Bayern reigns
urged for real
Germ
German
final
fin ends surreal season SPORTS, PAGE 19
TUESDAY, August 25, 2020
Students wait in line on Saturday to return to the Shouyi campus of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, Hubei province,
after an eight-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SUN XINMING / FOR CHINA DAILY
Students begin fall semester at Wuhan universities
By ZOU SHUO in Beijing
and LIU KUN in Wuhan
After almost eight months, uni-
versities in Wuhan, the Chinese
city hardest-hit by the COVID-19
pandemic, are welcoming stu-
dents in staggered time slots. It’s
the latest sign of life getting back
on track as the pandemic wanes
further in the country.
More than 9,000 undergraduate
students at Wuhan University
began to take classes on Monday
after returning to campus over the
weekend, the university said.
The remaining undergraduate
and graduate students are expect-
ed to return on Sept 1, 2 and 6,
while the new freshmen are set to
start university life on Sept 11, offi-
cials said.
At the school gates, the students’
codes on their health kit apps,
temperatures and identities were
checked and their belongings dis-
infected. Their health codes and
temperatures were checked again
when they went to their dormito-
ries, the university said.
School canteens have added an
INSIDE
PLA tank
makes mark
at opening of
army games
in Russia
World, p10
国内统一编号:
CN11-0091
国际标准编号:
ISSN0253-9543 A member of the
邮发代号:1-3 Asia News Network
© 2020 China Daily
All Rights Reserved
Vol.40 — No.

12574
Long-term fix
club’s win at Champions League


extra hour to the serving time for
each meal to prevent large gath-
erings of people, and all class-
rooms and libraries have
undergone thorough cleaning
and disinfection.
Students are allowed to leave
the campus only after filing an
application. Couriers are not
allowed onto the campus to make
food deliveries.
Huang Minjie, a second-year
undergraduate at the university,
said she felt thrilled to be back
and was surprised when she saw
the large number of people in the
city, so unlike the images of emp-
ty streets during the lockdown.
“I was deeply moved when I
saw a banner near the school gate
that reads, ‘Your home is safe.
Welcome back’.”
Zhu Chengkang, also a second-
year undergraduate, said he felt
almost nothing had changed in the
school.
“It’s good to return to the class-
room. Although we have been tak-
ing online courses for months, it’s
not the same as person-to-person
teaching,” he said.
Li: Boost ties with Mekong River nations
By XU WEI
xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn
China will increase cooperation
with Mekong River countries in
coping with droughts and floods
and responding to public health
emergencies, and will take steps
to share its COVID-19 vaccines as
they reach commercial use, Pre-
mier Li Keqiang said on Monday.
Speaking via video link at the
third Lancang-Mekong Coopera-
tion leaders’ meeting, Li
SPORTS IN EUROPE ADJUST TO NEW REALITY
Events return with pandemic safeguards in place
By JONATHAN POWELL
jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com
T
he return of sports
action in Europe during
the novel coronavirus
pandemic has been ten-
tative and limited in scope.
Professional athletes have been
affected by stringent health and
safety measures. Fans have main-
ly been restricted to viewing
events on television, while ama-
teur participants have had to
estate market
BUSINESS, PAGE 13
Zhongnan University of Econom-
ics and Law in Wuhan welcomed
more than 4,000 undergraduates to
its Shouyi campus on Saturday.
The university’s Nanhu campus
is expected to welcome the remain-
ing undergraduate and graduate
students on Saturday and Sunday.
New graduate students will return
on Sept 6 and incoming under-
graduates on Sept 13, the school
said.
Students living in high-risk areas
on the Chinese mainland, Hong
Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign
countries cannot return to the
school, but all other students are
encouraged to return, it said.
The students’ temperatures,
health codes and identities were
checked at the university gates, and
officials have allocated personal
protection equipment to students.
Students’ temperatures and
health conditions are checked
three times a day, and they are
instructed to immediately report
to student counselors if they
develop any symptoms.
University campuses are mostly
closed. Unauthorized people are
announced steps to share hydrolog-
ical data on the upper reaches of the
river, known as Lancang in China,
throughout the year to help nations
along the river better cope with cli-
mate change and natural disasters.
“Drinking water from the same
river, we, the LMC countries, are
close as one family living in a com-
munity with a shared future.
Enhancing mutually beneficial
cooperation is both conducive to
our own interests and contributes
to others’ success,” Li said.
X China’s efforts to make its capital
adapt to exercising alone, away
from regular training partners
and teams.
The global response to the crisis
prompted an almost total shut-
down of competitive sports at all
levels, ranging from community
and youth leagues to elite events
not allowed to enter and students
are discouraged from leaving the
campus. They must report their
transportation and travel routes
outside the campus if they leave in
case of an emergency.
The school does not allow any
conferences or activities involving
large gatherings, and students are
encouraged to order takeout dishes
from the school canteen to avoid big
gatherings, officials added.
The Ministry of Education has
recently required efforts to restore
normal teaching at the country’s
schools and universities with
effective anti-epidemic measures
in place.
A notice, issued by the office of the
ministry’s leading group for COVID-
19 responses, asked local education
authorities as well as colleges and
universities to make plans to pre-
pare to reopen schools and universi-
ties for the autumn semester.
Zhou Lihua in Wuhan contributed
to this story.
Contact the writers at
zoushuo@chinadaily.com.cn
China will set up a special
fund for public health under the
LMC Special Fund, the premier
said, and continue to provide
material and technical support
to Mekong countries to the best
of its ability.
See Ties, page 3
Inside
• Editorial, page 8
• Comment, page 9
such as the Tokyo Olympics, the
Paralympic Games and the Euro
2020 soccer tournament, which
have been postponed to next year.
Last month, professional cycling
returned. The sport’s much-await-
ed showpiece, the Tour de France,
which was delayed in June and
July, is set to begin on Saturday and
culminate on Sept 20. The race will
be a key test of how a major event
copes with the new measures.
See Athletes, page 2
Dual threat
Two tropical storms take aim
at Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico
WORLD, PAGE 10
chinadaily.com.cn
China to offer
wider market
access, Xi says
Spurred by new development pattern,
country to become magnet for imports
By CAO DESHENG
caodesheng@chinadaily.com.cn
China will have even closer con-
nections with the rest of the world as
its status in the global economy keeps
rising, President Xi Jinping said on
Monday, reiterating that the country
will provide a broader market for
other countries.
Xi, who is also general secretary of
the Communist Party of China Cen-
tral Committee, spoke at a symposi-
um attended by experts in social and
economic fields who offered their sug-
gestions and opinions about China’s
14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).
China will become a huge magnet
for international commodities and
resources, Xi said after hearing the
experts’ suggestions, as he spoke
about the country’s new develop-
ment pattern, which responds to
grave and complex international
and domestic circumstances.
He said that, based on changes in
the circumstances, the country has
adopted a new development pattern
with the domestic economic cycle as
the mainstay and the domestic and
international economic cycles com-
plementing each other. The strategic
choice helps reshape China’s
strength in international coopera-
tion and competition, Xi said.
He underscored the importance
of expanding domestic demand by
adhering to the strategic direction of
upholding supply-side reforms to
better balance supply and demand
in the domestic market.
RIGHT TRACK
Li Xi (center left), Party secretary of Guangdong province, and Yi Huiman
(center right), chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission,
strike a bell as the first registration-based initial public offerings debut at
the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday. SHI LI / FOR CHINA DAILY
ChiNext puts reform to test as
18 firms launch stellar IPOs
By ZHOU LANXU in Beijing
and CHAI HUA in Shenzhen
market more supportive for techno-
logical innovation made landmark
progress on Monday as reforms on
Shenzhen’s startup board ChiNext
were put to the test amid steady
market performance, officials and
experts said.
ChiNext’s first group of 18 firms got
listed under the registration-based
initial public offering system made a
stellar debut on Monday, surging
between 43.1 percent and 1,061.42
percent from their issue prices.
The ChiNext board as a whole
leaped as investor sentiment bright-
ened, with the ChiNext index up 1.98
percent to close at 2,684.63 points.
RMB ¥2
The new development pattern is
by no means a closed domestic eco-
nomic cycle, but rather an open
“dual circulation” with domestic
and international markets boosting
each other, Xi stressed.
He underlined the need to work
out a new plan for China’s economic
and social development in order to
make its higher-quality growth
become much fairer and more effi-
cient, sustainable and secure. He
also called for stronger awareness of
opportunities and risks in the face of
the new challenges internationally.
Xi said the COVID-19 pandemic
has sped up changes in the interna-
tional landscape, and the domestic
development environment is also
being transformed. He called for
efforts to adapt to the changes and
turn the crisis into an opportunity
for high-quality development.
He called for technological inno-
vation to bolster new growth drivers
for high-quality development and
urged more efforts to raise the
capacity for independent innova-
tion and for faster progress in key,
cutting-edge technologies.
To this end, Xi said, the nation
should fully leverage the marked
advantages of the socialist system
in mobilizing all available resour-
ces to fulfill major tasks, and
accelerate turning scientific and
technological achievements into
productive activities to raise the
level of industrial chains.
See Access, page 3
In April, China announced a multi-
step plan to try out a registration-
based reform for ChiNext. The reform
aims to replace regulatory IPO
approvals with administrative regis-
tration, giving the market a greater
say in IPOs and making equity financ-
ing easier for tech companies.
The new ChiNext listings mark the
first time an existing board in China’s
A-share market has listings under
the registration-based IPO system,
after Shanghai’s STAR Market began
using the system as a newly
launched board in July 2019.
See Debut, page 3
Inside
Editorial, page 8
2 | Tuesday, August 25, 2020
PAGE TWO
Athletes: Marathons fall by the wayside
From page 1
Tour de France general director
Christian Prudhomme hopes the
public will be able to watch the race
along the route, as is tradition, but
with some safeguards in place.
“The Tour de France will be more
important than ever,” Prudhomme
said. “What will be different? The fact
that the Tour comes two months later
(than scheduled) means there will be
fewer people on the side of the road.
The publicity caravan won’t be as big.
There will be fewer people, but the
same smiles will be there, and the race
will be broadcast on television.”
Cycling’s governing body, Union
Cycliste Internationale, or UCI, has
released guidelines to serve as a tem-
plate for teams, organizers, race offi-
cials, the media and fans of men’s and
women’s road racing. The recommen-
dations reflect the challenges faced by
most professional sports.
Cycling website VeloNews reported
that the general aim is to test everyone
before a race, split teams into “bub-
bles” to maintain social distancing,
and “have a working plan in place if
someone tests positive for COVID-19”.
The sport’s officials and race orga-
nizers have drawn up a strategy that
follows the lead set by health author-
ities, but also allows for different
conditions in different countries, the
site said.
David Lappartient, UCI president,
said, “These measures remain
dependent on the laws and measures
in the different host countries and
may need to be adapted, but this pro-
tocol is another step toward our
sport’s return to life.”
In Europe, professional soccer,
cricket and rugby union, along with
other high-profile sports such as golf,
tennis and snooker, have adapted to
the pandemic by operating behind
closed doors with extensive safety pro-
tocols in place.
Seasons prolonged
The English Premier League and
other top soccer competitions, includ-
ing those in Spain and Germany, were
allowed to end their seasons in June
or last month.
However, leagues in other nations
canceled their remaining fixtures.
France, which was among the coun-
tries to abandon professional match-
es, took the decision in late April to
stop playing games for the rest of the
season.
The final stages of the UEFA Cham-
pions League and Europa League club
competitions were simplified and
held this month in a knockout tourna-
ment format in Portugal and Germa-
ny, respectively. The UEFA Women’s
Champions League was held with a
similar format in Spain.
Popular televised sports, which
include lucrative broadcast contracts
for organizers, have managed to over-
come the worst of the economic
impact arising from the pandemic.
The United States saw the return of
top-level golf this month, with the
PGA Championship in San Francisco,
which featured the world’s top play-
ers, broadcast to a wide audience. The
tournament went ahead after the Brit-
ish Open and the Ryder Cup in the US
were both canceled.
Golfing boom
Meanwhile, there has been a surge
in the number of amateur golfers. In
the UK, the number of rounds played
last month was up by more than 40
percent compared with the same peri-
od last year, according to preliminary
figures published by Sports Market-
ing Surveys.
Golf Magic, a news site dedicated
to the sport, said that for many peo-
ple “golf has been a key social outlet,
as well as a way of preserving mental
and physical health through the pan-
demic”.
Professional snooker has experi-
enced relative success since returning.
Ronnie O’Sullivan from the United
Kingdom won his sixth World Snook-
er Championship title this month,
with the final against Kyren Wilson
played in front of a reduced crowd of
about 300 at the Crucible Theatre in
Sheffield, northern England.
It was one of the first major events
held in Europe during the pandemic
that fans were allowed to attend,
although the vast majority of the tour-
nament was played without an audi-
ence. Organizers said the TV viewing
figures were high and included huge
numbers of fans in China.
Track and field is also returning aft-
er experiencing a major blow when
the 2020 European Athletics Champi-
onship was canceled. Due to be staged
Residents resume exercising in Barcelona, Spain, on May 2 after the government eased lockdown measures. JOAN GOSA / XINHUA
300
estimated number of specta-
tors at the World Snooker
Championship final this
month in Sheffield, northern
England
66
million pounds
amount raised for charities at
the London Marathon last
year, according to the BBC
in Paris from Tuesday to Sunday, the
event was an early casualty of the lock-
down imposed in the French capital.
On Aug 15, the Diamond League,
the elite track and field competition,
returned behind closed doors in Mon-
aco, four months later than originally
scheduled.
Swimming has been hit by the pan-
demic at elite and recreational level,
with the 2020 European Aquatics
Championships, scheduled for May 11
to May 24 in Budapest, Hungary, post-
poned to next year. Swimming pools
that have reopened across Europe
have imposed strict precautionary
measures.
Mass-participation events aimed at
attracting amateur competitors, such
as marathons, triathlons and other
outdoor endurance competitions, had
to be called off, resulting in lost
income from entry fees.
By early March, with the pandemic
triggering lockdowns across Europe,
organizers of popular marathons in
many cities slowly began to accept the
harsh reality of the situation and post-
poned their races.
One of the biggest events, the Paris
Marathon, originally due to take place
on April 5, was postponed until Oct 18,
then to Nov 15, before being canceled.
Marathons scheduled for Rome, Bar-
celona, Madrid and Frankfurt were
initially postponed before being
called off.
Of the six World Marathon Majors,
the events in Berlin, Chicago, New
York and Boston were canceled,
while the Tokyo marathon was held
in March, with only elite athletes
competing.
The London Marathon, originally
due to be held on April 26, is now
scheduled for October, but only with
elite athletes. Next year’s event in the
UK capital has also been moved from
April to October. The BBC reported
that the loss of amateur participants
from the London Marathon is also a
huge blow for charities, with last
year’s event raising more than 66 mil-
Top: Chelsea players form a guard of honor for champions Liverpool before their English Premier lion pounds ($86 million).
League match at Anfield last month, which Liverpool won 5-3 behind closed doors. LAURENCE GRIFFITHS / Organizers of the London Mara-
REUTERS Center: People exercise in a park in Berlin, Germany, on June 3. ZHANG PING / XINHUA Above: A work- thon announced this month that the
er disinfects the London Aquatics Centre on July 25, when indoor pools, gyms and sports facilities in elite races for male, female and wheel-
England reopened. HOLLIE ADAMS / GETTY IMAGES chair athletes had been rescheduled
CHINA DAILY
for an enclosed course in St James’s
Park on Oct 4, with finishing times
counting toward qualification for the
postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic
event.
Huge losses incurred
Despite the introduction of strin-
gent testing and unprecedented safe-
ty measures, sports in Europe and
worldwide clearly still face huge
repercussions from the pandemic.
Sports federations and event orga-
nizers have been severely affected by
lockdowns, while cancelations have
resulted in huge economic losses.
Dan Parnell, senior lecturer in sport
business at the University of Liverpool
Management School in the UK,
makes key notes on sports and the
pandemic in articles titled “COVID-19,
Networks and Sport”. The notes
appear in the journal Managing Sport
and Leisure, and the articles are
shared online.
“The networked nature of the glob-
al sport industry and its associated
events program, which brings togeth-
er athletes, employees and fans, only
serves to heighten the potential threat
of a sustained global spread (of the
pandemic),” according to Parnell, who
has a doctorate in his field.
He cited a 2015 World Health Orga-
nization publication that warned of
global pandemics presenting “chal-
lenges that cut to the very core of our
processes and decision-making for
political, economic and social institu-
tions, with no stronger example than
mass gatherings and sporting events”.
Parnell added, “Human beings are
inherently social, and gatherings are
symbolic, embodied, loaded with cul-
tural meanings.”
He cited the Euro 2020 soccer tour-
nament — among the major sports
events originally planned for this
summer that have been postponed
until next year.
“Euro 2020 was uniquely designed.
It demonstrated the cultural together-
ness and fluidity of the eurozone,
spanning 12 countries to mark 60
years of competition,” he said. “The
tournament also celebrates the net-
work society of modern Europe and
the virtues of the European Union —
especially of movement. ”
He added that qualifying matches
for the finals have been held in cities
across the continent.
This collaborative approach has
been welcomed by economics schol-
ars and commentators, who in the
past have provided evidence pointing
toward poor investment returns
associated with hosting major sports
events. This new multicity approach
will reduce the financial risk and
poor return on investment for the
selected host, Parnell said.
“Yet, it is this networked strength
that has proven Euro 2020’s Achilles
heel,” he concluded.
 CHINA DAILY
TOP NEWS
Decoupling
doomed to
fail, says FM
Wang: Largest potential market to provide
more development space for other nations
By MO JINGXI
mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn
State Councilor and Foreign Min-
ister Wang Yi on Monday spoke out
against decoupling between China
and the United States, saying that it
goes against market economy princi-
ples and would ultimately harm
those that propose it.
Wang made the remark when
meeting the media with Hungarian
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Peter Szijjarto after their meeting at
Beihai, in the Guangxi Zhuang
autonomous region.
Decoupling is neither workable nor
reasonable, Wang said, adding that it
is doomed to fail as it disregards one’s
own development needs and also
harms the public interest.
Wang noted that China is the
world’s largest potential market and
will provide greater development
space as well as market opportuni-
ties for other countries as it further
stimulates and rejuvenates domestic
demand.
Any attempt to decouple with Chi-
na means decoupling with the
world’s largest market in the future,
he said.
Wang also said that as supporters
of globalization and a multilateral
trade system, China and Europe
should not allow calls for decoupling
to disrupt the normal operation of
global industrial and supply chains.
The two sides also should not
allow normal international econom-
ic exchanges to be sabotaged by uni-
lateral hegemonic acts, he added.
On Tuesday, Wang will kick off his
five-European nation trip, which is
Numerous nuptials
A group wedding ceremony for 22 couples is held at a construction
site in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Monday, welcoming Qixi Fes-
tival, China’s Valentine’s Day, which falls on Tuesday. WANG XI / XINHUA
US action to relabel HK
exports ‘unfair, uncivilized’
By PAMELA LIN in Hong Kong
pamelalin@chinadailyhk.com
The Hong Kong Special Adminis-
trative Region’s top commerce offi-
cial condemned on Monday a US
move to force the city to relabel all of
its exports to the United States as
being “made in China” as “unfair and
uncivilized”.
The new rule demanding that
Hong Kong relabel its exports to the
US will take effect on Nov 9, right after
the US presidential election on Nov 3.
Hong Kong Secretary for Com-
merce and Economic Development
Edward Yau Tang-wah said that the
measure is unnecessary, unreasona-
ble and malicious. He pointed out
that the action is to threaten or
attack Hong Kong’s special status as
a separate customs territory under
the World Trade Organization.
On Friday, the US Customs and
Border Protection announced that
enforcement of the new rule would
be postponed for 45 days. The rule
was originally scheduled to take
effect on Sept 25.
The HKSAR is a separate member
of the WTO and enjoys a special sta-
tus as a separate customs territory
under “one country, two systems”.
Products exported from Hong Kong
aimed at further boosting internation-
al solidarity to fight the COVID-19 epi-
demic and restart the world economy.
The eight-day visit, Wang’s first
overseas trip since the pandemic sit-
uation eased, will take him to Italy,
the Netherlands, Norway, France
and Germany.
“Wang’s trip is warmly welcomed
by relevant countries and shows the
attention that China and Europe
attach to their relationship,” Foreign
Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said
at a regular news briefing in Beijing
on Monday.
During Wang’s visit, Zhao said,
China expects to advance major
political and economic agendas,
deepen cooperation in fighting the
virus and keeping global industrial
and supply chains stable, and further
discuss cooperation in emerging sec-
tors such as the digital economy and
the green economy.
Since the start of the COVID-19
pandemic, China and Europe have
offered each other support and
assistance in the spirit of pulling
together to get through hard times.
President Xi Jinping maintained reg-
ular communications with leaders of
the European Union and European
countries through videoconferences,
telephone conversations and corre-
spondence.
“As this year marks the 45th anni-
versary of the establishment of diplo-
matic relations between China and
the EU, the two sides’ joint efforts in
promoting China-Europe and inter-
national anti-epidemic cooperation
have enriched the comprehensive
strategic partnership between the
two sides,” Zhao said.
are marked as “Made in Hong Kong”.
Yau, speaking in a webinar on
how the city’s businesses can cope
with the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic, reiterated that the new
US measure is unreasonable and
inconsistent with WTO rules.
He said the US wanted “made in
Hong Kong” to disappear, which
was “unfair and uncivilized”.
The HKSAR will definitely take
action to protect its rights and inter-
ests, Yau said, and that it would take
the matter to the WTO.
Willy Lin Sun-mo, chairman of the
Hong Kong Productivity Council, said
the new rule has caused considerable
confusion as it involves international
labeling requirements and compa-
nies are perplexed about the risk of
breaching trade-description rules.
Regarding the uncertainty and
confusion, the Chinese Manufactur-
ers’ Association of Hong Kong
recently said it does not rule out the
possibility of suspending all of Hong
Kong’s exports to the US.
In 2019, the total value of “made
in Hong Kong” products exported to
the US was HK$3.7 billion ($480
million), less than 0.1 percent of the
city’s total exports of goods. The
exported products are mainly jewel-
ry, food and electronic goods.
Repair work
Workers repair a road destroyed by flooding in Zhugqu county, Gansu province, on Sunday. Rainstorms and floods have wreaked havoc
in the county since Aug 6. Zhugqu county activated a top-level emergency response for flood control and natural disaster relief on
Wednesday. CHEN BIN / XINHUA
Drills set to improve PLA Navy abilities Debut: Daily
By ZHAO LEI
zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn
The People’s Liberation Army
launched at least three naval exer-
cises in multiple waters on Mon-
day, a move researchers said is
intended to respond to provoca-
tions and improve the PLA Navy’s
combat capabilities.
A live-fire combat exercise
began on Monday in the Bohai Sea
and will continue through Sept 30.
In the South China Sea, two sepa-
rate exercises began on Monday
and will end on Saturday, mari-
time safety authorities announced
without further elaborating.
Beside these latest exercises, the
PLA Navy is engaged in a large-
scale, live-ammunition operation
in the Yellow Sea from Saturday to
Wednesday, the military said.
Li Jie, a retired researcher at the
PLA Naval Research Academy, told
China Daily on Monday that this
past month has seen more military
exercises conducted by the PLA
than any previous month in many
years.
“The reasons are simple — first,
we need to take countermeasures
against the United States’ provoca-
Access: Break barriers to boost vitality
From page 1
Enterprises should play a leading
role in technological innovation, Xi
said, adding that innovation should
be coupled with openness. Interna-
tional exchanges and cooperation
in science and technology also
must be strengthened, he said.
Xi emphasized the importance
of deepening reforms in high-
quality growth, saying more con-
crete measures must be taken to
break institutional barriers to
boost vitality for development.
While advancing the moderni-
zation of the country’s governance
system and capacity, Xi said, the
Ties: Healthcare cooperation to grow
From page 1
China’s COVID-19 vaccines, once
developed and put into commer-
cial use, will be provided to
Mekong countries on a priority
basis, Li said, adding that “we need
to carry out information sharing
and joint responses in major public
health emergencies, and strength-
en cooperation in early warnings
on communicable diseases”.
He also highlighted the need to
work toward the signing of the
Regional Comprehensive Econom-
ic Partnership agreement this year
and ensure the success of the China-
Laos and China-Thailand Railways.
China welcomes imports of
more quality agricultural prod-
ucts, livestock and by-products
from Mekong countries, he added.
It is important to better synergize
the New International Land-Sea
Trade Corridor, a trade and logistics
passage jointly built by western
tions. The US military rallied sever-
al countries to carry out its Rim of
the Pacific 2020 naval exercises. It
has also intensified provocative
acts in the air and waters off our
coasts, despite the severe COVID-19
outbreak on its territories,” Li said.
“Second, we must strengthen
our combat training and drill to
prepare for possible contingencies
in strategically important regions,”
he added.
Though the PLA has not made
public detailed arrangements of
the exercises, Li said he believes
there would be missile intercep-
tion, anti-ship, air defense and
landing operations, noting that a
key purpose is to verify and
improve the joint operational capa-
bilities among multiple services.
A naval strategy researcher, who
wished to be identified only as Cui,
said such exercises are usually like-
ly to test and foster sea-denial or
sea-control capabilities.
“Sea-denial capability means
you can eliminate the adversary’s
core assets on the sea. Sea-control
capability is much stronger and
more demanding. It requires the
destruction of the enemies’ sur-
face, underwater and air units in
basic socialist economic system
with Chinese characteristics
should be upheld and improved.
He said the market should play a
decisive role in resource allocation
while allowing the government to
play an improved role in order to
create a long-term, stable and pre-
dictable institutional environment.
Property rights and intellectual
property rights must be protected
with stronger measures, he added.
Xi stressed the importance of
higher-level opening-up in inter-
national cooperation and competi-
tion, and reiterated that opening-
up remains China’s fundamental
policy.
Chinese provincial regions and the
Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, and the LMC mechanism
to unblock trade passages and opti-
mize resource allocation, he said.
The meeting, co-chaired by Li and
Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith
of Laos, also brought together Cam-
bodian Prime Minister Samdech
Techo Hun Sen, Myanmar President
U Win Myint, Thai Prime Minister
Prayut Chan-o-cha and Vietnamese
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
They affirmed progress on coop-
eration in water resources and
expressed readiness to bolster pub-
lic health cooperation with China.
Zhai Kun, a professor of South-
east Asian studies at Peking Univer-
sity, said Beijing has responded to
the appeal from the Mekong River
countries in its decision to share
the hydrological data for the year.
That will lay the foundation for the
future exploration of the river’s
water resources, he said.
the given theater, which means it
may involve our ballistic missiles,”
said Cui, who is familiar with
developments in the PLA Navy.
“The exercises are necessary
because we still need to improve
our abilities in each and every field
of naval warfare, ranging from
mine clearance to integrated
assault.”
The combat drills came amid
escalated tensions at sea between
China and the US, which were
caused by the repeated US provo-
cations near China, especially in
the Taiwan Straits and the South
China Sea.
In response to a US warship’s
passage through the Taiwan Straits
on Aug 18, Senior Colonel Zhang
Chunhui, spokesman for the PLA
Eastern Theater Command, said
last week that US troublemaking
actions in the straits pose “a real
threat to regional peace and stabil-
ity and are extremely dangerous”.
The officer said that the US has
engaged in a succession of “nega-
tive acts” concerning Taiwan
recently, and such moves sent mis-
leading signals to separatist forces
in Taiwan and strongly threatened
peace and stability in the straits.
The country needs to raise the
level of opening-up in an all-
around way to build the new sys-
tem for a higher-level open
economy and create new advanta-
ges in international cooperation
and competition, he said.
Xi underlined the need for the
country to actively participate in
the reform of global economic gov-
ernance systems to make them
fairer and more reasonable.
He also called for measures to
improve social governance,
build stronger public health and
disease-control systems, create
more job opportunities and
uphold social stability.
The establishment of a special
fund for public health will help
Mekong River countries boost
their public health system and
secure victories during the
COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
He said since the Mekong River
countries are major exporters of
farm products, the LMC mecha-
nism can focus more on ensuring
grain security and additional agri-
cultural cooperation.
Yang Guang, head of the Lan-
cang-Mekong Center for Agricul-
tural Cooperation, said such
cooperation has seen fruitful out-
comes. The total trading volume
for agricultural products reached
$21.2 billion in 2019, up by 12.5 per-
cent from the previous year.
The countries must bolster strate-
gic alignment, focus on key sectors
and improve the competitiveness of
the region’s farm production and
related products in furthering agri-
cultural cooperation, she said.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 | 3
fluctuation
limits doubled
on ChiNext
From page 1
Vice-Premier Liu He said that the
smooth implementation of Chi-
Next’s registration-based reform
serves as a key push toward improv-
ing the capital market system and
economic circulation.
“The ChiNext reform has learned
from the registration-based system
on the STAR Market and laid the
groundwork for implementing the
system on the main board and the
SME board that targets small and
medium-sized firms,” Liu said in his
written address to the listing cere-
mony for the 18 firms.
Liu said he hopes that ChiNext
will better serve high-growth, inno-
vative enterprises and startups and
complement other submarkets in
supporting more quality firms get-
ting listed in mainland bourses.
With easier listing standards and
a shorter and more transparent IPO
process, ChiNext will test whether it
is feasible to replicate registration-
based reform across all A-share sub-
markets and facilitates the financing
of innovative firms, experts said.
Yang Meng, CEO of Anker Innova-
tions, one of the 18 companies that
debuted on ChiNext on Monday, said
registration-based reform has inject-
ed new growth momentum into the
company and boosted confidence in
its development.
The Changsha-based smartphone
accessories maker raised more than
2.7 billion yuan ($391 million) from
its ChiNext IPO. According to the
Shenzhen bourse, the first group of
18 registration-based IPOs raised
20.06 billion yuan in all.
Several improvements in the
trading rules of ChiNext also took
effect on Monday, including dou-
bling the daily price fluctuation lim-
it of all ChiNext shares to 20
percent, excluding new listings.
Four ChiNext stocks hit the upper
limit on Monday, while none
dropped to the lower one.
While the loosened limit has made
higher volatility possible, ChiNext is
expected to maintain stable per-
formance in the near future as the
recent correction in ChiNext stocks
has limited the room for a further
market slide, said Yin Yue, chief mar-
ket analyst at Guangdong province-
based Yuekai Securities.
Over the long term, the liberalized
trading rules will couple with regis-
tration-based reform to give a great-
er role to the market in selecting and
nurturing quality firms, Yin said.
Wang Jianjun, Party secretary and
chairman of the Shenzhen Stock
Exchange, said that ensuring steady
market development has been an
essential prerequisite in the effort to
launch ChiNext reform.
The exchange will require more
efforts to build itself into a world-
class exchange that features top-
notch service for high-tech firms
and growing innovative startups,
he said.
Contact the writers at
zhoulanxv@chinadaily.com.cn
4 | Tuesday, August 25, 2020
CHINA
Political, legal organs
strengthen oversight
By YANG ZEKUN
yangzekun@chinadaily.com.cn
Political and legal organs in
China have made important
achievements in strengthening
the supervision of power and
responding to public concerns
since the implementation of com-
prehensively deepening reform in
the political and legal field in early
2019.
For example, from January to
June, procuratorial organs nation-
wide initiated 2,265 lawsuits in
the public interest.
In addition, about 25,000 kilo-
grams of inferior food and over 24
kilograms of counterfeit and
smuggled drugs were withdrawn
from the market.
The Central Committee for
Deepening Overall Reform adopt-
ed a document on the implementa-
tion of comprehensively deepening
reform in the political and legal
fields in January 2019.
It stressed the need to imple-
ment the judicial responsibility
mechanism across the board,
deepen litigation reform and
establish a political and legal ser-
vice system that benefits the
public.
Additionally, it required the
prompt improvement of mecha-
nisms for supervising and restrict-
ing the exercise of power.
To protect the interests of
migrant workers, the Ministry of
Pepper pro
A farmer arranges air-dried peppers in Bohu county, Xinjiang
Uygur autonomous region, on Monday. August is when locals
harvest the spice, which helps lift many out of poverty.
NIAN LEI / FOR CHINA DAILY
AI program encourages
diners to clear their plates
SHANGHAI — After finishing
his dinner, Lin Xu opened a
WeChat mini-program called
“Clear Plate” on his phone and
took a picture of the empty plates.
He was then awarded 157 credit
points after the image was upload-
ed and recognized by artificial
intelligence.
“Users of the app can use their
credit to buy gifts, such as books,
cellphones and red wine, or to pur-
chase charity meals donated to
children in impoverished rural
areas,” Lin said.
The Shanghai citizen used the
mini-program several times to
record himself “clearing the plate.”
He also joined a group of like-
minded people who did the same
amid the country’s campaign to
fight food waste.
A nationwide “Clear Your Plate”
campaign is gaining steam online.
Media outlets, government agen-
cies, social organizations and
internet influencers have joined
the online relay of messages
against food waste.
Efforts to stop food waste and
promote thrift are also being
made by catering firms and res-
taurants that have been urged to
create an environment in which
consumers are reminded to not
waste food. They are also encour-
aged to offer different portion siz-
es so that customers can have
more choices.
The “Clear Plate” mini-program
has become popular among young
Chinese and currently has nearly 1
million users. Similar campaigns
like an “empty plate challenge”
are also found in many Chinese
universities.
25,000
kilograms
of inferior food were with-
drawn from the market from
January to June.
Justice opened a green channel in
May 2019 for them to seek help for
their unpaid wages through the
China legal service network,
where they can get legal consulta-
tion, seek legal aid and report
problems.
The people’s court nationwide
has also established and improved
a one-stop litigation service for
cases when migrant workers
wages are in arrears to minimize
the cost for them to protect their
rights.
Guo Shengkun, a member of the
Political Bureau of the Commu-
nist Party of China Central Com-
mittee, stressed at a meeting in
May that the reform in the politi-
cal and legal fields should adhere
to the result-oriented approach
and strengthen the supervision
and administration of judicial
power.
Guo, also the head of the Com-
mission for Political and Legal
Affairs of the CPC Central Com-
mittee, said that the reform
should also focus on promoting
post-COVID-19 economics and
social development and meet the
people’s new expectations.
“Technological innovation is a
good way to reduce food waste,”
said Liu Jichen, founder of the
startup that developed the app.
The idea popped up at a dinner
in 2017, when Liu found that a
restaurant would give diners
who polished off their food a card
and offer small gifts after a cer-
tain number of cards had been
collected.
“Everyone who values food
could enjoy a sense of gain at a
lower cost,” Liu said, noting that
such an idea could be realized
online.
He formed a team to work on
the project.
Yet it was quite a challenge for
the AI system to identify whether
the uploaded photos showed
empty plates.
To make the AI system smarter,
Liu and his team, assisted by more
than 1,000 others, spent half a year
collecting over 100,000 samples in
canteens and restaurants across
the country and used the data to
train a neural network.
Dozens of enterprises, institu-
tions and restaurants have con-
tacted the startup to cooperate on
the project.
Through the digitalized, visual-
ized mini-program, people can
clearly see the good results of sav-
ing food, which will effectively
reduce waste, he noted.
“We hope our efforts can start a
new trend among the younger
generation, encouraging them to
carry out the virtue of cherishing
food and developing the habit of
thrift,” Liu said.
XINHUA
Working together
Students from two primary schools in Huaibei, Anhui province, play a game using robots to sort trash
on Sunday. The two schools, one each from the city’s urban and rural area, co-hosted the activity to
boost communication and friendship among children from different backgrounds.
WAN SHANCHAO / FOR CHINA DAILY
Breakthroughs in tech
lift soybean production
Nation has reached ‘world-class level’
in some research areas, scientist reports
By WANG XIAODONG
wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn
Technological breakthroughs
have resulted in an increased out-
put of soybeans in China in recent
years, and further progress is
expected to improve domestic
supply, said a top expert.
“National support for agricul-
tural scientific and technological
research that covers the whole
chain of agricultural production
has played a crucial role in ensur-
ing food security, which has with-
stood tests such as the COVID-19
pandemic,” said Han Tianfu, chief
scientist for soybeans under the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Affairs.
“In terms of scientific research
on soybeans, China has continued
to make progress in recent years
and has reached world-class level
in some research fields.”
Last year, Chinese scientists pub-
lished over 700 soybean research
papers in English in various influ-
ential international science jour-
nals, more than any other country
in the world, said Han, also a
researcher at the Chinese Academy
of Agricultural Sciences.
With the adoption of new tech-
nologies, per-hectare production
of soybeans in China reached more
than 1.9 metric tons last year, an
increase of 83 percent since 1978,
he said. A number of scientific and
technological achievements have
been made in soybeans in recent
years, contributing to increased
yields.
City mulls adding cameras to buildings
By ZHOU WENTING in Shanghai
zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn
Shanghai is mulling the installa-
tion of intelligent surveillance
devices in some residential neigh-
borhoods to catch individuals who
toss objects from high-rise build-
ings and endanger the safety of
people below.
Such surveillance cameras have
been used for similar purposes in
Hong Kong and Japan for many
years.
The plan was unveiled in a
recent response from the Shanghai
Housing Administration Bureau to
a deputy to the Shanghai Munici-
pal People’s Congress, who suggest-
ed installing surveillance cameras
for that purpose.
The installation may start at
communities where incidents and
complaints about such illegal
behavior are pervasive and be
installed in other areas gradually,
the bureau said in the response.
An official survey of Shanghai in
2017 showed that there were nearly
50,000 buildings taller than 24
In recent years, about 200 new
soybean cultivars have been
released annually, extending soy-
bean production to most parts of
China, Han said. Zhonghuang-13, a
superior cultivar bred by scientists
from the Chinese Academy of Agri-
cultural Sciences, had been grown
in over 7 million hectares of farm-
land across China by the end of
2018, which helped increase yields
by 16 percent in Anhui province.
In Xinxiang, Henan province,
soybean yields exceeded 4.6 tons
per hectare in a pilot farmland last
year, 2.5 times the national average
level, due to promotion of new
farming technologies that involved
innovative no-tillage and stalk-
covering methods, Han said.
The latest genome-editing tech-
nologies have also been used to
develop new soybean cultivars that
can adapt to low-latitude areas in
southern China.
The research, which used a
genome-editing tool known as
CRISPR/Cas9 to “knock out” two
key genes that regulate soybean
flowering time and maturity, made
it possible to promote soybeans in
tropical regions, Han said.
Existing major programs funded
by the government, such as China
Agricultural Research System,
which incorporates agricultural
researchers across China in various
disciplines and covers 50 indus-
tries, have played an important
role in the elevation of agricultural
research and development, he said,
adding more progress is expected
in the next few years.
meters, including 930 taller than
100 meters.
A survey of more than 10,000
residents by the Shanghai Housing
Administration Bureau in 2016
showed that tossing objects off
high buildings was the No 1 bad
habit many residents hoped their
neighbors would abandon.
Between January and July last
year, nearly 1,200 complaints
about neighbors throwing objects
out of their windows were received
by the city’s resident hotline 12345.
Some incidents in Shanghai and
other regions even caused severe
consequences. A middle-aged man
was injured on his way home one
night in May 2000 after an ashtray
weighing nearly 2 kilograms was
thrown from a tall building and
struck him in the head. The man’s
skull was broken from the accident.
Chen Qi, a city lawmaker, said
surveillance cameras would be a
weapon to deter such behavior.
Shanghai police said that it will
collaborate with the housing
authority to research the devices
and promote their use.
Although the soybean is native to
China, the country has relied on
imports, mostly from Brazil and the
United States, to meet increasing
domestic demand for edible oil and
animal protein. Most of the 88.5
million tons of soybean it imported
last year — accounting for more
than 80 percent of domestic con-
sumption — was processed into oil
and animal feed.
“Compared with major crops
such as rice, wheat and corn, soy-
bean has much lower yields and
requires more land, which is a
major reason why it has not been
promoted as extensively in China
because of limited arable land,”
Han said.
However, efforts on improving
production of soybean in China
have never stopped, Han said.
Last year, total soybean produc-
tion in China exceeded 18 million
tons — a historic high and an
increase of 13 percent compared
with the previous year, according to
the National Bureau of Statistics.
“To rejuvenate soybean pro-
duction, more investment is
needed in the next few years in
soybean scientific research and
improving the application of the
latest technological achieve-
ments, such as new soybean
strains created by biotechnology,”
Han said.
Meanwhile, with big gaps
expected to remain between
domestic supply and demand,
changing unhealthy eating habits
that rely on too much oil and ani-
mal protein can also reduce
demand for soybeans, he said.
Thus, domestic supply could meet
demand and China would rely less
on imports.
The Shanghai Minhang District
People’s Court announced in
November that a man surnamed
Jiang, who threw objects including
mobile phones, tablets and a knife
out of the window of his home on
the 14th floor during an argument
with his family on Aug 1 last year,
was sentenced to one year in pris-
on on charges of endangering pub-
lic security by dangerous means.
Although his behavior did not
lead to injury or major property
damage, it still constituted the
crime as it posed a danger to public
safety, the court explained.
Chen also suggested that legal
awareness of the problem can be
spread through various means.
“Commitment letters may work as
a way to help residents understand
that such violations may lead to legal
consequences and thus better regu-
late their daily behaviors,” he said.
The city authority said that it is
considering connecting violations
to residents’ personal credit, mak-
ing it difficult for those who are
blacklisted to apply for jobs, loans
and public welfare.
CHINA DAILY
Police search
for boy, 3,
after alleged
abduction
By CUI JIA
cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn
Police in Yunnan province have
set up checkpoints on roads in their
search for a 3-year-old boy who was
allegedly kidnapped on Sunday
morning.
Police in Yongsheng county, Li-
jiang, said they received a call
around 10:30 am on Sunday saying
that a boy was seen being led into a
white van by a woman while playing
near his home in Yongbei township.
Officers immediately started a
search, inspecting vehicles and peo-
ple in the area. They also asked
members of the public to come for-
ward if they can provide valuable
information.
The boy’s father, surnamed Feng,
said his 6-year-old daughter wit-
nessed the abduction. She chased
the van and demanded the woman
free her brother, he told local media.
The young girl — who remem-
bered the woman had a bob hair-
style and was wearing a purple top
and jeans — was left traumatized,
Feng said.
He and his wife had left the chil-
dren with their grandparents on
Sunday morning before going to
work, Feng said.
The grandmother took the chil-
dren with her to herd cattle, but left
them unattended when she had to
round up some cattle that strayed.
When she returned, she found only
the boy’s sister, crying on her own. A
passerby helped her call police, Feng
added.
Briefly
BEIJING
Trains to fight poverty
by promoting products
Trains promoting local tourism
and agricultural products will run
through 52 poverty-stricken coun-
ties in seven provinces and regions
in China’s south and northwest in
September and October. Along
different train routes, which have
yet to be determined, there will be
10 livestreaming events, with art-
ists and hosts introducing local
agricultural products and tourist
attractions. Artists from the China
Oriental Performing Group, the
China National Traditional
Orchestra, the China National
Symphony Orchestra and hosts
from the China Media Group will
join the effort as volunteers.
Two fugitives returned
to China from Spain
Two fugitives on Interpol’s Red
Notice list were returned to China
from Spain on Sunday with the
assistance of the Chinese embassy
in Spain and the Spanish police.
One of the fugitives, surnamed Qiu,
is suspected of embezzlement. The
Ministry of Public Security said in
a statement issued on Monday that
Qiu took advantage of his position
and worked with others to change
the beneficiary of a client’s insur-
ance policy. After applying to termi-
nate the policy, Qiu allegedly
transferred the refund to his private
account and fled to Spain in April
2012. The other fugitive, a fraud
suspect surnamed Qi, allegedly
defrauded victims of money by
repeatedly mortgaging fictitious
assets. The ministry said Qi fled to
Spain in August 2014.
GUIZHOU
Ex-liquor maker exec
gets 11-year sentence
Liu Zili, former vice-chairman of
leading Chinese liquor maker
Kweichow Moutai Group, was sen-
tenced to 11 years and six months
in prison on Monday for taking
bribes and also fined 1 million
yuan ($144,600), a court in Gui-
zhou province said. His illegal
gains, worth about 18.5 million
yuan, were also confiscated, the
Qiannan Intermediate People’s
Court said. From 2008 to 2018, Liu
took advantage of his positions to
seek profits for others and accept-
ed bribes from others directly or
through his wife or daughter, the
court said in its verdict.
CHINA DAILY
 CHINA DAILY
CHINA
Grassroots communities
attract elite candidates
By MA ZHENHUAN in Hangzhou
mazhenhuan@chinadaily.com.cn
A notice of recruitment candi-
dates by public institutions of
Yuhang district in Hangzhou, capi-
tal of Zhejiang province, recently
went viral on social media as most
of the candidates were graduates
of Tsinghua and Peking universi-
ties, the nation’s top higher educa-
tion institutions, with master’s or
doctorates.
“Actually, the notice spread on
social media was published in 2018.
The candidates who chose a job in a
grassroots community were attract-
ed by the potential and vitality of
Hangzhou and the attractive pack-
age we provided,” said an official in
charge of the organization depart-
ment of Yuhang district, who asked
to remain anonymous, adding that
the rapid economic and social devel-
opment of Yuhang in recent years
called for more high-end talent.
Liu Yunnan, a master of law grad-
uate of Peking University who start-
ed working in Donghu community
in Yuhang in 2018, first served as a
clerk and was promoted a year later,
becoming the community’s Com-
munist Youth League chief.
“Starting my career by working
in a grassroots community has giv-
en me a good chance to improve
myself, and it also bears huge
career development prospects,”
said Liu, who explained that his
job was more stable and career
development channels were wider
than those available to his school-
mates who found jobs in law offi-
ces or big enterprises in
Epidemic exhibition
Reporters tour an exhibition in Shanghai with the theme of fight-
ing COVID-19 on Monday. The show, open to the public until Sept
25, gives a panoramic review of the city’s epidemic fight with
about 700 pictures and 200 objects. GAO ERQIANG / CHINA DAILY
Expats resume work in
China as business reboots
TIANJIN — With various events
lined up this month, Angiola Ruc-
ci, a senior manager at Triumph
Asia Co, an Italy-based event plan-
ning company, has been busy shut-
tling between exhibition venues in
Shanghai.
“Exhibition projects of many
companies at home and abroad got
postponed or canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. However, our
business in China has been back on
track. In August alone, we have five
projects in Shanghai,” said Rucci,
who had to undergo a 14-day quar-
antine upon arrival in Tianjin.
In compliance with China’s epi-
demic control regulations, Rucci and
some 200 passengers on flight
NO942 from Italy to Tianjin under-
went quarantine after arriving at the
Tianjin Binhai International Airport.
She said many of the passengers on
board were foreign employees
returning to work in China.
As soon as she finished the quar-
antine on Aug 14 and tested nega-
tive on her nucleic acid test, she left
for Shanghai. A day later, she made
her way to the launch venue of a
motorcycle.
Maria Criscuolo, chairwoman
and CEO of Triumph Group Inter-
national, the parent company of
Triumph Asia Co, said the compa-
ny’s employees are returning to
China. She added that she is confi-
dent about the Chinese market
and the company’s business in the
country since measures have been
taken to control COVID-19.
Rucci agreed. “China has done a
great job in epidemic prevention
and control,” she said. “Special
metropolises outside Hangzhou.
He advises younger graduates to
work in Yuhang for its favorable
working and living environment.
Yuhang, in northeastern
Hangzhou, realized a GDP of 282
billion yuan ($40.7 billion) in 2019,
ranking first among all districts
and counties in the city. The dis-
trict was home to more than 1,000
high-tech enterprises in 2019,
including the headquarters of
e-commerce giant Alibaba.
The district has been holding
special recruitment fairs for gradu-
ates of Tsinghua and Peking uni-
versities with master’s degrees or
above since 2017.
It issued a series of favorable poli-
cies in recent years. For example,
candidates from the two universities
can choose positions at public insti-
tutions or serve as senior employees
in local government departments.
“The district provided us free tal-
ent apartments for three years,” said
Chen Ji, a graduate from Peking
University who currently works at a
local community in Yuhang.
Furthermore, the working envi-
ronment and career prospects in
Yuhang are more attractive for
such highly-skilled talent due to
the large numbers of corporate
giants and startups.
“The daily work at the primary
level community can enrich me,
and I am touched by the vitality of
the young people here,” explained
Gao Xiangrong, also a Peking Uni-
versity grad.
Cai Jingwen contributed to this
story.
entrances and lounges have been
assigned for inbound passengers at
the airport. We were picked up by
designated vehicles upon arrival.”
Rucci, mother of a 1-year-old
baby, has been able to attend
online meetings while looking aft-
er her child during the quarantine.
“In addition to three meals a day,
we were provided with abundant
fruits and vegetables. They also pre-
pared a baby bed for me,” she added.
“I could not see their faces under the
hazmat suits, but I could feel they
were considerate and thoughtful.”
Elena Faoro, 41, who was on the
same flight with Rucci, said in flu-
ent Chinese that she has been work-
ing and living in China for 17 years.
She volunteered as an online inter-
preter for other inbound passen-
gers and helped them communicate
with medics at the quarantine site.
“The attendants and medics
always responded promptly to our
requirements, and tried their best
to help everyone solve problems,”
Faoro said. She said quarantine
staff took their temperatures,
helped them buy daily necessities,
delivered three meals a day on
time, disinfected the corridors and
regularly removed garbage.
“I read books, did indoor exercis-
es and dealt with the company’s
business during quarantine,” said
Faoro, who has returned to her
clothing materials production
company in Jiangsu province.
“We are determined to continue
developing the Chinese market
and seeking new business partners
in China,” Faoro said.
XINHUA
More research on virus sought
Experts call for increased international
unity to learn about long-term maladies
By ZHANG ZHIHAO
zhangzhihao@chinadaily.com.cn
As the long-term effects of COV-
ID-19 begin to surface, experts are
calling for more research and glob-
al collaboration as well as a better
mechanism to monitor recovered
patients and greater public educa-
tion initiatives to reduce unneces-
sary fear or speculation.
According to the journal Science,
the list of lingering maladies from
COVID-19 is longer and more var-
ied than most doctors could have
imagined. They include fatigue,
shortness of breath, muddled
thoughts, a persistent loss of sense
of smell and damage to the heart,
lungs, kidneys and brain.
The Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit
medical research center based in
the United States, said most people
who have COVID-19 recover com-
pletely within a few weeks, but
some, even those who had mild ver-
sions of the disease, continue to
experience symptoms.
Gregory Poland, a COVID-19
expert at the clinic, said the virus is
“wicked” and “has a number of
mysteries involved compared to the
usual respiratory virus.” This
includes the emerging idea of COV-
ID-19 “long-haulers,” a term used to
describe people who develop long-
term and ongoing complications.
“I think what we’re going to find
out is that a large portion of that
(the lingering symptoms) is likely
to relate to the significant cellular-
level damage that this virus can
Thankful recovered COVID-19 patient gives plasma
By LIU KUN in Wuhan
and WANG XIAOYU
An unusually resilient immune
response and a heart of gold have ena-
bled Tang Shulin, who has recovered
from the COVID-19 infection, to
accomplish what few people in the
world are capable of — donating blood
plasma 11 times in the past six months.
The last time he did so was on Aug
10, when Tang, a resident of Wuhan,
Hubei province, walked into the
city’s blood center to give 400 millili-
ters of convalescent plasma.
Infusions of blood plasma from
recovered COVID-19 patients like
Tang are believed to be a promising
therapy to treat those still battling
the disease.
Tang, 48, visited the facility as a
first-time convalescent plasma
donor on Feb 29, only 19 days after
he recovered from the virus and was
discharged from the hospital.
“At the time, I still felt a bit
uncomfortable while walking fast,
but knowing that my blood plasma
would aid treatment and that mak-
ing donations would not affect the
donor’s health, I just did what my
heart told me,” he said.
Tang is more than familiar with
the blood collection procedure. Since
2011, he has donated blood about 115
times and managed to persuade his
wife to become a regular donor.
Having confronted the cruelty of a
life-threatening virus face-to-face
and having witnessed the outpour-
ing of benevolence to Wuhan
cause,” he said in an online inter-
view.
Some of the possible long-term
effects can even affect patients who
are asymptomatic or have mild cas-
es, he added.
“I think it’s an argument for why
we take this disease so seriously.”
“We’re going to see more and
more of the longer-term conse-
quences come out, and we’re going
to need to study those as vigorously
as we did the acute symptoms. Cat-
alog them, understand them and
then do clinical trials to figure out
how best to treat them,” he said.
Such research is already under-
way around the globe. The COVID
Symptom Study, an app that allows
patients in the US, United Kingdom
and Sweden to report their symp-
toms for research, has garnered
nearly 4.1 million users.
In July, the UK National Institute
for Health Research and UK
Research and Innovation launched
an 8.4 million-pound ($11 million)
research study that would follow
10,000 COVID-19 survivors for a
year or longer to generate insight
that will help patients recover as
fully as possible.
Zhang Jinsan, a medical and
biology professor at Wenzhou
Medical University in Zhejiang
province, said these long-term
studies are not only crucial for
understanding the disease’s linger-
ing effects on physical and mental
health, but also for predicting who
is at risk of what symptoms and
how to fend them off while treating
Tang Shulin is awarded certificates for donating blood plasma after
recovering from COVID-19 in Wuhan, Hubei province, earlier this
month. PROVIDED FOR CHINA DAILY
strengthened his conviction to lend
a helping hand.
“In the past, I donated blood out of a
simple desire to do a good deed. Now,
I also want to show gratitude and
reciprocate all the kindness I received
during the epidemic,” he said.
Tang recalled that when he was
admitted into the hospital in
Wuhan’s Huangpi district in late
January, he had difficulty breathing
and was delirious with a high fever.
His said the first few days at the
hospital were a blur, but he remem-
bered a female medical worker say-
ing to him, “you will get better, we
will help you.”
“My eyes teared up the moment I
the acute symptoms of the illness.
Inflammation, overreaction of
the immune system, blood clotting
and others may contribute to COV-
ID-19’s lingering symptoms, though
conclusive evidence is still lacking,
he added.
“The novel coronavirus may
impact many organs simultaneous-
ly, but its long-term consequences
may not manifest all at once, so it is
key to keep a constant eye on the
survivors,” Zhang said.
For instance, the hormone level
of COVID-19 survivors may normal-
ize relatively quickly after recovery,
but the harm done to the lungs, liv-
er, brain and cardiovascular sys-
tems may take years before turning
into complications that warrant
medical attention, he added.
“The pandemic is still in full
swing, and we don’t know enough
about the virus to make a concrete
assessment on its long-term
effects,” he said.
“Apart from intensifying
research, our public health authori-
ties may need to craft new mecha-
nisms and social programs to
routinely monitor the survivors,
collect data on major organs affect-
ed by the virus and help cover parts
of these survivors’ medical bills
should long-term consequences
emerge.”
Mao Yonghui, a senior nephrolo-
gist at Beijing Hospital who treated
severe cases of COVID-19 in
Wuhan, said many of the lingering
symptoms are the result of insuffi-
cient recovery time and are unlikely
to become chronic conditions
based on current evidence.
“When patients are discharged, it
only means they have passed the
heard those words,” Tang said. “To
this day, I do not know who said
that, but I believe it was her comfort
that pumped enormous strength
into me at a vulnerable moment and
motivated me to follow the advice of
doctors, eat as much as I could and
take medication.”
Flashes and glimpses of selfless
devotion shining through medical
workers left an indelible mark on Tang.
“I was taken good care of at the
hospital and saw firsthand how the
whole country was mobilized to
assist Wuhan,” he said. “I am a very
sentimental person, and soon I made
up my mind to keep donating blood
plasma as long as I am eligible.”
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 | 5
Dragon
rowers
Rowers paddle during a
national folk dragon
boat race in Xuan’en,
Hubei province, on
Monday. A total of 83
teams are participating
in the six-day event,
which will end on
Friday.
SONG WEN / FOR CHINA DAILY
acute infection phase of the illness
and that the long-term recovery
stage can start. It does not mean the
patient has fully recovered,” she
said.
As a result, fatigue, shortness of
breath and joint pain are common
lingering aliments reported by
patients. “Most of them do eventu-
ally recover from some, if not all, of
these symptoms,” she said.
“I have read that many media
outlets are already calling the feel-
ing of tiredness as chronic fatigue
syndrome, or the loss of smell and
taste as a neurodegenerative dis-
ease, or that protein in urine means
there is kidney damage,” she added.
“These are all blown out of propor-
tion.”
“The truth is that global research
on COVID-19 is moving at break-
neck speed, and there is a lot of junk
science. Even findings of peer-re-
viewed, published papers may not
hold true after a while,” Mao
explained.
“Such is the nature of exploring a
new scientific frontier. We debate
new findings constantly, and the
foundation of knowledge for COV-
ID-19 is not as solid as people out-
side of the scientific community
perceive.”
When a study comes out that
examines the correlation between
novel coronavirus and some long-
term symptoms, the findings
should not be immediately taken as
causal facts, she said.
“There should be more scientific
outreach efforts to answer the pub-
lic’s pressing questions, to educate
them on the scientific process and
alleviate some of their anxieties and
fears,” she added.
For some inexplicable reason and a
touch of serendipity, Tang’s potential
to give qualified convalescent plasma
proved to be far above the average.
Available research shows that
antibodies generated in people who
recovered from COVID-19 usually
last three months. Tang’s immune
system is able to retain a sufficient
amount of antibodies for a pro-
longed period, said Chen Hanwei,
head of the Wuhan Blood Center’s
donation department.
“Tang is outstanding for both his
kindness and his unique immunity,”
she said.
According to Chen, the center had
collected 2,186 portions of blood
plasma from COVID-19 recovered
patients, totaling 730,000 millili-
ters. About one-quarter of them had
been sent to other parts of China to
assist local patients.
“There is a possibility of the virus
rebounding in the fall and winter,
and blood plasma will play an indis-
pensable role in preventing the con-
dition from worsening in severe
cases,” she said.
Tang also called for more recov-
ered patients to join him.
“When you know you can help oth-
ers, just do it,” he said. “In the mean-
time, we need to spread more
awareness about the significance of
maintaining blood stocks amid an
emergency and dispel the rumor that
donating blood is harmful to health.”
Contact the writers at
wangxiaoyu@chinadaily.com.cn
6 | Tuesday, August 25, 2020
CHINA
XIAOKANG@GRASSROOTS
From left: A guide displays black fungus to visitors at a greenhouse in Jinmi village, Zhashui county, Shaanxi province, on July 21.
May 26. ZHAO BIN / FOR CHINA DAILY Black fungus is on show in an exhibition room at the village on July 21. ZHANG YUAN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE
Livestreams see edible fungi sales mushroom
The use of modern technology is raising incomes and helping impoverished families in a mountainous region.
O
ne May afternoon, shortly
after He Jinyi started
livestreaming and selling
agricultural produce in
Jinmi, a village in Zhashui county,
Shaanxi province, a villager unex-
pectedly appeared in front of the
camera.
Usually the farmers are too shy to
show their faces, but this man was
happy to be filmed as he worked,
tending to the black fungus, an edi-
ble mushroom, he was cultivating.
Having started in spring last year,
the use of livestreams to sell produce
is still a novelty in the village, which
is located in the region of the Qin-
ling-Bashan mountains.
Walking around some greenhous-
es, He occasionally entered and
used her phone and a holder to
show the audience how the black
fungus is cultivated.
“I feel very happy because it’s
great that the fungi growers have
acknowledged the camera and
gained a sense of livestreaming their
products, which has boosted my
confidence in joining the sector,” the
26-year-old said.
In April last year, the law gradu-
ate from Northwest University of
Political Science and Law in Xi’an,
the provincial capital, joined the
five-strong livestreaming team at
Qinling Tianxia, an e-commerce
company based in Zhashui, Shang-
luo city.
She joined the company, which
sells the fungi, in 2016 when she
graduated from college.
Booming trend
In recent years, livestream sales
have become big business, accompa-
nied by the rise of several celebrity
hosts who make millions every year
selling products via outfits such as
Taobao, China’s biggest e-commerce
sales platform.
Unlike traditional TV sales, live-
streams are usually conducted via
mobile phones.
The format allows hosts to engage
with audiences in real time and
gives viewers a chance to make
requests or comment about the
goods being sold, fostering a sense of
participation.
Having started in 2015, China’s
livestreaming craze developed grad-
ually from the eastern regions to the
middle and west.
Many places nationwide, especial-
ly rural areas, began promoting and
selling local produce, prompting
young people like He to undergo
training to sell agricultural goods via
multiple platforms.
A report by the Forward Industry
Research Institute in Shenzhen,
Guangdong province, said the scale
of China’s livestreaming e-com-
merce market is expected to reach
961 billion yuan ($139 billion) this
FIRST PERSON
Hot topics help me connect with my friends on the other side of the screen
Zhao Linyuan
deputy manager of
the marketing
department at
e-commerce compa-
ny Qinling Tianxia
and a livestreaming
sales anchor in Shaanxi province
A
bout four years ago I
hosted a series of web-
casts on a social net-
working platform in my
Xin Wen reports from Shangluo, Shaanxi.
He Jinyi, a livestreaming saleswoman, discusses black fungus during an online broadcast at an exhibition center in Jinmi on July 21.
ZHANG YUAN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE
year, a rise of 128 percent year-on-
year. It also estimated that the num-
ber of livestream users will reach 550
million by the end of December.
Livestream sales platforms have
provided new opportunities for a
number of poverty-stricken areas,
driving local economic development
in new ways.
Becoming richer
In recent years, Jinmi has shaken
off poverty by developing an indus-
try based on black fungus.
By the end of last year, 549 of the
553 residents had been lifted out of
poverty, accounting for 187 of the
188 households, according to local
authorities.
Chen Qinghai, a 44-year-old resi-
dent, was once mired in poverty.
Before the fungi industry was estab-
lished, he worked part time in near-
by mines, earning less than 20,000
yuan a year.
“Two years ago, when my wife was
in poor health, some cadres from our
village called to offer me the oppor-
tunity to plant black fungus,” he said.
Chen left the mines and returned
to the village early last year to build a
greenhouse to grow the fungi.
He used 50,000 mushroom bags
to grow black fungus, earning 30
yuan per 500 grams via offline sales.
hometown of Shenyang in the
northeastern province of Liaoning.
As the livestreaming industry
had just started, I didn’t have
much information about how to
get work on the internet. I was
inspired by a friend who intro-
duced me to livestreaming.
I received “tips” from my view-
ers, mostly virtual cars or roses,
which they bought with real mon-
ey. During webcasts, which were
usually held at night, I turned on
However, once he started selling
his produce via livestreams, his
income soared.
“In the first half of this year, I
earned more than 30,000 yuan by
planting fungi. That’s much more
than I made in a year working at the
mine,” he said.
The father of three said his big
wish is to buy a car and take his fami-
ly for a drive.
In 2016, he and his family left their
house deep in the Qinling Mountains
and moved into a newly built house
in the village.
The following year, the household
was lifted out of poverty.
Lai Shengtao, first secretary of
poverty alleviation in Jinmi, said
the humid climate in the moun-
tainous area had provided many
job opportunities for village resi-
dents and attracted a number of
talented people.
Jinmi has the perfect conditions
for the cultivation of fungi, which
thrive on dampness and humidity,
according to Lai.
“An industry chain was formed
around the planting of black fungus,
which allowed many villagers to find
jobs that suited them and doubled
their incomes,” he said.
“What we do, mostly, is have a lot
of villagers planting fungi in their
the microphone and sang songs
requested by the audience.
I didn’t do it for long because I
felt it was more about how I
looked rather than what I said or
did. What you could achieve or
earn was based on whether the
viewers liked you or not.
I quickly became bored, so in
2016 I left home to relocate to
Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province.
In May last year, I started work-
ing as a livestreaming saleswom-
ZHANG YUAN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE Jinmi residents pick mushrooms in greenhouses on
own greenhouses. After they harvest
the mushrooms, companies take
over and sell the produce either
online or offline.”
He added that the villagers are not
required to spend their own money
on spore bags and other equipment.
Instead, local agricultural coopera-
tives undertake preparation of the
raw materials.
“Otherwise, the villagers would
have to manage and maintain the
whole process of planting the fungi
and then harvesting it when the time
came,” he said.
The industry has brought consid-
erable benefits to the villagers, as
each year around 3 million spore
bags produce 150 metric tons of
black fungus.
“In the future, I hope more people
from different sectors will join this
industry chain to make the fungi our
magic wand to eradicate poverty,”
Lai said.
New impetus
The introduction of livestream
sales of agricultural produce has
given new impetus to the develop-
ment of Jinmi, which will provide
more opportunities for the produce
to go global.
Zhao Shaokang, CEO of Qinling
Tianxia, said the company has
an for Qinling Tianxia, an e-
commerce company in the
province.
I do two live broadcasts a week.
They run from four to six hours
each on average.
Livestreaming agricultural pro-
duce is different from being a
webcast anchor as it requires you
to talk about the produce all the
time.
I’m not someone who talks a
lot, and I often suffer from speak-
earned 6 million yuan from live-
stream sales of black fungus since the
start of the year.
The livestreams allow vendors to
amass about 300 orders a day,
amounting to 6,000 yuan to 8,000
yuan, and fungi and related produce
can be sold nationwide.
“The goal of our livestreaming
sales is to see more of our produce
sold in countries participating in the
Belt and Road Initiative in the near
future,” Zhao said.
‘Shoppertainment’
When measures to contain the
novel coronavirus were imposed
nationwide, they became a catalyst
for people to move their shopping
habits online.
Wang Mingqiang, vice-president of
Alibaba Group and general manager
of AliExpress, a cross-border online
retail platform, said part of the shift
has seen people’s consumption habits
change as e-commerce boomed and
livestreaming became more popular,
tapping into new sales channels.
“This ‘shoppertainment’ has
reshaped the entire business land-
scape, in addition to changing con-
sumers’ online shopping habits,”
he said.
He added that livestreaming has
become an important channel in Chi-
ing too much as I have a constant
sore throat when livestreaming.
Gradually I discovered that if I
first talk with the viewers about
topics from my life they show
more interest in the goods I am
selling.
I am 30 years old, so I often talk
with my customers about Nothing
But Thirty (a popular TV series in
China) to start my livestreams.
Local specialty cuisines and the
environment around the Qinling
CHINA DAILY
What we
have
witnessed
is that many
consumers are
unlikely to return to
the traditional offline
business model.”
Wang Mingqiang
vice-president of Alibaba Group
and general manager of Ali-
Express, a cross-border online
retail platform
na for the creation of new employ-
ment opportunities and raising
people’s incomes.
“More interestingly, what we have
witnessed is that many consumers
are unlikely to return to the tradi-
tional offline business model once
they get used to online shopping,”
Wang said.
“Some overseas consumers, even
those who had their first contact with
e-commerce during the pandemic,
quickly changed their habits and
bought household supplies and pro-
tective equipment online in the
months that followed.”
Worldwide, the pandemic has
accelerated the shift to online activi-
ties, driving the development of the
e-commerce market in a positive
direction, he added.
The right choice
Back in Jinmi, He, the saleswo-
man, has often wondered whether
she made the right choice in leav-
ing her legal career and becoming
a livestreamer.
“I always thought that an online
livestreaming salesperson was an
internet celebrity, someone required
to sing or dance in front of the cam-
era. In my mind, all online anchors
were like that,” she said.
“But after training, I found that
everything and each platform is
worth a try,” she added.
“When I’m livestreaming, I can
decide how to do the broadcast.
More often than not, I chat with
customers about topics ranging
from the agricultural industry to
my work and even my daily life.
“Within three or four hours, in
addition to selling produce online,
I share my insights with the audi-
ence. It feels great to resonate
with them.”
Zhao Xinying contributed to this
story.
Contact the writer at
xinwen@chinadaily.com.cn
Mountains are among the topics I
often mention to the viewers.
In May, I was promoted to the
post of deputy manager of the
marketing department at my
company.
For the next step, I hope to turn
my focus from livestreaming sales
to management, as I believe such
a career move will be important
for me in the future.
Zhao Linyuan spoke with Xin Wen.
 CHINA DAILY
Companies come out stronger amid pandemic
Zhongguancun in
Beijing fostering some
of the country’s most
innovative operations
By YIN RUOWEI
yinruowei@chinadaily.com.cn
The COVID-19 pandemic has had
a disastrous impact on many busi-
nesses but not many of those based
in Beijing’s Zhongguancun, also
known as China’s Silicon Valley.
Home to new and innovative
businesses emerging from the pan-
demic, Zhongguancun has experi-
enced soaring growth in the first
half of this year, and is considered
an important force in Beijing’s eco-
nomic recovery.
Local officials said Zhongguan-
cun has turned the crisis into an
opportunity and is bustling with
active and eye-catching innovation
and entrepreneurship.
Official data show that in the first
six months of this year, total revenue
of high-tech enterprises above a des-
ignated size in Zhongguancun
reached 2.9 trillion yuan ($418 bil-
lion), up 5.9 percent on the same
period year-on-year.
In the period spanning from Jan-
uary to June, high-grade, precision
and advanced industries in Zhong-
guancun bounced back from the
pandemic and maintained stable
growth.
The six high-tech sectors — elec-
tronic information, renewable ener-
gy, biopharmaceuticals,
environmental protection, manu-
facturing and new materials — gen-
erated revenue of 2.4 trillion yuan,
accounting for 82 percent of Zhong-
guancun’s total revenue.
Companies in these sectors have
seen their total business revenues
increase by 8.12 percent compared
with the same six-month period of
2019.
Among them, Leyard Optoelec-
tronic has shown positive momen-
tum in terms of development,
recently winning the bid for the
world’s largest micro LED project.
Its production line in Daxing dis-
trict is now running at full capacity.
On July 15, the company launched
four new commercial micro LED
display products for mass produc-
tion, leading the industry toward
large-scale industrialization.
Inno Way
attracting
technology
startups
By CAO YINGYING
caoyingying@chinadaily.com.cn
While facing challenges due to the
COVID-19 outbreak, startup busi-
nesses in Beijing’s Zhongguancun
have shown new vitality, enhancing
the area’s position as an innovation
and entrepreneurship cluster.
Companies in Zhongguancun
Inno Way, a main street in the heart
of the region featuring startups,
sought to adopt new tech applica-
tions and new business models as a
result of unstable supply chains, a
sluggish market and stagnant
financing brought on by the pan-
demic.
Aibee is a high-tech company spe-
cializing in artificial intelligence
research in Zhongguancun, with 80
percent of its staff involved in tech-
nological research and develop-
ment.
The company utilized AI technol-
ogy to move shopping malls online
as many brick-and-mortar stores’
operations were suspended during
the pandemic.
Aibee developed a virtual reality
shopping platform that allows cus-
tomers to browse goods remotely.
After the digitalization of a mall is
complete, the company will contin-
ue to use data to support intelligent
services, such as accurate recom-
mendations.
As a technological startup, Aibee
is less directly affected by the pan-
demic, but its customers are facing
difficulties. At that time, the two
sides should cooperate to survive
the challenges, said Lin Yuanqing,
founder of the company.
A research report on the innova-
tion behaviors of small and medi-
um-sized enterprises in China
shows that half of startup founders
and executives said COVID-19
hadn’t affected their businesses
Zhongguancun Science City launches an online national recruitment campaign in late April, involving 100 local major companies.
YUAN YI / FOR CHINA DAILY
From left: Qi An Xin Technology, a cybersecurity solutions provider based in Zhongguancun, displays its services at the World 5G
Convention in Beijing in November 2019. WANG YU / CHINA NEWS SERVICE Internet giant Baidu is among the leading businesses in Zhongguancun.
SU WEIZHONG / FOR CHINA DAILY
In the electronic information sec-
tor, whose revenue from January to
June increased by 15.5 percent year-
on-year, e-commerce brands have
Inno Way in the heart of Zhongguancun is home to many startup
businesses. ZHAO YADAN / FOR CHINA DAILY
much and some said they saw
opportunities. The business models
of these companies are mostly
focused on internet technologies.
At Zhongguancun Inno Way,
there were 25 new company regis-
trations approved per month on
average so far this year. The figures
are higher than those of 2019,
according to the local government.
The street has seen the establish-
ment of 3,841 startups over the past
six years. Of them, 1,212 startups
have raised capital totaling 77 bil-
lion yuan ($11 billion) during that
period.
“With an innovation and entre-
preneurship ecosystem established
in the new era, we should absorb
research achievements in the world
and integrate them with open and
inclusive minds,” said Nie Lixia, gen-
eral manager of Zhongguancun
Inno Way.
As Zhongguancun is attracting a
growing number of international
professionals, Inno Way has devel-
oped from an innovation service
provider for Chinese-funded pro-
jects to a hot spot for investment
projects from around the world.
Gogiashvili Kaha from Georgia
has worked in Zhongguancun Inno
Way since 2019. He is proficient in
seven languages and helps startup
teams from different countries
launch projects.
He first came to China in 2015 as
an exchange student and was
attracted by the creative atmos-
phere in Zhongguancun. After grad-
uation, he chose to work in the high-
tech business hub.
He said Zhongguancun is a real
been helping the local economy to
recover.
To help stimulate consumption,
JD has partnered with video-shar-
innovation and entrepreneurship
center. In the street, the local gov-
ernment provides support for start-
ups in many aspects, such as office
space and investment, which allows
startups to focus on their projects.
According to the local govern-
ment, Zhongguancun Inno Way has
cooperated with more than 100
innovative agencies from more than
30 countries and regions. It has
cooperated with more than 200
international projects and provided
business incubation services for
more than 100 international pro-
jects.
Zhongguancun has incubated
436 foreign and overseas returnee
teams and hosted more than 6,300
innovative entrepreneurial activi-
ties, including those involving co-or-
ganizers from Slovakia, South Korea
and Switzerland.
The Zhongguancun administra-
tive committee and relevant depart-
ments have released a series of
policies and services for high-level
foreign professionals, including
business registration and intellectu-
al property protection, making
Zhongguancun the first choice for
global entrepreneurs to start up
their business.
In late July, Xu Qiang, director of
the Beijing Science and Technology
Commission, said Zhongguancun
should continue to make efforts to
build a world-class science and tech-
nology park and innovation high-
land. The next step of
Zhongguancun should be to focus
on releasing the innovative vitality
of SMEs and transforming resour-
ces into productivity.
ing app Kwai to advertise goods and
Meituan has added a livestreaming
mini program to its food delivery
platform.
Financing key to business recovery
By LIANG KAIYAN
liangkaiyan@chinadaily.com.cn
Despite the impact of the COV-
ID-19 pandemic, companies at
Zhongguancun Science Park in
Beijing have maintained sustaina-
ble growth thanks to financial
support from local authorities.
From January to June, high-tech
companies capable of generating
annual revenue of more than 20
million yuan ($2.89 million)
earned 2.9 trillion yuan in com-
bined business revenue, up 5.9
percent year-on-year, official data
showed.
Zhongguancun is home to near-
ly 30,000 high-tech companies
and more than 90 percent of them
are small and microbusinesses
driven by innovation. Thus, local
authorities have made concerted
efforts to help them with financ-
ing.
Small and medium-sized enter-
prises are vulnerable to economic
fluctuations and need more sup-
port for their development, said
Fan Rui, an official with the
Zhongguancun IP promotion
bureau.
Intellectual property-collateral-
ized financing is an effective
approach to supporting SMEs’
development and stimulating
their technological innovation,
Fan said.
Under the guidance of the Bei-
jing Intellectual Property Office,
the bureau and related authorities
have taken multiple measures to
help integrate IP and financial
resources.
To help companies fight the
COVID-19 pandemic, the bureau
cooperated with banks and other
financial institutions to help com-
panies in Zhongguancun with
IP-collateralized financing.
In the first half of this year, the
bureau helped seven high-tech
companies complete credit exten-
sion and renewal projects, with
the total credit line exceeding 200
million yuan, officials said.
In 2018, the bureau rolled out a
policy to promote IP-collateralized
financing for companies. It offers
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 ADVERTORIAL
Delivery service providers have
also come up with new delivery
options for people placed on lock-
down.
Home to legions of small high-tech startups, Zhongguancun
provides favorable policies to help them with financing.
WU YIBIN / FOR CHINA DAILY
interest rate subsidies and a guar-
antee for loans, playing an active
role in assisting high-tech compa-
nies in financial difficulties.
“Companies in Zhongguancun
have seen rapid development and
their technologies are updated
fast,” said Li Guangming, deputy
head of the bureau.
The amount of patent-collater-
alized financing in Zhongguancun
accounts for more than 90 percent
of the total in Beijing, Li said.
High-quality patent-collateral-
ized financing requires valuable
patents, proper financial institu-
tions and products, professional
service providers and policy sup-
port, he added.
Environment Sustainable Sys-
tem Engineering Technology is a
Beijing-based high-tech company
engaged in the integrated treat-
ment of flue gas.
In 2018, ESSET was designated
as a fast-growing gazelle company
in Zhongguancun.
Technologies are core assets for
the company to manage its envi-
ronmental protection business,
said Wei Jinghua, financial man-
ager at ESSET. In 2017, the compa-
ny borrowed 15 million yuan from
the Bank of Beijing by collateraliz-
ing its patents.
This year, ESSET is one of the
| 7
$418b
total revenue
generated by high-tech
businesses above a designated
size in Zhongguancun during
the first half of 2020
61.4
percent
of total patent filings in Beijing
between January and June were
from Zhongguancun
With online learning becoming a
major solution for educators and
students amid the pandemic, online
tutoring companies in Zhongguan-
cun have been stepping up to the
plate.
Zuoyebang, a startup running
online learning apps, provided
online courses for the college
entrance examination, which were
viewed over 21 million times and
served 8.05 million students. The
company said nearly 70 percent of
high school seniors across the coun-
try benefited from its classes.
Not only a technology hub,
Zhongguancun is also a place where
cutting-edge ideas and academics
from universities and research insti-
tutes gather.
In the first half of this year, enter-
prises in Zhongguancun above a des-
ignated size spent 126.89 billion
yuan on research and development,
a 16.8 percent year-on-year increase.
As a result, they have achieved reve-
nue of 565.59 billion yuan, an
increase of 18.4 percent year-on-year.
Glodon, located in the park, is a
construction engineering software
provider. In 2019, it poured as much
as one-third of its operating income
into R&D. Its newly created scenario
using artificial intelligence technol-
ogy to count reinforcing bars has
been well received by more than
1,000 construction companies and
sites across the country so far.
Being aware of patent protection,
enterprises in Zhongguancun have
applied for 51,729 patents from Jan-
uary to June, a jump of 10.4 percent
year-on-year. Applications took up
61.4 percent of the total number of
patent applications filed by enter-
prises in Beijing. Of the filings,
31,790 were for invention patents, a
year-on-year increase of 11.3 percent.
beneficiaries of the interest rate
subsidy policy, Wei said.
“We gained 200,000 yuan in
interest rate subsidy, which helps
to offset parts of interest from our
loans in 2020,” she said.
Such a policy provides strong
support for companies to have bet-
ter communication with banks
and to get a loan, Wei said.
“It is crucial for SMEs and pri-
vate enterprises to get over the
financial crisis in development,”
she added.
Li Yi, assistant to the general
manager of the technology and
finance department at BOB’s
Zhongguancun branch, said the
value of IP assets is varied, result-
ing in difficulties in evaluation
and risk control.
In designing financial products,
Li said: “We also put the IP com-
petitiveness of companies as a
bonus to determine the credit line
for them.”
BOB provides IP-collateralized
financing services in cooperation
with IP evaluation institutions, IP
operation platforms and guaran-
tee agencies, Li said.
The policy on providing interest
rate subsidies helps companies
reduce their costs and is conducive
for banks to support more compa-
nies, he said.
8 | Tuesday, August 25, 2020
COMMENT
Editorials
TikTok defends itself against
digital gunboat attack of US
T
ikTok filed a lawsuit on Monday against
the United States president’s executive
order banning any transaction with the
video-sharing social networking app’s
Chinese developer ByteDance or its subsidiaries.
In a statement, TikTok said that it had no choice
but to challenge the executive order as the ban
treats the company and users of the app unlawfully
and unfairly by disregarding necessary legal proce-
dures and trampling on freedom of contract.
According to reports, Oracle, whose chairman
Larry Ellison has raised millions of dollars in cam-
paign funds for the US president, is keen to take
advantage of the US administration’s remarkably
serendipitous move with a bid for TikTok's US
operations, which ByteDance can divest itself of
before the ban takes effect.
No wonder the Chinese Foreign Ministry has
called the attacks on Chinese apps such as TikTok
“digital gunboat policy”.
The lawsuit filed by TikTok comes hard on the
heels of US-based users of WeChat filing a lawsuit
against the executive order arguing that it violates
the constitutional rights of its millions of users in
the US.
Although the US administration professes to
uphold the rule of law, an open internet and free-
dom of speech, what the administration has done
in its bid to impede the normal business operations
of TikTok and WeChat proves otherwise.
New Lancang-Mekong marker of cooperation
W
hen Premier Li Keqiang said on
Monday at the third Lancang-Me-
kong Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting
that China will give priority to pro-
viding COVID-19 vaccines to the Mekong River
countries — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand
and Vietnam — and share hydrological informa-
tion with them, he was driving home the message
that China will do its utmost to help these coun-
tries better cope with shared challenges.
For thousands of years, the 4,909-kilometer riv-
er, called the Lancang in China, has borne testimo-
ny to the thriving cultural, trade and human ties in
the region. And although Monday’s meeting was
virtual, it provided a platform for the six countries
to forge consensuses free of any interference from
outside forces.
The focus of the meeting was on strengthening
cooperation to address the novel coronavirus that
necessitated the meeting being conducted by video
links, including ways to promote the region’s sus-
tainable development in the face of the challenges
caused by the outbreak.
Mutual respect and win-win cooperation on an
equal footing saw the trade volume between China
and the other five countries hit more than $260 bil-
lion in 2018, and China’s investment in these coun-
tries has exceeded $45 billion.
China is also a major partner to the five countries
in areas such as health, education, technology,
security, and various other fronts.
To some extent, it is China’s rise over the past 40
Listing reform promotes higher quality growth
T
he ChiNext Index, which tracks China’s
Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises,
gained nearly 2 percent on Monday,
reflecting investors’ confidence in the
country’s shift to the registration-based initial pub-
lic offering system.
The first batch of 18 companies debuted on Mon-
day in Shenzhen under the new registration system,
which allows the market to decide which companies
should be listed. Previously, it was determined by an
approval committee formed by the regulatory body.
Starting from Monday, companies listed on the
ChiNext board will also have a 20-percent limit for
gains or losses, which is seen as the boldest move to
liberalize stock trading after Shanghai’s smaller
STAR Market piloted the reform last year. When its
stock market debuted in the early 1990s, China
adopted a series of arrangements, such as the
10-percent daily fluctuation limit, which still
applies to the main board, to protect individual
investors and prevent drastic market fluctuations.
But as the market has matured, China has intro-
duced market-oriented reforms so the stock mar-
ket can support the country’s pursuit of high-
quality development.
For a long time, Chinese enterprises have mainly
acquired capital through indirect financing chan-
nels, such as bank loans. Direct financing such as
through bond issuance and stock listings accounts
for less than 40 percent of total corporate financing.
CHINA DAILY WORLDWIDE
Contact us at: China Daily UK
90 Cannon St, London EC4N 6HA, UK
China Daily +44 (0) 207 398 8270
15 Huixin Dongjie Chaoyang District, editor@chinadailyuk.com
Beijing 100029
News: +86 (0) 10 6491-8366 China Daily Asia Pacific
editor@chinadaily.com.cn China Daily Hong Kong
Advertisement: +86 (0) 10 6491-8631 Unit 1818, Hing Wai Centre, 7 Tin Wan
ads@chinadaily.com.cn Praya Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Subscription: +86-400-699-0203 +852 2518 5111
subscription.chinadaily.com.cn editor@chinadailyhk.com
App: www.chinadaily.com.cn/mobile/daily.html editor@chinadailyasia.com
The executive orders claim that the popularity of
mobile applications such as TikTok that are devel-
oped and owned by companies in China threatens
US national security, foreign policy and the econo-
my. Yet even the Central Intelligence Agency con-
cluded after an investigation that there is “no
evidence” showing the Chinese government had
intercepted TikTok’s data or used the app to
intrude into users’ mobile phones, according to a
New York Times report.
Clearly the US administration’s approach is sim-
ply to give the dog a bad name and then kill it.
The executive orders targeting TikTok and
WeChat show how desperate the US administra-
tion is to blunt China’s technological edge and how
willing it is to abuse its power to curtail the accept-
ance of Chinese applications and exclude China
from the global IT community, even at the cost of
the rule of law.
The moves highlight that the US administration
wants to build a cyber wall to isolate China from the
global information economy that will be the basis
for power and prosperity in the new digital era.
America will not become great again if politi-
cians in Washington continue to violate market
rules, compromise competition and raise trade,
economic and technological curtains against pre-
sumed rivals based on ideology or expediency. The
US administration should stop stooping so low if it
wants America to rise again.
years that has driven the common development of
the region, and created space for the countries to
tap into their complementarities.
And their thriving cooperation has fostered a
strong sense among the six countries that they
form a community with a shared future. This in
turn has helped them maintain a peaceful and
stable neighborhood environment that benefits
all of them.
Which constitutes a stark contrast with the beg-
gar-thy-neighbor policy some countries have
adopted, and the China threat theories some politi-
cians try to peddle around the world.
The agenda of the meeting, which highlighted
greater cooperation on public health, environ-
mental and ecological protection and responses
to natural disasters, along with the promotion of
trade and investment, means all the participat-
ing countries have realized the urgency and
necessity to upgrade their coordination and
cooperation so as to better address these com-
mon challenges together.
None of these threats, whether the current pan-
demic or disasters related to climate change, can
be resolved by any of the countries on its own.
As such, this meeting can be regarded as a mile-
stone marking the point at which the close regional
cooperation was directed toward addressing non-
conventional problems. In so doing, the region has
again set an example of not only how good neigh-
borhood can be achieved, but more importantly
what it can achieve.
Traditional enterprises, especially big and State-
owned ones, such as real estate companies, are the
favorite clients of banks, because they have good
assets to serve as collateral for loans. But it is hard
for some fast-developing innovative enterprises to
secure loans as they do not possess any assets that
they can offer as a guarantee. For companies such
as emerging high-tech companies therefore
financing through the capital market is a more
realistic option.
Actually, the fast expansion of high-tech compa-
nies in the developed economies since the 1980s is
attributable to the high ratio of direct financing in
those countries.
China has become the second-largest economy
in the world in terms of overall GDP scale. But it
needs to further liberalize its capital market to pro-
vide reliable financing sources for its high-tech and
innovative growth enterprises.
In the short term, as protectionist sentiment has
been on the rise in some developed countries
against Chinese enterprises that have listed over-
seas, the accelerated systemic reform in the domes-
tic stock market can provide a viable alternative for
affected Chinese companies.
In the longer term, the stock market reforms will
help China transition more smoothly from its past
development mode driven by investment and
exports to higher quality development propelled
by technology and innovation.
China Daily USA
1500 Broadway, Suite 2800,
New York, NY 10036
+1 212 537 8888
editor@chinadailyusa.com
China Daily Africa
P.O. Box 27281-00100, Nairobi, Kenya
+254(0)20 242 8589 (Nairobi)
editor@chinadailyafrica.com
enquiries@chinadailyafrica.com
subscription@chinadailyafrica.com
Dave Granlund
Opinion Line
Biased mindset proves to be
great divider in math studies
The East China Normal Univer-
sity Press is at the center of a gen-
der discrimination debate after
publishing two versions of a math
book, one for boys and the other
for girls.
The publishing house said on its
official WeChat account that they
used big data to identify gender-
specific weaknesses, which the
book Boys and Girls Learning Math
would help overcome. But the arti-
cle also quotes a girl’s parent as say-
ing, “My daughter is good in math,
so I will buy the boys’ version for
her,” implying that girls are weak in
math compared to boys.
Society often reveals its preju-
dice that boys are better than girls
at math after observing boys per-
Idle minds with keypads are the devil’s workshop
A man fell to the ground outside
Changde Railway Station, Changde
city, Hunan province, on Aug 14,
and two young women rushed to
help him. Video captured by a
closed circuit television camera
shows they administered cardio-
pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for
20 minutes, till an ambulance
arrived and rushed the man to hos-
pital. However, the man died there.
The two women were medical
students on their way to catch a
train to Chengdu, 1,043 kilometers
away. The dead man’s family mem-
bers expressed their gratitude to
the two students for their efforts to
save the man’s life.
The incident also found mention
on social networking sites, where
the two students got their share of
What They Say
Managing local governments’ debt risks
The regulations on the imple-
mentation of the Budget Law,
which was recently published by
the State Council and comes into
effect on Oct 1, makes specific pro-
visions on the management of local
government debts, which will meet
the need for the standardized man-
agement of local government debts
after the amendment to the budget
law and provide institutional sup-
port for the prevention of local gov-
ernment debt risks.
Given that local governments
had no power to issue debts and the
old budget law made no specific
provisions, it is timely and also nec-
essary for the newly-published reg-
ulations to make such provisions to
plug possible loopholes.
Local government debt risks
must be prevented from rising
beyond a certain point. This is nec-
essary to implement the quota
management of local government
debts. The determination of local
government debt quotas needs to
take into account various factors,
including local debt risks and their
financial conditions, and national
macro-control policies. The upper
ceiling set for local government
forming better than girls in math
in school. Also more boys are
engaged in professions that require
a good understanding of math.
However, the observers have erred
in basing their findings on exami-
nation results of the past, when the
percentage of girls receiving educa-
tion and working was very low
compared to boys.
Many girls then lacked the oppor-
tunities to tap their math potential.
But as more girls receive compulso-
ry education, the gap in performan-
ces is narrowing and in recent years
girls have been top science scorers
in the gaokao, or national college
entrance examination.
International studies show no
significant differences exist
JIN DING / CHINA DAILY
praise. Until, someone posted a nas-
ty comment. “A day later, the family
sued the two medical students for
administering medical aid without
having obtained a necessary doctor’s
certificate yet.” The comment was a
lie, but it received over 61,000 likes.
No one knows why someone con-
cocted a lie that can break the trust
between medical workers and
debts must not be breached.
To realize better quota manage-
ment of local government debts,
the nature of the debt should be
clearly defined. First, both general
debts and special debts belong to
local government debts. Second,
the loans from foreign govern-
ments and international organiza-
tions, as long as local governments
are solvent enough to repay,
should all be defined as local gen-
eral debts.
General debts and special debts
are raised for different purposes,
but as government debts, both are
used for the development of public
welfare undertakings, and the dif-
ference is that the funds raised as
special debts are used for those
profitable public welfare undertak-
ings. However, there are big differ-
ences between the two in terms of
management, given that the funds
raised as special debts usually need
to be repaid by the incomes from
the involved project, and if the
project fails to gain expected reve-
nues, the debt risks may arise.
Hierarchical management is so
far adopted for local government
debts. The provincial-level financial
CHINA DAILY
between boys and girls with regard
to their intelligence or math skills.
In fact, a survey of Shanghai’s
primary and middle school stu-
dents’ learning situations in 2012
and 2017 showed girls outperform-
ing boys in almost all subjects in
the seven grades; the only excep-
tion was chemistry, in which both
performed equally well.
The improving academic per-
formance by girls in recent years is
an outcome of gender equality
measures. Although the East China
Normal University Press responded
to public criticism by stopping pub-
lication of the textbooks, it is a pity
that some educators still have such
biased mindsets.
— WANG YIQING, CHINA DAILY
patients. Doctors do their best to
save lives, but they are not gods.
There will be times when they will
fail, leaving them as shattered as
their patients’ family members.
And one cannot expect a certified
doctor to be standing on the scene
any time someone needs emergen-
cy medical assistance. In such cases,
anybody with any experience, how-
ever limited, should try to pitch in.
In fact, more people should be
encouraged to learn first aid skills
such as CPR, so as to be able to save
lives. In the Changde case above,
even the family members of the man
thanked the medical students. But
some “keypad villains” with idle
minds sought to defame their good
deeds in exchange for clicks.
— ZHANG ZHOUXIANG, CHINA DAILY
departments are authorized to
undertake overall responsibility for
unified debt quota management.
From the perspective of activating
the enthusiasms of local govern-
ments, lower-level governments
should be granted more independ-
ent powers for debt issuance as one
of the directions for future local
debt reforms.
However, considering grassroots
financial management is still rela-
tively weak, it is a pragmatic choice
for provincial-level financial
authorities to conduct unified quo-
ta management for local govern-
ment debts, because this is an
effective means to prevent local
debt risks.
The Ministry of Finance and pro-
vincial-level financial authorities
act as the main watchdog against
local government debt risks. How-
ever, given that risk management of
local government debts is based on
risk assessment, local governments
at all levels should also assume
important responsibilities, such as
providing early warning and taking
measures to supervise and defuse
debt risks when necessary.
— SFCCN.COM
 CHINA DAILY
VIEWS
Tian Fuqiang, Liu Hui and Lu Hui
Trust key to Lancang-Mekong cooperation
T
he drought that hit the Lan-
cang-Mekong River basin in
2019 caused the water in this
great river to drop to one of
its lowest levels in more than 100
years, inflicting substantial damage on
both upstream and downstream com-
munities.
The unprecedented low level of the
water in the river attracted much atten-
tion from Lancang-Mekong riparian
countries (China, Myanmar, Laos, Thai-
land, Cambodia and Vietnam) and
beyond, including a study by research-
ers from Eyes on Earth and Global Envi-
ronmental Satellite Applications (EoE)
that said the drought was caused
because China’s dams upstream with-
held water. But a subsequent commen-
tary by the Mekong River Commission
raised serious doubts about the data and
methodology used by the EoE study.
The MRC report concluded that the
2019 drought was due largely to insuffi-
cient rainfall during the wet season and
early departure of the rains, as well as
an El Nino event that created an abnor-
mally high temperature and high evapo-
transpiration. It also said it’s not true
that the acute shortage of water in the
lower basin of the Mekong River, called
Lancang in China, in 2019-20 was due to
China’s dams withholding water.
Fostered by the MRC report, we con-
ducted a study aimed at further quanti-
fying the drought’s characteristics in the
Lancang-Mekong River basin and the
possible role of reservoir regulation.
The resultant report was openly
shared and peer-reviewed in an online
webinar held in July, which attracted
renowned scholars from Oxford Univer-
sity, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, Mekong River Commission,
Chulalongkorn University, Hydropower
& Dams International and the Southern
Institute of Water Resources Research of
Vietnam, and other experts from the six
Lancang-Mekong countries.
The international experts concluded
that our study had accurately analyzed
the drought characteristics of the Lan-
cang-Mekong River basin, causes of the
2019 drought and the regional composi-
tion of runoff along the Mekong River
by using state-of-the-art models, meth-
ods and comprehensive datasets. The
experts also said our report illustrated
the mitigation effect of upstream reser-
voirs on the drought as a whole.
From his published papers, we know
the lead author of the EoE research
report developed the wetness index in
the name of Basist Wetness Index, and
mentioned in his papers that this index
is not applicable to highly vegetated
mountainous areas.
Yet the Lancang River basin is a
highly vegetated mountainous area.
Which means the EOE study was at
Andrew Scott
Working out a healthy improvement on GDP
D
issatisfaction about GDP is
growing. Many economists,
policymakers and other crit-
ics question the ability of the
governments’ measures and social suc-
cess to recognize the welfare gains from
technology, account for environmental
degradation, or capture rising inequali-
ty.
And with developments in artificial
intelligence (AI) and robotics poised to
produce considerable labor-market
churn while also boosting GDP — a
process likely to be accelerated by the
novel coronavirus pandemic — these
complaints will soon grow louder.
Numerous alternative indicators
have long been on offer, but one espe-
cially promising option is healthy life
expectancy (HLE), a metric that is easi-
ly understood and that has obvious
importance to each of us individually.
Also, HLE is already being measured,
and happens to address many of the
factors that GDP might omit.
Poor environmental conditions, for
example, are not conducive to long,
healthy lives. And there is plenty of evi-
dence to suggest that individuals who
are happy and relatively contented also
tend to live and remain healthy longer.
Even more to the point, longer healthi-
er lives connect back to GDP. Just as ris-
ing GDP helps to provide the resources
needed to support health, healthy pop-
ulations support stronger GDP.
Moreover, by targeting HLE specifi-
cally, governments could shine a bright-
er light on the issue of economic
inequality. Because the incomes of the
very richest households may be several
thousand times higher than those of the
poorest households, average GDP is
invariably larger than typical (median)
income. But when it comes to life
best inaccurate and worst based on the
wrong premise.
In the Bangkok Post article, the EoE
authors came up with a new issue of
flood. They emphasized the absolute
advantage of flood pulse to the liveli-
hoods of the people in the downstream
of the river that depend on it, that is, the
Tonle Sap fishing industry, by claiming
that “there have been zero cases of
severe flooding which killed thousands
of people, let alone millions”.
Yet the fact is that floods caused many
fatalities and economic losses in the six
Lancang-Mekong countries. Hundreds
of lives were lost as major floods rav-
aged the Mekong basin during 2000-14
with the overall death toll being more
than 2,000 — which could have been
minimized largely due to effective flood
control infrastructure.
To determine the impact of the Lan-
cang dams on the Tonle Sap flood pulse,
it is important to know the contribution
rate of the Lancang River to the wet sea-
son flow at Stung Treng — which is
around 14 percent in our study (16.8
percent as reported by the MRC). It is
also important to know that the reverse
flow (inflow) to the Tonle Sap Lake
takes about 15 percent of the main-
stream flow of the Mekong during the
corresponding period. Therefore, the
expectancy in the richest countries, the
opposite is true. The outliers tend to be
those who die young, so that typical
(median) life expectancy is higher than
average life expectancy.
This means that raising the average
HLE can be achieved by raising the
HLE of those at the bottom of the
health distribution to that of the typical
(median) person. This not only makes
targeting inequality more attractive,
but does not require path-breaking
medical innovations to achieve longer
lifespans — just the achievement of typ-
ical outcomes for more people. With
this in mind, it is urgent to close the
sizeable rich-poor life-expectancy gap
— around 15 years — in the United
States.
As a metric for economic and social
progress, targeting HLE implicitly
acknowledges that aging is malleable
(if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be a viable tar-
get). It turns out that a range of behav-
iors and policies, as well as the
environment we inhabit, influence
how we age and how long we live. It is
estimated that our genetics account for
only one-fourth of the factors contrib-
uting to how we age. Given this mallea-
bility, it is crucial that governments
focus on HLE for the maximum num-
ber of people.
Such a focus would also help govern-
ments confront one of the biggest chal-
lenges of the future: societal aging.
Given that every country in the world is
expected to experience societal aging,
focusing on how well we age becomes
paramount. This age malleability
requires drawing a distinction between
chronological and biological measures
of age and focusing on the latter.
Yet since so much government policy
currently focuses on the non-malleable
contribution rate of the Lancang River
to the Tonle Sap Lake reverse flow
should be around 2 percent. Consider-
ing the Lancang dams regulate part of
the Lancang River flow, the regulation
impact of Lancang dams on the flood
pulse of the Tonle Sap Lake would be
much less than 2 percent.
As researchers we have participated
in many cooperative activities associat-
ed with the Lancang-Mekong River dur-
ing the past more than 10 years. We
have witnessed that the Lancang-Me-
kong riparian countries are engaged in
high-level water resources cooperation
under the MRC and Lancang Mekong
Cooperation Mechanisms. To the best of
our knowledge, the key to cross-border
water resources management is collec-
tive action. And in the words of Elinor
Ostrom, the 2009 Nobel Prize winner
for Economics, building knowledge and
trust are essential for solving collective-
action problems.
The experiences of the 2019 drought
and all previous droughts call for more
collaborative actions by the multiple
stakeholders to alleviate drought and
other extreme hydrological hazards.
Which is not easy. Yet knowledge shar-
ing, underpinned by solid scientific
understanding, could be the first step in
that direction.
chronological metric, too many govern-
ments are unprepared for future demo-
graphic challenges such as
overburdened healthcare and pension
systems. Rather than exploring ways to
influence how we age, policymakers are
focused almost entirely on the number
of “old” people. But by targeting healthy
longevity, they could help more people
lead longer, more productive lives,
thereby minimizing the economic costs
of societal aging.
After the 2008 global financial crisis,
policymakers committed to doing
“whatever it takes” to stabilize the
financial system and restore GDP
growth. A subsequent slowdown in
trend productivity growth and the dev-
astating global economic fallout from
the pandemic have produced numerous
policy suggestions and unprecedented
spending aimed at reversing trend
slowdowns in GDP growth.
By contrast, news of declining life
expectancy in many OECD countries
has not produced a similar outpouring
of proposed solutions. How can we
commit trillions of dollars to ensure
that GDP is supported while doing so
little to avoid declining life expectan-
cy? Certainly, the response to the COV-
ID-19 pandemic, whose impact has
plummeted GDP as a result of life-sav-
ing measures, suggests that substantial
policy measures to boost HLE are
worthwhile.
To operationalize HLE targeting, gov-
ernments should follow Japan in estab-
lishing “longevity councils”. Once
policymakers start focusing on the
issue, they will realize three things.
First, preventive healthcare is key.
Around the world, healthcare systems
tend to be geared primarily toward
medical intervention and disease
MA XUEJING/ CHINA DAILY
To conclude, we would like to share
the main findings of our study with the
aim of building knowledge and trust.
The Lancang-Mekong River basin is
experiencing frequent droughts — sig-
nificantly more droughts in the dry sea-
son than in the wet season. The 2019
drought was among the most severe in
the past century, and the worst hit area
was the Lancang to upper Mekong area
(NongKhai).
Since the severe drought in 2019 was
characterized by less precipitation since
the early wet season, the regulation of
reservoirs in the Lancang-Mekong River
basin could play an active role in deal-
ing with droughts in the basin. We hope
all the riparian countries make serious
joint efforts to face the common chal-
lenge and build a better future for all.
Tian Fuqiang is a professor at the Cen-
ter for International Transboundary
Water and Eco-Security, Tsinghua Uni-
versity; Liu Hui is a senior engineer in
the Department of Hydraulics, China
Institute of Water Resources and Hydro-
power Research; and Lu Hui is an asso-
ciate professor at the Centre for
International Transboundary Water
and Eco-Security, Tsinghua University.
The views don’t necessarily reflect those
of China Daily.
response, rather than toward general
health promotion. Second, many of the
determinants of long, healthy lives fall
outside the health system, and are con-
nected to work, education and commu-
nity, as economists Anne Case and
Angus Deaton have shown in their
work documenting “deaths of despair”.
A policy focus on HLE therefore
requires a cross-departmental govern-
ment approach.
That “deaths of despair” dispropor-
tionately affect middle-aged individuals
points to the third realization: longevity
is about all-of-life and not just end-of-
life outcomes. With the British govern-
ment estimating that a newborn girl
now has a one-in-five chance of living to
100, it is critical that we expand our
view of longevity to the entire life
course. Measures targeting HLE must
be inclusive across all age cohorts and
focus on longevity, not just on the old.
After all, today’s young people are
tomorrow’s elderly, and all of one’s time
on this planet matters.
There are many metrics that govern-
ments could use to judge the success of
their policies and the health of society.
But whatever other measures they use,
HLE deserves a central position in the
policy mix. Few other variables are both
as important for us individually and as
effective in capturing broader macroe-
conomic benefits.
The author, a professor of Economics at
the London Business School, is
co-founder of The Longevity Forum and
co-author (with Lynda Gratton) of The
100-Year Life: Living and Working in an
Age of Longevity.
Project Syndicate
The views don’t necessarily represent
those of China Daily.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 | 9
Kang Bing
The author is former deputy editor-in-chief
of China Daily.
kangbing@chinadaily.com.cn
Coordinated bid to
end poverty has
paid rich dividends
Editor's Note: China is set to realize its target of
eliminating absolute poverty by the end of this year.
What are the factors behind China’s imminent suc-
cess? In the ninth of a series of commentaries, a senior
journalist of China Daily tries to find the answers:
T
alking about poverty alleviation in China,
people tend to turn their attention to the
poverty line, not realizing that, by doing so,
they could neglect other basic requirements
and quotas that are even more difficult to meet.
In China, the dynamics of a typical four-member
rural family recently lifted out of poverty can be
described thus: an annual income of 16,000 yuan
($2,323), a half-hectare cultivable plot, a 100-square-
meter brick-and-mortar house, children getting nine-
year compulsory education along with free lunch
provided on school days, and all family members hav-
ing basic medical insurance.
China readjusted its poverty line in 2011, raising it
to 2,300 yuan — an increase of 80 percent over 1,274
yuan from 2010. Since then, the standard has been
raised annually taking into account inflation and oth-
er factors. This year it is 4,000 yuan ($570).
But what kind of life can a person lead with that
sort of income? Apparently, 4,000 yuan is enough for
a family to just survive. But when the incomes of four
members are added, they can very well meet the other
needs of the family members.
Providing enough food, clothing, housing, educa-
tion and healthcare for all families is the primary tar-
get of the government’s poverty alleviation program.
And to prevent rural people from slipping back into
poverty — and lead a more secure and relatively com-
fortable life — a lot more funds have been allocated to
the education, medical care and housing sectors.
Families in rural areas were exempted from paying
tuition for their children’s nine-year compulsory edu-
cation in order to encourage poor children to attend
school. If students from poor families have difficulty
in paying for school uniform and other social activi-
ties, they can seek special subsidies. As a result, Chi-
na’s enrolment rate for nine-year compulsory
education stands at about 95 percent.
Moreover, the central government
pays special attention to the welfare
of people who are disabled or too old
to work. It has pledged to take care
of such people, who usually
comprise about 2 percent of the poor
population in rural areas, through
social security programs.
Many students from poor families have continued
their education and completed senior-high and high-
er education and found well-paying jobs in cities. In
the past, rural families used to say, “if one member
falls ill, the whole family slips back into poverty”.
Realizing the gravity of the problem, the central gov-
ernment implemented a medical insurance system in
rural areas across the country in 2003. Under the sys-
tem, a farmer pays 250 yuan (the figure for this year)
for medical insurance while the governments at dif-
ferent levels pay an extra 520 yuan.
And as many as 630,000 clinics have been set up in
villages, which farmers with minor illnesses like
coughing or fever can visit to get free treatment. For
more serious illnesses, they can seek treatment in a
hospital in the nearest town or even a big city, where a
large percentage of the treatment cost is covered by
the medical insurance.
When I visited a poor family in Ganzhou, Jiangxi
province, last year, my hostess told me that she was
recovering after a heart surgery which cost more than
60,000 yuan. “I paid only a few thousand yuan and
the rest was covered by the medical insurance. If not
for the insurance, I probably would have to sell this
house,” she said standing in front of her newly built
three-story house.
About 1.3 billion Chinese had bought medical
insurance by the end of 2018.
The third thing the central government has done is
to ensure the houses the poor families live in are
secure. Poor farmers who live in dilapidated houses
are being persuaded to demolish them and build new
ones using a subsidy of about 30,000 yuan per person
provided by the government for families living under
the poverty line.
That subsidy is enough for a family of four to build
a safe brick-and-mortar house of 100 square meters
even though many poor farmers borrow money from
relatives to build stronger and more comfortable
houses. Such lending and borrowing among the vil-
lagers shows they are confident of a brighter future.
Needless to say, millions of poor farmers have benefit-
ted from the government’s housing program.
Moreover, the central government pays special
attention to the welfare of people who are disabled or
too old to work. It has pledged to take care of such
people, who usually comprise about 2 percent of the
poor population in rural areas, through social security
programs.
That all the above measures have been weaved into
a strong net will ensure that no one is left behind in
China’s pursuit for common prosperity.
10 | Tuesday, August 25, 2020
WORLD
UK denies
digital tax
for ax on
US pressure
By JONATHAN POWELL
in London
jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com
The British government’s Trea-
sury department has denied that
its Digital Services Tax will be
scrapped after reports over the
weekend that the levy on tech-
nology giants would be ditched.
The response came after a
report published in The Mail on
Sunday newspaper indicated
that a future Brexit deal with the
United States could be at risk if
the tax is kept in place.
A spokesperson from the Trea-
sury told The Guardian newspa-
per there is no plan to drop the
tax. “We’ve been clear it’s a tem-
porary tax that will be removed
once an appropriate global solu-
tion is in place — and we contin-
ue to work with our international
partners to reach that goal,” the
spokesperson said.
The Guardian report added
that in June, Chancellor of the
Exchequer Rishi Sunak joined
with finance ministers from
France, Italy and Spain in writing
to US Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin stating that tech giants,
such as Google, Amazon and
Facebook, need “to pay their fair
share of tax”, and that the novel
coronavirus crisis has made tech
companies “more powerful and
more profitable”.
The letter, reported to have
been seen by the BBC, said: “The
current COVID-19 crisis has con-
firmed the need to deliver a fair
and consistent allocation of prof-
it made by multinationals oper-
ating without — or with little —
physical taxable presence.”
According to the BBC, Mnu-
chin responded to the letter, stat-
ing that the US was opposed to
the concept of the Digital Services
Tax, or DST, and would respond
with “commensurate measures”
if other countries impose such
taxes on US companies. France
delayed its plans for a digital tax
after the US threatened tariffs.
‘More trouble’
However, the report by the
Mail on Sunday claimed that
Sunak is not longer keen on the
tax. The newspaper said that
Sunak told one of its sources the
digital tax could create “more
trouble than it is worth”.
Britain introduced the tax ear-
lier this year amid slow progress
on a global agreement over how
to handle taxing big tech firms.
The DST collects on revenues
made by companies within the
UK from their search engines,
social media websites and online
sales, according to Her Majesty’s
Revenue and Customs, or HMRC.
Complaints have been made
for many years that the US tech-
nology giants and others register
their profits from UK sales or
advertising in other countries,
The Telegraph reported.
On its announcement in April,
the HMRC estimated that the tax
could ultimately raise more than
500 million pounds ($655 mil-
lion) per year for the British gov-
ernment by the end of 2025.
The UK’s next government
budget is due in October and any
change to the tax would need to
be included then.
Tropical storms pose dual threat in Gulf of Mexico
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — After
a day as a hurricane, Tropical Storm
Marco was approaching Louisiana
for an expected landfall around
midday on Monday, while Tropical
Storm Laura was forecast to move
along Cuba’s southern coast during
the day before entering the Gulf of
Mexico. Laura was heading toward
the same stretch of US coast later in
the week, most likely as a hurricane.
US media said twin hurricanes
were unprecedented in the Gulf of
Mexico since records began 150
years ago.
Laura caused the deaths of at least
13 people in the Dominican Repub-
lic and Haiti, while knocking out
power and causing flooding in the
two nations that share the island of
Hispaniola.
The PLA delegation marches in the opening ceremony of the International Army Games 2020 and the
Army-2020 International Military Technical Forum on Sunday in Kubinka, Russia. TIAN DINGYU / XINHUA
China tank makes mark at army games
By REN QI in Kubinka, Russia
renqi@chinadaily.com.cn
A People’s Liberation Army dele-
gation beat its rivals in the opening
round of the tank biathlon competi-
tion on the first day of the Interna-
tional Army Games 2020 in Russia
on Sunday.
This year’s event marks the sev-
enth time that the Russian Defense
Ministry is organizing the games,
which are being held in Patriot
Park in Kubinka, a town about 63
kilometers west of Moscow.
The Army Games are being held
alongside the Army-2020 Interna-
tional Military Technical Forum,
also in Kubinka.
The PLA has sent six teams and
over 260 soldiers this year to partici-
pate in six contests: safe environment,
open water, masters of armored vehi-
cles, airborne platoon, tank biathlon
and army scout masters.
The Chinese delegation trained
intensively before the competition,
as well as studied the contest rules,
said Zhao Pengzhang, a major-gen-
eral and the delegation leader.
Zhao, who is also the deputy com-
mander of the PLA 79th Group
Army, said that the delegation also
Massacre site’s Nazi graffiti condemned
By EARLE GALE in London
earle@mail.chinadailyuk.com
French police are investigating
after apparent Holocaust-deniers
daubed vile graffiti on a wall in a vil-
lage that was the scene of one of the
most horrific atrocities committed
by Nazi Germany during World
War II.
The vandalism in Oradour-sur-
Glane, which is near Limoges in cen-
tral France, prompted Justice
Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti to
promise on the weekend that those
responsible will be found.
He tweeted: “Shame on those who
did this. All will be done to find and
judge those who committed these
sacrilegious acts.”
The Guardian newspaper report-
ed that village officials hastily erect-
ed a tarpaulin cover over the graffiti,
which was found on Friday.
The regional newspaper Le Popu-
laire du Centre reported that the
word “liar” had been scrawled on a
wall at the entrance to the village’s
center for remembrance and that
the word “martyr” in a dedication to
Laura moved over eastern Cuba
late on Sunday, following a path
likely to take it to the same part of
the US coast, also as a potential hur-
ricane. It appeared the storms
would not be hurricanes simultane-
ously — something that researchers
say has never happened in the Gulf
of Mexico at least since records
began being kept in 1900.
Marco had grown into a hurricane
early on Sunday, but the National
Hurricane Center said its sustained
winds decreased to 110 kilometers
per hour after nightfall.
The center cautioned that Marco
could still cause life-threatening
storm surges and dangerous winds
along the Gulf Coast. It was centered
about 295 km south-southeast of the
mouth of the Mississippi River head-
did anti-epidemic training and took
pandemic prevention measures.
China sent its second-generation
main battle tank ZTZ-96B for Sun-
day’s tank biathlon competition,
which featured teams from Belarus,
Azerbaijan and Serbia.
All the tanks covered a 4.3 km
muddy and bumpy racetrack, avoid-
ing 11 obstacles, and had to shoot
targets using different weapons.
According to the Russian Defense
Ministry, China’s ZTZ-96B tank
ranked first with a time of 19 min-
utes and 44 seconds.
Zhao said that the contestants
had checked their equipment care-
fully and were fully prepared for the
competition. “The soldiers excelled
in the contest and maintained their
composure. I hope the contestants
will continue to harness their tech-
nology and strategies to achieve the
expected results.”
Applause from audience
In the contest, the high speed,
ZTZ-96B tank hit all 20 targets with
its cannon smoothbore gun and
coaxial machine guns.
The perfect hit rate drew
applause from the audience.
Russian military expert Fyodor
its being a “Martyr village” had been
painted over.
The village was the scene of a
mass killing on June 10, 1944 in
which members of Nazi Germany’s
Schutzstaffel military organization,
which was known as the SS, execut-
ed 642 villagers, mainly women and
children, during a four-day rampage
that was thought to have been in ret-
ribution for the kidnapping of a Ger-
man soldier by the French
resistance.
Many of the victims more than 76
years ago were herded into a church
and into barns that were set alight.
It was the largest massacre of
French civilians during the war.
Ruins preserved
Many of the men who were mur-
dered were shot in the legs before
being torched.
In the 1950s, 65 former soldiers
from among the 200 thought to have
taken part were charged in connec-
tion with the atrocity. Twenty-one
went on trial but most were subse-
quently freed after claiming to have
been forced to do what they did.
ing north-northwest at 20 kph late
on Sunday.
Laura was centered about 200 km
southeast of Camaguey, Cuba, late
on Sunday, and had maximum sus-
tained winds of 100 kph. It was mov-
ing west-northwest at 33 kph and
was predicted to strengthen into a
hurricane by Tuesday morning as it
followed a path likely to take it to the
Louisiana coast by Wednesday
night, forecasters said.
Haitian civil protection officials
said they had received reports a
10-year-old girl was killed when a
tree fell on a home in the southern
coastal town of Anse-a-Pitres, on the
border with the Dominican Repub-
lic. Haiti’s prime minister said at
least eight other people died and
two were missing. In the Dominican
Boldyrev said China’s ZTZ-96B tank
is a respected competitor, and in
some ways seems better than the
Russian T-72B3 tank, which is also
taking part in the contest.
The tank biathlon is considered
one of the most spectacular events
of the Army Games, and it will con-
tinue on Tuesday as host Russia
takes on Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan.
This year’s Army Games has
attracted over 5,000 contestants
from more than 30 countries and
regions, and will have 31 military
skill competitions over seven days.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei
Shoigu said that the Army-2020
International Military Technical
Forum is the world’s largest arms
exhibition, aimed at displaying Rus-
sia’s military modernization and
weapons industry development.
Shoigu said that participants from
over 92 countries and regions were
taking part in the forum, including
18 national delegations led by
defense ministers or their deputies.
Over 1,500 Russian and foreign
companies are showcasing over
28,000 pieces of military hardware
and weaponry at the forum, Shoigu
said.
The German commander of the
unit, a General Heinz Lammerding,
died a free man in 1971.
The ruins of the village have
been left as a memorial to those
who perished.
France’s Interior Minister, Gerald
Darmanin, described the vandalism
as “abject filth”, while Prime Minis-
ter Jean Castex said it “dirties the
memory of our martyrs”. President
Emmanuel Macron said it was
“unspeakable”.
Darmanin added that the dese-
cration was akin to “spitting on the
memory of our martyrs”.
The BBC reported that Philippe
Lacroix, the mayor of Oradour-sur-
Glane, said: “We know what hap-
pened here but obviously there are
always people who try to tell lies.”
The newspaper Le Figaro said
Lacroix also said the name of a well-
known Holocaust denier had been
sprayed on the wall.
The French commercial radio sta-
tion RTL noted that politicians from
across the political spectrum in
France were united in condemning
the graffiti.
Republic, relatives told reporters a
collapsed wall killed a mother and
her young son.
Hundreds of thousands were
without power in the Dominican
Republic amid heavy flooding in
both countries.
Hurricane warning
Laura could strengthen into a
Category 2 or 3 hurricane on the
5-step Saffir-Simpson scale for
measuring hurricane intensity and
move west, closer to Houston, said
Chris Kerr, a meteorologist at DTN,
an energy, agriculture and weather
data provider. Category 2 storms
have sustained winds of at least 155
kph.
Despite Marco’s weakening, a
storm surge warning remained in
Abe health
concerns fuel
speculation
Hospital visits cloud future for Japan’s
longest-serving PM amid recession
By WANG XU in Tokyo
wangxu@chinadaily.com.cn
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe on Monday became the coun-
try’s longest-serving leader in
terms of consecutive days in office.
However, instead of a celebration,
Abe spent the morning at a hospi-
tal in Tokyo, fanning speculation
about whether he can stay on as
leader of the world’s third largest
economy.
Monday marked 2,799 uninter-
rupted days as prime minister for
Abe since returning to leadership
in late 2012 for a second stint,
surpassing the mark set by Eisa-
ku Sato, his great uncle, who
served for 2,798 days from 1964
to 1972.
With his two stints in office com-
bined, Abe, who turns 66 next
month, became Japan’s longest-
serving prime minister last
November. But as his first term
ended abruptly 13 years ago due to
health problems, concerns were
raised after Abe on Monday visited
a hospital for the second week in a
row.
“Today, I heard the results of the
tests in detail, and took some addi-
tional examinations,” Abe told
reporters at his official residence,
after returning from Keio Univer-
sity Hospital in Tokyo.
Last week, he spent more than
seven hours at the same hospital
for what officials said was a “regu-
lar checkup”, but a widely cited
report by the weekly magazine
Flash said that he had vomited
blood at his office.
“I will pay utmost attention to
my health and will do my best
going forward,” Abe said, adding
that he would offer a fuller expla-
nation of his health at a later
date.
Earlier in the day, Japan’s top
government spokesman Yoshi-
hide Suga also sought to quell
speculation about Abe’s health.
“I see him every day, but I
haven’t noticed anything strange
about him,” Suga told a regular
briefing.
However, Suga’s assurance
didn’t stop unidentified govern-
ment sources, including some
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (center) arrives at a hospital
in Tokyo on Monday. STR / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
place from Morgan City, Louisiana,
to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and a
hurricane warning was kept from
Morgan City to the mouth of the
Pearl River. A tropical storm warn-
ing included Lake Pontchartrain in
Louisiana, and metropolitan New
Orleans.
A storm surge of up to 1.2 meters
was forecast for parts of coastal Lou-
isiana and Mississippi.
Louisiana Governor John Bel
Edwards, who declared a state of
emergency on Friday, asked Presi-
dent Donald Trump for a federal
emergency declaration. Trump
issued a disaster declaration on
Sunday for Louisiana. He had previ-
ously issued a similar declaration
for Puerto Rico.
People in Louisiana headed out to
stores to stock up on food, water and
other supplies.
The hurricane center said the
storms were not expected to interact
CHINA DAILY
I will pay utmost
attention to my
health and will do
my best going
forward.”
Shinzo Abe, Japanese prime
minister
from Abe’s ruling bloc, from tell-
ing local media that Abe’s condi-
tion was more of a serious nature
and that he may step down early
rather than wait for the end of his
term in September next year.
In a TV program this month,
Akira Amari, the chairman of the
ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s
tax panel said Abe needs to take
rest.
“We need to force him to get
rest, even if just for a few days,”
Amari said.
‘Rough shape’
Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister
Taro Aso, 79, who doubles as
finance minister and is a possible
successor to Abe, said it was not
surprising for Abe to be in “rough
shape” after working for so long.
According to the government,
Abe’s health was affected by his
work to contain the coronavirus
outbreak but a recent poll showed
his Cabinet’s approval ratings had
plunged to its lowest levels over
his handling of the virus and its
impact on the economy.
A Kyodo News Agency survey
over the weekend said support for
the Abe Cabinet had slipped from
38.8 percent a month ago to 36
percent, the second-lowest since
he took office in 2012.
“If you look at Abe’s career, his
ambition of boosting the domestic
economy, amending the nation’s
pacifist Constitution, the territori-
al disputes with Russia, all of them
have been left unresolved,” said
Yuzo Tanaka, a professor of eco-
nomics at Ryukoku University in
Kyoto.
“It’s really sad for someone who
has reigned for so long,” Tanaka
added.
as the region faces an unusually
active hurricane season.
Forecasters have termed the cur-
rent hurricane season in the Carib-
bean “extremely active”, predicting
19 to 25 named storms, including
seven to 11 hurricanes.
The hurricane season in the Car-
ibbean runs through Nov 30.
The storms added to worries
about the spread of COVID-19.
In Grand Isle, at Louisiana’s
southern tip, authorities were plac-
ing sandbags to bolster its protective
levy while energy companies pulled
workers from offshore platforms
and shut down oil production.
Oil producers, including BP,
Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell, had
shut 58 percent of the Gulf’s off-
shore oil production and 45 percent
of natural gas production on Sun-
day.
AGENCIES—XINHUA
 CHINA DAILY
WORLD
BEHIND THE MASK
Editor’s note: This news column showcases stories from around the
world that bring a touch of positivity to the fight against the deadly
coronavirus.
Blind musicians get the
message out on virus
BLANTYRE — The saying “disa-
bility is not inability” is exempli-
fied in the community work of a
blind Malawian couple who have
committed themselves to promot-
ing awareness of COVID-19 pre-
vention through music.
The couple, known to their fans
as Mr and Mrs Adaki, are usually
found each day playing music near
the Queen Elizabeth Central Hos-
pital in the southern city Blantyre.
Aided by family members, they
start with the musical message for
passersby from 7 am.
Mr Adaki mostly plays the guitar
and his wife a heavy African drum.
The couple have been sticking to
this routine for over 10 years, play-
ing traditional favorites. Their
efforts bring in money to support
six children.
Recently, the couple decided to
use their talents to help get the
word out on ways to curb the
spread of the coronavirus in the
southern African country.
In addition to a playlist of folk
and religious songs, the couple
have added musical creations that
amplify official efforts to change
people’s behavior in the pandemic.
“We observed that there is a need
for us to share what we know about
COVID-19 with the public. Music is
a very powerful tool as far as shar-
ing information is concerned, Mrs
Adaki said. “For years, I have seen
people enjoying our music and am
sure they are keeping these songs
Tradition the winner
Girls dressed in traditional costumes march as part of festivities
for the Children’s Alka Tournament in Brnaze, Croatia, on
Sunday. In memory of their ancestors who fought a decisive
battle against the Ottomans in 1715, the people in the hamlet of
Vuckovici instituted the tournament in 1955. Only children can
participate in the activities, which include races.
IVO CAGALJ / PIXSELL VIA XINHUA
Falling infection rates
bring hope in Africa
By EDITH MUTETHYA
in Nairobi, Kenya
edithmutethya@chinadaily.com.cn
African countries are gradually
reducing rates of coronavirus
infections, prompting guarded
optimism from the continent’s
peak health agency that the pan-
demic is coming under control.
John Nkengasong, director of
the Africa Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention, or Africa CDC,
said the continent is recording a
slight decrease in infection rates.
Nkengasong, in a statement
issued by the African Union on
Saturday, said that over the past
week Africa had reported an aver-
age of 10,344 new cases a day, com-
pared to 11,494 the week before
and 14,447 the previous week.
Still, Nkengasong advised Afri-
cans to increase the use of masks
and remain vigilant on social dis-
tancing, while urging authorities
to ramp up testing as countries
begin to ease lockdown measures.
“We do not want the population
to show prevention fatigue. We are
dealing with a delicate virus that
can easily flare up again very
quickly, as has been witnessed in
other parts of the world,” he said.
Africa had recorded 1,187,937
cases and 27,779 deaths by Monday.
According to the Africa CDC, five
countries account for 73 percent of
all cases in the continent, led by
South Africa with 52 percent, Egypt
in their hearts as well.”
Reinforcing his wife’s view, Mr
Adaki believes that their music can
play a vital role in the fight against
the pandemic.
“As a family, we don’t look down
on ourselves just because we are
physically challenged or because
we are uneducated,” he said.
“There is a lot of work that is need-
ed to be done for our country to get
back to normal.
Role of music
“Our music is based on princi-
ples: to inform, educate and enter-
tain people. We have been
educating people on various sub-
jects, and I believe our songs on
COVID-19 are playing a significant
role in helping the country amid
the crisis.”
There are plenty of fans who
agree with the couple’s sentiments.
Sam Kayipa, a shop keeper, said
the Adakis have been a great source
of entertainment for those moving
around outside the hospital. He
talks of their “special musical
touch” that always draws a crowd.
“It is always a great pleasure to
listen to the daily performances of
this couple,” Kayipa said. “At first, I
had limited knowledge about the
COVID-19 pandemic. However,
due to their music and poetry nar-
rations, I now have vast knowledge
on the subject.”
XINHUA
8 percent, and Nigeria, Morocco
and Ghana each with 4 percent.
Despite being the hardest-hit
country in Africa with over
609,800 cases and 13,100 deaths,
South Africa has eased most of the
restrictions imposed on people.
On Aug 15, President Cyril Ram-
aphosa said the number of new
cases is dropping and that infec-
tion rates have peaked in several
provinces, including Western
Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and
KwaZulu-Natal.
The Africa CDC said Africa is
working toward the concept of
“trusted testing” for coronavirus
in order to enable safer cross-bor-
der travel. This will entail mutual
recognition of certified coronavi-
rus test procedures among the
member states.
Nkengasong said a scheme
known as the Partnership for
Increased Coronavirus Testing will
be used to enhance surveillance of
people across a range of economic
sectors.
Rolled out in June when the
continent had conducted fewer
than 400,000 tests, the initiative
began with a target of 10 million
tests across the continent. Some
10,256,000 tests have since been
conducted.
Nkengasong said a new target of
20 million tests by the beginning
of November has been set, with
officials aiming to capitalize on the
gains so far.
Beating the blues
Mariachis perform aboard a trajinera, one of the colorful boats that ply the network of canals in the
Xochimilco district of Mexico City, on Sunday. The tourist attraction, which also features floating
gardens, reopened after its shutdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. PEDRO PARDO / AFP
Budget deal spares
Israelis fresh poll
Compromise pushes back deadline on
talks while freeing up immediate funds
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
accepted a proposal on Sunday to
extend budget negotiations, pre-
venting the government from col-
lapsing and plunging the country
into a new election.
“Now is the time for unity, not for
elections,” he said in a news confer-
ence, trying to avoid dragging the
country into a fourth parliamenta-
ry elections in less than two years.
Following a historic agreement
to establish official relations with
the United Arab Emirates, and
with the country struggling with a
coronavirus outbreak, Netanyahu
said he felt it was wrong to go to
elections.
As of Sunday, the cumulative
number of Israeli cases reached
102,663, with the death toll at 834.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli
Employment Service released data
showing that the unemployment
rate in Israel stands at 20.8 percent,
with more than 851,000 out of
work, compared to 27.5 percent at
the end of April.
Netanyahu said he accepted a
compromise that would give the
sides an additional 100 days to
reach a budget deal, and in the
meantime direct spending to
struggling areas of the economy
and society.
“This compromise deal is the
right answer to the Israeli economy
at this time,” said the prime minister.
Bombs kill at least 15 in Philippine
town on alert for Islamist attacks
MANILA, Philippines — Sus-
pected Islamic militants set off
powerful bombs in a southern Phil-
ippine town on Monday, killing at
least 15 people despite extra tight
security because of threats of
attacks by Islamic State-aligned
militants, military officials said.
The explosions killed seven sol-
diers, a policeman, six civilians and
a suicide bomber, and wounded 21
soldiers, six policemen and 48 civil-
ians, military and police officials
said.
Regional military commander
Lieutenant General Corleto Vinlu-
an said a bomb attached to a
motorcycle exploded at noon near
two parked army trucks in front of
a grocery and a computer shop in
Jolo town in Sulu province.
“It was a vehicle-borne impro-
vised explosive device which
exploded while our soldiers were
on a marketing run,” Vinluan said.
A second blast nearby, apparent-
ly from a female suicide attacker,
occurred about an hour later and
killed the bomber and a soldier,
Vinluan and other officials said.
A third, unexploded bomb was
reportedly found in a public mar-
ket. Jolo was placed in a security
lockdown by troops and police.
His announcement came after
Israeli lawmakers spent much of
the day unsuccessfully trying to
negotiate a last-minute deal to
push back a looming budget dead-
line, expiring on Monday night.
The political crisis pitting the
prime minister against rival-
turned-partner Benny Gantz, lead-
er of the centrist Blue and White
party, is ostensibly over the coun-
try’s national budget.
After three deadlocked elections,
Netanyahu and Gantz reached a
power-sharing agreement in April
to form a government to address
the virus crisis. As part of their coa-
lition deal, Netanyahu’s Likud par-
ty and Gantz’s Blue and White
agreed to pass a two-year budget.
Disagreement on budget
But Netanyahu has insisted on
passing a budget to cover only the
remainder of 2020, saying it will
provide immediate assistance to
the economy. Gantz is adamant
that the government honor its
agreement and pass one for 2020
and 2021. Their disagreement has
again brought the country to the
brink of political meltdown.
Under Israeli law, if the govern-
ment does not approve a state bud-
get within 90 days after it is
formed, the parliament will auto-
matically be dissolved and new
elections will be triggered.
But pushing back the deadline
Pictures seen by The Associated
Press showed soldiers carrying a
man from the scene of the explo-
sion near an army truck while
another blast victim lay on the
road. The wreckage of a motorcycle
and partial remains were seen on
the road.
The first bombing was carried
out near a town plaza and a Roman
Catholic cathedral.
There was no immediate claim
of responsibility for the attack, but
the military blamed an Abu Sayyaf
militant commander, Mundi Saw-
adjaan, for the bombings.
Violent group
Military officials said last week
that Sawadjaan planned to launch
bombings in Sulu using two female
suicide attackers. Army troops
were carrying out a covert opera-
tion to locate and capture Sawad-
jaan and the suicide bombers in
June when four army personnel
were stopped at a Jolo police check-
point and later shot to death by
police personnel.
The army angrily demanded
murder charges be filed against
nine policemen. Police officials,
however, say it may have been a
mistaken encounter between the
would only kick the budget crisis
down the road. The two parties are
at loggerheads over several key
issues — including judicial appoint-
ments and the annexation of West
Bank settlements — and the govern-
ment has been beset by infighting.
Gantz also complained that Net-
anyahu left him and Foreign Minis-
ter Gabi Ashkenazi in the dark
about the deal announced earlier
this month to normalize relations
with the United Arab Emirates.
However, the new elections, if
there will be any, would plunge the
country into political chaos during
a deep economic and public health
crisis, while the prime minister is
facing a criminal trial over charges
of bribery, fraud and breach of
trust in three separate cases.
Critics accuse Netanyahu of
using the budget battle to force a
new election in hopes of securing a
friendlier parliament that could
help resolve his legal troubles.
Netanyahu has denied any
wrongdoing. His trial began in
June but he has refused to step
down from office, despite weekly
protests in which tens of thousands
of Israelis across the country have
called on him to resign.
Nonetheless, recent polls indi-
cate Netanyahu would score a siza-
ble victory if snap elections were
held. By dissolving the govern-
ment, Netanyahu would avoid giv-
ing Gantz the premiership in
November 2021 as required by the
coalition agreement.
XINHUA—AGENCIES
army and police forces.
The military has been waging a
months-long offensive against the
Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent
group aligned with the Islamic
State group and blacklisted by the
United States and the Philippines
as a terrorist group for past bomb-
ings, ransom kidnappings and
beheadings.
The numbers of its armed fight-
ers have dwindled to a few hun-
dred in recent years due to battle
setbacks and surrenders, including
a key commander, Abduljihad
Susukan, who gave up to authori-
ties two weeks ago after being
wounded in battle.
Susukan has been blamed for
kidnappings and beheadings of
hostages, including foreign tour-
ists. He surrendered through a
Muslim rebel chief who had signed
a peace deal and was cooperating
with the government. Susukan,
now in police custody, faces multi-
ple murder charges.
Military officials said they were
not discounting the possibility that
Monday’s bombings may have
been staged partly as a retaliation
for the detention of Susukan.
AGENCIES—XINHUA
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 | 11
Trump
lauds blood
plasma
treatment
By ANDREW COHEN in New York
andrewcohen@chinadailyusa.com
US President Donald Trump
announced on Sunday that the Food
and Drug Administration, or FDA,
would be issuing an emergency use
authorization, or EUA, for blood
plasma from patients who have
recovered from COVID-19 as a treat-
ment for the disease.
Speaking at the White House a
day before the Republican National
Convention begins in Charlotte,
North Carolina, Trump said the
authorization “will dramatically
expand access” to the treatment.
He said that the so-called convales-
cent plasma has been proven to
reduce mortality by 35 percent, which
he called a “tremendous number”.
Secretary of Health and Human
Services Alex Azar, speaking after
Trump, said: “We dream in drug
development of something like a 35
percent mortality reduction. This is
a major advance in the treatment of
patients.”
FDA Commissioner Stephen
Hahn told reporters earlier that the
agency was “encouraged by the ear-
ly promising data that we’ve seen”.
Hahn made clear the EUA was
not the same as FDA approval and
that the treatment still needs to
undergo randomized clinical
trials.
The agency issues an EUA when it
“is reasonable to believe that the
product may be effective” and “the
known and potential benefits out-
weigh the known and potential
risks”.
The treatment, which has already
been received by more than 70,000
patients, has shown some benefits,
but without rigorous trials, ques-
tions remain about its actual safety,
effectiveness and appropriate dos-
age. Trials to date have been ham-
pered by delays and trouble finding
volunteers.
Peter Marks, the director of FDA’s
center for biologics, evaluation and
research, said the decision was
based on data that suggested that
when given early in the course of the
disease, plasma “can improve out-
comes and decrease mortality”.
“We’re confident that convales-
cent plasma is safe to use in this set-
ting,” he said.
More data needed
The authorization comes less
than a week after officials at the
National Institutes of Health, or
NIH, staged a rare intervention to
stop the FDA from issuing the EUA.
NIH officials told The New York
Times that more data from random-
ized controlled trials was needed
before an EUA could be issued.
Trump has been pushing officials
for the EUA and seemed to accuse
federal health officials of deliberate-
ly delaying approval for treatments
and vaccines until after the Novem-
ber election.
“I hear great things about (conva-
lescent plasma treatment) ... that’s
all I can tell you,” said Trump on
Wednesday at a White House news
briefing.
“It could be a political decision
because you have a lot of people
over there who don’t want to rush
things because they want to do it
after Nov 3, and you’ve heard that
one before.”
Asked by a reporter on Sunday
about the delay in issuing the EUA,
Trump said: “There are people in
the FDA and actually in your larger
department (Health and Human
Services) that can see things being
held up and wouldn’t mind so much
— it’s my opinion, a very strong
opinion — and that’s for political
reasons.”
Trump has touted the blood plas-
ma treatment as a “beautiful ingre-
dient”. Last month the
administration launched an $8 mil-
lion ad campaign to encourage
those who have recovered from
COVID-19 to donate plasma.
Since the start of pandemic, the
FDA has issued dozens of EUAs,
mostly for diagnostic tests but also
some treatments. But sometimes, as
with the anti-malaria drug hydroxy-
chloroquine championed by Trump
as a COVID-19 treatment, further
studies found them to be ineffective
and possibly harmful. In the case of
hydroxychloroquine, the EUA was
rescinded by the FDA.
12 | Tuesday, August 25, 2020
WORLD
Police toughen tactics in Portland
Tear gas used
to push back
protesters day after
officers stayed out
of street battles
By HENG WEILI in New York
hengweili@chinadailyusa.com
With a police station set on fire,
police in Portland, Oregon,
declared a riot and dispersed pro-
testers with tear gas on Sunday
night after having the day before
stepped back as warring armed
groups clashed in pitched battles
on the streets of the city.
The fire burned an awning of
the police building late on Sunday,
news outlets reported. Police
ordered demonstrators to clear
the area, saying that rocks and
glass bottles had been thrown at
officers, as well as lasers pointed in
their direction. An unlawful
assembly had been declared
before the gathering was deemed a
riot.
Violent demonstrations have
consumed the Pacific Northwest
city following the May 25 death of
George Floyd at the hands of Min-
neapolis police. Portland police
said they have declared a riot at
least 18 times since May 29.
On Saturday afternoon, more
than 100 right-wing activists,
including the Proud Boys and
armed militia, went to Portland to
hold a “Back the Blue” pro-police
rally in front of the building that
houses the downtown police pre-
cinct. Hundreds of Antifa (anti-
fascist) and “Black Lives Matter”
protesters showed up to oppose
them.
Some in the right-wing crowd
were armed with paintball guns,
metal rods, bats, fireworks, pepper
spray and guns. Those in the left-
wing group met them with rocks,
Decades of wise development transforms Zhuhai into coastal landmark
By SONG MENGXING
songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn
One of China’s first four special
economic zones, the seaside city of
Zhuhai in Guangdong province has
developed from a remote, small town
into a modern garden-style boom-
town in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-
Macao Greater Bay Area over the past
four decades.
Behind this were innovation and
highlights on economic development
and environmental protection.
According to the local statistics
bureau, Zhuhai’s GDP increased from
261 million yuan ($37.74 million) in
1980 when the special economic zone
was launched to nearly 343.59 billion
yuan in 2019. The annual inflation-
adjusted GDP growth rate is 17.4 per-
cent on average.
Zhuhai had been a town focused
on agriculture and fishery industry.
But when the central government
announced it would become a SEZ on
Aug 26, 1980, Zhuhai welcomed
unprecedented opportunities.
Its transport system has developed
rapidly over the four decades. High-
speed railways connect Zhuhai to
more than 50 cities nationwide.
Meanwhile, Zhuhai Airport serves
more than 10 million passengers.
Zhuhai Port realizes annual through-
put capacity of over 100 million tons
with shipping routes to regions such
as South Asia, the Middle East and
South America.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao
Bridge, which became operational in
2018, has aided connectivity among
Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao
and promoted the development of
the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao
Greater Bay Area.
Local officials said Zhuhai has
made several pioneering moves in
the past four decades. For instance, a
hotel co-founded by Chinese main-
land and overseas businesspeople,
which opened in Zhuhai in 1980, was
among the country’s first hotels to be
managed according to international
practice.
In 1992, the city launched an
unprecedentedly generous prize for
scientific and technological profes-
sionals who had made outstanding
contributions to the local growth. The
move helped to draw many high-cali-
ber professionals to Zhuhai for the
Right-wing groups (left) and Portland anti-police protesters fire pepper spray and throw objects at
each other as the two sides clashed in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center on Saturday in
Portland, Oregon. NATHAN HOWARD / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
fireworks and bottles with chemi-
cal solutions. Both groups also car-
ried shields and wore helmets, The
Washington Post reported.
They engaged for more than two
hours, exchanging punches, loft-
ing paintballs and dispersing
chemicals into the melee. Portland
police made several announce-
ments over loudspeakers, encour-
aging the combatants to “self-
monitor for criminal activity”, the
Post reported.
“Each skirmish appeared to
involve willing participants and
the events were not enduring in
time, so officers were not deployed
The Shizimen Central Business District of Zhuhai (right) stands opposite of Macao to the east.
From left: Growing from a remote town, Zhuhai has developed into a garden-style coastal city in Guangdong province. A Gree Electric
Appliances employee works on a component at the company’s plant in Zhuhai.
development of its real economy in
many years that followed.
Zhuo Jialun, 81, is a former director
of the Zhuhai scientific and techno-
logical committee and began to par-
ticipate in setting up the prize in 1988.
Zhuo said: “At that time, Zhuhai
had been a special economic zone for
eight years and its economy was dur-
ing a high-speed growth period, yet
the scientific and technological inno-
vation capability was not strong.”
The city’s authorities suggested its
priorities change from labor-inten-
sive industries to technology-inten-
to intervene,” the Portland Police
Bureau said.
“PPB members have been the
focus of over 80 days of violent
actions directed at the police,
which is a major consideration for
determining if police resources
are necessary to interject between
two groups with individuals who
appear to be willingly engaging in
physical confrontations for short
durations,” the bureau said.
Inadequate resources
“While the activity in the group
met the definition of a riot, PPB
did not declare one because there
sive sectors in 1988, Zhu said. He
added that more scientists and engi-
neers contributed to this change but
their incomes could not match their
contributions.
Zhuhai held the first awarding con-
ference on March 9, 1992. Three final-
ists were each given 1 million yuan
worth of awards, which is roughly
equal to 400 technicians’ annual
income in Zhuhai at that time.
After the event, Zhuhai became
popular among the nation’s scientific
and technological professionals and
entrepreneurs.
The section is sponsored by the Zhuhai city government.
were not adequate police resour-
ces available to address such a dec-
laration.”
The city’s police have labored to
control confrontations between
the diametrically opposed groups
for three years.
The right-wing crowd chanted
“USA! USA!” and chants against
Antifa, the Post reported. The
opposing leftists countered with
shouts of: “Go home, Nazis”.
In response to the protests on
Sunday night, the tear gas was
deployed after the fire had been
set at the police station, according
to news outlets.
PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
According to local statistics, Zhu-
hai drew 28 scientific and technologi-
cal companies that year. This
attracted a combined investment
worth 600 million yuan in the field of
sciences and technologies. Zhuhai
also received more than 1,000 letters
of intent to work in the city — more
than 500 were from overseas.
Many enterprises, such as software
giant Kingsoft and Gree Electric
Appliances, a Fortune Global 500
company, began to burgeon in Zhu-
hai.
Guo Yonghang, Party secretary of
Shootings also are up in the city,
as a man in Southeast Portland
early on Sunday became the
eighth person shot in five days,
The Oregonian reported.
Portland police reported in July
that except for March, the number
of shootings each month has been
higher this year than in 2019. The
totals in June and July have dou-
bled from the previous year. Fif-
teen people were killed in
Portland last month, the highest
number in one month in the city of
655,000 in more than three dec-
ades, and 10 of them were fatally
shot.
Political tempers also flared
when US Attorney General Willi-
am Barr sent in federal officers
early in July to protect a US court-
house there. The federal presence
was largely opposed by Oregon
politicians and Democrats in
Washington, accusing Trump of
looking to score political points.
But the violence has persisted
after most of the federal forces
have left.
The Republicans, who will hold
their national convention this
week, are expected to highlight the
trouble in Portland and other US
cities such as Chicago and New
York and criticized the Democrats
for not denouncing it at their con-
vention last week.
The county prosecutor, Mike
Schmidt, who took office on Aug 1,
dismissed charges against more
than half of about 600 people
arrested in the protests, The New
York Times reported.
The objective, Schmidt told the
Times, is to balance “people’s
righteous anger and grief and fury
over a system that has not really
been responsive enough for dec-
ades and centuries” while trying to
prevent property damage and vio-
lence.
Agencies contributed to this story.
Zhuhai, said the city, as one of China’s
earliest special economic zones, per-
sisted in prosperity driven by manu-
facturing and technologies.
It has formed an industrial system
involving sectors including marine
and aviation industries as well as
smart manufacturing, Guo added.
The city is working on emerging
industrial clusters, such as integrated
circuit, biological medicine, new
materials, new energy and high-end
printing equipment.
Leveraging its unique geographi-
cal position of neighboring Hong
CHINA DAILY
Briefly
PERU
13 die in nightclub
crush after raid
Thirteen people were crushed to
death or asphyxiated as partygoers
tried to flee a Lima nightclub after it
was raided by police for hosting a par-
ty in violation of coronavirus restric-
tions. The public prosecutor’s office
said on Sunday that 11 of the 13 dead
tested positive for COVID-19. Fifteen
of the 23 people detained by police
who broke up the clandestine event
on Saturday night also tested positive,
President Martin Vizcarra said. At
least six others were injured. The inte-
rior ministry said in a statement that
police did not use tear gas or firearms
in the raid. Vizcarra condemned the
club’s owners and said similar clan-
destine events were common, and
posed a serious threat to public
health.
MALI
Mediators, coup chiefs
move closer in talks
Meditators from the Economic Com-
munity of West African States, or
ECOWAS, on Saturday night conclud-
ed a second round of meetings with
members of the National Committee
for the Salvation of the People, or
CNSP, which overthrew Malian Presi-
dent Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on
Tuesday. The head of the ECOWAS
delegation, former Nigerian president
Goodluck Jonathan, told the media
that they had “reached a number of
agreements, but we have not agreed
on all the issues”. He noted that this is
not the first time the military has
intervened in Mali’s politics, and that
the delegation hopes the country will
move on from that past. CNSP
spokesperson Ismael Wague said that
they had reached “some points of
compromises on certain aspects” and
the negotiations were due to continue
on Monday. According to local media,
the nature of the transitional govern-
ment and the release of the ousted
president from detention are key
issues.
XINHUA—AGENCIES
Kong and Macao and being the only
city on the mainland with land links
to both special administrative
regions, Zhuhai has forged extensive
cooperative ties with overseas part-
ners.
It held the China-Israel Invest-
ment Summit in 2017 and 2018 and
the China-Latin America and the
Caribbean International Exposition
in 2017 to set up opening-up and
co-operative platforms.
In 1980, Zhuhai’s value of imports
and exports was only $19 million.
The amount in 2019 reached $41.07
billion. By the end of 2019, 20,248 for-
eign-funded enterprises were operat-
ing in Zhuhai, official statistics
indicate.
The ecological environment was
also a highlight for Zhuhai’s develop-
ment. Among its trailblazing meas-
ures, the SEZ launched eight bans to
protect the environment in 1992.
One was that projects with big chim-
neys or heavy pollution potential
were prohibited.
As it gained local legislative power
in May 1998, the city approved its
first legislative rule — one focused on
environmental protection — in that
month. In the same year, it was
granted honors by the State as one of
the nation’s first environmental pro-
tection model cities.
In reports released by the Center
for City and Competitiveness at the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
between 2014-19, Zhuhai ranked first
among Chinese cities for six consecu-
tive years in terms of its livability.
Chen Hongyu, a professor from
the provincial Party school of Guang-
dong, said Zhuhai’s high-quality
development boasts its own charac-
teristics.
Its unique, environmentally friend-
ly development is worthy of even
more praise, Chen said. He added
that the city valued the natural envi-
ronment when it became a SEZ and
persisted in the following decades.
“Zhuhai has developed a sustain-
able growth model based on good
ecology, which helped it attract
diverse investment and profession-
als,” Chen said.
Scan the QR
code to visit the
English website
of Zhuhai.
 BUSINESS CHINA DAILY | CHINADAILY.COM.CN/ Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Russia keen
RIGHT TRACK

Long-term steps urged to regulate housing sector

on 5G tech
By WANG YING in Shanghai
wang_ying@chinadaily.com.cn

Long-term measures are needed

to regulate the housing market and

stabilize land prices and market
expectations, despite a complicated
economic environment, said par-
ticipants at a recent symposium on
the real estate sector.
The symposium was organized
by the Ministry of Housing and
Urban-Rural Development and the
People’s Bank of China, the central
bank. Participants said there are
enough indications that the central
government is keen on having a
long-term mechanism for the real
estate sector that focuses on finan-
cial management and financing
regulations, so as to maintain a sta-
ble and healthy development of the
property market in the country.
The speakers also said that it
was necessary to dwell on the
need for the long-term mecha-
nism and said that property
should not be seen as a short-term
stimulus for the economy. Local
governments should implement
policies based on the conditions in
each city so as to ensure the con-
sistency and stability of the long-
term mechanism.
“The essence of the meeting is
that government departments for
the first time discussed the long-
term mechanism from the real
estate developers’ perspective,” said
Yan Yuejin, director of the Shang-
hai-based E-house China Research
and Development Institution.
In a bid to further the creation of
a long-term mechanism for the real
estate sector, the meeting called for
more efforts on financial manage-
ment, enhancing market order, reg-
ulation and transparency of
property companies financing.
Bonds worth 624.2 billion yuan
($90.3 billion) have been issued by
Chinese real estate firms so far this
year. Of this, more than 70 billion
yuan was raised in July alone, while
26.1 billion yuan of credit bonds
was issued in August, according to
Centaline Property Research.
“The large quantity of financing
raised by real estate firms is the
major motivation for the newly
launched financing regulations,
which is targeted at avoiding
financial risks,” said Zhang Dawei,
chief analyst at Centaline Property
Potential homebuyers look at a property model in Haian, Jiangsu province.
measures, financing of the property
sector will remain cautious. “It is
likely that the financing environ-
The large quantity of ment will get further tightened
with respect to real estate,” said
financing raised by Ding.
real estate firms is Yan from E-house said: “It is
the major motivation noteworthy to mention that the
new regulations are not to simply
for the newly clamp down on developers, but to
launched financing better regulate and help the devel-
opers.”
regulations, which is The meeting stressed that mar-
targeted at avoiding ket-oriented, well-regulated and
transparent financing regulations
financial risks.” will help property firms to create
Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at stable financial measures, to man-
Centaline Property Agency Ltd age their business and financing
activities reasonably, to strengthen
their capability in resolving finan-
Agency Ltd. cial risks, and to promote a healthy
Rules on capital monitoring and and stable real estate market.
financial management for key real The implementation of the new
estate developers have already financing rules will help cool down
been formed based on the collective the land market and speed up sales
opinions gathered. of newly developed residential
Ding Zuyu, CEO of E-House (Chi- properties, said Ding.
na) Enterprise Holdings Ltd, a The meeting also discussed top-
property agency, said despite the ics like methodologies for suppor-
comparatively loose financial tive financing policies on rental
ZHAO QIRUI / FOR CHINA DAILY
housing market, as well as promot-
ing the formation of a dual housing
system for both home purchases
and rentals.
Pan Hao, a senior analyst with
the Beike Real Estate Research
Institute, said: “Against the back-
drop of a complex economic sce-
nario, it is important for the real
estate industry to play its role as a
stabilizer.”
According to Pan, due to the var-
ied conditions of the property mar-
ket in various Chinese cities,
regulatory measures have to be
implemented in accordance with
the local situation and efforts
should be focused on improving
regional collaboration.
“Housing is for living in, not spec-
ulation” would continue to be the
underlying objective of the proper-
ty, said the speakers. Even amid the
COVID-19 outbreak, the central
government has not relaxed its reg-
ulations on the property sector.
“From previous experiences, we
expect a new round of adjustment
in property policies soon,” said
Ding.
cooperation
Russian FM says country will not follow
US move to shut out China’s Huawei
By MA SI
masi@chinadaily.com.cn
Russia has expressed interest in
cooperating with China and Huawei
Technologies Co on 5G technologies,
Russian news agency TASS report-
ed, amid intense US efforts to con-
tain the Chinese telecom giant.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said at the All-Russian Youth
Educational Forum Territory of
Meanings: “We will definitely not
follow the example of the US, who
simply demand that everyone not
cooperate on 5G with China, in par-
ticular with Huawei.
“On the contrary, we are interest-
ed in interacting with countries in
order to jointly create modern tech-
nologies and implement them in
daily life,” he said, according to a
report on Sunday from TASS.
Currently, Huawei has a string of
research and development centers
in Russia. Russian media outlet
Sputnik reported last year that Hua-
wei planned to hire more than 1,500
new employees for its research and
development centers in Russia over
the next six years.
Last June, Russia’s top mobile
phone operator MTS also signed an
agreement with Huawei to develop
5G technology in the country and to
hold test launches in 2019 and 2020.
Xiang Ligang, director-general of
the Information Consumption Alli-
ance, a telecom industry advocacy
group, said Huawei’s technological
prowess in 5G is well recognized
and Washington’s ban on the com-
pany cannot alter the fact.
During the first quarter of this
year, Huawei held its position as the
world’s largest telecom gear maker,
with a market share of 35.7 percent,
followed by Ericsson and Nokia,
according to market research com-
pany Dell’Oro.
From April to June of this year,
Huawei shipped more smartphones
worldwide than any other vendor for
the first time, marking the first quar-
ter in nine years that a company other
than Samsung or Apple has led the
market, according to data from the
market research company Canalys.
All the achievements came despite
the US government’s string of bans on
the Chinese company, which show-
cased Huawei’s resilience and techno-
logical competence, analysts said.
The latest comments from Russia
follow several countries’ stance that
they would not ban Huawei in their
5G rollout plans, despite the US gov-
ernment’s efforts to persuade them
to do so.
Philippe de Backer, federal minis-
ter for telecom in Belgium, said in
July that Huawei will not be banned
from Belgium’s 5G networks,
according to reports from The Brus-
sels Times.
Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s larg-
est telecom carrier, also said in a
statement last month that it is com-
mitted to a multivendor strategy and
that it buys from a large number of
manufacturers, including Huawei.
Earlier this month, Washington
issued new rules to expand restric-
tions on Huawei by limiting its access
to components produced by non-US
companies using US technology. It
also added another 38 Huawei affili-
ates to its economic blacklist.
“This adds to a grave challenge for
Huawei. But given time, the Chinese
tech company can find a way to turn
around,” Xiang said.
Inside
Focus, page 15

Briefly
Food industry on a
healthy track in H1
China’s food industry remained
generally stable in the first half of
the year, according to data from
the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology. Retail
sales of grain, oil and food
reached 745.35 billion yuan
($107.85 billion), up 12.9 percent
from a year ago. Sales of alcohol
and tobacco stood at 172.61 bil-
lion yuan during the period,
down 3.1 percent year-on-year. In
June alone, the value-added
industrial output of food manu-
facturers saw an increase of 1.3
percent year-on-year, while alco-
hol, beverage and refined tea
manufacturers registered the
same percentage growth. During
the first half, profits of food
companies with annual operat-
ing revenue of more than 20
million yuan totaled 270.6 bil-
lion yuan, rising 3.9 percent
year-on-year.
Ant Group to set up unit in Chongqing
By HE WEI in Shanghai
hewei@chinadaily.com.cn
Ant Group, which runs China’s
ubiquitous payment app Alipay, is
setting up a consumer finance com-
pany in the southwestern city of
Chongqing, adding a new heavy-
weight to China’s booming consum-
er finance market.
With a registered capital of 8 bil-
lion yuan ($1.16 billion), the new
entity is 50-percent controlled by
Ant and has a consortium of inves-
tors, including Nanyang Commer-
cial Bank and Cathay United Bank
(China) Ltd, said Jiangsu Yuyue
Medical Equipment&Supply, a
minor stakeholder, in a regulatory
filing on Saturday.
When operational, it will be the
largest consumer finance company
of its kind.
Under Chinese rules, consumer
finance companies are allowed to
lend 10 times their capital. In com-
parison, the leverage ratio of an
online microloan firm is roughly
just one to three times that amount.
“This would hence be a great leap
forward for Ant, which has micro-
loan companies in Chongqing that
operate its consumer-lending plat-
forms Huabei and Jiebei, which cur-
rently operate under microloan
licenses,” said Cao Lei, e-commerce
director at the consultancy Internet
Economy Institute.
Ant, which claims to have 1 bil-
lion global users, has already got-
ten a range of financial licenses in
China covering payments, online
banking, insurance and micro
lending.
Last month, the company, in
which e-commerce giant Alibaba
Group Holding Ltd holds a 33 per-
cent stake, began the process for a
dual-listing in Hong Kong and
Shanghai that would give it a $200
billion valuation.
“The move is closely linked with
its IPO strategy, because consumer
finance is a key business area it is
focusing on,” said Dong Yizhi, a law-
yer at Shanghai Joint Win Law
Firm. “It is worth the effort to obtain
a consumer finance license due to
its scarcity.”
The asset scale of consumer
finance companies reached 498.8
billion yuan by the end of 2019, up
28.67 percent on a yearly basis, said
a report published by the China
Banking Association last week.
Loan balance jumped 30.5 percent
year-on-year to 472.3 billion yuan
during the same period. A mascot of Ant Group at the company’s headquarters in
Among the 27 consumer finance Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. LONG WEI / FOR CHINA DAILY
companies holding a license, a
growing number of new entrants
are internet companies like Baidu, lightly monitored, longer-term of COVID-19, said a survey conduct-
JD and Xiaomi, as they bank on the tightening of regulation is highly ed by Fenqile, China’s first install-
troves of data and algorithms for expected, especially as more inter- ment e-commerce platform owned
risk control. net players enter the game,” Dong by consumer finance group Lexin
Internet-based consumer financ- said. “We cannot rule out the possi- Fintech.
ing exploded 400 times to nearly 8 bility that such business units would The use of consumer credit is on
trillion yuan in four years to 2018, be spun off in the future.” the rise as it is increasingly seen as
according to Peking University’s Over 60 percent of the young Chi- an effective solution to cushion the
Guanghua School of Management. nese consumers are expected to impact of the contagion on personal
“While the industry is currently increase spending in the aftermath finances.

Regulator approves 7
new IPO applications
China’s top securities regulator has
approved the initial public offering
applications of seven companies.
Shanxi Huaxiang Group Co Ltd,
Ways Electron Co Ltd, Hangzhou
Li-On Microelectronics Co Ltd,
Zhejiang Gongdong Medical Tech-
nology Co Ltd, Zhongyan Technol-
ogy Co Ltd, Qingdao Sentury Tire
Co Ltd and Hunan Huawen Food
Co Ltd will be listed on the A-share
market, the China Securities Regu-
latory Commission said in a state-
ment. The companies and their
underwriters will confirm IPO
dates and publish their prospec-
tuses following discussions with
the stock exchanges.
XINHUA
Duty-free market encourages consumption of luxury goods
SHANGHAI/HAIKOU — Inside a
duty-free shop in downtown Hai-
kou, capital of South China’s island
province of Hainan, Su Yanqing was
selecting a wristwatch for herself.
“I had decided to buy a watch
before I came here,” said Su, a tourist
from Xiamen, East China’s Fujian
province. “The price in the duty-free
shop is definitely lower than in ordi-
nary shopping malls.” Besides pick-
ing a watch worth about 10,000 yuan
($1,447), she also planned to buy cos-
metics and skin care products.
From July 1, Hainan has increased
its annual tax-free shopping quota
from 30,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan
per person. The number of duty-free
goods categories has also expanded
from 38 to 45, with products such as
mobile phones and laptops added to
the list.
The previous tax-free limit of
8,000 yuan for a single item has also
been scrapped, and the number of
categories with a single-purchase
quantity limit has been significantly
reduced. For example, the duty-free
single-purchase limit for cosmetics
has been raised from 12 items to 30.
“I do not have to worry about the
number of purchases,” said Liu Yue,
a local citizen who bought a dozen
skin care products in the duty-free
shop. “Thanks to the new policy, we
can buy more expensive items now,”
she said, appreciating the new poli-
cy for stimulating consumption.
According to official data,
Hainan’s duty-free sales exceeded
5 billion yuan from July 1 to Aug
18, up 250 percent on a yearly
basis.
Retail travel business has been
under pressure since the COVID-19
outbreak due to the sharp fall in
international travel. However, Chi-
na’s duty-free consumption is accel-
erating thanks to policy incentives.
In March, Chinese authorities
unveiled new guidelines to boost con-
sumption and unleash the potential
of the domestic market, and vowed
further reforms for the duty-free sec-
tor, including the building of a num-
ber of urban duty-free shops with
Chinese features and expansion of
duty-free business at ports.
Chen Xi, director of the Hainan
provincial department of commerce,
said the newly introduced duty-free
goods were welcomed by consumers,
with mobile phones, liquor and tab-
lets being the best-selling products.
Total sales of single products
priced above 8,000 yuan reached
nearly 1.2 billion yuan from July 1 to
Aug 18, surging 420 percent year-
on- year. “It has played an important
role in winning back consumers
who used to buy high-end products
overseas,” Chen said.
Hainan currently has four off-
shore duty-free shops — two in Hai-
kou, and one each in Qionghai and
the popular resort city of Sanya,
where the island province plans to
build three more duty-free shops.
According to a research report by
UBS in July, the new duty-free policy
in Hainan could significantly drive
the sales of fashion and luxury prod-
ucts such as bags, jewelry and
watches. It estimated that the contri-
bution of fashion and luxury prod-
ucts in total duty-free sales in
Hainan would rise to 40 percent by
2025 from the current 15 percent.
XINHUA
14 | Tuesday, August 25, 2020
BUSINESS
Employees arrange cosmetics from South Korea at a cross-border industrial park in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, in July.
GENG YUHE / FOR CHINA DAILY
Cross-border e-commerce key to nation’s
foreign trade amid COVID-19 headwinds
BEIJING — Amid global eco-
nomic uncertainties caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic, China’s for-
eign trade sector has delivered a
better-than-expected performance
so far this year, with cross-border
e-commerce providing strong
impetus.
In the first half of the year, trade
via cross-border e-commerce plat-
forms, under the oversight of Cus-
toms authorities, increased by
26.2 percent year-on-year, with
exports and imports up by 28.7
percent and 24.4 percent, respec-
tively, data from the General
Administration of Customs (GAC)
showed.
As COVID-19 dealt a heavy blow
to traditional trade models, cross-
border e-commerce has become a
major driving force for stabilizing
foreign trade, said Wei Jianguo,
vice-chairman of the China Center
for International Economic
Exchanges.
Expansion in the sector came as
authorities unveiled several suppor-
tive measures, including further
optimizing the business climate at
ports, quickening Customs clearan-
ces, and accelerating export tax
rebates.
In April, the State Council decided
at an executive meeting to set up 46
new, comprehensive cross-border
e-commerce pilot zones, bringing
the total number to 105.
In addition to applying practices
proven effective in boosting the flow
of commerce, firms in these zones
Shenzhen uses 5G to boost infrastructure efforts
By ZHOU MO
in Shenzhen, Guangdong
sally@chinadailyhk.com
5G technology is bringing signifi-
cant changes to the infrastructure
sector in Shenzhen, freeing workers
from heavy workloads and enhanc-
ing their work efficiency.
The city in Guangdong province
announced on Aug 17 it has become
the first Chinese city to achieve full-
scale 5G deployment, with more
than 46,000 base stations having
been built so far.
At Pengcheng transformer sub-
station, robots are used to monitor
whether electricity equipment is
running smoothly. They then send
messages to the command center,
where workers conduct analysis
and diagnosis of the situation to
ensure that everything is going
well.
The transformer substation, which
takes up 20 percent of the load of
Shenzhen’s daily power grid, finished
its upgrading not so long ago by
establishing a 5G network in the area.
In the past, workers had to deal
with a large amount of work such
as equipment inspection and oper-
will enjoy supportive policies, such
as exemption of value-added and
consumption taxes on retail exports,
and assessed levies of corporate
income tax.
Companies will be supported to
jointly build and share overseas
warehouses, a statement released
after the meeting said.
In Zhengzhou, capital city of Cen-
tral China’s Henan province and one
of the second batch of such pilot cit-
ies, total foreign trade via e-com-
merce channels in the Zhengzhou
Xinzheng Comprehensive Bonded
Zone surged by 114 percent to 4.45
billion yuan ($642 million) in the
first half. The imports in the zone
almost doubled from last year, while
exports rose more than fivefold.
Because of its advantages, includ-
ing online trading and contactless
delivery, cross-border e-commerce
has played a positive role in helping
foreign trade firms cushion COVID-
19 shocks as a new form of trade,
GAC spokesperson Li Kuiwen said
at a news conference.
The GAC announced on June 12
it is carrying out pilot regulations
for cross-border e-commerce busi-
ness-to-business exports in 10 cit-
ies starting July 1. It offered
enterprises simplified export dec-
larations and paperless Customs
clearance, among other supportive
measures.
During the first week of imple-
mentation, the 10 local Customs
checked and issued 266,000 bills of
entry and declaration forms, involv-
Efficiency of power
grid equipment
inspection has
increased by 270
percent. The ‘new
infrastructure’ of 5G
has unleashed fresh
momentum for our
industry and brought
significant changes to
the way we work.”
Xie Zhiyi, head of Pengcheng
transformer substation
ation on site, which is a heavy bur-
den for them. With the 5G
network, they can let robots do the
work and get all the information in
the command center, said Xie Zhi-
yi, head of Pengcheng transformer
substation.
“For a check list with 1,330 items,
it takes three days for a worker to get
the inspection work done. But with
26.2
percent
year-on-year growth in trade
via cross-border e-commerce
platforms in the first half of
the year
ing 250 million yuan worth of goods,
Li said.
Starting Sept 1, the pilot regula-
tions will be expanded to another 12
cities, the GAC announced on Thurs-
day.
As cross-border e-commerce
embraced robust growth, China’s
foreign trade also beat market
expectations in recent months
despite the adverse impact from
shrinking global demand and
restrictive overseas measures to
contain the pandemic.
In April, the world’s second-largest
economy logged positive growth in
exports for the first time this year. In
June, exports and imports both rose.
The momentum was sustained
through July as total foreign trade
volumes rose by 6.5 percent year-on-
year. Exports and imports went up
by 10.4 percent and 1.6 percent,
respectively.
Despite the shrinking global trade
market, China’s share is growing
larger, indicating the sector’s rising
competitiveness and increasing
capacity to counter pressure, head
of the GAC Ni Yuefeng told Xinhua.
The situation for foreign trade and
investment, however, is still grim as
5G and artificial intelligence tech-
nologies, we are able to finish it in
just an hour. Efficiency of power
grid equipment inspection has
increased by 270 percent,” Xie said,
adding the substation has so far
deployed a total of 1,036 intelligent
devices, including inspection robots
and 5G cameras.
“The ‘new infrastructure’ of 5G
has unleashed fresh momentum
for our industry and brought sig-
nificant changes to the way we
work.”
The power station is just one of
various scenarios of 5G application in
infrastructure projects in Shenzhen.
The next-generation wireless net-
work is also promoting the upgrade
of traditional ports in the city.
Mawan SmartPort is the country’s
first port that was upgraded from a
traditional port to a smart one.
“One of the most typical examples
of 5G application in our port is the
remote control of gantry cranes,”
said Hu Zijian, a worker at Mawan
SmartPort.
“Previously, workers had to climb
to the operators’ cab to work, which
is dozens of meters high above the
ground. Working conditions are
the worldwide spread of COVID-19, a
severe global economic recession,
and significant declines in interna-
tional trade and investment as well
as rising protectionism are all taken
into account, said Ren Hongbin,
assistant minister of commerce.
According to World Trade Organi-
zation estimates, global trade would
slump between 13 percent and 32
percent this year.
To further stabilize foreign trade,
the State Council announced on
Wednesday it had issued a guideline
to roll out more measures aimed at
protecting foreign trade entities and
keeping supply chains stable.
More efforts will be made to help
foreign trade firms expand their cli-
entele and improve trade facilities
and services, including cross-border
e-commerce platforms, cross-bor-
der logistics, and overseas ware-
houses, it said.
For many traditional trade firms,
cross-border e-commerce remains
an important option for digital
transformation and an effective
hedge against external risks, ana-
lysts noted.
In the latter half of the year, the
GAC will further simplify clearance
procedures and cut logistics costs to
optimize the business environment
at ports, Ni said, who pledged to
advance reforms in the regulation of
cross-border e-commerce to help
businesses better tap the global
market.
XINHUA
tough. Now, they can sit in front of
the computer in the control room
and finish the work as high-defini-
tion videos of the site are transmit-
ted to the computer with superfast
5G network,” Hu said.
Deployment of the 5G network
has also reduced construction and
operating costs, and enhanced the
stability of internet in the port.
“Ports used to connect to the inter-
net mainly through optical fiber or
Wifi, which is high in construction
and operating cost and low in stabili-
ty. And some areas cannot be covered
by the internet,” he said. “(The) 5G
network provides the foundation for
us to offer better services.”
The “smart” upgrade has
enhanced the port’s operating effi-
ciency by 30 percent and cut the
number of workers on site by 80 per-
cent, said officials of China Mer-
chants Port, which owns the Mawan
SmartPort. Safety hazards have
been reduced by 50 percent.
Li Yubin, deputy general manager
of CMP, said the change in Mawan
SmartPort could become a role
model for other domestic and over-
seas traditional ports to seek
“smart” transformation.
RIGHT TRACK
Levi’s to hike
investment in
China market
US clothing firm to expand presence
with more stores planned this year
By SHI JING in Shanghai
shijing@chinadaily.com.cn
For 167-year-old US clothing
company Levi Strauss & Co,
which is well-known for the den-
im brand Levi’s, China is more
than an important constituent of
its global supply chain but also a
major consumer market and a
key innovation center, Levi’s Chi-
na Managing Director Amy Yang
said.
While the COVID-19 pandemic
impaired the company’s global
sales this year, Yang said they will
continue to invest in China by
updating and opening up to 30
stores in the country’s first and
second-tier cities by the end of this
year.
One of the latest moves in physi-
cal store mapping is Levi’s flagship
store which opened on Friday on
Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street in
central Shanghai — a Fifth Avenue
-like shopping destination —
receiving about 1 million visitors
every day.
Covering some 670 square
meters, the store is the largest of
its kind in Asia, with total invest-
ment amounting to over 100 mil-
lion yuan ($14.5 million), said
Yang.
While online retailing value
increased 9 percent year-on-year
to reach 6.08 trillion yuan during
the first seven months of the year,
as found by the Ministry of Com-
merce, a physical presence is cru-
cial to enhance the brand’s
recognition and user viscosity,
Yang said.
Brick-and-mortar stores can
provide more detailed insights of
consumers and even market fore-
casts through offline experiences,
she said.
While the company’s store
opening plans focus on first and
second-tier Chinese cities, the con-
sumers in lower tier cities, espe-
cially the younger generation, are
just as valued, to whom Levi’s is
more frequently presented via
dealership and e-commerce plat-
forms, added Yang.
As Levi’s has calculated, the
online channels accounted for 20
percent of its China sales revenue
prior to the epidemic and the con-
tribution rate surged to 50 percent
during the outbreak. But as physi-
cal stores reopened in the country
as the epidemic was gradually
contained, the contribution from
online channels slightly contract-
ed to 30 percent.
As Yang further explained, digi-
talization is the first step for sus-
tained development in China. An
omnichannel strategy combining
online and offline platforms is key
for Levi’s in China.
A shopper passes a Levi’s outlet at a mall in Shanghai.
PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
CHINA DAILY
The Chinese
consumers are
highly sophisticated
... They are not only
taking the lead
worldwide in terms
of the adoption of
technology and
digital solutions, but
even regarding the
understanding of
fashion.”
Amy Yang, managing director
of Levi’s China
“The Chinese consumers are
highly sophisticated. Their bud-
gets were not even impaired dur-
ing the epidemic, as long as the
product addresses certain needs.
They are not only taking the lead
worldwide in terms of the adop-
tion of technology and digital solu-
tions, but even regarding the
understanding of fashion,” said
Yang.
Levi’s set up a big data and
artificial intelligence team in
China earlier this year which
works as the data center for
Levi’s in Asia. The findings from
this team in China will also serve
all the other markets for Levi’s,
she said.
Market consultancy Kantar
Worldpanel said about 30 percent
of Chinese families used O2O ser-
vices during the second quarter,
which is slightly down from the 35
percent in the first quarter. But
robust demand by consumers for
O2O services has pushed retailers
to strengthen cooperation with
online platforms, said Kantar
Worldpanel analysts.
As of May 24, 2020, Levi Strauss
and Co saw its products sold in
over 50,000 retail locations in
more than 110 countries, includ-
ing approximately 3,200 brand-
dedicated stores and shop-in-
shops. Sales of Levi’s brand
products represented 87 percent
of the company’s total net sales
revenue in the first six months of
fiscal year 2020.
While the gross margin of Levi
Strauss & Co contracted by 19.2
percentage points to 34.1 percent,
according to the company’s sec-
ond quarter fiscal results which
ended May 24, 2020, the compa-
ny’s wholesale margin rose due to
the benefit of price increases and a
higher proportion of sales in Chi-
na, the company said.
 CHINA DAILY
BUSINESSFOCUS
Experts optimistic Huawei can face storm
Shenzhen-based technology giant has sufficient product stockpile and other contingency plans to deal with situation
By MA SI
masi@chinadaily.com.cn
Following recent measures taken
by the United States government
against Huawei Technologies Co,
many have been increasingly pessi-
mistic about the Chinese company’s
future.
But closer observation from
industry analysts shows that the
fallout of Washington’s latest chip
ban will not be as damaging as
intended, and Huawei has an
opportunity to turn its fortunes
around.
To begin with, it still remains a
question as to how the US govern-
ment might carry out such broad
restrictions in reality — moves
which could involve hundreds of
chip companies around the world —
and such actions will heavily disrupt
the global semiconductor supply
chain, experts said.
Meanwhile, Huawei has a certain
inventory level of chips, which will
give it time to come up with contin-
gency plans based on its research
and development prowess as well as
assess the progress of domestic
semiconductor companies, experts
said.
The US government is also facing
mounting pressure from the coun-
try’s own semiconductor associa-
tion and chip companies. This may
force it to leave open the possibility
of reprieve for certain US suppliers,
experts said, adding that China’s
promise to utilize “necessary”
measures to protect Chinese inter-
ests will also exert heavier pressure
on the US side.
The comments came after the US
Commerce Department issued new
rules to tighten restrictions on Hua-
wei by limiting the Shenzhen,
Guangdong province-based firm’s
access to chip components pro-
duced by non-US companies using
US technology. It also added anoth-
er 38 Huawei affiliates to its black-
list.
Roger Sheng, vice-president of
research at global consultancy
Gartner Inc, said before consider-
ing the ban’s possible impact on
Huawei, a key question needing to
be asked is whether the US govern-
ment’s long-arm jurisdiction can
really cover all chip companies
around the world.
“It is almost impossible for the US
government to monitor and track
all chip companies’ business in real-
ity,” Sheng said.
The latest tightening ban demon-
strates how far the US government
will go to crack down on private
companies, and runs the risk of dis-
pleasing companies from other
countries.
“If Huawei is done, who will be
next? Dozens of Chinese tech com-
panies that have already been put
on the US government blacklist?
Or any non-US technology pio-
neers? They will meet the same fate
of Huawei if companies remain
Consumers try out Huawei laptops at a flagship store in Shanghai on Wednesday.
WANG GANG / FOR CHINA DAILY
on the sale of components to Chi-
nese companies, including Huawei.
The US restrictions have cost Qual-
comm a market worth as much as
$8 billion annually, the US compa-
ny said.
In response to the latest ban,
John Neuffer, president and CEO of
the US Semiconductor Industry
Association — an organization that
represents 95 percent of the US
semiconductor industry — said:
“These broad restrictions on com-
mercial chip sales will bring signifi-
cant disruption to the US
semiconductor industry.”
Neuffer said in a statement that
the association is surprised and
concerned by the administration’s
sudden shift from its prior support
of a more narrow approach intend-
ed to achieve stated national secu-
rity goals while limiting the harm
to US companies.
“We reiterate our view that sales
of nonsensitive, commercial prod-
ucts to China drive semiconductor
research and innovation here in the
Participants gather at Huawei’s exhibition booth in Berlin, Germany, in February. YAN FENG / XINHUA US, which is critical to America’s
economic strength and national
security,” he added.
Boston Consulting Group said in
silent this time,” said a senior exec- all major Chinese tech players, the against normal global business a report that if the US government
utive from a Chinese technology senior executive added. operations. Concern is not enough. increases restrictions on semicon-
company. “That is a huge loss nobody can It is time for action,” the executive ductor trade with China, this could
Also, even if suppliers around the bear. As a result, the key is that chip added. endanger the country’s own posi-
world can endure the revenue loss- suppliers around the world should Signs of such a trend are already tion as a leader in the sector.
es resulting from a ban of providing stand up and defy Washington’s lat- visible. BCG warned that if shipments of
chip products and services to Hua- est ban on Huawei. It is the only The Wall Street Journal reported US chips and chipmaking equip-
wei, they will not put up with Wash- way to prevent the US government that Qualcomm is lobbying the US ment to China were stopped, and
ington going further and banning from exercising more interference government to revoke restrictions China were to ban imports of US
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 | 15
electronics and software, it could
cost US companies 37 percent of
their annual sales.
BCG found that top US semicon-
ductor makers have reported a
median revenue decline of between
4 percent and 9 percent in each of
the three quarters following the
ban on Huawei buying US chip
technologies in May 2019.
Wang Peng, deputy head of the
China Center for Information
Industry Development, said: “As
the coronavirus outbreak is severe-
ly disrupting global supply and
industrial chains, the US govern-
ment’s actions will further destroy
and hit the current system.”
Some experts said that given
mounting pressure within the US,
Washington might allow certain
domestic suppliers, such as Qual-
comm, to continue selling chips to
Huawei after the November presi-
dential election.
Also, Huawei still has time to
come up with contingency plans
for the latest ban. Analysts estimat-
ed that the world’s largest telecom
equipment maker has a stockpile of
processors for smartphones and 5G
base stations that could last at least
until early 2021, with some even
pointing to end-2021.
To cope with restrictions, Hua-
wei said earlier that its R&D spend-
ing grew 29.8 percent to 131.7
billion yuan ($19 billion) in 2019,
while inventories of components
surged 73.4 percent on a yearly
basis.
“Such a time window can give
Huawei some wiggle room,” said
Xiang Ligang, director-general of
the Information Consumption Alli-
ance, a telecom industry associa-
tion.
The “final card” from the US will
unlikely pose an existential threat
to Huawei, which had global sales
revenue of 454 billion yuan in the
first half, despite the potentially
profound disruptions it might
bring, Xiang said.
According to a post on Chinese
social media platform Sina Weibo,
Huawei recently launched its
Tashan Project to partner with
domestic companies to build a
US-technology-free chip produc-
tion line. Though Huawei did not
confirm this decision, people famil-
iar with the matter told China Daily
that the company is seriously con-
sidering doing so.
Foreign Ministry spokesman
Zhao Lijian criticized the US’ latest
move with a lengthy scathing state-
ment that calls the US move a
“naked act of hegemony”, during a
recent news briefing.
“We urge the US to immediately
correct their wrongdoing, stop
slandering and smearing China
and halt cracking down on Chinese
companies. The Chinese govern-
ment will continue to take necessa-
ry measures to protect the
legitimate rights and interests of
Chinese companies,” Zhao said.
16 | ADVERTORIAL

City’s policies put Taiwan
businesses back on track
By YUAN SHENGGAO
Companies from Taiwan operat-
ing in the southeastern coastal city
of Xiamen are facing both challen-
ges and opportunities in transform-
ing and upgrading their businesses
in order to maintain sustainable
growth amid the impact of the COV-
ID-19 pandemic.
Xiamen has long promoted posi-
tive exchanges and cooperation
between its businesses and those
from neighboring Taiwan, and in
the wake of the challenges faced by
the COVID-19 pandemic, it
intends to maintain strong rela-
tions and assist Taiwan-based
enterprises in continued success.
Mark Agronomy, a Taiwan-
based enterprise engaged in horti-
cultural landscape engineering, is
one such company transforming
its business model in the process of
getting back to work.
“At present, production has been
fully restored, and our services for
customers are gradually recover-
ing,” said Chen Daiming, manag-
ing director of Mark Agronomics.
Chen said the company returned
to work in February, making spe-
cial arrangements for the Spring
Festival holiday as well as the out-
break of the novel coronavirus.
“Over the years we have orga-
nized many tree planting activities
in Xiamen, however this year we
faced unprecedented challenges,”
said Chen.
“We cooperated with communi-
ties and donated saplings to resi-
dents as a continuation of the
activity,” he said. “We also disin-
fected parks so that a small num-
ber of activities could be open to
the public.”
Chen said the good control of the
epidemic in Fujian has made him
more confident in the future devel-
opment of his company, as well as
new business opportunities.
“In the wake of the virus out-
break, consumers have a renewed
interest in health, we will aim to
expand in this field,” Chen said.
“In the future, we may develop
healthcare products and combine
our related experience in biotech-
nology to introduce medicinal
herbs.”
Fujushanqiu Trading is a Tai-
wan-based enterprise producing
incense in Xiamen that has wit-
nessed a surge in online sales.
Jin Yufeng, founder of the com-
pany, said it has opened online
platforms on Tmall and JD.
“Since we resumed work, online
sales have continued to increase
compared with last year,” Jin said.
“The local government has pro-
posed preferential measures such
as rent reduction and deferred
payment of social security, and we
are applying for these. This has
also reduced some pressure on
our cost expenditure.”
Tai Zu Food, producing local
snacks from Taiwan, was severely
affected by the epidemic due to a
drop in sales.
Roring Industries, a Taiwan enterprise in Xiamen, starts production
in February.
Workers from a local steel company in Xiamen check facilities at a
construction site.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
At present,
production has been
fully restored, and our
services for
customers are
gradually recovering.
We cooperated with
communities and
donated saplings to
residents as a
continuation of the
activity.”
Chen Daiming, managing
director of Mark Agronomics
The company is cooperating
with major online e-commerce
platforms to open up new sales
channels.
“Spring Festival is usually our
peak season for sales, but due to
the impact of the epidemic we
didn’t sell many products,” said
Cai Jinde, general manager of the
company.
Cai said they are now expand-
ing sales through new online and
offline channels. For example, the
company publishes a series of
product promotions on platforms
such as WeChat.
“We are a food company, so we
attach great importance to safety
and hygiene. We pay close atten-
tion to the health of employees on
duty, ensure the safety of food
sources, and provide customers
with peace of mind,” Cai said.
Xiamen has implemented a
series of measures to help enter-
prises from Taiwan recover from
the impact of the pandemic.
From Feb 12 to 15, Xiamen offi-
cials visited 120 enterprises from
Taiwan to conduct research on
the resumption of work and pro-
duction.
The local government has pro-
vided assistance to each Taiwan
enterprise with bespoke policies
and tailored services through
on-site visits and online promo-
tion.
It has guided key companies
from Taiwan including TPV, AU
Optronics, Lianxin IC and Yujing
Optoelectronics.
To alleviate operating pressure
on youth entrepreneurship bases,
Xiamen revised its youth entre-
preneurship awards and subsi-
dies to expand the benefits to
Taiwan youth. Jimei district in
the city has introduced four meas-
ures to support the employment
and entrepreneurship of youth
from Taiwan, providing them
with rent and transportation sub-
sidies for returning to Xiamen.
Other districts have also issued
supporting policies to reduce
rent, water and electricity costs
for those from Taiwan.
XIAMEN CONTINUES ON STRONG
PATH, DESPITE VIRUS
From left: The Xiamen cross-border e-commerece industrial park is home to a number of high-tech enterprises. The picturesque coasta
By YUAN SHENGGAO
Xiamen in Fujian province has maintained a
fast-paced recovery of its economic and social
development thanks to the city’s key measures
to prevent and control the COVID-19 epidemic
over the past months.
From January to June, Xiamen achieved a
total GDP of some 294.82 billion yuan ($42.49
billion).
The city also realized a positive change from
negative to a year-on-year increase of 0.6 per-
cent.
The resumption rate of projects under con-
struction and industrial enterprises in Xiamen
has reached 100 percent, and 57,000 new tax
registrants have been registered, 1.4 times that
of the same period last year.
To deal with the epidemic while boosting eco-
nomic growth, local governments in Xiamen have
launched a series of 200 measures to help enter-
Train helped keep transportation of supplies movving during pandemic
By YUAN SHENGGAO
The China-Europe freight train in Xiamen,
Fujian province, has become a vital logistics
channel for ensuring Sino-European trade
exchange and cooperation in the transportation
of epidemic prevention materials.
On April 18, the train, with 50 containers full of
shoes and clothing, electronic products, and anti-
epidemic supplies, departed from the Haicang
Free Trade Park to Hamburg, Germany.
“Thanks to the continuous and stable opera-
tion of the China-Europe train, the goods delayed
due to the epidemic arrived in Europe on time,”
said Wang Weidi, manager of the logistics depart-
ment of TPV Display Technology (Xiamen).
“They timely met the production needs of over-
seas factories and effectively guaranteed the com-
pany’s production and sales in Europe,”
Wang said that in the first quarter of this year,
the company exported 483 electronic contain-
ers in Europe, valued at about $58.6 million,
up 19.6 percent and 45.1 percent year-on-
year.
Zhong Lei, head of the business depart-
ment of Xiamen International Train, said
that since March, the frequency of the China-Eu-
V OUTBREAK
Coastal city in Fujian province has see
prises in financing some 200 billion yuan and
reducing the financial burden of 20 billion yuan
for enterprises in need. The measures strongly
support the sustainable development of market
entities.
The market supervision bureau of Tong’an dis-
trict in Xiamen launched an internet plus govern-
ment service platform during the pandemic so
that the enterprises can do business without
delay at home.
“On one hand, we will improve efficiency for
enterprises to open up offices online,” a staffer at
the bureau said. “On the other hand, we will make
better use of the internet to deal with administra-
tive approvals.”
The bureau has also added six hotlines during
special periods to answer questions from the
public. It opened up a special channel for the reg-
istration of enterprises in production of anti-epi-
demic materials and major investment projects.
To improve the efficiency of licensing approv-
rope freight train in Xiamen has increased from
four trains per week to seven.
“We not only solved the urgent export prob-
lems of enterprises, but also helped them regain
the production cycle that was delayed due to
slowdowns in work and production,” Zhong said.
According to data from China Railway Nan-
chang Bureau Group, in the first quarter of the
year, a total of 67 China-Europe trains were oper-
ated at the Haicang station, carrying 6,106 TEUs,
and the value of goods was about $234 million.
Compared with the same period in 2019, the
number of ranks increased by 148 percent, and
the shipment volume increased by 160 percent.
The China-Europe freight train in Xiamen is
the epitome of China’s China-Europe train.
According to data from China National Railway
Group, the China-Europe railways opened 1,941
trains in the first quarter of this year, sending
174,000 TEUs. That accounted for increases of 15
and 18 percent year-on-year respectively.
Ding Changfa, an associate professor at Xia-
men University’s School of Economics, said
although China-Europe freight trains pass
through many countries, its segmented transpor-
tation and a series of “contactless services” imple-
mented in various regions make it relatively less
en quick economic and social recovery
al view of Xiamen, Fujian province. Containers await shipping from a port in Xiamen.
294.82 tors, hoisting machinery, large amusement
facilities, special motor vehicles in the field and
billion yuan their related management personnel.
GDP of Xiamen in the first half of the year
To solve the urgent need for the commission of
enterprises while supporting the smooth return
of operators, Xiamen’s special equipment inspec-
als, the bureau of Tong’an has also provided inno- tion and testing institute has improved the
vative services such as the one window for one equipment operator examination system, opti-
window. mized the work process and standardized infor-
The time for the acceptance and approval of the mation management.
enterprises’ establishment has been reduced to The institute has deepened the pre-examina-
3.5 hours. tion service by adjusting the frequency of evi-
A total of 3,115 commercial entities received dence collection, dispatching examiners in time,
business licenses through the online office in the and increasing the number of supervisory exami-
first half of the year. nation venues to deepen the pre-examination
The resumption of work and production in services. The Xiamen government has also insist-
various industries in Xiamen, has also made ed on improving people’s livelihood and welfare.
demand for licensed special equipment opera- The urban registered unemployment rate has
tors increase. been controlled within the annual expected
Special equipment operators refer to the oper- range for the first half of the year. More than
ators of boilers, pressure vessels, pipelines, eleva- 100,000 enterprises were granted stable job sub-
A cargo train bound for Moscow in Russia, lea
aves Xiamen, Fujian province,
PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
sidies and some 490 million yuan were returned
to stable jobs.
The number of registered enterprises and the
number of employees in the city increased by
36.3 percent and 11.7 percent.
Xiamen also provided important daily necessi-
ties to the market and took multiple measures to
ensure sufficient supply, stable prices and solid
reserves.
The consumer price index dropped by 1.1 per-
cent from the first quarter, as policies for vegeta-
ble parity and government subsidies for the sale
of pork were implemented.
Despite the adverse conditions of the pandem-
ic, Xiamen has achieved remarkable investment.
In the first half of the year, the cumulative actual
use of foreign capital increased by 41.6 percent,
ranking first in the province in terms of growth
and scale.
Foreign trade increased by 3.9 percent, with
the growth rate ranking first among the cities
separately listed in the plan, and the monthly
growth rate was better than that of the entire
country.
In the first half of the year, the city’s agricul-
ture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery
increased by 2.1 percent over the same period of
the previous year, the main products maintained
growth, and the agricultural output value
increased by 4.9 percent.
In the next three years, 252 projects with a total
investment of more than 100 million yuan will be
sorted out, with a planned total investment of
729 billion yuan, and the first batch of 30 major
projects with a total investment of 226.9 billion
yuan will be planned.
Environmental protection is also progressing
steadily. Xiamen’s air quality ranks sixth among
the 168 key cities in the country. The city’s drink-
ing water source water quality compliance rate
and other indicators have achieved 100 percent,
reaching the best level in the past.
affected by the epidemic and ensure smooth
transportation.
“The spread of the epidemic, the fluctuation of
air freight prices and the sharp reduction of pas-
senger routes are the main reasons for the
increase in the volume of China-Europe freight
trains,” Ding added.
Ding believes that China-Europe freight trains
will still have great use in the future.
“On the one hand, as the epidemic in Europe is
gradually brought under control and economic
and social order is gradually restored, demand for
Chinese products will increase, including con-
sumer products and industrial parts. On the oth-
er hand, domestic enterprises will accelerate the
resumption of work and production,” he said.
“With the pull of foreign demand and the pro-
motion of domestic supply, the development of
the China-Europe Express is worth looking for-
ward to.”
Under the predicament of blocked global
logistics channels, the China-Europe freight
trains are equipped with scarce epidemic pre-
vention materials including masks, protective
clothing, ventilators and testing reagents to pro-
vide strong guarantees for European countries
to effectively respond to the epidemic.
Notice released to
ease requirements on
government purchases
By YUAN SHENGGAO
Xiamen’s finance bureau released
a notice clarifying how the govern-
ment is optimizing its purchasing
and procurement policies, especial-
ly for small and medium-sized busi-
nesses from June this year. The
notice aims at promoting fair com-
petition, and improving transparen-
cy and efficiency in the government
procurement process.
The bureau said in order to pro-
mote greater transparency and fair
competition, standardized govern-
ment procurement requirements
have been put in place, as well as tech-
nical requirements, prohibitive claus-
es and review methods.
Special attention has been paid to
small and medium-sized enterprises
to enable them to bid side-by-side
with larger companies for govern-
ment procurement projects with less
restrictive financial pressure. These
include exemption from some depos-
its and non-cash means of guarantee.
In addition to reducing business
burden related to government pur-
chases, Xiamen Customs has been
playing its part in ensuring that trade
remains smooth and efficient amid
the challenges posed by the COVID-19
pandemic.
Customs officials have been work-
ing hard to ensure that clearance for
goods coming in and going out of the
city remain on track. Xiamen ranks
10th in China in terms of the speed of
Private enterprises
do their part to fight
against COVID-19
By YUAN SHENGGAO
Private enterprises in Xiamen, Fuji-
an province, are promoting coordi-
nated resumption of work and
production in the upstream and
downstream of industrial chains to
power through the COVID-19 epi-
demic.
One example is the Xiamen-head-
quartered Yealink, a global brand that
specializes in video conferencing,
voice communications and collabora-
tion solutions. The city has helped
Yealink’s foundries to resume work
and production.
Demand in the remote office mar-
ket has exploded during the outbreak,
which not only promotes a large
increase in the number of customers
for Yealink’s soft-end video conferenc-
ing system, but also drives product
sales. In the past quarter, Yealink’s
orders rose steadily. While restoring
its own production capacity, Yealink
assisted its supporting companies to
resume work and production.
Chen Guilong, the relevant person
in charge of the foundry Hualian Elec-
tronics, a subsidiary of Yealink, said:
“Thanks to the order from Yealink,
our production capacity was fairly
stable in the first quarter.”
Chen said that at the initial stage of
the resumption of work, their capaci-
ty recovery was affected due to insuffi-
cient operating rates. Yealink
reported the labor shortage problem
to the local government in time and
officials helped coordinate and solve
it.
Chen said that the delivery date of
some products was affected by the
outbreak and Yealink also helped to
communicate and coordinate.
In addition to the foundries, suppli-
ers of plastic products and mold have
also benefited from the process.
“Some 60 percent of our produc-
tion capacity comes from Yealink,”
said Lin Yirong, director in charge of
the Zhangzhou Lianshenghong Plas-
tic Technology.
In the first quarter, Yealink’s stable
orders helped the company maintain
work and production. Their orders in
the domestic market have increased
significantly. “Next, we will continue
Workers resume work at the production line of Linda (China) Folk-
lift Truck in Xiamen. CHEN LIJIE / FOR CHINA DAILY
CHINA DAILY | 17
its customs clearance, and third com-
pared with the country’s coastal ports.
During the peak of China’s epidem-
ic prevention and control period, Xia-
men Customs opened a green
channel, adopting a “register before
declaration” rapid inspection process,
and a “zero delay” channel related to
customs clearance for all epidemic
prevention materials and equipment.
One beneficiary of Xiamen Cus-
toms’ speedy action was Tianma
Microelectronics, a high-tech enter-
prise producing displays that are used
in terminals in medical equipment,
smartphones and notebook comput-
ers.
The company is one of the world’s
largest exporters of displays used in
medical equipment, and at the time
was experienced a peak in global
demand.
With output of one of the compa-
ny’s major production bases in
Wuhan crippled due to the outbreak,
it fell to the Xiamen branch of the
company to pick up the slack and
offer assistance in terms of both
upstream and downstream produc-
tion.
While only 30 percent of produc-
tion had resumed at Tianma in
Wuhan, in Xiamen over 90 percent of
the workforce had returned with
more than 18,000 employees on duty.
Due to these efforts, and the speedy
efforts of Xiamen Customs, orders
from Tianma’s customers were ful-
filled.
to increase investment in the domes-
tic market based on their understand-
ing of overseas market trends,” Lin
said.
Providing sufficient raw materials
for downstream enterprises to pro-
duce is another effective method for
economic recovery during the pan-
demic prevention and control period.
As the virus spreads overseas, the
demand for masks is still increasing.
However, the shortage of melt blown
cloth, the main raw material for the
production of masks, has restricted
the production of masks.
To meet market demand, Xiamen
Yanjiang New Materials trans-
formed three melt blown cloth pro-
duction lines in February.
In March, three new production
lines were added, and the daily pro-
duction capacity was increased
from 6 metric tons to 12 tons. A total
of more than 200 tons of melt blown
cloth were supplied to more than 50
downstream mask manufacturers,
including most mask manufactur-
ers in Xiamen.
As the epidemic spreads overseas,
the demand for medical masks con-
tinues to increase. Yanjiang New
Materials recently announced it will
produce and sell medical melt
blown non-woven fabrics. The com-
pany has completed third-party
testing and internal commercial
production testing. So far, it has
received orders from about 55 mask
manufacturers.
Production capacity of Xiamen’s
Lets Group, an enterprise in archi-
tectural science and transformation
of scientific and technological
achievements, has recovered about
90 percent of its capacity the same
period last year, thanks to the recov-
ery of the infrastructure sector.
With increase in production capaci-
ty of the group, its upstream water-
reducing agent polyether
enterprises Jiahua Group and Fuji-
an Zhongshan Chemical have also
resumed work and production.
The company said it has provided
free concrete accelerators, early-
strength agents and technical servi-
ces for the construction of isolated
hospitals in the epidemic area.
16 | ADVERTORIAL

City’s policies put Taiwan
businesses back on track
By YUAN SHENGGAO
Companies from Taiwan operat-
ing in the southeastern coastal city
of Xiamen are facing both challen-
ges and opportunities in transform-
ing and upgrading their businesses
in order to maintain sustainable
growth amid the impact of the COV-
ID-19 pandemic.
Xiamen has long promoted posi-
tive exchanges and cooperation
between its businesses and those
from neighboring Taiwan, and in
the wake of the challenges faced by
the COVID-19 pandemic, it
intends to maintain strong rela-
tions and assist Taiwan-based
enterprises in continued success.
Mark Agronomy, a Taiwan-
based enterprise engaged in horti-
cultural landscape engineering, is
one such company transforming
its business model in the process of
getting back to work.
“At present, production has been
fully restored, and our services for
customers are gradually recover-
ing,” said Chen Daiming, manag-
ing director of Mark Agronomics.
Chen said the company returned
to work in February, making spe-
cial arrangements for the Spring
Festival holiday as well as the out-
break of the novel coronavirus.
“Over the years we have orga-
nized many tree planting activities
in Xiamen, however this year we
faced unprecedented challenges,”
said Chen.
“We cooperated with communi-
ties and donated saplings to resi-
dents as a continuation of the
activity,” he said. “We also disin-
fected parks so that a small num-
ber of activities could be open to
the public.”
Chen said the good control of the
epidemic in Fujian has made him
more confident in the future devel-
opment of his company, as well as
new business opportunities.
“In the wake of the virus out-
break, consumers have a renewed
interest in health, we will aim to
expand in this field,” Chen said.
“In the future, we may develop
healthcare products and combine
our related experience in biotech-
nology to introduce medicinal
herbs.”
Fujushanqiu Trading is a Tai-
wan-based enterprise producing
incense in Xiamen that has wit-
nessed a surge in online sales.
Jin Yufeng, founder of the com-
pany, said it has opened online
platforms on Tmall and JD.
“Since we resumed work, online
sales have continued to increase
compared with last year,” Jin said.
“The local government has pro-
posed preferential measures such
as rent reduction and deferred
payment of social security, and we
are applying for these. This has
also reduced some pressure on
our cost expenditure.”
Tai Zu Food, producing local
snacks from Taiwan, was severely
affected by the epidemic due to a
drop in sales.
Roring Industries, a Taiwan enterprise in Xiamen, starts production
in February.
Workers from a local steel company in Xiamen check facilities at a
construction site.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
At present,
production has been
fully restored, and our
services for
customers are
gradually recovering.
We cooperated with
communities and
donated saplings to
residents as a
continuation of the
activity.”
Chen Daiming, managing
director of Mark Agronomics
The company is cooperating
with major online e-commerce
platforms to open up new sales
channels.
“Spring Festival is usually our
peak season for sales, but due to
the impact of the epidemic we
didn’t sell many products,” said
Cai Jinde, general manager of the
company.
Cai said they are now expand-
ing sales through new online and
offline channels. For example, the
company publishes a series of
product promotions on platforms
such as WeChat.
“We are a food company, so we
attach great importance to safety
and hygiene. We pay close atten-
tion to the health of employees on
duty, ensure the safety of food
sources, and provide customers
with peace of mind,” Cai said.
Xiamen has implemented a
series of measures to help enter-
prises from Taiwan recover from
the impact of the pandemic.
From Feb 12 to 15, Xiamen offi-
cials visited 120 enterprises from
Taiwan to conduct research on
the resumption of work and pro-
duction.
The local government has pro-
vided assistance to each Taiwan
enterprise with bespoke policies
and tailored services through
on-site visits and online promo-
tion.
It has guided key companies
from Taiwan including TPV, AU
Optronics, Lianxin IC and Yujing
Optoelectronics.
To alleviate operating pressure
on youth entrepreneurship bases,
Xiamen revised its youth entre-
preneurship awards and subsi-
dies to expand the benefits to
Taiwan youth. Jimei district in
the city has introduced four meas-
ures to support the employment
and entrepreneurship of youth
from Taiwan, providing them
with rent and transportation sub-
sidies for returning to Xiamen.
Other districts have also issued
supporting policies to reduce
rent, water and electricity costs
for those from Taiwan.
XIAMEN CONTINUES ON STRONG
PATH, DESPITE VIRUS
From left: The Xiamen cross-border e-commerece industrial park is home to a number of high-tech enterprises. The picturesque coasta
By YUAN SHENGGAO
Xiamen in Fujian province has maintained a
fast-paced recovery of its economic and social
development thanks to the city’s key measures
to prevent and control the COVID-19 epidemic
over the past months.
From January to June, Xiamen achieved a
total GDP of some 294.82 billion yuan ($42.49
billion).
The city also realized a positive change from
negative to a year-on-year increase of 0.6 per-
cent.
The resumption rate of projects under con-
struction and industrial enterprises in Xiamen
has reached 100 percent, and 57,000 new tax
registrants have been registered, 1.4 times that
of the same period last year.
To deal with the epidemic while boosting eco-
nomic growth, local governments in Xiamen have
launched a series of 200 measures to help enter-
Train helped keep transportation of supplies movving during pandemic
By YUAN SHENGGAO
The China-Europe freight train in Xiamen,
Fujian province, has become a vital logistics
channel for ensuring Sino-European trade
exchange and cooperation in the transportation
of epidemic prevention materials.
On April 18, the train, with 50 containers full of
shoes and clothing, electronic products, and anti-
epidemic supplies, departed from the Haicang
Free Trade Park to Hamburg, Germany.
“Thanks to the continuous and stable opera-
tion of the China-Europe train, the goods delayed
due to the epidemic arrived in Europe on time,”
said Wang Weidi, manager of the logistics depart-
ment of TPV Display Technology (Xiamen).
“They timely met the production needs of over-
seas factories and effectively guaranteed the com-
pany’s production and sales in Europe,”
Wang said that in the first quarter of this year,
the company exported 483 electronic contain-
ers in Europe, valued at about $58.6 million,
up 19.6 percent and 45.1 percent year-on-
year.
Zhong Lei, head of the business depart-
ment of Xiamen International Train, said
that since March, the frequency of the China-Eu-
V OUTBREAK
Coastal city in Fujian province has see
prises in financing some 200 billion yuan and
reducing the financial burden of 20 billion yuan
for enterprises in need. The measures strongly
support the sustainable development of market
entities.
The market supervision bureau of Tong’an dis-
trict in Xiamen launched an internet plus govern-
ment service platform during the pandemic so
that the enterprises can do business without
delay at home.
“On one hand, we will improve efficiency for
enterprises to open up offices online,” a staffer at
the bureau said. “On the other hand, we will make
better use of the internet to deal with administra-
tive approvals.”
The bureau has also added six hotlines during
special periods to answer questions from the
public. It opened up a special channel for the reg-
istration of enterprises in production of anti-epi-
demic materials and major investment projects.
To improve the efficiency of licensing approv-
rope freight train in Xiamen has increased from
four trains per week to seven.
“We not only solved the urgent export prob-
lems of enterprises, but also helped them regain
the production cycle that was delayed due to
slowdowns in work and production,” Zhong said.
According to data from China Railway Nan-
chang Bureau Group, in the first quarter of the
year, a total of 67 China-Europe trains were oper-
ated at the Haicang station, carrying 6,106 TEUs,
and the value of goods was about $234 million.
Compared with the same period in 2019, the
number of ranks increased by 148 percent, and
the shipment volume increased by 160 percent.
The China-Europe freight train in Xiamen is
the epitome of China’s China-Europe train.
According to data from China National Railway
Group, the China-Europe railways opened 1,941
trains in the first quarter of this year, sending
174,000 TEUs. That accounted for increases of 15
and 18 percent year-on-year respectively.
Ding Changfa, an associate professor at Xia-
men University’s School of Economics, said
although China-Europe freight trains pass
through many countries, its segmented transpor-
tation and a series of “contactless services” imple-
mented in various regions make it relatively less
en quick economic and social recovery
al view of Xiamen, Fujian province. Containers await shipping from a port in Xiamen.
294.82 tors, hoisting machinery, large amusement
facilities, special motor vehicles in the field and
billion yuan their related management personnel.
GDP of Xiamen in the first half of the year
To solve the urgent need for the commission of
enterprises while supporting the smooth return
of operators, Xiamen’s special equipment inspec-
als, the bureau of Tong’an has also provided inno- tion and testing institute has improved the
vative services such as the one window for one equipment operator examination system, opti-
window. mized the work process and standardized infor-
The time for the acceptance and approval of the mation management.
enterprises’ establishment has been reduced to The institute has deepened the pre-examina-
3.5 hours. tion service by adjusting the frequency of evi-
A total of 3,115 commercial entities received dence collection, dispatching examiners in time,
business licenses through the online office in the and increasing the number of supervisory exami-
first half of the year. nation venues to deepen the pre-examination
The resumption of work and production in services. The Xiamen government has also insist-
various industries in Xiamen, has also made ed on improving people’s livelihood and welfare.
demand for licensed special equipment opera- The urban registered unemployment rate has
tors increase. been controlled within the annual expected
Special equipment operators refer to the oper- range for the first half of the year. More than
ators of boilers, pressure vessels, pipelines, eleva- 100,000 enterprises were granted stable job sub-
A cargo train bound for Moscow in Russia, lea
aves Xiamen, Fujian province,
PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
sidies and some 490 million yuan were returned
to stable jobs.
The number of registered enterprises and the
number of employees in the city increased by
36.3 percent and 11.7 percent.
Xiamen also provided important daily necessi-
ties to the market and took multiple measures to
ensure sufficient supply, stable prices and solid
reserves.
The consumer price index dropped by 1.1 per-
cent from the first quarter, as policies for vegeta-
ble parity and government subsidies for the sale
of pork were implemented.
Despite the adverse conditions of the pandem-
ic, Xiamen has achieved remarkable investment.
In the first half of the year, the cumulative actual
use of foreign capital increased by 41.6 percent,
ranking first in the province in terms of growth
and scale.
Foreign trade increased by 3.9 percent, with
the growth rate ranking first among the cities
separately listed in the plan, and the monthly
growth rate was better than that of the entire
country.
In the first half of the year, the city’s agricul-
ture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery
increased by 2.1 percent over the same period of
the previous year, the main products maintained
growth, and the agricultural output value
increased by 4.9 percent.
In the next three years, 252 projects with a total
investment of more than 100 million yuan will be
sorted out, with a planned total investment of
729 billion yuan, and the first batch of 30 major
projects with a total investment of 226.9 billion
yuan will be planned.
Environmental protection is also progressing
steadily. Xiamen’s air quality ranks sixth among
the 168 key cities in the country. The city’s drink-
ing water source water quality compliance rate
and other indicators have achieved 100 percent,
reaching the best level in the past.
affected by the epidemic and ensure smooth
transportation.
“The spread of the epidemic, the fluctuation of
air freight prices and the sharp reduction of pas-
senger routes are the main reasons for the
increase in the volume of China-Europe freight
trains,” Ding added.
Ding believes that China-Europe freight trains
will still have great use in the future.
“On the one hand, as the epidemic in Europe is
gradually brought under control and economic
and social order is gradually restored, demand for
Chinese products will increase, including con-
sumer products and industrial parts. On the oth-
er hand, domestic enterprises will accelerate the
resumption of work and production,” he said.
“With the pull of foreign demand and the pro-
motion of domestic supply, the development of
the China-Europe Express is worth looking for-
ward to.”
Under the predicament of blocked global
logistics channels, the China-Europe freight
trains are equipped with scarce epidemic pre-
vention materials including masks, protective
clothing, ventilators and testing reagents to pro-
vide strong guarantees for European countries
to effectively respond to the epidemic.
Notice released to
ease requirements on
government purchases
By YUAN SHENGGAO
Xiamen’s finance bureau released
a notice clarifying how the govern-
ment is optimizing its purchasing
and procurement policies, especial-
ly for small and medium-sized busi-
nesses from June this year. The
notice aims at promoting fair com-
petition, and improving transparen-
cy and efficiency in the government
procurement process.
The bureau said in order to pro-
mote greater transparency and fair
competition, standardized govern-
ment procurement requirements
have been put in place, as well as tech-
nical requirements, prohibitive claus-
es and review methods.
Special attention has been paid to
small and medium-sized enterprises
to enable them to bid side-by-side
with larger companies for govern-
ment procurement projects with less
restrictive financial pressure. These
include exemption from some depos-
its and non-cash means of guarantee.
In addition to reducing business
burden related to government pur-
chases, Xiamen Customs has been
playing its part in ensuring that trade
remains smooth and efficient amid
the challenges posed by the COVID-19
pandemic.
Customs officials have been work-
ing hard to ensure that clearance for
goods coming in and going out of the
city remain on track. Xiamen ranks
10th in China in terms of the speed of
Private enterprises
do their part to fight
against COVID-19
By YUAN SHENGGAO
Private enterprises in Xiamen, Fuji-
an province, are promoting coordi-
nated resumption of work and
production in the upstream and
downstream of industrial chains to
power through the COVID-19 epi-
demic.
One example is the Xiamen-head-
quartered Yealink, a global brand that
specializes in video conferencing,
voice communications and collabora-
tion solutions. The city has helped
Yealink’s foundries to resume work
and production.
Demand in the remote office mar-
ket has exploded during the outbreak,
which not only promotes a large
increase in the number of customers
for Yealink’s soft-end video conferenc-
ing system, but also drives product
sales. In the past quarter, Yealink’s
orders rose steadily. While restoring
its own production capacity, Yealink
assisted its supporting companies to
resume work and production.
Chen Guilong, the relevant person
in charge of the foundry Hualian Elec-
tronics, a subsidiary of Yealink, said:
“Thanks to the order from Yealink,
our production capacity was fairly
stable in the first quarter.”
Chen said that at the initial stage of
the resumption of work, their capaci-
ty recovery was affected due to insuffi-
cient operating rates. Yealink
reported the labor shortage problem
to the local government in time and
officials helped coordinate and solve
it.
Chen said that the delivery date of
some products was affected by the
outbreak and Yealink also helped to
communicate and coordinate.
In addition to the foundries, suppli-
ers of plastic products and mold have
also benefited from the process.
“Some 60 percent of our produc-
tion capacity comes from Yealink,”
said Lin Yirong, director in charge of
the Zhangzhou Lianshenghong Plas-
tic Technology.
In the first quarter, Yealink’s stable
orders helped the company maintain
work and production. Their orders in
the domestic market have increased
significantly. “Next, we will continue
Workers resume work at the production line of Linda (China) Folk-
lift Truck in Xiamen. CHEN LIJIE / FOR CHINA DAILY
CHINA DAILY | 17
its customs clearance, and third com-
pared with the country’s coastal ports.
During the peak of China’s epidem-
ic prevention and control period, Xia-
men Customs opened a green
channel, adopting a “register before
declaration” rapid inspection process,
and a “zero delay” channel related to
customs clearance for all epidemic
prevention materials and equipment.
One beneficiary of Xiamen Cus-
toms’ speedy action was Tianma
Microelectronics, a high-tech enter-
prise producing displays that are used
in terminals in medical equipment,
smartphones and notebook comput-
ers.
The company is one of the world’s
largest exporters of displays used in
medical equipment, and at the time
was experienced a peak in global
demand.
With output of one of the compa-
ny’s major production bases in
Wuhan crippled due to the outbreak,
it fell to the Xiamen branch of the
company to pick up the slack and
offer assistance in terms of both
upstream and downstream produc-
tion.
While only 30 percent of produc-
tion had resumed at Tianma in
Wuhan, in Xiamen over 90 percent of
the workforce had returned with
more than 18,000 employees on duty.
Due to these efforts, and the speedy
efforts of Xiamen Customs, orders
from Tianma’s customers were ful-
filled.
to increase investment in the domes-
tic market based on their understand-
ing of overseas market trends,” Lin
said.
Providing sufficient raw materials
for downstream enterprises to pro-
duce is another effective method for
economic recovery during the pan-
demic prevention and control period.
As the virus spreads overseas, the
demand for masks is still increasing.
However, the shortage of melt blown
cloth, the main raw material for the
production of masks, has restricted
the production of masks.
To meet market demand, Xiamen
Yanjiang New Materials trans-
formed three melt blown cloth pro-
duction lines in February.
In March, three new production
lines were added, and the daily pro-
duction capacity was increased
from 6 metric tons to 12 tons. A total
of more than 200 tons of melt blown
cloth were supplied to more than 50
downstream mask manufacturers,
including most mask manufactur-
ers in Xiamen.
As the epidemic spreads overseas,
the demand for medical masks con-
tinues to increase. Yanjiang New
Materials recently announced it will
produce and sell medical melt
blown non-woven fabrics. The com-
pany has completed third-party
testing and internal commercial
production testing. So far, it has
received orders from about 55 mask
manufacturers.
Production capacity of Xiamen’s
Lets Group, an enterprise in archi-
tectural science and transformation
of scientific and technological
achievements, has recovered about
90 percent of its capacity the same
period last year, thanks to the recov-
ery of the infrastructure sector.
With increase in production capaci-
ty of the group, its upstream water-
reducing agent polyether
enterprises Jiahua Group and Fuji-
an Zhongshan Chemical have also
resumed work and production.
The company said it has provided
free concrete accelerators, early-
strength agents and technical servi-
ces for the construction of isolated
hospitals in the epidemic area.
18 | Tuesday, August 25, 2020
LIFE
Farmers are harvesting livestreams to cultivate prosperity
It’s another day at the “office” for
Sister Passion Fruit, as she sits
behind a desk in front of a camera
in the middle of an orchard in
rural Jiangxi province.
The woman from
Xunwu in Jiangxi’s
Ganzhou is operat-
ing at the intersec-
tion of some of the
most ancient and
emergent human
Erik innovations — agri-
Nilsson culture, the precur-
Second sor for civilization
Thoughts that allowed
humans to settle
rather than hunt and gather, and
information technology, one of our
species’ most recent inventions.
And this crossroads is trans-
forming the lives of farmers, espe-
cially during the COVID-19
Candid camera: Height of expertise
A technician with the State Grid Corp of China examines cables on the 500-kilovolt power line stretching
50 kilometers between Zhoushan, an island city, and Ningbo in Zhejiang province on Aug 16. The project
triples the previous transmission capacity. More than 33 km of the line is overground and it is supported
by 59 pylons, with the highest at 380 meters, a world record. YAO FENG / FOR CHINA DAILY
TCM veteran still healing during pandemic
By ZHAO XINYING in Xi’an
zhaoxinying@chinadaily.com.cn
Although in his 70s, Liu Huawei, a
well-known practitioner of tradi-
tional Chinese medicine in North-
west China’s Shaanxi province, still
contributes to the prevention and
control of COVID-19 in his own way.
Liu has retired from the position
of president of Shaanxi Traditional
Chinese Medicine Hospital.
On Jan 21, two days before the first
three cases of COVID-19 in the prov-
ince were detected, Liu and four of
his students stayed up until mid-
night to discuss the cause and the
treatment of the illness from the per-
spective of TCM.
The discussion was conducted
under the request of the Health Com-
mission of Shaanxi Province, in the
hope of making some contributions
to the battle against the outbreak in
Wuhan, capital of the hardest-hit
Hubei province on the Chinese
mainland, and meanwhile protect
people in Shaanxi from the disease.
The discussion was efficient. By
analyzing the symptoms and pulses
of the patients in Wuhan, as well as
examining their tongues, which
were recorded in photos and shared
by some TCM doctors in Wuhan, Liu
and his students concluded that peo-
ple caught the pneumonia-like dis-
ease because of coldness and
moisture in nature. These are
believed to be harmful to people’s
health in TCM theory, and attack
people who are unable to defeat
them as their bodies are too weak.
“As Wuhan is located in an area
where a number of rivers and lakes
converge and intertwine, and rain-
fall has been frequent since the
beginning of the year, leading to a
large amount of cold and moisture
pandemic, when more people
began to eat at home.
Throughout history, around the
world, the people who produce
food have been the most likely to
go hungry or, at least, live in pover-
ty. As such, much of China’s efforts
to eradicate extreme poverty have
focused on rural revitalization.
But livestreaming enables farm-
ers around the country to not only
reach but also actively engage with
a larger audience of potential cus-
tomers.
Sister Passion Fruit says she sells
so much fruit during livestreams
that she often has to ask buyers to
wait a day or so for more to ripen.
Her streams and local govern-
ment programs that support pas-
sion fruit farmers — for instance,
by providing free seedlings — have
lifted over 2,400 households in
Liu Huawei, a renowned traditional Chinese medicine expert in
Shaanxi province, checks the condition of a child with cerebral
palsy. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
in the environment,” Liu says, add-
ing that the treatment of the COVID-
19 in Wuhan should focus on
eradicating the two harmful ele-
ments that enter people’s body.
In the meantime, Liu found with
relatively high temperature and lit-
tle rainfall in the winter of 2019 and
the spring of 2020, the climate in
Shaanxi was different from that in
Wuhan: apart from cold and mois-
ture, there was also some heat and
dryness. This might also harm peo-
ple’s health. Excessive heat or dry-
ness in the body causes harm,
especially when people don’t have
enough qi, or overall energy, in their
body or if their qi is not in a good
state.
Accordingly, he figured out several
TCM prescriptions, consisting of a
series of herbal medicines such as
huoxiang (agastache rugosus), suye
around 30 villages in Xunwu out of
extreme poverty over the past cou-
ple of years. And it helped an addi-
tional 8,000 families living above
but often close to the poverty line
of about 3,000 yuan ($434) a year
increase their incomes, too.
I joined another passion fruit
farmer in a nearby village for a
livestream from his orchard.
He says his income has surged
from several hundred yuan to up
to 20,000 a month since he began
engaging in e-commerce and lives-
treaming.
I later visited a 5G-livestreaming
center the village government
opened in 2017 that provides train-
ing, logistical support and studios
for about 380 livestreaming farm-
ers.
Slogans printed on the com-
pound’s gate read: “Let smart-
(folium perillae), jiegeng (platyco-
don grandiflorum) and bohe (mint).
The mixture of them is supposed to
be conducive to reduce moisture and
confine heat and dryness in the body
to a proper amount.
His conclusions and prescriptions
were adopted by the Shaanxi provin-
cial guidebook on using TCM to pre-
vent and control the COVID-19, says
Ma Zhanping, leader of the Shaanxi
TCM expert team on the treatment
of COVID-19, also a student of Liu.
“What’s more, my teacher’s judg-
ment about the disease and the pre-
scriptions he gave were quite similar
to what was described in the third
and fourth pilot edition of the
national guidebook on the diagnosis
and treatment of COVID-19, which
were released on Jan 23 and Jan 27
respectively,” says Ma, who is also the
director of department of pulmo-
phones become the new farm
tools”, “Let livestreams become the
new farm work”, and “The internet
reaches everywhere under heav-
en”.
Indeed, apps and internet con-
nections are becoming just as
important to food producers as
ploughs and shovels.
But it’s not just farmers who are
benefitting from their livestreams.
Young, educated people are
returning to their hometowns to
start businesses enabled by the
trend.
One man I spoke with came
back to his village in Xunwu after
earning a university degree in
Guangdong province to found an
enterprise selling passion fruit
online. His company shipped over
3,000 tons last year, he says.
Some livestreaming farmers,
Online
Scan the QR code for
subscription or to get a
copy of today’s paper.
nary disease at Shaanxi Traditional
Chinese Medicine Hospital.
“It’s not an easy achievement as
there weren’t first-hand cases in
Shaanxi when my teacher did all
these,” he adds.
Liu paid attention to the collection
of first-hand materials in the front
line and kept a close look on the
development of the disease. While
one of his students, Qu Xiaoyuan, a
doctor from Shaanxi Traditional
Chinese Medicine Hospital, was
working voluntarily in Wuhan in
February and March, Liu asked Qu
to accumulate materials and test
whether his understanding about
the pneumonia was correct.
“When I was working in Wuhan, I
felt that my teacher’s understanding
about the COVID-19 is in-depth and
correct although he was 800 kilome-
ters away. This comes from the rich
experiences of an outstanding TCM
doctor,” Qu says.
“I made several telephone calls to
my teacher to talk about some of my
observations and confusions in
Wuhan, and my teacher’s remarks
were always helpful and inspiring to
my work there,” he adds.
Now the autumn — one of the sea-
sons that people are vulnerable to
respiratory infectious diseases — is
approaching. Apart from some basic
habits to help people stay away from
the virus, such as washing hands
often and doing sports regularly, Liu
recommends people to take some
actions from the perspective of TCM.
“As lungs dislike coldness, we
should stay warm, keep ourselves
away from cold, wet places and take
sunbath often. Also, we should eat
more food of white color, such as tre-
mella, pears and Chinese yam,
which are good to the lungs,” Liu
says.
such as two brothers known as
Huanong Xiongdi, or “Chinese
farmer brothers”, have become
national celebrities.
The siblings became famous for
raising bamboo rats in Ganzhou
before trade in these rodents
became illegal following the COV-
ID-19 outbreak. They have nearly
5.9 million followers on the video-
sharing platform Bilibili alone.
Although they no longer sell
bamboo rats, they still draw fans
with streams showing rural lifes-
tyles, local scenery and specialty
foods. They fish and barbecue
ducks by the riverside in their lat-
est clips.
Indeed, what’s happening in
Ganzhou is a microcosm of what’s
happening throughout China’s
countryside.
Farmers aren’t only raising
Oasis is a breath of
fresh air in city center
BEIJING — On a sweltering Bei-
jing evening, groups of people
young and old streamed into a
street garden at the heart of the
city through its inconspicuous
entryways.
Stepping in one of the door-
wide gates, a separate world emer-
ges away from the city’s hustle and
bustle. Layers of green foliage
flourish along the meandering
pathway, and little clearings with
special designs appear from time
to time when the moon sheds light
on the benches.
Located within a golden district
not far away from the populous
city’s financial business center, the
garden named Guangyanggu was
built as the biggest urban forest in
the center of Beijing amid the
city’s bid to expand the coverage of
green for a better environment.
Gone are piles of trash and old
shabby buildings, as the city forest
emerged on land which people liv-
ing nearby used to try to get away
from. A tank of oxygen and a bay of
quietness, the 4.4-hectare garden
also offers a space for activities
such as enjoying nature, exercis-
ing and spending leisure time
with loved ones.
In one of the little clearings, a
middle-aged woman smiled
watching her 3-year-old son play
with pebbles. “I take my son here
every day,” says Liang Lihong, add-
ing that many parents would take
their children to the garden so
they can play with each other.
“The living environment is get-
ting better and the city is greener.
This is happiness, isn’t it?” Liang
says smiling under the yellow
light.
With sweat soaking her back,
Yang Yuqing, a senior high school
student, was jogging among the
crowd of people walking on the
soft pathway. Glad to find a place
close to home for fitness, she says,
“The air is very fresh here. You can
tell the difference immediately
when you get in here from the
main street.”
What residents are less familiar
with was the math behind the
green transformation as the land
could have been used for commer-
cial purposes, raking in over 10 bil-
lion yuan ($1.45 billion), says Lu
Yingchuan, an official of Xicheng
district.
Lu and his colleagues also made
calculations on urban function
reduction, environmental protec-
tion, historical and cultural heri-
tage and people’s happiness. “If we
build a ‘concrete forest’ on the
land, the city scene will be greatly
degraded,” Lu says. “We are deter-
Residents take their children to play in Guangyanggu, Xicheng
district, the biggest urban forest in the center of Beijing.
JU HUANZONG / XINHUA
CHINA DAILY
crops but also cultivating new
markets through emerging tech-
nologies, transforming not only
their images as poor and over-
worked but also their lives.
That is, as the bits and bytes
they stream translate into bits and
bites enjoyed by the customers
who buy the produce they market
online.
I bought some passion fruit I
saw on a Taobao livestream before
I returned to Beijing. And, after
they’re gone, I’ll likely watch
another stream and order more.
Contact the writer at
erik_nilsson@chinadaily.com.cn
Online
Scan the code
to hear an audio
version.
mined to build the city forest to
optimize the ecology and offer
people more room for leisure and
fitness.”
“There are too many concrete
buildings in the city. It’s nice to
have green and natural places like
this,” says Li Wei, a 35-year-old
technician who used to work long
hours.
Li and his friends used to drive
hundreds of kilometers to the
countryside just to enjoy short-
stays close to nature. Li recalls that
he once shared photos of the park
with his friends and invited them
to guess where he was. “I was right
within the second ring road; it’s so
impressive,” Li speaks with pride.
“With more gardens, people are
in better moods. Earning money
cannot end up, but health is more
important,” Li says, believing
there will be more green spaces in
cities and it is only a matter of time
as life is getting better.
In fact, the city forest is just one
example of Beijing’s campaign to
create more oases closer to peo-
ple’s homes. The city has built
more than 500 small street gar-
dens and green spaces, and plans
to build another 41 leisure parks
this year.
Beijing is not alone in striving to
increase urban afforestation.
Small street gardens have sprung
up nationwide on old dusty waste-
lands, spaces spared from the
demolition of rambling or illegal
buildings as the government and
people work together.
In Wuhan, citizens can make
suggestions on where to build
street gardens. More than 100 peo-
ple in Yangzhou of eastern Jiangsu
province have volunteered to help
maintain the ecology of 17 street
gardens by watering and tending
plants, spraying pesticides and
killing weeds regularly.
Unlike 30 years ago when peo-
ple were eager to migrate to cities,
Chinese citizens today are more
drawn to the bucolic life in the
countryside in addition to enjoy-
ing green breaks in metropolises.
A total of 26.57 million netizens
are attracted by a string of videos
released by food blogger Li Ziqi on
Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like
platform.
Li Ziqi, often dressed in graceful
traditional garments, rises at sun-
rise and rests at sunset, planting
seeds and harvesting flowers,
cooking Chinese dishes and mak-
ing bamboo furniture. “This is the
life I yearn for,” says a top com-
ment on Li’s Weibo post.
XINHUA
 CHINA DAILY
SPORTS
SOCCER
Bayern reigns in strangest of times
German giant’s subdued celebrations
bring curtain down on surreal season
LISBON, Portugal — Breaking the
silence with a beating drum, his
Bayern Munich jersey replaced by a
“Champions of Europe” T-shirt,
Joshua Kimmich wanted to savor
the scene of glory.
Two hours after setting up the
goal that secured Bayern’s sixth
European Cup and the club’s second
treble, Kimmich emerged from the
tunnel to walk back onto the empty
confetti-covered pitch where his
team had beaten Paris Saint-Ger-
main 1-0 on Sunday night.
Soon he was joined, sitting in the
center circle, by David Alaba, the
winner’s medal around his bare
chest, and Serge Gnabry in a Bayern
hat, swigging from a bottle.
Before long the lights went out on
the Stadium of Light. In the near-
darkness, the players remained in
celebration and contemplation.
“When you win a title like this
with brothers on the pitch, that’s the
maximum you can ask for,” Kim-
mich said.
On a continent where more than
200,000 have died from the corona-
virus, the longest and most disrupt-
ed of peacetime men’s European
soccer seasons ended in emptiness
and near silence.
Just as it was for so much of a first
Champions League final played
without fans.
Only a few hundred people were
allowed into Benfica’s stadium,
because of pandemic restrictions, to
see PSG academy graduate Kingsley
Coman head in the winner from
Kimmich’s cross in the 59th minute.
While Bayern won its first conti-
nental final since 2013, PSG has yet
to lift the European Cup despite
more than $1 billion being spent on
players in the nine years under Qat-
ari ownership.
More than $500 million was
spent on Neymar, Kylian Mbappe
and Angel Di Maria, but PSG looked
Digest
TRACK AND FIELD
Xie dominates sprint
events in season debut
After
months of sus-
pended com-
petition due to
the coronavi-
rus outbreak,
Xie Zhenye
came flying Xie Zhenye
out of the
blocks in
Shanghai on Sunday.
In an event organized by the Chi-
nese Athletics Association, the
27-year-old Xie, considered the
strongest sprinter in the field, led
from start to finish to clock 10.13 sec-
onds in the 100 meters. Huang Zhiji-
an finished second in 10.36, with
Jiang Hengnan third in 10.63.
Xie also eased to victory in the
200m, comfortably crossing the fin-
ish line first in 20.80 ahead of Tang
Jiale (21.59) and Wang Long (21.87).
Despite his dominance, Xie was
not entirely satisfied with his per-
formances. “I was not in my best
condition, couldn’t find my best
tempo, but I will manage to find it in
coming events. See you at the
Scoreboard
BASEBALL
Results of the MLB games on Sunday (home
team in CAPS):
BALTIMORE 5 Boston 4
TAMPA BAY 5 Toronto 4
Detroit 7 CLEVELAND 4
CHICAGO CUBS 2 Chicago White Sox 1
Minnesota 5 KANSAS CITY 4
SEATTLE 4 Texas 1
SAN DIEGO 5 Houston 3
OAKLAND 5 LA Angels 4 (10 innings)
WASHINGTON 9 Miami 3
PITTSBURGH 5, Milwaukee 4
ST. LOUIS 6 Cincinnati 2
SAN FRANCISCO 6 Arizona 1
LA DODGERS 11 Colorado 3
Philadelphia 5 ATLANTA 4
NY Yankees at NY Mets, ppd.
BASKETBALL
Results of the NBA first-round playoffs in Orlan-
do on Sunday (Best-of-7 series):
Boston 110 Philadelphia 106
(Boston wins best-of-seven series 4-0)
Dallas 135 LA Clippers 133 (OT)
(Best-of-seven series is level at 2-2)
Toronto 150 Brooklyn 122
(Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4-0)
Utah 129 Denver 127
(Utah lead best-of-seven series 3-1)
GOLF
USPGA Northern Trust
far from formidable or threatening
against the Bavarian club that was
more assured than the first-time
European Cup finalist.
As the front three were frustrated
in front of goal, it was instead a left
winger who plays in Neymar’s posi-
tion, was born in Paris and started his
career at PSG, who inflicted the blow.
It was Gnabry attacking down the
right that unpicked the PSG defense
before passing to Thomas Mueller.
The forward deftly clipped the ball
back to Kimmich, who spotted
Coman running unchecked into the
penalty area.
The Frenchman netted a 43rd
goal of a perfect European cam-
paign that has seen Bayern become
the first team to win all 11 Champi-
ons League matches.
“I feel a lot of joy, but also sadness
for PSG,” said Coman, who left his
boyhood club in 2014 — first for
Juventus — after feeling underval-
ued. “It hurts my heart a bit.”
The win capped an incredible
transformation this season under
Hansi Flick, who emerged from the
shadows in November, with a pro-
motion to the top coaching job with
Bayern fourth in the Bundesliga.
“I remember in November the
papers wrote that no one fears this
Bayern team anymore, that no one
respects it and how bad they are,”
Flick said. “I think the growth they
underwent is sensational.”
The European Cup will join the
Bundesliga trophy — won for an
eighth successive season — and the
German Cup at Bayern.
“We all know where we’ve come
from this season,” Mueller said.
“There are no secrets, we just kept
moving forward. Obviously we have
a lot of quality in the team, but we
also have the spirit. The boys are
prepared to suffer.”
The season is now over — three
months later than planned — with
national championships in Septem-
ber,” he said.
Xie has personal bests of 9.97 in
the 100, set in 2018, and an Asian-
record 19.88 in the 200, from 2019.
GOLF
DJ decimates field to
reclaim top ranking
Dustin Johnson regained the
world No 1 spot in emphatic style on
Sunday, firing a final-round 63 to
win The Northern Trust by 11 shots.
Johnson finished with a 30-un-
der-par total of 254 at TPC Boston,
with Harris English a distant second
on 265 after a closing 69.
Johnson’s 22-under third-round
total had given him the largest
54-hole lead — five strokes — on the
PGA Tour this season and he was
quick to build on it on Sunday.
His margin of victory was the
largest on the tour since 2006. “It is
a big margin, and I’m definitely real-
ly proud of that,” said Johnson, who
replaces Jon Rahm as world No 1. “I
was trying to get to 30-under. I’ve
never shot 30-under in four rounds.
Just something that I wanted to do.”
Tiger Woods opened with four
straight birdies and to finish with a
Leading final-round scores on Sunday in the US
PGA Northern Trust at TPC Boston (par 71, USA
unless noted):
254 - Dustin Johnson 67-60-64-63
265 - Harris English 64-66-66-69
266 - Daniel Berger 66-66-67-67
267 - Kevin Kisner 65-66-70-66, Scottie Scheffler
70-59-67-71
268 - Jon Rahm (ESP) 69-67-67-65, Webb Simpson
70-64-68-66
269 - Ryan Palmer 67-67-68-67, Russell Henley
64-67-70-68, Alex Noren (SWE) 69-68-64-68
270 - Brian Harman 67-66-73-64, Harry Higgs
67-66-66-71
271 - Robby Shelton 66-71-71-63, Jason Kokrak
68-68-70-65, Mackenzie Hughes (CAN) 68-68-66-
69, Charley Hoffman 65-68-68-70, Louis Oosthuiz-
en (RSA) 65-65-68-73
EPGA Wales Open
Leading scores after the final round of the EPGA
Wales Open on Sunday at the Celtic Manor
Resort (par 71, GBR & IRL unless stated):
276 - Romain Langasque (FRA) 71 68 72 65
278 - Sami Valimaki (FIN) 70 72 67 69
279 - Matthew Jordan 69 72 72 66, David Dixon 70
70 71 68
280 - Laurie Canter 71 69 72 68, Sebastian Soder-
berg (SWE) 68 70 68 74, James Morrison 73 72 66 69
281 - Jason Scrivener (AUS) 70 74 69 68, Li Hao-
tong (CHN) 72 66 76 67, Connor Syme 66 70 70 75,
Jorge Campillo (ESP) 75 68 69 69, Callum Shinkwin
68 75 71 67, Calum Hill 73 71 68 69, Gavin Green
(MAS) 73 71 68 69
282 - Marcus Kinhult (SWE) 69 71 72 70, Liam
Bayern Munich’s Philippe Coutinho (left) and Thomas Mueller lift the Champions League trophy after
beating Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in Sunday’s final at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, Portugal. REUTERS
Bayern a treble winner just as it was
in 2013.
Bayern joins deposed champion
Liverpool as six-time champion of
Europe, only behind AC Milan (sev-
en) and Real Madrid (13). It was the
first final to end 1-0 since Madrid beat
Juventus in 1998 which was also the
last final to feature teams who quali-
fied as domestic champions.
“I don’t know when that party will
end,” Flick said.
A night when PSG fans hoped to
party on the Champs-Elysees ended
with dozens clashing with French
riot police. Back in Lisbon, when the
final whistle blew, Neymar was in
6-under total. He fell to No 57 in the
FedEx Cup standings, in danger of
missing the Tour Championship for
the second straight year.
BASKETBALL
Doncic drains dramatic
winner to level series
Luka Doncic stepped back for a
winning 3-pointer — on a tender
ankle, no less.
Another
installment in
the ever-grow-
ing legend of
Doncic.
Doncic’s
deep shot at
the buzzer Luka Doncic
capped a tri-
ple-double
and the short-handed Dallas Maver-
icks beat the Los Angeles Clippers
135-133 in overtime Sunday to even
the first-round playoff series at two
games apiece.
Doncic finished with 43 points, 17
rebounds and 13 assists for his sec-
ond straight triple-double.
“We know this kid has got a flair
for the dramatic,” said Mavs coach
Rick Carlisle, whose team overcame
Johnston 70 68 75 69, Sebastian Heisele (GER) 70
71 73 68, Ryan Fox (NZL) 70 74 68 70, Louis De
Jager (RSA) 70 74 70 68, Thomas Pieters (BEL) 69
72 69 72
Women’s British Open
Leading scores after the final round of the Wom-
en’s British Open at Royal Troon on Sunday (par
71):
277 - Sophia Popov (GER) 70 72 67 68
279 - Jasmine Suwannapura (THA) 71 72 69 67
281 - Minjee Lee (AUS) 74 69 69 69
283 - Park Inbee (KOR) 77 69 71 66
284 - Austin Ernst (USA) 72 70 72 70
285 - Momoka Ueda (JPN) 75 75 68 67
286 - Chun In-jee (KOR) 72 75 70 69, Andrea Lee
(USA) 74 73 70 69, Jennifer Song (USA) 74 74 68 70,
Caroline Masson (GER) 72 74 68 72
287 - Ashleigh Buhai (RSA) 74 73 72 68, Emily Kris-
tine Pedersen (DEN) 71 72 72 72, Kristen Gillman
(USA) 75 72 68 72
288 - Marina Alex (USA) 70 79 72 67, Angela Stan-
ford (USA) 73 74 73 68, Nelly Korda (USA) 72 72 73
71, Cydney Clanton (USA) 74 73 69 72, Lydia Ko
(NZL) 72 71 72 73
289 - Lizette Salas (USA) 73 74 72 70, Brittany
Altomare (USA) 77 72 69 71, Lindsey Weaver
(USA) 71 72 71 75
ICE HOCKEY
Results of the National Hockey League Confer-
ence semifinal games on Sunday (home team in
CAPS):
At Toronto
Boston 3 Tampa Bay 2
(Boston leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
tears, embraced by rival Alaba.
“We weren’t clinical enough,” PSG
coach Thomas Tuchel said. “We
want Kylian and Ney to always
score, but you can’t ask for that.”
PSG’s soccer superstars were sub-
dued at a final which lacked the
usual pre-match entertainment
from pop stars.
Not that PSG lacked chances to
take the lead at a final that should
have been played in Istanbul in May,
rather than the Portuguese capital
in late August when seasons usually
begin not end.
Only the presence of “Istanbul” on
the match ball that Neymar struck
a 21-point, second-quarter deficit.
“He’s a guy that lives for these
moments.”
Remarkably, Doncic was a game-
time decision due to the left ankle he
hurt in Game 3. But once he stepped
on the floor, he knew he would give
it a go.
“One of the best feelings I’ve ever
had as a player,” Doncic said about
the winner. “Just something special.”
TENNIS
Dimitrov triumphs in
comeback from COVID
Two months after barely being
able to walk while ill with COVID-19,
Grigor Dimitrov played a profes-
sional tennis match at the Western
& Southern Open on Sunday and —
while the result was not what was
most important — he won.
“I said to myself, ‘I’ll give it a try.’
Now I’m here playing a match
today,” said the 29-year-old Bulgari-
an, who was a US Open semifinalist
last year and is ranked No 19. “Hon-
estly, I’m just purely thankful that
I’m even able to just be here, to par-
ticipate. Forget about the match —
I’m not even talking about tennis
right now.”
At Edmonton, Alberta
Las Vegas 5 Vancouver 0
(Las Vegas leads best-of-seven series 1-0)
MOTORCYCLING
Styrian Grand Prix
Leading results from the Styrian motorcycling
Grand Prix in Spielberg, Austria, on Sunday:
MotoGP
Results
1. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM-Tech3) 16min
56.025sec, 2. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati-Pramac) at
0.316, 3. Pol Espargaro (ESP/KTM) 0.540, 4. Joan
Mir (ESP/Suzuki) 0.641, 5. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/
Ducati) 1.414, 6. Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki) 1.450, 7.
Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Honda-LCR) 1.864, 8.
Brad Binder (RSA/Suzuki) 4.150, 9. Valentino Ros-
si (ITA/Yamaha) 4.517, 10. Iker Lecuona (ESP/
KTM/Tech-3) 5.068
World championship standings
1. Fabio Quartararo (FRA) 70 points, 2. Andrea
Dovizioso (ITA) 67, 3. Jack Miller (AUS) 56, 4. Brad
Binder (RSA) 49, 5. Maverick Vinales (ESP) 48
Moto2
Results
1. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Kalex 37 minutes 12.461
seconds, Jorge Martin (ESP/Kalex) same time, 3.
Remy Gardner (USA/Kalex) at 1.027sec, 4. Tetsu-
ta Nagashima (JPN/Kalex) 1.974, 5. Thomas Lhi
(SUI/Kalex) 3.230
World championship standings
1. Luca Marini (ITA) 87 points, 2. Enea Bastianini
(ITA) 79, 3. Jorge Martin (ESP) 79, 4. Tetsuta Naga-
shima (JPN) 68, 5. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) 65
at Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer
in the 18th was a reminder here of
the pandemic-enforced change of
location.
Neymar did spark the move that
saw Ander Herrera and Di Maria
combine but the Argentine could
only strike over. And an interchange
between Herrera and Mbappe
before halftime ended with a weak
shot from the French forward.
It was a downbeat way to end a
season that saw PSG sweep a fourth
domestic treble in six seasons that
underlines why it is on Europe’s big-
gest stage where the team now has
to prove its quality.
Dimitrov
said he
arrived in
New York, the
site for both
the Western &
Southern
Open and the Grigor Dimitrov
US Open,
which starts
Aug 31, just 1½ days before taking
the court for what turned out to be a
6-3, 6-4 victory over Ugo Humbert.
Dimitrov tested positive for the
coronavirus in June while partici-
pating in a series of exhibitions in
Croatia and Serbia organized by
Novak Djokovic, who also contract-
ed COVID-19.
“The first week was just tragic. I
started by just walking. I couldn’t
really do any exercise. I could not lift
weights. I couldn’t play tennis,” Dim-
itrov said, adding that he lost a lot of
weight while sick. “It was a really
dark moment,” he said. “I’m not
going to lie.”
SOCCER
Pogba and United ‘in
talks over extension’
Paul Pogba’s agent said on Sunday
SOCCER
UEFA Champions League
Final result on Sunday:
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 0 Bayern Munich
(GER) 1 (Coman 59)
French Ligue 1
Results on Sunday in the opening round of the
2020/2021 season:
Monaco 2 (Disasi 45+1, Badiashile 55) Reims 2
(Dia 5, Toure 21)
Lorient 3 (Wissa 51, Grbic 60-pen, Hamel 87)
Strasbourg 1 (Chahiri 30)
Nimes 4 (Denkey 8, Meling 31, Philippoteaux 69,
Kone 84) Brest 0
Nice 2 (Gouiri 23, 75) Lens 1 (Kakuta 11-pen)
Scottish Premiership
Results on Sunday:
Aberdeen 2 (Ferguson 49-pen, Wright 55) Living-
ston 1 (Pittman 69)
St Johnstone 0 Hibernian 1 (Mallan 90+1-pen)
TENNIS
ATP/WTA Western & Southern Open
Results on Sunday in New York (x denotes seed):
Men’s 2nd rd
David Goffin (BEL x7) bt Borna Coric (CRO) 7-6
(8/6), 6-4; Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE x4) bt Kevin
Anderson (RSA) 6-1, 6-3
1st rd
Tennys Sandgren (USA) bt Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)
6-3, 7-6 (9/7); Marcos Giron (USA) bt Mackenzie
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 | 19
I remember in
November the papers
wrote that no one
fears this Bayern
team anymore, that
no one respects it and
how bad they are. I
think the growth they
underwent is
sensational.”
Hansi Flick,
Bayern Munich head coach
“We need to once again build
another strong, powerful side that
can really kick on and continue this
run,” Tuchel said. “That will be the
challenge to try and rediscover this
spirit.”
PSG did manage to prevent Rob-
ert Lewandowski claiming a 56th
goal of the season. For once the
Pole’s scoring contribution was not
needed as this season like no other
ended with a 21st straight Bayern
win in a 30-game unbeaten run.
“When you think about how we
worked defensively until the 92nd
minute — Lewandowski was chas-
ing after the ball, that was incredi-
ble,” Flick said. “It was a complete
team performance.”
From the front to the back, as the
19-year-old Alphonso Davies
became the youngest defender to
win the Champions League.
“Who would ever have thought a
guy from Canada would win the
Champions League? Davies said.
“Two years ago, if someone had told
me this, I never would have believed
it. Dreams do come true.”
PSG, with its “Dream Bigger”
motto, will hope it does, eventually
in the Champions League.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
that the France midfielder is “at the
heart” of Manchester United’s plans,
adding that he is currently discuss-
ing a contract extension with the
Premier League club.
Mino Raiola told Italian broad-
caster Sky Sport that Pogba, 27, “is
still at the heart of an important
technical project”.
Raiola added that he was discuss-
ing “with no stress” the renewal to
Pogba’s contract at United, which
currently expires next summer.
“Manchester United have never
wanted to open negotiations to sell
him in these last few years,” he said.
In the same interview, Raiola said
that he does not “have an agreement
yet” to extend Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s
spell at AC Milan.
“It is not a question of money, but
of style, of conviction, of many
things,” he said, adding that he was
“optimistic” a deal would be done.
Ibrahimovic, who will turn 39 in
October, helped rejuvenate Milan in
the second half of last season. Ital-
ian media has reported that he
could sign for another year with a
salary of six million euros ($7.07
million).
XINHUA — AGENCIES
McDonald (USA) 7-6 (7/2), 7-5; Aljaz Bedene
(SLO) bt Christian Garin (CHI x13) 6-4, 6-7 (8/10),
6-0; Karen Khachanov (RUS x11) bt Alexander
Bublik (KAZ) 6-4, 6-4; Richard Gasquet (FRA) bt
Jeffrey Wolf (USA) 6-4, 6-4; Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN)
bt Sebastian Korda (USA) 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-5; Diego
Schwartzman (ARG x9) bt Casper Ruud (NOR) 7-6
(7/2), 6-3; John Isner (USA x16) bt Hubert Hurkacz
(POL) 7-5, 6-4; John Millman (AUS) bt Adrian Man-
narino (FRA) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2); Daniel Evans
(GBR) bt Andrey Rublev (RUS x10) 7-5, 3-6, 6-2;
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x14) bt Ugo Humbert (FRA)
6-3, 6-4; Mton Fucsovics (HUN) bt Norbert Gom-
bos (SVK) 6-3, 6-4
Women’s 2nd rd
Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) bt Karola Pliskova
(CZE x1) 7-5, 6-4; Alize Cornet (FRA) bt Sofia Ken-
in (USA x2) 6-1, 7-6 (9/7); 1st rd
Elise Mertens (BEL x14) bt Rebecca Peterson
(SWE) 6-0, 6-2; Jessica Pegula (USA) bt Jennifer
Brady (USA) 7-6 (7/5), 6-4; Catherine Bellis (USA)
bt Oceane Dodin (FRA) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/1); Anett
Kontaveit (EST x12) bt Darya Kasatkina (RUS) 6-3,
6-1; Jil Teichmann (SUI) bt Danielle Collins (USA)
6-3, 6-3; Marie Bouzkova (CZE) bt Anna Kalin-
skaya (RUS) 6-1, 7-5; Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) bt
Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 6-3, 6-3; Vera Zvonare-
va (RUS) bt Magda Linette (POL) 1-6, 6-3, 6-1; Lau-
ra Siegemund (GER) bt Marketa Vondrousova
(CZE x10) 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4; Yulia Putintseva
(KAZ) bt Zhang Shuai (CHN) 6-4, 6-3; Arantxa Rus
(NED) bt Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) 6-2, 6-3; Ons
Jabeur (TUN) bt Leylah Fernandez (CAN) 0-6, 6-4,
6-3; Christina McHale (USA) bt Iga Swiatek (POL)
6-2, 6-4; Caroline Garcia (FRA) bt Sloane Ste-
phens (USA) 6-3, 7-6 (7/4)
20 | Tuesday, August 25, 2020 CHINA DAILY

Moutai helps poor students

realize their dreams
Guizhou liquor brand provides funding for young people in rural areas

By YUAN SHENGGAO

China’s leading liquor producer

Kweichow Moutai has been ramp-
ing up efforts to launch large-scale
public welfare activities and offer
assistance to students in need
across the country through its Hope
Project for Dream Realization since
2012.
Over the past nine years, the
cumulative donation from Moutai
has reached 914 million yuan
($13.06 million), benefiting a total
of 182,800 students.
Held by Moutai and the China
Youth Development Foundation,
this year’s event, in Congjiang
county, Qiandongnan Miao and
Dong autonomous prefecture in
Guizhou province on Thursday,
focused on poverty-stricken areas,
especially poor counties and
regions affected by the COVID-19
epidemic and floods. Moutai is to
provide 20,000 students in need
with 5,000 yuan each across the
country this year.
“This is the ninth consecutive
year that Moutai has joined hands
with the China Youth Foundation,
donating 100 million yuan per year
to subsidize 20,000 students to
enter university and realize their
dreams,” said Li Jingren, general
manager of Moutai.
He said China has entered a his-
torical period of poverty allevia-
tion and Moutai is playing its part
in the process by taking full corpo-
rate social responsibility, especially
helping grassroots students in
rural areas.
Guo Meijian, chairman of the
China Youth Development Founda-
tion, said the foundation will con-
tinue to help students, educate
people and implement the Hope
Project with Moutai.
“Over the past years, the project
has been widely praised by all sec-
tors of society and has become a
name card for China’s public wel-
fare undertakings in the new era.
“Educating people and whole-
heartedly serving the growth of Clockwise from top: Students receive financial assistance at the launch ceremony of Moutai’s Hope Project for Dream Realization this year. This is the ninth consecutive year
young people is the responsibility of that Moutai has joined hands with the China Youth Foundation, donating 100 million yuan per year to subsidize 20,000 students. Students read a poem during the
the Hope Project,” Guo said. event. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Started in 2012, Moutai’s Hope
Project has subsidized rural stu-
dents who were admitted to full- 914 in society,” Li said. Moutai’s Hope
Project has become the country’s
China.” said Luo Qiang, governor
of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong
time colleges and universities. For
This is the ninth consecutive year that Moutai million yuan key public welfare event with the autonomous prefecture, adding
freshmen who are excellent stu- has been donated by Moutai in
largest amount of donation, that Moutai has a pure heart for
dents, they will be provided with a has joined hands with the China Youth its Hope Project over the past recipients, the widest coverage education and love.
one-time subsidy of 5,000 yuan Foundation, donating 100 million yuan per nine years and the most far-reaching impact, Luo said Moutai has added new
per person for their transportation he said. strengths to poverty alleviation in
and living expenses. year to subsidize 20,000 students to enter “As the provider of this special Guizhou, sowed new hope for
Since 2016, Moutai has spent university and realize their dreams.” “Moutai is not only Guizhou’s grant, Moutai is proud to have the education, and fully demonstrat-
half of the funds in its hometown Moutai, but also China’s Moutai. opportunity to help the most ed its social responsibility as a
every year. Li Jingren, general manager of Moutai It is Moutai’s duty to play its role dynamic group of young people in national brand of China.

Financial grants give youth a fighting chance

By SONG MENGXING
songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

The financial assistance offered

by Kweichow Moutai was just what
18-year-old Wei Suyu from Congji-
ang county in Guizhou province
needed to fulfill her dream of going
to university.
Wei and other aspiring students
from poor rural areas received the
grants worth 5,000 yuan ($723)
from the liquor giant at an event
hosted in Congjiang on Aug 20.
“Moutai’s help has really relieved
the financial pressure on me and my
family,” Wei said.
Coming from a poor rural house-
hold, Wei was aware that she would
have difficulty affording to go to uni-
versity, but that didn’t blunt her Moutai began handing out financial awards to poor students in 2012 and donates 100 million yuan to the China Youth Development Foundation every year.
determination, instead she sought PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
financial assistance elsewhere.
Pan Hongke, 19, from Yaogui vil- master’s student at Minzu Universi- hou studying the language of the and 95.57 percent of them said they
lage in Congjiang, also received a ty of China. Shi said she remembers Dong ethnic group after graduation. “are more willing to help others” aft-
grant at the event. how she felt receiving the university A video played at the conference er receiving the subsidies.
Before receiving the financial
No matter life is smooth or rough, it is admission letter in 2015. showed how several students Liang Yongliang, 18, received top
assistance, Pan had planned to bor- necessary to respect life with continuous self- At that time, Shi’s mother made helped by Moutai had become mod- marks in science in the national col-
row money from friends and apply improvement... The Moutai grant solved my clothes away from home in el employees in their work. lege entrance examination in Cong-
for a state loan. Guangzhou and earned 3,000 to As of the end of July, the Moutai jiang this year, and got an admission
Moutai began handing out finan- living costs for the first semester as a 4,000 yuan a month. Her father grants have helped 100,000 people letter from Tianjin University. He
cial awards to poor students in 2012 freshman, giving me confidence and hope.” looked after three children at home. go to university. also received the Moutai grant at the
and donates 100 million yuan to the Shi said her parents had mixed “They have lifted themselves out conference. “I think Moutai offers
China Youth Development Founda- Shi Shuping, a student from the Dong ethnic group in Guizhou feelings of grief and joy when the of poverty by their own efforts,” Li help in a wider sphere and aids
tion every year. The funds are used admission letter arrived as they Jingren from Moutai said. those who really need it,” Liang said.
to help those who receive college could not afford her tuition. Li added it was the company’s Guo Meijian, president of the Chi-
and university places that year. and lost his arms in an explosion, recipients. “No matter life is smooth “The Moutai grant solved my liv- great honor to witness the dreams of na Youth Development Foundation,
The group has donated a total of delivered an inspiring speech to the or rough, it is necessary to respect ing costs for the first semester as a impoverished families come true. said: “Moutai has made outstanding
914 million yuan through the event, students. life with continuous self-improve- freshman, giving me confidence and A 2019 survey found that 96.14 contributions to the healthy growth
benefiting 182,800 students. Shi Shuping, from the Dong eth- ment,” Shi said. hope,” Shi said. percent of the recipients said they of young people and society’s com-
At the event in Congjiang, Du nic group in Guizhou, spoke at the Shi received financial assistance Shi said she wants to work in a “feel warmth and support from soci- mon prosperity in the past nine
Fuguo, a soldier who was blinded conference as a representative of from Moutai in 2015 and is now is a higher-learning institution in Guiz- ety and have more positive energy” years.”

This page is sponsored by Moutai.