By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Combination of Chinese medicine and western medicine is best for patients. Sweden urged to combine Chinese medicine into the health care system. An interview with Swedish Neuropsychiatrist and family doctor Gustaf Foghammare in Stockholm on March. 25, 2017.
By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
STOCKHOLM, March 16 (Greenpost) – Seven years have passed after Chinese private car group Geely purchased Volvo in 2010 with the witness of Chinese President(then vice president) Xi Jinping in March 28, 2010. What has happened after that? Especially under the circumstances that there were a lot of questions and suspicion among the Swedish Media and small enterprises which supply spare parts for Volvo Cars. Greenpost chief editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson has a followup about this purchase case.
The most successful international purchase case in the world
Professor Fang Xiaohui from Business School of Stockholm University told Greenpost that this is one of and probably the most successful international purchase case in the world looking at the achievements Volvo Cars has made and the experience of management.
“It shows the great Chinese wisdom embodied in Li Shufu, President of Geely Group’s management method. That is to let Swedish manage Volvo Cars and keep its DNA and continue to expand design and production,” said Professor Fang.
“The great achievement Li Shufu or Geely made is to keep the Volvo grow and many people are employed. This is a big success. Chinese enterprises can learn from this case and further utilize the world’s resources and talented people.” Fang continues to say.
Volvo Cars was established by Gustaf Larson and Assar Gabrilsson who used to work for SKF, a bearing company in Sweden and well-known in the world. Larson was an engineer and Gabrilsson was a sales manager.
These two people had great passion for cars and saw the great future and joined hands in September 1925 to persuade the board of directors of SKY to allow them to have an assembling workshop in Torslanda in west coast of Sweden. On April 14, 1927, Volvo Öv4 car model came to the market.
In 1935, Volvo became independent from SKF and produced both personal cars and vans and even trucks.
Volvo was the first company to invent and product safety belt. It is still inventing new types of children safety belt and seats even for babies. Volvo’s ambition was zero death from Volvo cars.
Volvo has also been famous for the world’s safest cars and favorite cars in an European survey last year.
Li Shufu purchased the Volvo company with a price of 1.8 billion dollars actually from Ford corporation who bought Volvo from Swedish hands with a price of 6.45 billion dollars.
On August 2, 2010 when Ford finally transferred everything to Geely, Li Shufu promised that Geely is Geely and Volvo is Volvo. He will not take Volvo to China. But he will open two new factories to increase the production of new Volvo cars.
Professor Fang said Volvo’s success was based on the full utilization of the potential of the local human resources, international research and development resources, keeping the local workers and contribute greatly to local employment. This is of course welcomed by the Swedish side. Of course it is also a guarantee of both quantity and quality of Volvo cars.
Last year SUV XC60 was sold very well globally and accounting for one third of the total sales. It was labelled as the favorite car by the Europeans.
Swedish media says Volvo flies up like a phoenix
The mainstream media DN used three pages in economic page to report Volvo’s development over the past 7 years.
First it says Volvo’s XC60 is participating the car exhibition in Geneva. And it gives a picture of the past years’ figure of Volvo personal cars.
From 2006 to 2009, Volvo cars experienced a financial crisis with a loss of 4.7 billion kronor.
In 2010, Ford sold Volvo to Geely and the turnover immediately increased to 2.3 billion kronor.
Then in 2012, there was a year that the result was stagnant.
But in 2015, the result was 6.6 billion and last year in 2016 it was 11 billion kronor.
In 2011, Stefan Jacoby was employed as CEO of Volvo Cars. He gave the first press conference that year. But due to various pressure, he was sick in 2012 and he was replaced by Swedish CEO Lars Samuelsson who will celebrate his 66 birthday this coming Sunday on March 19.
In 2013 and 2014, Daqing and Chengdu factories have been into operation respectively to produce XC 60 and XC90.
The total production surpassed half a million for the first time in 2015 and the profit reached 11 billion kronor in 2016, five times more than that in 2010.
Li Shufu was dubbed as Mr. Volvo Personal Car
Li Shufu has completely eliminated the worries of Swedish suppliers and workers by purchasing all the small suppliers too. Thus he was dubbed as Mr. Volvo Personal Car.
The future plan of Volvo is to establish new factories in South Carolina in the United States. The production is expected to be 100 thousand per year. And electric cars will be manufactured in 2019.
Meanwhile, an analysis in DN also warns Volvo cars that the background is that while Volvo sold 534332 cars globally, with an increase of 30 percent, Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz increased by 55% and 65%. Audi has increased production to 1.8 million cars by 266% in 2016 since 1999.
Volvo’s next target is 800 thousand per year production capacity.
No matter how people compare, Li Shufu who was born in 1963 has done a great job and his purchase of Volvo cars has been recorded in the history in international purchasing cases. His name will be listed in history forever as the first Chinese who has done such a big case abroad and done so well in the world.
Sino-Swedish relations can never be separated with Volvo and both Chinese and Swedish are talking about it.
Of course when a country becomes strong, the large enterprises or companies will naturally come out to purchase other companies, takingWang Jianlin as an example.
But the long term question is how to keep the result and do even better to make it last for a century, but not like the US or Japanese companies, to devour the other company when it is strong, but after about ten years, it has to give up due to poor operation.
By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
STOCKHOLM, March. 15 (Greenpost)– As usual, Chinese Premier gave a two hour press conference briefing journalists from all over China and all over the world about China’s overall action plan and China’s view on many questions journalists are interested in through 19 questions.
Premier was very frank and direct in answering various questions.
About China-US relations asked by CNN, he said he is still optimistic about relations between China and the United States. He said despite twists and turns between the two countries over the past years, Sino-US relations are still going forward.
He said one fundamental political foundation for Sino-US relations is one China policy. With this as a foundation, China and US can further negotiate about economic and trade issues.
About Trump’s remarks of China stealing US jobs and currency exchange rate, Li Keqiang said as far as he knew, about more than 90 percent of the enterprise profit in China has been taken by the US and China only gained 2-3 percent. Just last year, China has provided one million jobs to the US. Maybe the statistics from the two sides are different because they used different methods to calculate. But both Americans and Chinese are wise people and they should use their wisdom to talk about the dispute between them. No matter what happened, the two sides should use their wisdom to expand their common interest.
He also answered questions relating to laidoff workers due to reduction of production capacity and closing down factories, providing more jobs, innovation and establishment of businesses, currency exchange rate, finance, Sino-Russian relations, Asian Pacific regions’ order, relations across the Taiwan Straits, tense situation in the Korean Peninsula, China’s Property law on 70 years ownership and so on. In total, 19 journalists from China and abroad asked questions and Premier Li answered including one from France.
It is interesting to see that how Chinese government has changed and treated media with interesting sequences. The first question was asked by CNN on Sino-US relations.
It is an open secret that all the questions are almost set and the CNN was picked up first to ask questions. That is an important signal that China pays great attention to questions relating to Sino-US relations while the European journalist was given a chance in the end.
Caixin, a new media was given a chance much earlier than the Xinhua journalist. It looks very much a random choice, but it covers all the areas journalists are interested in and what the Chinese government likes to say.
Of course, Premier Li is very open and frank with journalists and answered all the questions including the sensitive Taiwan and Korean issues.
About relations across the Taiwan Streets, Li said Chinese government’s attitude towards Taiwan has been consistent and will issue more policies to improve better communication between the two sides. Last year alone, about five million tourists from the mainland to visit Taiwan Island.
No matter what happens, with one China policy as basis, the people between the two sides belongs to the same family of Chinese and the blood ties are a good bond between the two sides.
On the Korean Peninsula issue, Premier Li said China’s principle is that there should be no nuclear proliferation in the peninsula. China is implementing the UN resolution on Korean issue.
“China hopes that all sides should relax now and sit down around the table to talk about it and solve the problem through negotiation. With the tense situation, it is easy to resort to arms, but it will be harmful for both sides.” said Li.
About laidoff workers, Li said those workers enjoy some subsidies from their original companies and they are also looking for new jobs. Meanwhile, they get subsidies from the government too.
Li has stressed that in many occasions that those extremely poor families without any one earning an income should get supported by the local government and the society.
About questions of the property rights, he said after 70 years of owership, Chinese people still have the right to own their apartments or houses and enjoy the right to sell them. Relevant departments are drawing new laws to guarantee this.
In 2003, when Premier Wen Jiabao was in power, journalists ask the same questions and he said if we say it doesn’t change for 50 years, it will not change forever. He refers to the contract of mountains and fields peasants own. Now the questions relate to ownership of properties in cities because China has built so many houses and buildings over the past 17 years or about 20 years.
In the end, Li also answered a question about air pollution. He called on the people to help and make joint efforts to solve this problem.
“We are in developing period, we have the development pressure, but we have made several action plans and we shall do our best to make the sky blue so that the blue sky should not become a luxury.” Li answered this question to a New Beijing Newspaper reporter.
By Kou Jiangze, Shi Ziqiang and Liu Chang from People’s Daily
Zou Yi: An enthusiast of environmental protection who takes photos of the sky everyday
Jiankou, a section of the Great Wall located beside Xizhazi village, Huairou district of Beijing, is frequently visited by a group of outdoor sport fans on Saturday, who collect garbage with the white plastic bags tied to their camping bags. The visitors all come from a volunteer group named “Giant Gooo-go Great Wall.”
“I spotted this beautiful place when visiting the nearby Mutianyu section of the Great Wall several years ago,” said Zou Yi, initiator of the volunteer group. The Jiankou Great Wall has seen more and more trash after it gained popularity, therefore Zou started collecting garbage with the volunteers since September 2013. By now, more than 3,200 volunteers have joined the campaign.
He was once asked during an environmental protection activity how he got to the event. After the activity was finished, he received a letter from the organizers which listed a record of the transportation energy they had consumed on the way. This made Zou realize that each social activity involves energy consumption and carbon emission. “Ever since, I have chosen a green lifestyle,” Zou said.
In order to draw more public attention on air pollution control and a green lifestyle, Zou has posted photos of the sky taken by him in the same place every day on social media platforms.
“Although judging air quality by photos is not very scientific, the combination of a year’s pictures is quite informative,” Zou explained. By now, his pictures have been viewed for more than 50 million times.
Zou made his friends realize that environmental issues, such as smog, need joint efforts from both the governments and the public.
Such mindset shift was also echoed by a recent survey about public treatment of smog and environmental protection conducted by People’s Daily. Thirty six percent of the respondents consider smog treatment to be an issue of the governments and polluting enterprises, while 64 percent believe that everyone is responsible for environmental protection.
“We should start from subtle things in our daily life and change the lifestyles that are unfriendly to the environment,” Zou proposed, adding that choosing public transportation, reducing fireworks, as well as saving water and electricity will all contribute to the environment.
Though the subtle change made by each individual only has limited influence, it “will be a great power when united,” Zou added.
Ma Jun: A man devoted to emitters’ information disclosure
The Blue Map is a mobile application that enables users to check real-time monitoring data of discharging outlets of major pollution sources, including pollutant concentration, standard limits, exceeding rate, and emission. Users can also share the information through social media and report each case through the interactive platform of the app.
The application is developed by a non-governmental organization named Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE). According to Ma Jun, director of IPE, the application has received tens of thousands of reports after it was launched in April 2015.
More than 650 enterprises, including big State-owned companies, were urged for rectification as a result, Ma added.
“Information disclosure is the premise of the public participation in the cause of environmental protection,” said Ma, adding that the public will choose a green lifestyle and control pollution after they are given the information about environment, while a greater participation will improve the environment ultimately.
Currently, a total of more than 9,000 enterprises have publicized monitoring data on provincial governmental platforms as required. Ma also suggested environmental protection departments at all levels to better implement related laws and regulations.
Hebei villager Li Wei: Willing to pay more for cleaner air
After using natural gas for home heating, Li Wei’s family can spend a warmer winter at their house, which forms a sharp contrast to the chilling temperature outside.
Living in a two-storey house in Nanwangqiying village, Gu’an county in North China’s Hebei Province, Li said that natural gas heating has made his life easier.
“There is big space in my house needs to be heated. Before using natural gas, we needed at least five to six tons of coal for heating during the winter. Lighting a fire was inconvenient, because I had to wear a hat and a pair of gloves and usually turned out to be covered by ashes after a fire was lit,” Li said.
Cutting coal use has been given the highest priority to prevent smog in many smog-blanketed northern China in the winter season. Gu’an county, a close neighbor to the south of Beijing specializing in plant nursery, has been forbidden to use coal heating by the Ministry of Environmental Protection last July.
As early as 2014, the Nanwangqiying village has become a pilot village for the program of transformation from coal to natural gas in Gu’an, with 168 households having uninstalled stoves and started to use natural gas heaters.
The cost of using natural gas is a concern for the villagers. Li said that the annual cost of natural gas is nearly 7,000 yuan ($1,018), slightly higher than 6,000 yuan for using coal.
“We first felt unaccustomed to gas heating, which breaks away from our old tradition of using coal,” Li admitted. “But we heard people elsewhere frequently talking about smog. It is not only harmful to our health, but also causes vehicle restrictions and highway blocks that affect our daily life, trips and business,” Li said, saying he and his fellow villagers could understand and accept the extra cost.
In the meantime, the Nanwangqiying village has started to utilize solar heating. Ten households of the village now have access to solar energy, in a pilot program of solar heating carried out in Hebei.
Zheng Tengfei: A ‘returnee’ committed to environmental education
Zheng Tengfei published an article on the internet at the end of last year, in which she urged people to reflect on their own rather than pouring complaints to government in the face of smog. Zheng believes that technological innovations and environmental education contribute to solution of the smog, but everyone must start from themselves.
The article was both praised and criticized. Many blamed her as making excuses for government. Zheng explained that she just wants everyone to realize that the environmental degradation is a result of human demand which has surpassed the tolerance capacity of the environment, and people can do more.
Being an environmentalist, she always collects advertising leaflets in the subways and wasted learning material for children to make paper planes, believing it could save resources. Her children like reading, but she prefers borrowing books from libraries than buying them.
She is willing to pay for such mode of circulation and sharing, hoping more resources could be shared, such as mobile libraries.
In Zheng’s eyes, the Chinese public’s awareness of environmental protection still needs to be improved despite the rapid economic development in recent years. She returned to Shanghai and devoted herself to education after receiving a PhD in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US in 2014.
According to Zheng, the ideas and awareness of the next generation will determine the future, so the children must know how to protect the environment and save energy. To this end, parents should act as an example, and more importantly, children must get close to nature to obtain a deep understanding and love toward the world and life.
Pics
Zou Yi shows his photos of the Beijing sky taken in 2014. (Photo by zhhjw.org)
To encourage low-carbon travelling, Huainan, Anhui province has built a public bicycle rental service system covering 300 sites, 10,000 bicycles and 12,000 lockers in the main sections of the urban area. Local residents can enjoy a one-hour free ride. (Photo by People’s Daily)
In April 2016, an environmental activity was carried out in a community in Xinyu, Jiangxi province. Residents could exchange for plants with any two types of waste batteries. The activity aimed to call upon residents to start from subtle things and pay attention to environmental protection, advocating a green life style. (Photo by People’s Daily)
By Zhang Mengxu from People’s Daily
China and the US have forged a closer relationship with interwoven destinies 45 years after they signed the Shanghai Communiqué on February 28, 1972, a document ended 23 years of diplomatic estrangement between the two countries.
Forty-five years ago, then US President Richard Nixon started an “ice-breaking trip” to China, which was dubbed by himself as “the week that changed the world”.
On the last day of his visit, both nations issued the Joint Communiqué of the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China, or the Shanghai Communiqué, laying the first cornerstone for bilateral exchanges and cooperation.
Shanghai Communiqué, along with the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations issued in 1978 and August 17 communiqué issued in 1982, constituted the guideline document governing bilateral ties.
Up till now, China-US relationship has become one of the most important bilateral ties in the world, whose rapid development has brought tangible benefits to both peoples.
Both countries hit a record high in terms of bilateral trade, the stock of two-way investment and personal exchanges.
Data showed that the current China-US trade has exceeded 500 billion dollars, while China invested over 50 billion dollars in the US last year. About 14,000 people traveled between China and the US each day, and a flight would take off or land every 17 minutes.
Over 40 pair of sister provinces/states and more than 200 pair of sister cities have been established between both nations. They are proven to be the best evidence of their inter-connected interests.
The Shanghai Communiqué and other two documents represent not only the ballast and guideline for development of bilateral ties, but also the principles the US follows when dealing with its ties with China, Gary Locke, former US ambassador to China and former US Secretary of Commerce told the People’s Daily.
He added that based on these principles, both countries handled their differences appropriately during his tenure and their relationship was moved forward as a result.
It was the Shanghai Communiqué that opened the door to normalization of bilateral ties, Tao Wenzhao, researcher with the Institute of American Studies under Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said in an interview.
The four-decade-long course has proven that the basic principles both countries clarified when they established diplomatic relations are right, especially the one-China principle, the expert pointed out.
Those principles have been enriched by the diplomatic contacts in the past years as well, Tao furthered, adding that the 40-year-long experience and China’s development and prosperity gave China the faith for a promising relationship with the US.
Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, in a signed article published on the People’s Daily, commented that China-US ties have come to a new starting point.
A healthy and steady development of China-US ties is not only the requirement of the times, but also the expectation of the world, the top diplomat said.
China and the U.S. should, by following through on the spirit of the phone conversation between both heads of state, enhance communication and mutual trust, focus on cooperation, manage disputes, avoid conflicts and confrontations, show respect to each other and seek win-win cooperation, so as to push bilateral ties for greater progress in the new era,” Yang stressed in the article.
Pic:
US citizens sent off panda “Bao Bao” at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC on February 21, 2017. (Photo by Gao Shi from People’s Daily)
By Qiang Wei from People’s Daily
STOCKHOLM, March6(Greenpost)–China’s bike-sharing industry has embraced an explosive growth since last year. Data showed that by the end of last year, millions of bikes offered by over 20 bike-sharing companies have expanded their service to nearly 19 million users.
The bike-sharing service enables users to find, unlock and pay to rent the bicycles through a smartphone app. Mobike and Ofo are among the two largest of a growing crop of private bike-sharing operators.
Ofo, the company behind the yellow two-wheelers, announced on 1st March that it has raised 3.1 billion yuan ($450 million) in a fresh round of funding. It not only represents the largest single deal in terms of fund raised by a bike-sharing firm, but also swells the firm to the industry’s richest unicorn, a start-up company valued at over 1 billion dollars.
Public bike is not a fresh thing. Many Chinese cities have launched public bikes previously to meet the citizens’ demands for the “last mile” of public transportation, but congested public space and complicated procedures restrained the pace of such efforts.
Unlike the services provided by local governments, users of the newly emerging shared bikes like Orange-hued Mobike can find and pay for bicycles via a smartphone app and then leave them wherever they want. The location of the bike will be recorded by the data platforms, so that the next users can find one easily.
The economical and convenient service also responds to China’s call for green, energy-saving transportation, attracting a host of fans due to its convenience and low price.
These bikes, a combination of sharing-economy, high-technology and market demands, also provide the outside world a glimpse into China’s huge potential in sharing economy.
PwC’s projections show that five key sharing sectors—travel, car sharing, finance, staffing, and music and video streaming—have the potential to increase global revenues to around 335 billion dollars by 2025, over 20 times higher than the number in 2016.
The latest report released by McKinsey & Company on China’s sharing economy revealed that shared transportation is gaining wide popularity in the Chinese market, while office space and technology sharing is rising.
So far, China’s sharing economy is applied in transportation, office space, skills and finance, while segment fields including car-hailing, bike-sharing, car-sharing and apartment-renting are growing in a faster pace.
Shared bikes are lined up outside a subway entrance in CBD in Beijing. (Photo by Qiang Wei from People’s Daily)
By Zhang Mengxu from People’s Daily
STOCKHOLM, March 6(Greenpost)– China’s poverty eradication is among the greatest human rights achievements, experts pointed out, dismissing voices smearing China’s human rights record at the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
Villagers from Guang’an, Sichuan province hold a housewarming banquet after they were relocated to new houses before the Spring Festival this year. (Photo by People’s Daily)
Discriminatory words concerning China’s human rights record are heard in almost every human rights session of the UN. It is believed some organizations and individuals with ulterior motives always turn a blind eye to China’s human rights progress, but make a judgment via blinkers.
However, over the past years, China has made great achievements in human rights undertakings. For instance, food and clothing are no longer a problem for the 1.3 billion Chinese people. Over the past three decades, over 700 million people have been lifted out of poverty, accounting for more than 70 percent of the global poverty reduction. China is the first country to have realized the Millennium Development Goal of halving its poor population.
At present, 770 million Chinese are employed and nine-year compulsory education has achieved universal coverage. Rights of 230 million senior residents and 85 million handicapped people are well protected, and the basic life of over 60 million low-income residents in urban and rural areas is supported by the government.
Prior to the founding of PRC in 1949, China’s per capita life expectancy was only 35, and for now the number has been raised to 76. China is hailed by the UN as having the best record of improving life expectancy during the past three decades.
Tom Zwart, director of the Netherlands School of Human Rights Research, ranked China’s record of poverty relief among the greatest human rights achievements of all time. He didn’t hesitate to show his anger towards false speeches belittling China’s progress.
“I sincerely congratulate on the remarkable success of the CPC and Chinese government in eradicating poverty,” added Zwart, also a human rights professor with Utrecht University.
China has been actively engaged in international human rights cooperation based on the spirit of equality, mutual trust, inclusiveness, and mutual benefit, so as to push forward with a just and objective international human rights system.
In 2016, China was elected to the UN Human Rights Council by 180 votes, becoming one of a few countries which have sat in the Council for four times.
China has joined 26 international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and five other core human rights covenants. It also shoulders its international human rights responsibilities by accepting multiple human rights reviews.
In addition, China has held human rights dialogues and exchanges with almost 40 countries, launched technical cooperation on human rights with UN agencies, injecting great energy into global human rights governance.
Zamir Akram, chair-rapporteur of the Working Group on the Right to Development at the United Nations Human Rights Council, commented that China is the only social and economic entity that has ever achieved such a rapid development.
“Over 700 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty in such a short period,” he hailed, adding that the country also has offered big amount of aid to other developing countries.
By Li Ning from People’s Daily
Stockholm, March. 6(Greenpost)–By further streamlining administration and delegating power, strengthening supervision and improving the service level, China will mobilize social forces to participate in the development of elderly care industry, lower the institutional cost for entrepreneurship and create a fair development environment, according to a policy paper released by relevant Chinese authorities recently.
On Oct. 8, 2016, the day before China’s traditional Double Ninth Festival when people show respect to the elderly, resident troops made dumplings and watched shows with senior citizens at a nursing home in Qingdao, Shandong province. (Photo by People’s Daily)
The Notice on Accelerating the Reform on the Entry, Supervision and Service Level of the Senior Service Industry was released by thirteen departments, including Ministry of Civil Affairs, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Land and Resources and National Elderly Work Committee Office.
Now entering into an aging society, China has huge demands for the elderly nursing industry. In 2015, the number of senior aged over 60 in China reached 220 million, accounting for 16.1 percent of the total population.
The quality of the industry concerns over 200 million senior citizens, especially the over 40 million incapacitated or semi- incapacitated elderly.
However, the sheer quantity and quality of China’s senior service supply still fall short of the increasing demand for the industry. China is now still headache with inaccessibility of urban and rural public facilities, as well as insufficient supply of senior products.
Other than a livelihood project involving the welfare of billions of people, the senior service industry is also a rising business with great potential.
At the end of last year, the Chinese State Council released a guideline on widening the access of the senior service market and improving the quality of senior service, requiring the service to orient towards community, rural areas as well as incapacitated and semi-incapacitated senior citizens.
Nursing care resources should be further expanded and the development of small-sized and professional chain service agencies should be vigorously supported, read the guideline.
To address the short boards in senior service, the guideline also pointed out that for community senior service, China will speed up the construction of a comprehensive service information platform and provide such home service as meal assistance, cleaning assistance, walking aid, bathing assistance and medical assistance.
Small-sized community nursing homes are encouraged to meet the needs of senior citizens within close proximity as well.
By Liu Ningning and Li Xiao
STOCKHOLM，March 6（Greenpost）– Xiaomi, one of China’s leading smartphone manufacturers, released its first independently developed smartphone chip on Tuesday, making it the fourth cellphone company in the world that can independently develop processor after Apple, Samsung and Huawei.
Pengpai S1, the fingernail-sized chip, cost Xiaomi over 1 billion yuan ($145 million) in research and development. “Chip is the apex level of cellphone technology. To become a great company, Xiaomi must master the core technology,” Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi said on the release conference.
China is a big smartphone manufacturer. Nearly 70 percent of the cellphones around the world are produced by China, but only 5 percent of these phones are equipped with chips independently developed by China.
The innovation of chips, as the heart of smartphones, is the top priority during the R&D process.
But for the manufacturers, their product development and market plans were often affected by the chips, and a new cellphone line even cannot be designed until the chip is delivered. The passive manufacturers found that the chips they offered always fell behind the needs of customers and the market.
After Chinese cellphone companies stepped up self-development and innovation in the core technology in recent years, they have fundamentally improved the quality and influence of “Made in China” and charted the course for enterprise transformation.
In 2012, Huawei successfully launched its first commercial cellphone chip Haisi K3V2 and the Kirin series afterwards underwent constant upgrade. Now, the company is among the frontline of chip development across the globe.
Last year, Huawei released the 1,000-yuan Honor 5C, which carries its own Kirin 650 chipset, building a sharing platform between high-end chipset and 1,000-yuan cellphones chipset and offering better customer experiences.
The People’s Daily, in a signed article under the title “Let Chinese Chips Make New Waves” on March 1, defined chip development as a marathon, saying that product iteration always faces challenges and risks. However, a sparkle of innovation can lead to a wild fire.
“Independent innovation, represented by chip development, adds sufficient horsepower to enterprises like a brand-new engine while pointing out the direction of the transformation of the manufacturing industry,” the paper added.
(People’s Daily)
By Hu Zexi from People’s Daily
STOCKHOLM，March 6(Greenpost)–China is firm in its resolve to oppose the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and will never be hesitate in taking necessary actions to safeguard its own security interests, People’s Daily stressed in a commentary published on Saturday, criticizing the ROK government and its business’s stubborn persistence in THAAD deployment.
The editorial under the pen name of Zhongsheng, which is usually used to voice China’s stance on foreign affairs, came amid pouring anger and blames from Chinese government and media against the ROK government and Lotte Group, the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate.
Lotte put itself on fire after it agreed on a land swap deal to enable an early deployment of the US-backed missile shield system. The swap, which gives the ROK defense ministry the Lotte Skyhill Country Club in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, for the deployment of the THAAD system, paves way for a speedy installation of the system by late June at the earliest.
Lotte’s latest decision trapped itself into a complicated strategic game in Northeast Asia. The panicky local media, in recent days, have been busy with guessing whether the retail giant will be sanctioned by China.
It is true that the decision of Seoul and Washington to deploy the THAAD system last July has severely damaged the public foundation of China-ROK cooperation, the article pointed out, indicating that the political estrangement has been spilled to economic, trade and cultural exchanges.
It is predictable that bilateral cooperation will definitely meet more icebergs if the ROK is stubborn on its decision, the paper stressed.
China welcomes foreign companies investing in the country and will always protect their rights and interests, but their operation should be in compliance with laws and regulations, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a recent conference while responding a question regarding whether China would take punitive measures against Lotte.
“Chinese market and consumers will determine whether a foreign company is successful in China,” the paper reiterated the stance, refuting ROK media’s groundless claims that China is sanctioning the retail giant.
Lotte’s agreement on the land swap deal is pushing ROK government towards a wrong path since the THAAD deployment will not only damage the strategic security interests of its neighbors, but also deteriorate regional crisis, the paper commented.
“Chinese consumers’ resolute and voluntary fight back never crosses the line of law, and it is a natural outcome that the company should have predicted before it made the decision,” it added.
Though some ROK public labeled what Lotte did with “patriotism”, the article noted that it is a kind of “fake patriotism” since the decision to pave way for THAAD installation will surely endanger the country.
“It cannot help with the process to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, but create more conflicts and confrontations”, the article analyzed, warning that water on the whole peninsula will be meddled as a result.
What’s worse, if the ROK is kidnapped to a war chariot by the US, it would lose its rights to make a decision, the People’s Daily said, concluding that the country will certainly suffer from heavy losses once clashes break out.
北欧绿色邮报网消息（主编陈雪霏）–据人民日报记者 赵成 报道 3月4日下午，中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席习近平在看望参加全国政协十二届五次会议的民进、农工党、九三学社委员，并参加联组会听取意见和建议时提出，希望中国广大知识分子积极投身创新发展实践，想国家之所想、急国家之所急，紧紧围绕经济竞争力的核心关键、社会发展的瓶颈制约、国家安全的重大挑战，不断增加知识积累，不断强化创新意识，不断提升创新能力，不断攀登创新高峰。
习近平强调，全社会都要关心知识分子、尊重知识分子，营造尊重知识、尊重知识分子的良好社会氛围。要为广大知识分子工作学习创造更好条件，加快形成有利于知识分子干事创业的体制机制，遵循知识分子工作特点和规律，让知识分子把更多精力集中于本职工作，把自己的才华和能量充分释放出来。
习近平指出，今年是实施“十三五”规划的重要一年，是供给侧结构性改革的深化之年，有不少问题需要深入研究、妥善应对、合力攻坚。大家要紧扣“十三五”规划实施和全年经济社会发展目标，就保持经济平稳健康发展和社会和谐稳定深度调查研究，提出务实管用的对策建议。
“总书记回应了我的建言！”会后，在联组会上发言的委员们纷纷表示。
在会上发言的全国政协委员、民进中央委员、上海作协副主席赵丽宏在接受人民日报记者采访时表示，中国的文化工作者，应该贯彻落实总书记重要讲话精神，发挥知识分子的作用，做好本职工作，自强不息地创造出属于中国的精湛独特的作品，让世界欣赏甚至惊叹，真正感受到中国文化的魅力。
同样参加了联组会的全国政协常委、江苏省政协副主席、农工党江苏省委会主委周健民在接受人民日报记者采访时指出，现在科技发展得很快，我们应该意识到，我国在原始创新方面还存在差距和不足，我们知识分子要积极投身创新发展实践，为国家作出应有的贡献，建设社会主义创新强国。
Xi Jinping urges Chinese intellectuals to devote to innovation-driven development
By Zhao Cheng from People’s Daily
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday exhorted the nation’s intellectuals to commit themselves to innovation-driven development and play a bigger role in contributing to a better nation.
Xi made the remarks when joining a panel discussion with political advisors from the China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD), the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party (CPWDP) and the Jiu San Society at the fifth session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
The Chinese President, who is also General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that intellectuals should increase knowledge accumulation, strengthen innovation awareness and improve innovation capacity by focusing on the core links of economic competitiveness, the bottlenecks restraining social development and the major challenges of national security.
The interests of the country and nation should be put at the first place, he added, encouraging the intellectuals to take the initiative and help make nation a great scientific power.
The whole society should care for and respect intellectuals and cultivate a favorable environment that honors knowledge and intellectuals, Xi said, adding that authorities must create better conditions, speed up the mechanism-building and follow the work features of intellectuals so that they can concentrate on their duties and fully unleash their talent.
Defining this year as an important year for the “13th Five-Year Plan” and a year to deepen the supply-side structural reform, Xi said that in-depth research, proper solution and joint efforts are required to meet all the challenges.
“Everyone should stick to the implementation of the ‘13th Five-Year Plan’ and goals for economic-social development around the year and make in-depth research on maintaining the stable and healthy development of economy as well as social harmony before proposing practical and effective solutions,” the President emphasized.
“The General Secretary responded to my advice!” said the advisors after the joint panel discussion.
Zhao Lihong, member of the CPPCC National Committee, member of the CAPD Central Committee and Vice President of Shanghai Writers Association told People’s Daily that China’s culture intellectuals should implement the spirit of Xi’s important speech and create excellent works that belong to China to let the world appreciate or even marvel at the Chinese culture.
Zhou Jianmin, member of the CPPCC National Committee, Vice Chairman of CPPCC Jiangsu Provincial Committee and Chairman of CPWDP Jiangsu Committee, pointed out that given the rapid development of technology, we should notice that China still lags behind in primary innovation.
“We intellectuals should actively devote to innovation-driven development and make due contribution to the country so as to build a major socialism country of innovation,” added Zhou, who also spoke at the joint panel.
来源：人民日报
By Liu Junguo from People’s Daily
Instead of asking for onerous cash gifts, Liu Kang’s in-laws, who in the northwestern province of Gansu, decided to abandon the long-held convention. Netizens in China lauded the generous gesture after it was reported by the media.
The example set by Liu’s in-laws embodies the changing mind-set in some rural regions, and is a victory for China’s efforts to simplify marriage affairs.
Before the wedding, Liu learned that the betrothal price in his hometown was around 130,000 yuan ($18,853), even though in 2016 the average annual per capita disposal income of rural residents in China was 12,363 yuan and 8,452 yuan in poverty-stricken areas. He managed to collect the money by borrowing from friends.
To his surprise, Liu’s future father-in-law did not give him a hard time about the money. “You two will soon start a new life. We don’t care about gifts,” he said. So Liu just offered 8,888 yuan. However, on the wedding night, his mother-in-law found a way to give the money back.
In traditional Chinese nuptial customs, the groom should give the bride betrothal presents, which is a form of engagement with a moral obligation. Meanwhile, this culture also embodies the wishes for respect, a bright future and a lasting marriage.
This traditional custom still prevails, especially in some rural areas, and the cost has become a heavy burden in some places.
The presents have become onerous for many ordinary families, with young people in rural areas unable to afford to wed.
Analysts pointed out that other than the traditional concepts of demanding money to support parents and compensation for losing a source of free labor for the bride’s family, anxiety over future nursing costs and keeping up with their neighbors have contributed to rising betrothal prices in some rural areas.
In recent years, the Chinese government has strengthened guidance, advocated simplifying marriage affairs, and opposed arranged marriage, illegal early marriage and extortion of property through marriage, yielding sound results.
China’s Shandong and Henan provinces, where families lay great emphasis on the wedding price, have founded non-governmental organizations on marriage and funeral affairs, to curb high-price gifts and undesirable customs.
It is this type of changes in ideas and conventions that make it easier for people like Liu to not worry too much about the money when proposing a marriage.
By Huan Xiang from People’s Daily
STOCKHOLM, March.6(Greenpost)–Corruption crackdown, social insurance, medical care reforms, employment and resident income, and equal access to education are among the hottest topics of the annual sessions of National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPC), also referred as the “two sessions,” a poll conducted by People’s Daily Online, Xinhua, and other mainstream news websites showed.
China’s anti-corruption campaign shifted up a gear following the 18th CPC National Congress in late 2012. After years of efforts, the spread of corruption has been effectively contained and the battle against corruption has gained crushing momentum.
Data showed that since 2012, a total of 240 central-government administered officials have been investigated, with 223 receiving punishments, while another 150 were transferred to judicial authorities for investigations. During the past year, 57,000 party members took the initiative to confess their wrongdoing.
China is now also reforming its supervision system, in an innovative attempt to realize an all-round supervision of the civil servants by pooling accessible resources.
China also stepped up its efforts to extend the coverage of social insurance. The country plans to, by 2020, provide comprehensive medical care across the country, improve public healthcare service system, and build a complete drug supply system as well as a scientific management system of medical care institutions.
The over 10 million new urban jobs created each year verified China’s remarkable accomplishments in employment. But challenges remain. The market has to digest 15 million new job hunters each year, while both the employers and job hunters face difficulties to find their matched partners. In addition, those having a job also expect more incomes for sake of a better life quality.
According to its national plan on education, China plans to, by 2020, accelerate urban-rural integration of compulsory education, ensure equal access to compulsory education at local schools for the children of migrant workers, and establish a balanced compulsory education system in county seats and villages. To realize the goals, the Chinese government has set objective to optimize resource allocation and improve the quality of education products.
北欧绿色邮报网报道（记者陈雪霏）：据新华社北京３月５日电 第十二届全国人民代表大会第五次会议５日上午在人民大会堂开幕。国务院总理李克强向大会作政府工作报告时指出，使命重在担当，实干铸就辉煌。我们要更加紧密地团结在以习近平同志为核心的党中央周围，同心同德，开拓进取，努力完成今年经济社会发展目标任务，为实现“两个一百年”宏伟目标、建设富强民主文明和谐的社会主义现代化国家、实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦而不懈奋斗。
今天的人民大会堂气氛庄严热烈。万人大礼堂内灯火辉煌，主席台帷幕中央国徽高悬，十面红旗分列两侧。近３０００名全国人大代表肩负人民重托出席盛会，认真履行宪法和法律赋予的神圣职权。
大会主席团常务主席、执行主席张德江主持大会。大会主席团常务主席、执行主席李建国、王胜俊、陈昌智、严隽琪、王晨、沈跃跃、吉炳轩、张平、向巴平措、艾力更·依明巴海、万鄂湘、张宝文、陈竺在主席台执行主席席就座。
习近平、李克强、俞正声、刘云山、王岐山、张高丽和大会主席团成员在主席台就座。
十二届全国人大五次会议应出席代表２９２４人。今天的会议，出席２８６２人，缺席６２人，出席人数符合法定人数。
上午９时，张德江宣布：中华人民共和国第十二届全国人民代表大会第五次会议开幕。会场全体起立，高唱国歌。
根据会议议程，国务院总理李克强代表国务院向大会作政府工作报告。报告共分三部分：一、２０１６年工作回顾；二、２０１７年工作总体部署；三、２０１７年重点工作任务。
李克强说，过去一年，我国发展面临国内外诸多矛盾叠加、风险隐患交汇的严峻挑战。在以习近平同志为核心的党中央坚强领导下，全国各族人民迎难而上，砥砺前行，推动经济社会持续健康发展。党的十八届六中全会正式明确习近平总书记的核心地位，体现了党和人民的根本利益，对保证党和国家兴旺发达、长治久安，具有十分重大而深远的意义。各地区、各部门不断增强政治意识、大局意识、核心意识、看齐意识，推动全面建成小康社会取得新的重要进展，全面深化改革迈出重大步伐，全面依法治国深入实施，全面从严治党纵深推进，全年经济社会发展主要目标任务圆满完成，“十三五”实现了良好开局。
李克强从继续创新和加强宏观调控，经济运行保持在合理区间；着力抓好“三去一降一补”，供给结构有所改善；大力深化改革开放，发展活力进一步增强；强化创新引领，新动能快速成长；促进区域城乡协调发展，新的增长极增长带加快形成；加强生态文明建设，绿色发展取得新进展；注重保障和改善民生，人民群众获得感增强；推进政府建设和治理创新，社会保持和谐稳定等方面回顾了过去一年的工作。
李克强指出，我们也清醒看到，经济社会发展中还存在不少困难和问题。我们一定要直面挑战，敢于担当，全力以赴做好政府工作，不辱历史使命，不负人民重托。
李克强说，２０１７年发展的主要预期目标是：国内生产总值增长６．５％左右，在实际工作中争取更好结果；居民消费价格涨幅３％左右；城镇新增就业１１００万人以上，城镇登记失业率４．５％以内；进出口回稳向好，国际收支基本平衡；居民收入和经济增长基本同步；单位国内生产总值能耗下降３．４％以上，主要污染物排放量继续下降。
李克强报告了做好２０１７年政府工作要把握好的五点：一是贯彻稳中求进工作总基调，保持战略定力；二是坚持以推进供给侧结构性改革为主线；三是适度扩大总需求并提高有效性；四是依靠创新推动新旧动能转换和结构优化升级；五是着力解决人民群众普遍关心的突出问题。
李克强说，２０１７年要重点做好九个方面工作：一是用改革的办法深入推进“三去一降一补”；二是深化重要领域和关键环节改革；三是进一步释放国内需求潜力；四是以创新引领实体经济转型升级；五是促进农业稳定发展和农民持续增收；六是积极主动扩大对外开放；七是加大生态环境保护治理力度；八是推进以保障和改善民生为重点的社会建设；九是全面加强政府自身建设。
李克强还就民族、宗教和侨务工作，国防和军队建设，香港、澳门发展和两岸关系，以及我国外交政策作了阐述。
根据会议议程，大会审查２０１６年国民经济和社会发展计划执行情况与２０１７年国民经济和社会发展计划草案的报告及２０１７年计划草案、２０１６年中央和地方预算执行情况与２０１７年中央和地方预算草案的报告及２０１７年全国预算草案。
在主席台就座的还有：马凯、王沪宁、刘延东、刘奇葆、许其亮、孙春兰、孙政才、李源潮、汪洋、张春贤、范长龙、孟建柱、赵乐际、胡春华、栗战书、郭金龙、韩正、杜青林、赵洪祝、杨晶、常万全、杨洁篪、郭声琨、王勇、周强、曹建明、韩启德、帕巴拉·格列朗杰、董建华、万钢、林文漪、罗富和、何厚铧、张庆黎、李海峰、陈元、卢展工、周小川、王家瑞、王正伟、马飚、齐续春、陈晓光、马培华、刘晓峰、王钦敏，以及中央军委委员房峰辉、张阳、赵克石、张又侠、吴胜利、马晓天、魏凤和等。
香港特别行政区行政长官梁振英、澳门特别行政区行政长官崔世安列席会议并在主席台就座。
出席全国政协十二届五次会议的政协委员列席大会。
中央和国家机关有关部门、解放军及武警部队、各人民团体有关负责人列席或旁听了大会。
各国驻华使节旁听了大会。（完）
Xuefei Chen Axelsson
London, Mar.3(Greenpost)–Green Post likes to congratulates the opening of the annual Chinese CPPCC session.
This is an important event in Chinese people’s life with committee members will give suggestions and proposals to the government in implementation of government work plans.
The well known Nation People’s Congress will be held on March 5.
Green Post likes to congratulates NPC session too.
