Andy Mok: Sanya city, where beauty and intelligence go together

By Andy Mok, a non-resident fellow with Center for China and Globalization (CCG)  Like Perry Peirui Mao, Miss China, the hundreds of other contestants are vying for the 2018 Miss World title on December 8. Sanya, the venue for this year’s pageant, is blessed with a captivating abundance of physical beauty. To be beautiful is to hold a certain kind of power because it delivers pleasure and satisfaction. It also attracts and even compels as well as provides those experiencing it with emotional well-being. But the impact of beauty is even more profound. According to Plato, science, the arts and religion comprise the three fields of human interest and truth, beauty and goodness represent their corresponding ideals. The power of beauty is also evidenced by decades of psychological research that demonstrate a halo effect in that those that are beautiful are automatically assumed to be smart, ambitious and interesting. Some contestants of the 68th Miss World Final in Sanya, China, November 14, 2018 /VCG Photo But to have a positive impact on the world, being beautiful isn’t enough for either people or cities. Perhaps the more important and interesting question is – what does one do with that beauty? As the only beachfront tropical city in China, Sanya has a 258-km-long coastline with almost twenty separate bays and beaches. Because of this natural beauty, it has long been called the “Hawaii of China.” Sanya has pursued a number of smart policies and initiatives to complement its physical beauty. These initiatives include a world-class duty-free shopping mall and recent increase to 30,000 RMB (4,300 U.S. dollars) per year purchase allowance, and systematic approaches to local transportation to provide a higher quality experience for visitors. Some contestants of the 68th Miss World Final in Sanya, China, November 14, 2018. /VCG Photo For example, all taxis in Sanya are equipped with both video cameras and microphones providing real-time data to local authorities to provide a sense of safety for both passengers and drivers. Also, these hardware solutions are complemented by customer service training for the city’s cab drivers. But perhaps most significantly, Hainan Province has won the support of the central government to become a free trade zone, which would be the biggest in China. Under this policy, Hainan, including Sanya, would offer foreign businesses much greater freedom than in other parts of China. It would also ease restrictions on foreign investment on the island in the sectors of agriculture to medical services. As the United States launches a full spectrum response to forcefully counter China, the likelihood of a decoupling of the world’s two biggest economies appears more and more likely. Some already are calling it a new iron curtain. In this scenario, China will need to accelerate its realization of technological self-sufficiency. A key way to accomplish this is to attract the brainiest innovators from all over the world by offering a beautiful and inspiring environment. Sanya’s physical appeal combined with a continuation of intelligent policies that already attract numerous Russians and other nationalities may usher in a future for this city where it is recognized not just for its beauty but also its brains. From CGTN，2018-12-8

三城地铁“通票”诞生 长三角智慧生活圈提速

摘要：这看似小小的一步，不仅通过支付宝的技术助力克服了三地闸机硬件的差异，更在某种程度上跨越了三个城市居民的心理距离，开启“你中有我，我中有你”模式。以后，整个长三角地区都将实现地铁刷码的互联互通，形成一个区域 “地铁圈”。

Victor Gao: Leave no one behind in poverty

By Victor Gao, vice president of CCG October 17 marks China’s Poverty Alleviation Day, and the country has ample reasons to be proud of its achievements in poverty alleviation. Over the past forty years, while the exact numbers differ from one study to another, the consensus is that China has lifted more people out poverty than the combined total number of people lifted out of poverty in all the developed countries since the Industrial Revolution. Forty years ago, China achieved probably the highest form of egalitarianism in human history, but it was egalitarianism of poverty where people were equally poor. Then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping refused to accept this as the fate for China or for the Chinese people.  Relying on his wisdom, courage and vision, Deng brought China out of the ideological box and embarked on a path of reform and opening-up. Deng emphasized that if socialism would only result in poverty, it would not be the ideology for China. He focused on development and eventually brought China out of poverty and unto a path of development, modernization and prosperity. Deng called the new system as socialism with Chinese characteristics, which eventually changed China and the world for the better. A villager in Lu’an City, east China’s Anhui Province talks about the joy of being lifted out of poverty on China’s Poverty Alleviation Day, October 17, 2018. /VCG Photo Lifting hundreds of millions of Chinese people out of poverty has been a gigantic epic movement in human history. Through a dazzling flurry of political and economic reforms and audacious opening to the outside world, hundreds of millions of people in China shook off the shackles of poverty. Many of them moved to cities as migrant workers in the rapid process of industrialization and modernization. Industrialization, modernization, urbanization and globalization have become the mega trends in China, unlocking productivity and efficiency in many walks of life. People’s living standards improved, life expectancy increased, health improved, per-capita income and per-family wealth increased, and 9-year mandatory education has become institutionalized throughout the country.  Chinese people are confident that today is better than yesterday, and their tomorrow will be better than today. However, given China’s population and complexities, poverty is still a severe problem in some regions. The Chinese government is committed to eradicating poverty by 2020. By 2020, poverty as a phenomenon will no longer exist anywhere in China, and the Chinese people as whole will enjoy a well-to-do living standards free from hunger, starvation and poverty. China will continue to grow as a modern, prosperous, responsible and accountable country in the world.  Inclusive and equitable development has become an important theme in political discourse in China.  Chinese governments at all levels and the Chinese people as a whole have been fully mobilized to make sure that no one will be left behind in poverty in China’s big strides forward.  Everyone in China deserves to enjoy the benefits of China’s reform and opening to the outside. Shanghai, China’s financial hub. /VCG Photo China firmly believes that the extraordinary hard-working people in China in all walks of life have made the greatest contribution to the economic miracles and transformation in China over the past forty years. While China’s full engagement with many countries in the world has created mutual benefits for both China and all these countries, no country in the world has any justification to claim that it created the economic miracle and transformation for China.  The Chinese people, through their hard-working commitment and dedication and sweat on their brows have made these economic miracles a reality. By now, China is already the second largest economy in the world and is firmly on the way to becoming the largest economy in the world, anytime between 2025 and 2035. The question is not whether, but when China will become the largest economy in the world. The country which is now the largest economy in the world may not be happy about this prospect, but it needs to learn to come to terms with this prospect. As far as China is concerned, becoming the largest economy in the world doesn’t mean that China will become an abrasive and aggressive superpower bent upon fighting its way to the top of the world against the incumbent superpower. On the contrary, China will remain a force for peace and stability in the world in the future. China will also be happy to share its experience in fighting against poverty and creating economic miracles with many countries in the world. An important part of promoting the community of shared destiny of mankind is poverty alleviation and elimination of poverty of all kinds everywhere in the world. China will not be complacent about eliminating poverty in its own country. China will join hands with many countries in the world in fighting against poverty of all kinds wherever it is found in the world. A China free from poverty will be a better China.  A world free from poverty will be a better world. Let us all work together to make that happen. About Author  Victor Gao, vice president of Center for China and Globalization(CCG), the chairman of China Energy Security Institute.

两年后，海南会变成这个样

继中国设立11个自由贸易试验区后， 海南今年也加入其中。 10月16日，国务院印发 《中国(海南)自由贸易试验区总体方案》 (以下简称《方案》)。 在新闻发布会上，商务部副部长兼国际贸易谈判副代表王受文指出，《方案》是根据海南发展需要，充分吸收现有自贸试验区的试点内容，占海南自贸试验区试点任务的60%。

周大鸣，周爱华：在广州非洲人和韩国人的比较研究