to 0.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, with the overall death toll decreasing by 2,000 from the previous five-year period,according to official figures.

Safety Sweep

The Ministry of Public Security launched a six-month safety sweep of vehicles used to transport freight on March 26.

With the campaign to begin on April 1, the ministry urged police departments to crack down on speeding, overloading, re fitted vehicles, driving while fatigued,running red lights and other driving misconduct.

According to figures released by the ministry’s Traf fic Management Bureau, there are 19 million freight vehicles on China’s roads, accounting for 7.8 percent of the country’s total motor vehicles.

Disproportionately, 28 percent of road fatalities in 2012 were caused by freight vehicles. The accident rate per 10,000 freight vehicles in 2012 was more than twice that of other motor vehicles.

China’s freight market lacks effective regulation, with many of its vehicles facing potential safety risks, said the Traf fic Management Bureau, adding it will work with other supervision departments to better regulate freight companies as well as the vehicle maintenance industry.

Water Conditions

A March 21 photo shows a view of Qianzi Lake in Qinghai Province. Qinghai is the source of two of China’s largest rivers, the Yellow and Yangtze.

On March 26, the first national report on China’s water conditions was released by the Ministry of Water Resources and the National Bureau of Statistics.

The nationwide survey covered river conditions, water conservation projects, water consumption, river development and management, and water and soil conservation in 2011.

China has 45,203 rivers each covering an area of at least 50 square km, totaling 1.51 million km in length. Some 2,865 lakes with a regular surface area of over 1 square km took up 78,000 square km, the report said.

The capacity of 98,002 reservoirs amounted to over 932 billion cubic meters and the total installed capacity of 333 million kw were generated by 46,758 hydropower stations.

Generating Electricity At Home

Kong Qingbin, a native of Hefei,capital of east China’s Anhui Province,checks the solar panels installed on the roof of his home.

On March 25, the province’s first household photovoltaic power generation system was added to the State Grid power supply system.

Kong purchased seven solar panels in 2012 and established a mini-scale power generation station,which can produce 8 kwh per day at most.

Regaining Momentum

China’s economic growth will steadily regain speed in 2013 despite global economic uncertainties, according to a blue paper released on March 26.

Thanks to a proactive fiscal policy—or increased spending in a number of areas—and a prudent monetary policy introduced in 2012 along with a more coordinated economic growth model propelled by consumption, investments and exports, the momentum of China’s economic growth will continue, says the paper, which was published by the Social Sciences Academic Press.Despite the positive outlook of China’s economy, the blue paper warns that the country needs to advance its opening up and reform and restructure its economic growth model to ensure sustainable growth.The blue paper, which focuses on the development of the BRICS nations—the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—says China remains the last country in the group where the service industry accounts for less than half of its economy.

State-owned enterprises still make up the bulk of the services sector and the share of non-state operators in the market is small,leading to insuf ficient competition,says the paper.

DEBUTING IN THAILAND

An SUV from Great Wall Motors is on display at the 34th Bangkok International Motor Show on March 26. The Chinese homegrown carmaker plans to open a factory in Thailand

Anti-Dumping Duties

The Ministry of Commerce(MOFCOM) began imposing anti-dumping duties on resorcinol imports from the United States and Japan on March 23.

The duties will last for five years,according to the MOFCOM. Tariff rates on resorcinol imported from Japan and the United States are 40.5 percent and 30.1 percent, respectively.

The final ruling came after the MOFCOM found that the domestic industry had been substantially harmed by the two countries dumping resorcinol. The MOFCOM has been investigating the issue since March 2012.

Resorcinol is an essential component used to manufacture tires and other fiber-reinforced rubber goods.

Maritime Show

The China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. (CSIC) made its debut at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia on March 26.

FLOWER TRADE

Visitors share their experience growing the kaffir lily flower at the Ninth Kaffir Lily Flower Festival in Changchun, capital of northeast China’s Jilin Province, which closed on March 26 and saw a transaction volume of 5 million yuan ($804,800)

The company brought its latest product models, including submarine, landing platform dock and frigate, to the four-day show, which closed on March 30.

“lt’s our first time in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition,” said Xu Ziqiu, General Manager of China Shipbuilding and Offshore International, the international marketing and sales arm of CSIC.

CSIC is the largest manufacturer of maritime products in China with more than 100 subsidiaries including seven shipyards and 28 R&D institutes,producing naval products such as submarines, destroyers and frigates.

Xu admitted the shipbuilding industry has not yet fully recovered from the global financial crisis.“So we wish to explore outside the country and see if we can tap into the global market,” he said.

CNOOC Profits Down

China National Offshore Oil Corp.Ltd. (CNOOC), the country’s largest offshore oil producer, said on March 23 that its net pro fits fell 9.3 percent to 63.69 billion yuan ($10.24 billion)in 2012.

Increased taxes and surging costs for oil and gas exploration reduced the company’s pro fit intake,said the company in its 2012 report filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Despite the fall, the oil giant remains one of the most pro fitable companies in the country.

In 2012, its oil and gas revenues rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier to 194.77 billion yuan ($31.36 billion).Oil and gas output totaled 342.4 million barrels, up 3.2 percent year on year, due to remarkable output in oil fields in the Bohai Bay.

Merchandise Fair

The 2013 Shandong Fair Merchandise Fair opened on March 26 in the western Japanese commercial city of Osaka, with more than 100 firms and factories from the Chinese province attending the three-day event.

The 15th session of the Osaka event, held in MyDome Osaka, a major exhibition hall in the city’s center, was organized by Japan-China Economic Relations and Trade Center and Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry in cooperation with the Department of Commerce of Shandong Province,which led a delegation consisting of more than 250 business leaders and entrepreneurs from the province.

Lu Wei, deputy director of the province’s Department of Commerce said that about 30 percent of the participants came to the event for the first time with high expectations and hopes of what they will sell or achieve in the Japanese market as well as of establishing a market presence in Japan, stressing that every year continuing the Osaka event is key to developing economic relations between the two sides.

According to the organizer,this year’s event saw 100 booths on display on two floors, which were divided into three sections: daily necessities specially arranged for Japanese users, home fabrics and apparel.

Energy Price Cuts

A staff member changes the price labels at a gasoline station in Yinchuan, capital of northeast China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

China cut the retail price of gasoline by 310 yuan ($49.91) per ton and diesel by 300 yuan ($48.3) per ton on March 27.

The National Development and Reform Commission announced a new pricing system that will adjust the prices of oil products every 10 working days to better reflect changes in the global oil market.

Numbers

49%

Increase in New Zealand goods exported to China in February due to China’s growing thirst for dairy products

1,821

Number of stores that Li Ning, a Chinese homegrown sportswear maker, closed in 2012 due to a loss of nearly 2 billion yuan($322 million) last year

1.3 bln yuan

Average daily pro fit of the Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank, three of the “big four” state-owned commercial banks, in 2012

35.56%

Decline in the combined pro fits of China’s four major airline companies,namely Air China, China Southern Air, China Eastern Air and Hainan Airlines, in 2012

INDIA

New Delhi residents light up candles to mark the annual Earth Hour event on March 23.The global environmental campaign calls on people to switch off lights for an hour

CANADA

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (right)greets two giant pandas from China at the Toronto Pearson International Airport on March 25. The pair will stay in Canada for 10 years

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

French troops unload a military plane in Bangui,capital of the Central African Republic, on March 22. France sent an additional 350 soldiers there to protect its nationals after Bangui fell into the hands of rebels

JORDAN

Jordanian soldiers take part in the Warrior Competition, an international special forces contest, at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center on March 24

INDONESIA

Students perform beside a fountain in Jakarta on March 22 to mark World Water Day, a yearly event established by the UN to focus public attention on the importance of fresh water

PAKISTAN

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (rear center) addresses supporters upon his arrival in Karachi on March 24. Musharraf returned home after more than four years in exile to participate in parliamentary elections to be held in May

“Schools should not only teach math and physics but also offer students real-life lessons about how to love, how to develop a good character and inspire kids to purse true happiness in life.”

Li Yinhe, a leading sociologist in China, telling Beijing Morning Post on March 20 that schools should teach students about marriage and relationships

“Sharing rides can help reduce at least 10 percent of the vehicles running on the road. The most important thing is that we have more trust by helping one another, and that is the goal.”

Wang Yong, a businessman who has been offering free rides to strangers in Beijing for years, urging daily ride sharing as the city struggles to cope with pollution and increased heavy traffic. Beijing now has 5.2 million vehicles, and the number is expected to reach 6 million by 2015

“China is Africa’s old friend, but there are still many cultural differences between their peoples.We hope China’s leaders can initiate more cultural exchanges with African countries to help bridge the gap.”

Frank Setyi, a businessman from Ghana living in China, expressing the hope on March 23 that Chinese President Xi’s visit to Africa will boost cultural exchanges between China and Africa

“Historically, the expansion and influence of Britain and America were largely military and political; in the case of China, it would be economic and cultural.”

Martin Jacques, author of the best-seller When China Rules the World,commenting at the Fifth World Forum on China Studies that closed in Shanghai on March 24

NEWLY APPOINTED UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

Wang En’ge was appointed President of Peking University (PKU) on March 22, becoming the 11th PKU President since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

Wang was born in 1957. After receiving a doctor’s degree in physics from PKU in 1990, Wang went to study and work at French and U.S. universities. In 1995, he came back from the United States to work in the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In 2007, Wang was elected academician of the CAS. He served as executive vice president of PKU before the appointment.

A SOFTWARE PRODIGY

Ji Yichao, founder of the Internet company Peak Labs,appeared in this year’s Forbes China 30 Under 30 List of top Chinese entrepreneurs under the age of 30. Ji,20, became the youngest member of this list.Products of Ji’s company include mobile browser Mammoth 5 and Jigsaw, a data visualization toolset.A returnee from last year’s 30 Under 30 List, he has already received capital from Sequoia Capital and ZhenFund.

Ji’s father is a physics professor from Peking University and his mother is a senior manager of an IT company.Both have given him full support in developing software and starting his company.

Balancing Government and Market

Oriental Outlook

March 14

The government’s function in economic activities has always been a focus of attention.

In a market economy, how should the government play its role? What is the key functions of the state and market? Such questions have raised concerns for over 30 years in China.

Whether the relationship between the government and market can be well settled would decide whether the new round of institutional reforms of the government is successful.

After reform and opening up, China has realized that the government and market should complement rather than combat each other.

On the one hand, the state should not let the market go unchecked. In the late 1980s,local governments put the resource industry completely in the hands of the market,resulting in small mines everywhere, the ill consequences of which still linger today.

On the other hand, government intervention should be carried out properly. The function of the market is yet not strong enough while the government remains the predominant force in the economy.Sometimes, intervention is overbearing and improper.

In order to more effectively and properly manage the market, the state should clearly understand that apart from ensuring the stability and continuity of macro-economic policies,it should follow the principles of a market economy. In the meantime, it should be transformed into a highly efficient management institution governed by the rule of law.

Office Building Waste

China Youth Daily

March 28

A newly built four-storied office building in Chunhua County, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, has been rent out as café bar, with a lease of 20 years.

Since the building is not urgently needed,why was it built? Also, why are so many government departments interested in similar construction?

In China, office buildings are built via public funds and tax revenues. Renting out these facilities can bring huge incomes. Meanwhile, when a government department application for offices is approved, it can make additional money in the bidding and material purchasing process.

How do these departments manage to do this so freely? Key is the lack of restrictive systems that can effectively deter and prevent them from doing so. Thus, to save energy and also government reputation, it’s necessary to stop building new government office buildings,as Premier Li Keqiang has said. Also, as for existing spare buildings, they must be dealt with as soon as possible, either to be assigned to departments lacking space or directly confiscated.

Lady Classes

Xinhua Daily Telegraph

March 27

It is reported that a middle school in Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province, is planning to open two classes exclusively for female students in grade one of the senior high school section. Students recruited into these two classes will have to daily wear qipao, a traditional one-piece dress for Chinese women, and they will be given classes on how to become a lady, such as housekeeping and social communication skills.

It seems that “manly boys” and “ladylike girls” are disappearing in modern Chinese society. Thus, gender education means to help the young people develop a reasonable concept of female and male, so that boys will act in a manly manner while girls behave in a ladylike way. This is a good intention.

However, unlike in ancient society, females in modern society have long been liberated from housework. Now they have their own jobs and careers while some even play a very important role in public life.Modern life tolerates and encourages the diverse roles of women.

In an open and diverse society, it’s natural to see boys pick up some girly habits and vice versa. Lady classes can’t cut these girls’ connection with the vivid outside world. They will probably still develop in a mainstream direction like other girls.

Electricity System Reform

Century Weekly

March 18

China’s electricity system reform, stagnant for 10 years, is set for a reboot.

In 2002, the then Prime Minister Zhu Rongji pushed forward a market-oriented reform of the electricity system. In 2003, the old State Power Corporation was split into the State Grid Corp.of China, China Southern Power Grid and five electricity generating companies. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission was also formed that year.

However, reform has come to a deadlock. The State Grid,expected to separate power transmission and distribution, has expanded into multiple industries both at home and overseas, forming the biggest obstacle for the reshaping of the electricity market.

According to experiences in other countries, if China’s electricity system reform achieves success, electricity prices will be reduced. However, the precondition should be the dismantling of the State Grid and introducing suf ficient competition.