Category Archives: World News

NPC 34: XI JINPING RE-ELECTED CHINESE PRESIDENT

BY XUEFEI CHEN AXELSSON
BEIJING, MARCH 17(GREENPOST)– XI JINPING WAS RE-ELECTED AS THE CHINESE PRESIDENT WITH A FULL VOTE OF 2970 VOTES DURING THE THIRD PLENARY SESSION OF THE ONGOING NATIONAL PEOPLE’S CONGRESS IN BEIJING.

GREENPOST’S REPORTER XUEFEI CHEN AXELSSON ATTENDED THE ELECTION SESSION AND FILED THIS REPORT.

AT 9 THE PLENARY SESSON BEGAN AS USUAL.
The deputies  first approved the draft law of the national institution reform.
Then the voting process started.

Xi Jinping was elected as the Chinese president with a full vote of 2970 votes out of the total member of 2980 in which 10 absent.

Li Zhanshu was elected as the new chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.

Wang Qishan was elected as vice president of the People’s Republic of China.
Wang Chen was elected as vice president of the NPC standing committee together with others.

The elected leaders swore in front of the new constitution that was passed a few days ago during this session of the NPC Congress.

The result was even welcomed by the weather because it snowed and rained after such a dry winter in Beijing.

The premier will be elected on March 18th. please stay tuned.

Xuefei Chen Axelsson reporting from Beijing.

Ingmar Bergman’s 100th anniversary celebrated all over the world

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson


Photographer/Source: © Bengt Wanselius

“Bergmania” is sweeping the world in celebration of what would have been the legendary director’s 100th birthday. New digitisations of his films by the Swedish Film Institute have enabled the entire world to participate in the celebration, according to a press release from the Bergman Foundation.

– The huge interest in celebrating Bergman 100 exceeds our highest expectations! Though great art is indeed timeless, it still needs the support from public and private institutions to remain available. Most importantly, though, it needs the support of the audience. The art of Bergman, luckily, enjoys all of these, says Jan Holmberg, CEO at the Ingmar Bergman Foundation.

In the beginning of February the Ingmar Bergman-fever reached New York as Film Forum opened its centennial celebration of the Swedish director, with a five week retrospective, screening 47 of his feature films. The program has been praised as “the repertory of the year” and has drawn great accolades from fans and critics with reviews in high profile New York-based magazines such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker wrote “The world of Ingmar Bergman is hereby declared open. It contains multitudes. Everyone is welcome.”

BFI programmer Geoff Andrew crowned Bergman as “the ultimate auteur” in his introductory speech for BFI’s Ingmar Bergman: A Definitive Film Season, a three month celebration that marks the centenary of the film-makers birth. As part of BFI celebrations of the centenary of Ingmar Bergman, many of his films will be returning to cinemas across the UK. From February 21 through April 14, London’s Old Vic presents Fanny & Alexander, an adaptation for the stage of Bergman’s 1982 semi-autobiographical work.

Back in continental Europe, the Centro sperimentale di cinematografia in Rome generated long lines circling around the theatre as they screened the Bergman retrospective. In Vienna, the Austrian Film Museum is staging a complete retrospective of Bergman’s filmography. In the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, hailed Bergmans films as “keeping us looking fearlessly into the mirror, their reflections are acid baths for the soul”.

Film retrospectives and screenings will continue all over the world, among them Tel Aviv, Singapore, Detroit, Beijing, Montreal, Madrid, Moscow, Prague, Berlin, Washington DC, Hong Kong, Bogota, Taipei, Chicago, Paris, Toronto, Ljublijana, Geneva and Mexico City.

– The fact that Ingmar Bergman’s films can be shown in this way worldwide is thanks to the Swedish Film Institute’s digitisation project. Three years ago, we decided that all of Bergman’s films would be digitised and translated into English by 2018, says Mathias Roensgren, Director of Film Heritage at the Swedish Film Institute.

In Scandinavia, among almost countless Bergman-related events, the cinematheques in Stockholm, Helsinki and Oslo started their all year long retrospectives. The Museum Hallwyl in Stockholm is showcasing a selection of women’s costumes featured in Bergman’s films. This year will also witness an extensive Bergman-related book release (more than 40 titles); including the Swedish publishing house Nordstedts releasing six volumes of mostly previously unpublished material written by the director.

The Oscars-weekend is fast approaching and nominated for Best Foreign Language Film is Ruben Östlund’s The Square. This could make it the first Swedish film to win the award since Fanny & Alexander at the 1984 ceremony. Bergman received three Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film during his career including The Virgin Spring(1960) and Through a Glass Darkly (1961), placing him second only to Federico Fellini, and received nine other Academy Award-nominations for his films. Watch actress Harriet Anderson accepting the award on Bergman’s behalf at the 1962 ceremony.

For more information, visit http://www.ingmarbergman.se/

The Swedish Film Institute works to promote film across the board – from idea to finished product, during launch in Sweden and around the world, and by preserving films for posterity in our archives. The Guldbagge Awards are Sweden’s leading film awards and have been presented by The Swedish Film Institute since 1964. In our database The Swedish Film Database you can search for information about all Swedish feature-length films released at the cinema since 1897.

北欧理事会部长出席《北欧地区状况》报告发布会

北欧绿色邮报网报道(记者陈雪霏)– 北欧理事会部长们2月8日在斯德哥尔摩斯堪森露天博物馆出席了《北欧状况》报告发布会。

瑞典外交大臣瓦尔斯特伦和她的北欧理事会同行一起出席了发布会。

瓦尔斯特伦首先致辞说,北欧地区在全球作为整体经济实力占12%是全球经济的一支重要力量。我们经常被当作很小的单位来看待。

北欧地区在教育,科研,数字化等领域都是全球领先。今后将继续加强协调合作。北欧状况报告里边藏金啊。经济增长速度比欧盟平均速度高,接受的难民最多,男女平等非常好。我们的长处在于创新和数字化。还有我们善于互相学习。我们像一个大家庭。所以,希望大家好好研究这个报告。这也是瑞典担任轮值主席之后的第一次会议。

报告评出最具动态增长力的城市是斯德哥尔摩。斯德哥尔摩大区郡长主持会议。

专家们表示,北欧状况报告显示,在过去两年里冰岛的增长速度是非常快了。相比之下,挪威慢了一些。他们认为冰岛可能是因为2008年经济危机出现严重倒退,现在恢复过来了,因此,显得速度非常快,而挪威相对慢的原因是因为石油价格下跌和石油产量减少造成的。但也有人认为挪威经济实际上也没有什么大的变化,依然还是不错的。

发布会上斯德哥尔摩郡长斯文诺纽斯认为,斯德哥尔摩之所以发展速度快是因为斯德哥尔摩有吸引力。注重长期改善投资环境,注意合作,而不是互相争斗。这是我们的长期成功。

Mayor Irene Svenonius from the Stockholm County Council will also attend the event.

Mayor Irene Svenonius from the Stockholm County Council 。

The Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, Dagfinn Høybråten

State of the Nordic Region is a unique compilation of statistics and maps, giving a detailed view of the Nordic countries at both national and regional level.

The report compares the Nordic countries on key socioeconomic parameters. It also provides prognoses on the demography, economy and labour market of the 74 regions within the overall Nordic Region.

China reiterates non-first-use principle of nuclear weapon

STOCKHOLM, Feb. 19(Greenpost)–

A senior Chinese diplomat said Saturday that China is committed to the principle of non-first-use of nuclear weapon, expressing concerns about the danger of nuclear development at present at the ongoing Munich Security Conference (MSC).

“China maintains a very small nuclear arsenal, and China follows the policy of self-defense and minimum deterrence,” said Fu Ying, a veteran diplomat and now chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature.

File Photo of Fu Ying [Photo: Xinhua]

File Photo of Fu Ying [Photo: Xinhua]

“China is also committed to the principle of non-first-use of nuclear weapon, and no-use of nuclear weapon against any nuclear state at any circumstances and no-use of nuclear weapon against nuclear-free zones,” she added.

Fu made the remarks at an MSC panel discussion about the nuclear security, on which some participants expressed their concerns over nuclear proliferation at present.

“I share and express the concern about the danger, about the risk of the nuclear development,” said Fu, who added that so far after many decades, the world has managed to prevent a major nuclear war, but obviously the challenges and dangers are growing.

She noted that it is important that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely China, United States, Russia, Britain and France, should continue their efforts and continue to take responsibility to maintain global strategic stability, to safeguard non-proliferation regime, and to continue the nuclear disarmament.

China is also in support of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), added Fu.

She also called for efforts to upgrade global security governance.

“We need to think about how to upgrade global security governance to reflect that highly integrated global economy,” said Fu.

“China supports and advocates the idea of common securities for all,” she said, stressing that China proposes and is committed to building a community with shared future for mankind.

Source: Xinhua

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Ambassador Gui Congyou Meets with First Deputy Speaker of the Swedish Parliament Ewa Thalén Finné

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
STOCKHOLM, Feb. 2(Greenpost)–  On 18 January, Chinese Ambassador Gui Congyou met with the First Deputy Speaker of the Swedish Parliament Ms. Ewa Thalén Finné.
The two sides exchanged views on the outcomes of the recent joint visit to China by the Speakers of the Nordic-Baltic parliaments, development of China-Sweden relations and exchanges between legislatures of the two countries.

Ambassador Gui said that the successful joint visit of the Speakers of the Nordic-Baltic parliaments is a major event in the history of China-Sweden relations and even in the exchanges between China and the Nordic-Baltic countries.

It is a milestone in the exchanges between legislatures of the two countries. China speaks highly of Sweden’s active participation in the joint visit to promote friendly cooperation with China, and stands ready to further strengthen communication with Sweden so as to implement the outcomes of the visit and promote bilateral relations, said Gui.

Ms. Finné spoke highly the positive results of the joint visit to China. She said the delegation’s informative meetings with the Chinese leaders have enriched the delegates’ understanding of modern China and played an important role in promoting exchanges between legislatures of China and the Nordic-Baltic countries.

The Swedish Parliament stands ready to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the National People’s Congress of China and promote bilateral relations.

Source: Chinese Embassy

China International Import Expo CIIE to be held in Shanghai on Nov. 5-10

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 30 (Greenpost) — China International Import Expo is to be held in Shanghai during November 5-10, 2018, said Wang Dongtang, Deputy Director General of Department of Foreign Trade of Ministry of Commerce.

He made the remark during a presentation in Stockholm about the November expo.

Wang said it was Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the expo during last year’s belt and road summit in Beijing. The purpose is to provide chances for foreign exporters to sell in China.

China will invite all the buyers home and abroad to attend the expo and buy the products and services in order to balance the Sino-foreign trade.

Wang said the expo will provide a good platform for the important exporters and importers to make a deal efficiently to balance the world trade.

Han Xiaodong, Chinese counselor of Commerce at the Chinese Embassy in Sweden said it was for the first time that Swedish export to China to reach surplus in 2017.  This means Swedish products are welcomed in China.

Elizabeth Soderstrom, Secretary General of Sweden-China Trade Council also attended the presentation and express good luck to the expo.

Over a hundred entrepreneurs, CEOs and government attended the route presentation of China International Import Expo.

Photo&Text  Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Air China to launch direct Beijing–Copenhagen route

STOCKHOLM, Jan.23(Greenpost) — Air China Limited (Air China) will begin non-stop flights between Beijing and Copenhagen from May 30, 2018. Once the new route launches, passengers will be able to arrive comfortably in Andersen’s dreamlike fairy tale Kingdom in 10 hours.

Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark, and is filled with fairy-tale innocence and lively, idyllic charm. Following the official start of the “China-Denmark Year of Tourism”, Chinese tourists are becoming increasingly excited about travelling to Denmark, with 260 thousand tourists visiting the country in 2017. Following its launch, the Beijing-Copenhagen direct route will become a strong supplement to the Beijing-Stockholm route, further improving Air China’s network of routes to Northern Europe. Once the route launches, domestic passengers will be able to enjoy travel in Northern Europe by flying to two destinations, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Passengers from Denmark and Sweden will also be able to enjoy 144-hour via free transit in Beijing when travelling to a third country.

For many years, Air China has been establishing a global route network with Beijing as its hub. The network of routes spreads throughout the world, covering six continents. The addition of this non-stop route between Beijing and Copenhagen is the latest development in Air China’s strategy to transform Beijing into an airport hub with a truly global reach, and improve network coverage in the Europe. Air China offers the largest selection of routes between China and Europe. The new Beijing–Copenhagen service will bring the total number of routes to 27, with an offering of 300 flights per week to 20 major European destinations, including London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Rome, Moscow, Barcelona, Madrid, Zurich and Stockholm, all serviced by wide-body aircraft.

Flight information:

The Beijing -Copenhagen route number is CA877/8 and has four flights per week, scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The outbound flight departs Beijing at 02:55 and arrives in Copenhagen at 06:45; The inbound flight departs Copenhagen at 13:15 and arrives in Beijing at 04:10 (all times are local). All flights use the Airbus 330-200. Business class offers 180 degree fully flat seats, with personal entertainment systems throughout the cabin, so you can either stretch out comfortably or enjoy the entertainment, giving each passenger an even better personal flying space.

The specific launch time for the route will be determined by when tickets go on sale.

今日头条:太棒了!国航将开通北京—哥本哈根航线

SIPRI Expert on chances and challenges on cooperation of Ice Silk Road

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 11(Greenpost)– Chinese President Xi Jinping has put up forward a proposal about cooperation in Ice Silk Road along arctic routes as the ice in the arctic is melting faster and faster.

Greenpost has a chance to have a  written interview with Ekaterina Klimenko, Researcher and SIPRI expert on Arctic Security. The following is the Q & A.

1.     What are the chances and challenges in the cooperation of this ice Silk Road, or Northern Sea Route for China?

 Traditionally, Russia has been reluctant to allow non-Arctic states to play a strong role in Arctic region, including in economic projects. However, a number of factors have shifted Russia’s policies, among them significant shifts in the world energy markets and sanctions. This allowed for great China’s involvement, first of all, into oil and gas development in the Russia Arctic zone. Moscow and Beijing has significantly expended Chian’s investments in to the joint project on the Yamal peninsular, Yamal LNG.

 The Russian government officials and the President Putin personally have on a number of occasions encourages Asian partners, and China in particular, to look at the Northern Sea Route as a possible alternative shipping route. However, over the last couple years China, and other Asian states, is also seen as investors into the construction of the NSR infrastructure. E.g. in a Joint Statement signed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Russian Prime Minister Medvedev in December 2015, it was highlighted that the two sides would cooperate in developing the NSR into a competitive commercial sea route in the future. On several occasions Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s State Commission for Arctic Development, has mentioned that Russia and China are discussing cooperation on the NSR.

 Among the major challenges at the moment remains the fact that the Russian Government has still not defined the future of many infrastructure projects along the NSR. It is therefore unclear whether any of the projects will actually be implemented. Thus, despite the evident enthusiasm of Russian officials for fostering Chinese participation in infrastructure projects, this type of cooperation remains ‘on paper’ and does not go further than official statements and signed MOUs.

2.     How will this affect the Arctic countries?

It is too early to say at the moment how Russia China cooperation on the Northern Sea Route would affect the other Arctic states, as there is not much progress with it. I think we will see much more in the next 5-10 years.

 3.     How will it affect the environment?

Expansion of any economic activity in the Arctic brings the risks for environment. Growing shipping along the NSR, especially shipping of hydrocarbons creates significant risks for oil spills.

 4.     How can China participate in projects along the route?

 We have already 2 examples of how China can participate in the projects: the construction of the Belkomur railway and the deep-water harbour in Arkhangelsk. In 2015 Chinese Poly Technologies Inc. signed an agreement to invest in the development of the Belkomur railway and in the future to be responsible for its operation. . The project is believed to have a cost frame of more than 200 billion roubles (€2.67 billion). Poly Technologies has reportedly also expressed an interest in participating in construction of the new deep-water harbour in Arkhangelsk.[1]

I think we will see more of this type of partnerships.

Thank you. 

 

Swedish Chinese TV: 2017 Right Livelihood Prize issued in Vasa Museum

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Dec. 1(SCT, Greenpost) –2017 Right Livelihood Prize has been issued to Robert Bilott (USA), Colin Gonsalves (Indien), Khadija Ismayilova (Azerbajdzjan) and Yetnebersh Nigussie (Etiopien) by Kenya Human Rights activist and UN rapportage Maina Kiai. Khadija ISmayilova from Azerbajdzjan could not come out, but she showed up in video on Dec. 1. The issuing ceremony was held in the beautiful Vasa Museum.

Filmed by Xuefei Chen Axelsson

 

A wave of discussing the 19th CPC Congress arises in Sweden

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 31(Greenpost)– A craze discussing the 19th CPC Congress has arisen in Sweden beginning with a grand seminar held by Institute of Security and Development Policy.

Gui Congyou, Chinese Ambassador to Sweden gave a keynote speech at the opening of the seminar.

“The successful convening of the 19th CPC congress has arounsed world wide attention.  The CPC national congress has analysed the domestic and international situation, made such an important judgement that China’s Socialism with Chinese Characteristics  has entered a New Era, elected a new term of leaders of the  CPC central committee and mapped out new policies and strategic deployment . It is of great significance for realizing Chinese people’s dreams of a good life and the common development together with the world people, it is a blessing for both the Chinese and world people. ”

Gui Congyou said the Communist Party of China will not forget its mission of leading the Chinese people to live a better life.  It’s first goal is to secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and the second goal is to build a modernized socialist China by 2035.

Gui Congyou said during this process, China has gradually entered the center stage of the world and China will shoulder greater responsibilities for example in peace-keeping forces, in coping with the climate change, anti-terrorism and poverty elimination.

According to the CPC’s goal, in three years, China will completely wipe out the extreme poverty of its 1.3 billion population. Currently the poor is still accounting for 4 percent of the total population or about 40 million which is about four times of the Swedish population.

Gui Congyou said China loves peace and insists on the peaceful coexisting principle and will not interfere in other countries’ domestic affairs. It also opposes  interference in other country’s domestic affairs. China will never seek hegemonism. China opposes nuclear proliferation.

Gui Congyou said his mission to Sweden is to make friends and facilitate to deepen bilateral relations between China and Sweden and China will never forget that Sweden was the first western country that established diplomatic relations with China and has always been actively developing relations with China, in which made great contribution to China’s development.

He welcomes Sweden to further cooperation with China in innovation, green economy, energy saving and environmental protection, intelligence manufacturing and many other aspects such as in the United Nations.

He said China under the leadership of the CPC is a builder of the world peace, a contributor of the global development and obeying the world order and rules.

The host of the seminar was Ambassador  Per Eklund who is a board member of the ISDP.

The panalist of the seminar was Li Junfeng, Political Counselor of the Chinese Ambassy to Sweden, Dr. Oskar Alman from Uppsala University,  Lora Daalman, director of China and Global Security Program of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute or SIPRI and Dr. Kristina Sandklef,  Director of Sandklef Asia Insight.

Dr. Alman said he was a little bit worried about the election procedures in China but after the congress he felt not that worried. On the other hand, he also felt the concentration of power might be better for implementing environmental protection policies for example, so it depends on how you look at it and there is a lot of tradeoffs.

Dr. Kristina Sandklef said she held that there will be more cooperation opportunities if China holds its promise of giving the same treatment of foreign enterprises, or as generous as Sweden in giving market access to Chinese companies.

Lora Saalman, Director of China and Global Security Program of SIPRI said she noticed China’s strengthening of combat capability and modernization of its weapons, but in general, China’s number of armed forces is not on the increase.

The panelists also discussed about gender equality issue, election procedures and many other aspects.

In the evening, Stockholm Chinese Assistance Center led By James Wang Jianrong also held a seminar discussing the 19th CPC National Congress.

Meanwhile, in Sveavägen 41 in Stockholm, ABF hosted a seminar on a book titled Mao i Sverige or Mao in Sweden–1963-1986 written by a Phd student  Ingrid.

She said she had lived in China for a few years and spoke very fluent Chinese. She found there were many Mao followers since 1963 when famous Swedish journalist Myrdal wrote a lot of books and reports about China and was received by Mao.  But by 1986, the leftists almost died out.  In fact, there are still many people who are very much interested in talking about China and caring about China.

According to ABF news, there will be another seminar titled China after the Communist Party Congress on the evening of November 9 in ABF.

Sinologists Börje Ljunggren,  former Swedish Ambassador to China and author, Torbjörn Loden, professor emeritus in Chinese language and culture and Malin Oud, chinese friend and chief of Raoul Wallenberg’s Institute’s Stockholm Office will be the panelists.

Sources say on Thursday, Chinese leaders in Sweden will also hold a seminar discussing about the 19th CPC National Congress and the Xi Jinping Thought on China entering new era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

It cannot be root out that there will be more such seminars in the near future.

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has mapped out a new blue print for the next stage of development. That is to wipe out poverty by 2020 and to basically become a modern society by 2035.  By 2050, China will comprehensively become a modern and beautiful country in all aspects.


 

 

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TV: ISDP holds seminar on China’s 19th CPC Congress Ambassador Gui speaks

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 31(Greenpost)– Swedish Thinktank Institute for Security and Development Policy held a seminar on China’s 19th CPC National Congress on Monday.  Chinese Ambassador Gui Congyou made a keynote speech at the opening.

Ambassador Per Eklund made an introduction about Ambassador Gui who was born in 1965 and used to work in Moscow.

Ambassador Gui made the speech in Chinese and interpreted through an interpreter.

Mr. Gui answered questions.

Ambassador Gui explained about China’s stance of non interference and moving to the center of the world stage .

Kristina Sandklef speaks at the seminar.

Oskar Alman speaks at the seminar.

Li Junfeng, political counselor at the Chinese Embassy and Lora Saalman from SIPRI were also panelists at the seminar.

About 150 people attended the seminar and it was warmly welcomed.

 

Video: China and Sweden discuss how to further business cooperation

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 12(Greenpost)– The first China-Sweden Business Form has been successfully held at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm.

Pennila Gunther speaks at the conference about innovation.

Councilor of Commerce of Chinese Embassy Han Xiaodong introduces China’s policies in investing abroad and investing in China at China-Sweden Business Forum on Oct. 9,2017.  Filmed by Xuefei Chen Axelsson.

Dialogue:  Mr. Kai Hammerich, Mr. Jöran Hägglund, Ms. Penilla Gunther, Mr. Han Xiaodong, Mr. Claes-Goran Sandström.

Ms Kär from SI talks about Sweden.

Ms. Lena Sellgren from Business Sweden talks about opportunities in growing China.

Dr. Nicolas Svanström talks about opportunities and challenges of belt and road initiative.

China-Sweden Business Forum concluded and all the board members and honorary guests took a photo together.

Nobel Lareates in Physiology interviewed

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Stockholm, October, 2 (Greenpost)

As usual, Nobel Laureates were interviewed by the Nobel Media right after the announcement.

 

The phone call reached Hall’s home.

“You’ve reached me where I’ve lived for many years in the middle of nowhere, Maine, rural Maine. Also known as Central Maine. In the extreme north east of this great country of ours. It is physically beautiful, including, I’m looking out the window, it’s a very beautiful day today, which is often is. Not quite yet but it’s still green as can be but it’s, because Maine is not like Arizona.

What is Hall’s reaction to the prize?

JH: Yes, correct. That was about half of our work, during my time when I was employed, had to do with circadian rhythms, indeed. That became amongst our most well-known research achievements, if any. Usually, and, relentlessly co-authored with Rosbash with whom you’ve already spoken. So he and I joined forces in the early mid-eighties and imagined that we might, or we might not as the case may be, go onward and upward doing research together in that arena. Which often involved crucially, what I call AIs – actual investigators – like students, post-doctoral supervisees, from the two labs working very closely together, even day by day. So that was enjoyable, it wasn’t that either lab was way out on its own limb. We had a lot of mutual support, I think it’s fair to say.

Hall and Rosbath were actually teaching in the same university.

JH: This was based in large part on becoming close personally at the beginning where our research interests in very general terms were in genetics, writ large. It was only after six, seven, or eight years that we started to work things together and imagine that possibly our backgrounds and our skills, if any, might be complementary. The key reason that we got into that kind of relationship was because we were personally close. We had mutual interest in low culture stuff like sports and rock and roll music and abusable substances and stuff. And so we spent a lot of time just carousing or sitting together in misery at local sports stadiums. We have also certain, many similar interests, even in the pre-rhythm research days. He as a molecular geneticist, I as a straight up fruit fly geneticist.

AS: And that brings us onto flies. We should say a word for flies on this day of all days because once again the power of the fly as a model organism has been demonstrated.

JH: That’s right, this is something I’ve always … I was taught when I was a graduate student about a phrase, it’s known as the law of drosophila. To know about the deep history going all the way back to the 1920s, and the 40s and the 90s and now the second decade of the current century. It’s just one of a zillion examples of how basic research on a supposedly irrelevant organism can have broader significance than, with regard to what’s going on in terms of that organism itself. And this has been true of fruit fly research, which has been a major contributor for decades. For well over a century actually.  The key fourth awardee here is, as some of us call them, the little fly. So the little flies deserve another tip of the hat, I think, in terms of what has happened today.

When Michael Young was interviewed, he was busy answering phone calls.

M Young: I don’t know. Somehow, somehow, it’s just all spinning around in my head that this has happened. You know about these things and you can see possibilities on the horizon but you never really…Has this really happened?! [Laughs.] I’m still at that stage.

I mean this was … You know, I had gone to Stanford to learn how to use this technology, it was brand new in the 70s. And starting up my lab at Rockefeller I had worked a little bit on this problem, circadian rhythms, thanks to these tremendous mutants that Seymour Benzer and his student Ron Konopka had found. And I just thought it was a terrific problem and maybe the toughest thing I could try to tackle because it was behaviour; you know, what could we learn about a fairly complicated behaviour that we all exhibit, which was most easily represented by sleep wake cycles. And frankly I thought we might find out maybe a little bit. I never thought we would really understand what the motor behind this was, at the time. We were very lucky, we managed to find genes that fit together like puzzle pieces to explain how this thing worked. And the techniques and the approaches kept changing and I kept … I was very lucky I kept getting students and post docs that were extremely good and just did everything right. And the other piece of this was, you know, there was sort of a race going on in the early years. My colleagues Jeff Hall and Michael Rosbash and we kind of pushed each other along because … I mean most of it was independently done but we did have to collaborate from time to time, but we worked on slightly different problems but the solutions to those problems all, as I was saying, fit together like puzzle pieces, that kind of bring the picture into view. It was, it’s been really quite satisfying. This really pushes it way, way, over the top. It’s really quite incredible. And I couldn’t … yeah, this is terribly exciting as you can imagine.

How did

 

 

视频:2017诺贝尔生理学或医学奖宣布三美国科学家获奖

北欧绿色邮报网北欧中华网联合报道(记者陈雪霏)– 瑞典卡罗林斯卡医学院诺贝尔生理学或医学奖评审单位诺奖大会常务秘书托马斯.佩尔曼2日在新闻发布会上宣布:2017年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖将授予美国的杰夫雷.霍尔, 迈克尔.罗斯巴什和迈克尔.扬,因为他们发现了控制昼夜24小时节奏的分子机制。