Beijing Today News (January 29, 2016)

11.4 MB·English

by  Beijing Youth Daily Group

PUBLISHED BI-WEEKLY ~ ISSUE NO. 764 ~ JANUARY 29, 2016 ~ 3.00#
Baidu’s Health Int’l School China a Step
Forums Go to a Bridge for in Afghan
the Top Bidder China’s 1% Writer’s Dream
The sale of a hemophilia sup- A survey of Chinese edu- Fleeing civil war in Kabul,
port group has started a storm cation shows inequality Maneza Mohammad Ali
of anger on Tieba. Page 4 begins early. Page 5 arrived in China. Page 6
Festivals
Tighten
Tickets
With only 140,000 tick-
ets available to the Long-
tanhu and Ditan temple
fairs, 2016’s Spring Fes-
tival celebration may be
less of a ‘people mountain
people sea.’
Tickets are available
online through February 4
or at the door from Febru-
ary 8 to 12. Page 3
Peking University Report
CHINESE STOCK INDEXES
Reveals Widening Inequality
SSE (Shanghai)
Close Change YTD
2,655.66 5 79.89 (2.92%) -24.96%
BY KARENA HU
C SZSE (Shenzhen)
hina’s widening wealth gap is one concentrated in the hands of the coun- system, which should play a leading a role Close Change YTD
of the country’s fastest growing try’s top 1 percent; the bottom 25 percent in shrinking the differences cause by the 9,082.59 5 339.84 (3.61%) -28.29%
social concerns, according to the of all families control only 1 percent of income gap, has been turned upside down
recently released 2015 China Livelihood China’s wealth. to apply intense financial pressure to vul- HSI (Hong Kong)
Development Report. Moreover, during the past three nerable families. Close Change YTD
The report series draws on research decades, China’s income Gini index soared “No matter whether we look at social 19,195.83 4 142.38 (0.75%) -12.41%
conducted by Peking University’s China from around 0.3 in the 1980s to 0.45 now structure, class or a trans-regional picture,
Family Panel Studies, which last year – well above the warning level of 0.4. all evidence shows that inequality is grow- Accurate to market close on January 28, 2016
polled 14,960 families in 25 provinces In addition to income, the report ing,” said Li Jianxin, the report’s director
about their living situation, problems and also explores issues facing education and a professor at Peking University.
the country’s social system. and healthcare. Li said the problems listed on the
At the center of this year’s report is an Unchangeable factors such as hukou report require a fast remedy to prevent
investigation into the growing national and one’s parents’ educational background them from becoming a bottleneck to Chi-
income distribution gap. More than a dramatically affect children’s education na’s further social development. ~
third of China’s property and wealth is opportunities. The public healthcare (Karena Hu is an intern at Beijing Today.)
Beijing Youth Daily Group President: Zhang Yanping Editor-in-Chief: Jack Wang ~ Content Director: Su Derui ~ Designer: Zhao Yan ~ Phone: [phone] ~ FAX: [phone]
Editor-in-Chief: Yu Haibo ~ Director: Li Xiaobing ISSN: 2095-9591 ~ 刊号: CN11-0120 ~ 邮发代号1-364 ~ Overseas Code No: D1545 ~ Subscriptions: [phone]
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Chaoyang District, Beijing, China 100026 Published under the auspices of the Office of the Beijing Municipal Government. Run by Beijing Youth Daily Group.
2
JANUARY 29, 2016 NEWS BEIJING TODAY
Chaoyang
for Religious Affairs, and netizens are
allowed to search for ‘living Buddhas’
Police Train
by birth name, religious name, temple,
identity card number or “Living Buddha
Older
Card” number.
User must login in the database with
Informants
their mobile number and are limited to
making five searches per day.
to Identify
“As a living Buddha, I feel genuinely
happy about it,” said Drukhang Thubten Drugs
Khedrup, the 7th Drukhang living
Buddha and vice president of the BAC.
Drukhang Thubten Khedrup said
BY DIAO DIAO
the “living Buddhas” database was a
move to promote transparency in the
BAC and resolve reincarnation issues
for living buddhas.
“In recent years, some people in
Tibetan areas and other parts of China
have posed as living Buddhas to show
Photo by The Paper
off and swindle others, harming the
‘Living-Buddha’
interests of the masses and damaging
the reputation of Tibetan Buddhism and
living Buddhas,” he said. “Now with
Database Aimed
the living Buddha database, people can
quickly learn whether they are dealing
with a real living Buddha.”
to Stop Impostors Photo by news.163.com
The tradition regarding living
C
Buddhas as reincarnations of prom- haoyang police held a drug
inent Buddhist leaders emerged in identification training class for
the 1200s. the anonymous participants in the
For years, there have been swindlers Chaoyang Qunzhong information
BY YANG XIN
C who pose as living Buddhas to gain network on January 19.
hina launched an online authen- Temple in Western Beijing. money from believers. A search of “living Zhang Xin, the chief of the dis-
tication database of “living Bud- The database includes the names, Buddha” on Weibo, one of China’s most trict’s Drug Department took several
dhas” – holy men believed to be photos, religious names, monastic titles popular social media platforms, reveals boxes of different drugs to Hepingli
reincarnations of Tibetan lamas – in and other personal details of 870 veri- more than 4,300 results. Only 170 of Community to show the residents,
an attempt to root out swindlers on fied “living Buddhas,” Xinhua reported. these accounts have been verified as gen- most of whom were older.
January 18. It is expected to expand as authorities uine by Weibo’s operators. Many of the senior women said
The launch was celebrated at a cer- continue their investigations. Among Weibo’s 170 verified “living they were surprised to learn that
emony hosted by the Buddhist Asso- The database is accessible on the Buddhas,” some are still nowhere to be crystal meth looks essentially iden-
ciation of China (BAC) at the Guangji website of the State Administration found in the newly launched database. ~ tical to the crystals of MSG found
in most Chinese kitchens, and that
ketamine resembles ordinary flour.
‘Opiate-Rich’ Seed Pods Cast Shadow Zhang Xin told how to recog-
nize other common drugs, such as
MDMA, by appearance and smell.
Over Famous Food Street
MDMA is typically pressed into
colorful tablets for sale at clubs.
Most pills are decorated with pat-
BY YANG XIN terns like butterflies or skulls.
“MDMA has a special fragrance,
E
ver wondered why you can’t get enough and people can smell it even from a
of Guijie’s amazing hotpot? According meter away,” Zhang said.
to China’s food investigators, it may be Meth looks like MSG but also
because they are addictive. At least if you has a slight fragrance. They crys-
believe the China Food and Drug Admin- tals are typically shinier and harder.
istration’s hype. Meth will not melt in the hand,
On January 21, the CFDA announced unlike MSG.
the results of its national investigation of As for signs of drug addiction,
restaurants. Five in Beijing were among Zhang advised residents to look for
the 25 venues blacklisted for having trace people who “yawn and have tears in
amounts of opiates in their spices and their eyes, and lose their strength
sauces, the Beijing News reported. and have a yellow face” – symptoms
Huda Restaurant, one of the most pop- of heroine addiction.
ular restaurants on Guijie, was accused of “Tweakers on the other hand are
spiking its roasted fish spices with opiates. regularly high and can often be seen
In an interview with Beijing News, Hu repeating one sentence or action.
Ling, general manager of Huda Restaurant, They also act paranoid,” he said.
said the incredibly slight amount of opiates Zhang said residents should
detected in the spice war more likely the also be aware of drug trade jargon
result of its shifty spices supplier. “A batch such as liubing, meaning to take
we made using spices from another sup- some meth. Residents may also
plier did not have this problem,” Hu said. pay special attention to people
Photo by CFP
Baoheju Restaurant, also on Guijie, was who buy large amounts of alumi-
accused of adding opiates to its spicy bull- have been closed. enough for one day. To avoid the CFDA’s num foil or straws.
frog sauce. It laid the blame on its former But poppy pods aren’t all that uncom- spot checks, most restauranteurs dispose Zhang said the Chaoyang
chef, surnamed Wu, who ordered the prob- mon in Chinese restaurants, owing to a of the used pods separately.” Qunzhong helped in numerous
lematic spices. popular tale that their trace opiates boost Although they are – strictly speaking drug arrests in 2015. The group
Other restaurants in Beijing accused of the appeal of various dishes. – illegal, poppy pods are available online reported more than 800 cases of
selling food with opiates include Taoxiaji “The dried pods add flavor and fresh- and at spice stores for 200 to 300 yuan for suspected drug use to the police,
in Dongcheng district, Zhennanfu Snack ness as well as accentuate the spiciness 500g. On Taobao, a cursory search of vari- resulting in arrests throughout
in Fangshan district and Xie Shirong Fried of the dishes,” a former Malatang vendor ous homophones reveals dozens of stores Chaoyang district. ~
Chicken in Xicheng district. The latter two told Beijing News. “Three to five pods are selling poppy shell powder. ~
EDITOR: YANG XIN ~ DESIGNER: ZHAO YAN
3
BEIJING TODAY NEWS JANUARY 29, 2016
said students who complete several THE WEEK
courses are recommended to professors at
the China Conservatory of Music for indi-
vidual training. IN WEIRD
Zhongying Yikao, a school located 100
meters from the gate of the Central Acad-
emy of Drama’s Changping campus, told STRANGE HAPPENINGS ON
reporters that their exam prep classes will THE CHINESE NEWS WIRE
begin soon. The classes are designed for BY SU DERUI
second-year high school students without
basic skills in performance or art.
Students waiting outside Fenghua
Shanghai Woman Uses App
Guoyun said their lessons were taught by
to Book Car, Gets Bus
a professor surnamed Han who teaches
Chinese dance at the China Conserva- A woman surnamed Chen who attempted
tory of Music. to book a car using Kuaididi’s Yihao Zhuan
The official website of the art academies Che app to book a car was surprised when
states that professors are not allowed to teach an off-duty city bus pulled up to take her
in outside training schools. While searching to Caobao Toad Station.
Photo by CFP
Training Schools Youku.com, reporters found videos of four The app listed the make of the bus as a
professors attending the opening ceremony “red SUV.”
of the training school’s most recent semes- The driver said he felt driving the
Retain Professors in
ter, as well as clips of them teaching class. empty vehicle back to the bus station
An insider told Beijing Youth Daily that would be a waste of resources, so he
Spite of Ministry’s Ban older organizations can get away with accepted ridesharing requests that would
hiring famous professors if the founder allow him to pick up and drop off passen-
talks to the school beforehand. However, gers along his usual route.
many training schools lie about the qualifi- (Tencent News)
BY DIAO DIAO
S cations of their teachers to win students.
Men Pose as Women on
chools across China started their art ital and found that many “master classes” Training classes are divided into levels
WeChat to Boost Prostitution
student enrollment tests this month. priced between 30,000 and 100,000 yuan that impart basic or intermediate skills and
Business
But this year, the Ministry of Edu- invited professional art teachers from the into sprint classes. Classes take two to six
cation released a new notice emphasizing Central Academy of Drama, Beijing Film months to finish and each charges at least Police broke up a prostitution gang in
that professional art teachers are prohibited Academy, Beijing Dancing Academy and 10,000 yuan. Guangzhou this month, arresting its lead-
from training students to pass the test. China Conservatory of Music to teach. Students said they must also pay ers and fining them 300,000 yuan. The
Beijing Youth Daily reporters secretly An organization called Fenghua for independent instruction, which costs men used WeChat’s “People Nearby” tool
attended several training classes in the cap- Guoyun near China Conservatory of Music even more. ~ to locate guests inside Guangzhou hotels
and arrange a sexual encounter.
Temple Fairs to Limit Tickets Sales The gang included 19 men, 11 of whom
were in their 20s. Three of them men,
Wang, Liu and Fu, traveled from as far
BY DIAO DIAO away as the provinces of Hubei and Hunan
C
onsidering their capacity and past Dongcheng Landscaping Management Barbeque and game vendors will to seek work in the city.
visitor complaints, the Ditan and Center, said this year is the first time remain in the temple fairs. Game vendors The actual prostitution service was
Longtanhu temple fairs have the fairs have invited charitable par- require invitation and expert selection. subcontracted to a woman surnamed Ling
announced plans to limit their ticket ticipants to exhibit Beijing’s intangible Barbeques will be offered by Donglais- who ran her own prostitution operation.
tales each day. cultural heritage as well as several hun, a long-established local restaurant. (Tencent News)
Ditan Temple Fair will sell 150,000 time-honored brands. The Ditan and Longtanhu temple
Wife Steals Family Car to
tickets per day, and Longtanhu will sell Ditan’s fair will have 86 vendors and fairs normally open for eight days. This
Keep Husband Home for
140,000. Forty percent of the tickets Longtanhu’s 77, both a significant decrease year they will only be open for five days.
Chinese New Year
will be available for online reservation. from 2015. Popular vendors such as Biany- Tickets will be available online from
Wang Disheng, the director of ifang will have more than one booth. January 21 to February 4. ~ A man in Daqing surnamed Zhang was
surprised to learn the thief who stole his
car was actually his wife, Li.
“I knew where he kept his license, his
‘Monkey with Tumors’ Selected
ID card and his keys. Without those, there
was no way he could make it home. He
as Spring Festival Gala Mascot
would have to spend Chinese New Year
here with my parents,” Li said.
BY YANG XIN Li said she had not expected that her
husband would report the car stolen.
I
t didn’t take long for the public to scope of the monkey,” wrote one user. “I (Ifeng.com)
destroy “Kangkang,” CCTV’s new can’t bear to see this anymore.”
‘World’s Hardest Green Card’
mascot for the the Year of the Monkey When verbal thrashings were not
Offers Few, Foreigners Say
on January 21. enough to convince CCTV to heal its
The sketch, a smiling icon painted in ailing monkey, netizens took to 3D With only 7,356 Chinese green cards
ink by contemporary artist Han Meilin, modeling software to design a new issued between 2004 and 2013, the docu-
was initially charming. Mei is an excep- monkey that more closely resembles ment is among the world’s most difficult
tionally talented designer best known Han Meilin’s original sketch. The fan to come by. But that doesn’t necessarily
for her work on the Fuwa, the immensely work far exceeds CCTV’s design in make it useful.
popular mascots of the 2008 Beijing number of Likes. “I thought the offer was very attrac-
Olympic Games. Last November, CCTV posted four tive, but as time goes on, it feels more
With a round and hairy head and sketches of the monkey on its official useless,” said Chen Xinhua, president of
dominant colors of yellow, emerald green Weibo and called on netizens to vote for Norwegian Petroleum China. Among his
and rose, the sketch was deemed “cute” their favorite. At that time, “Kangkang” complaints were the inability to use the
and “traditional” by most web users. was not even an option. card to open a bank account or buy train
And then came the 3D version. This is the second year that CCTV tickets, and that green card holders were
The 3D mascot based on those has released a mascot for its Spring still treated as foreigners when conduct-
colorful ink prototypes was immedi- Festival Gala. Last year’s Yangyang ing business.
ately mocked for looking like a traffic was not met with nearly as much The Ministry of Public Security
light with tumors. Online commenta- scorn. announced 20 new measures to support
tors noted it also resembled a “rotten Since Yangyang appeared on only the development of China’s immigration
kiwi” and called on the Monkey King one night and then vanished into the policy on January 12. The new policies
to come “save his brother.” ether, there is good reason to believe would take effect on March 1.
Photos by weibo.cn “I want to give up my Chinese horo- Kangkang will meet a similar fate. ~ (Tencent News)
EDITOR: DIAO DIAO ~ DESIGNER: ZHAO YAN
4
JANUARY 29, 2016 BUSINESS BEIJING TODAY
Baidu Criticized for
Selling Hemophilia
Support Group to
Top Bidder
BY SHU PENGQIAN Photo by CFP
2016
has not been the top of the board, he said. other diseases such as liver disease and normal discussion.
kind to But Zhang said the moderators were hypertension. Baidu’s move to commercialize
Internet giant surprised when a number of useful Tieba resulted in all forums being
Baidu. The company kicked off the articles were suddenly purged from the Tieba Operating System reclassified as “enterprise” or “interest”
new year with a public relations disas- board. Several days later, Zhang and While it’s hard to defend Baidu’s actions based. Moderation control of enterprise
ter when hemophiliacs revealed how the other moderators were stripped of as moral, they are reasonable from a forums is directly sold to companies
Baidu sold their support community to their powers and forbidden to post new business perspective. Highly focused since they are essentially advertising
the highest bidder. information to the support board. online communities are of immense platforms. For interest-based forums,
Baidu’s Tieba is one of China’s larg- In their place was a new mod- commercial value. moderation goes to the highest bidder.
est discussion platforms, with hun- erator, a Tieba user named “Hemo- Each Tieba community is a data Critics have likened the new Tieba
dreds of thousands of sub-forums philia Expert.” gold mine, especially since Tieba to an advertising platform for the rich
devoted to entertainment, cooking, In a notice on January 11, Hemo- user accounts are tied to greater rather than a socializing platform for
hobbies, fandom and support commu- philia Expert said he had formed a Baidu accounts that can be used for regular users.
nities. The site has accumulated more team of consultants and was prepared analysing users’ habits and poten- The exodus of those users could
than 1.5 billion registered accounts to answer any questions about hemo- tial demands. spell trouble for Baidu – Tieba’s strong
since its creation in 2003. philia on the board. He emphasized that The forums also represent a stra- userbase is what makes it a social
“Baidu entrusted to him” this role. tegic component that Baidu uses to media powerhouse, as well as a desir-
Quietly Leaked Netizens unmasked the majority of defend its weak position in the social able target for advertisers.
The first whispers of the sale appeared his “consultants” as employees of a media market, where it is traditionally Critics say the move to sell moder-
online on January 9 and were promptly medical institution in Xi’an, Shaanxi overshadowed by its competitors Sina ation to commercial agencies puts Bai-
ignored as “fake news” by most Chi- province. Others included members and Tencent. du’s reputation at risk and gives many
nese media. who had been banned by the old mod- Baidu did not attempt to capitalize users the impression that the company
On January 10, Zhang Jianyong, a eration team, such as “Liu Shaanxi,” on its Tieba platform before 2014. “will do anything for money.” Even for
hemophiliac and member of the Tieba who fraudulently claimed to be a pro- During that time, Tieba represented a users open to the idea of commercial-
support group, urged readers to exam- fessor at the Shaanxi Medical Research comparatively free online socializing ization, selling moderation control of
ine the case in greater depth in an article Institute of Hemophilia in April 2014. platform where moderation was in the a support group for people with a seri-
published under the name “Mayi Cai.” If the allegations are true, this hands of a community’s most produc- ous disease crosses a line.
The Tieba support group, Zhang would not be the first time Baidu sold tive members. Moderation privileges Baidu has announced plans to
said, was instrumental in allowing Chi- off one of its Tieba communities to cor- were granted to members who logged revoke the access of the hemophilia
na’s hemophiliacs and relatives to air porate interests. in every day and who posted the most forum moderator it appointed and
their frustrations over the disease and In a response on the question and useful articles. transfer control to the Hemophilia
share their experiences about treat- answer site Zhihu, an insider writing That’s not to say there was no grey Home of China, a non-profit organi-
ment. The volunteers on its moderation under the handle “ytytytyt” said more economy. There were frequent cases zation. The company said it would
team worked diligently to delete fraud- than 40 percent of Tieba’s most popu- of companies paying moderators of suspend attempts to sell control of
ulent messages and fake advertisements lar forums were sold to business inter- popular boards to delete negative arti- its other forums related to medical
while promoting useful information to ests. These include support groups for cles or post advertisements in place of ailments. ~
EDITOR: SHU PENGQIAN ~ DESIGNER: ZHAO YAN
5
BEIJING TODAY EDUCATION JANUARY 29, 2016
For students who choose to join an
international school, the main goal is to get
admitted to a prestigious foreign univer-
sity. Most international schools in China
offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses,
and some provide ALevel, IGCSE or Inter-
national Baccalaureate (IB) lessons.
International Programs
Merely providing more choices for
students who can afford them would
not be news. But Chinese education
experts argue that opening interna-
tional programs inside a public school
will divert public education resources
to wealthy families.
In 2013, the Chinese government tight-
ened its control of public schools’ inter-
national programs. In the following year,
Beijing announced it would stop approv-
ing new international programs for public
schools. Shanghai also stated its public
schools would separate their international
programs from the main campus.
Chen Zhiwen, editor-in-chief of China
Education Online, said in a seminar that it
is necessary to separate international pro-
grams from public schools because they
make education less fair and few schools
can really manage an international educa-
tion program.
Shi Guopeng, headmaster of Beijing
No. 4 Middle School, was the first head-
master to launch an international pro-
Growing Wealth
gram within a public high school.
“Our school is planning to move its
international programs to another
campus,”Shi told The Paper. “The Interna-
Prompts China to
tional program thrives better within the
private system.”
Education Fairness
Examine
How to balance private sand public edu-
cation has been a problem for many West-
ern countries. But China has only been
International Ed involved in the balancing act for 15 years.
The trend is not hard to predict. Stu-
dents who have grown up in the private
education system have different skills, out-
looks and friends compare their peers who
BY WANG YAN attended the public system. And when
A comparing students who received an edu-
report by Beijing Normal Univer- International Schools cation in a first-tier private school com-
sity found that a third of China’s China had 597 international schools as of pared to a rural public school, the gap is
wealth is in the hands of the coun- 2015, surpassing the United Arab Emir- even greater.
try’s top 1 percent. The bottom 25 per- ates to become the country with the most The UK is well-known for its private
cent together control only 1 percent of the international schools. education system. In 2014, the country
country’s wealth. Wu Yue, CEO of Xinxueshuo.com, told published a report suggesting that only 7
In addition to pointing out that stag- The Paper that there are mainly three percent of its population attended private
gering wealth gap, the report also honed types of international schools in China: school. That 7 percent accounts for 71 per-
in on how China’s elites and masses enjoy ones for expats’ children, private schools cent of the country’s senior judges, 62 per-
radically different access to healthcare and international programs set up by cent of its senior armed forces officers, 55
and education. public schools. percent of Whitehall’s permanent secre-
According to the report, the educa- In 2012, the Ministry of Education taries and half of the House of Lords.
tion gap is most pronounced in urban- estimated there were 116 schools for Peter Tait, the former headmaster
rural and east-west comparisons. Further, expats. A UK research center said China of a private boarding school in England
it found that while the education gap had 236,400 students studying at interna- and columnist, wrote that “old schools
was relatively small for people born in tional schools in 2015. links, favored internships and the bias
the 1960s, it accelerated rapidly with the However, Fan Shengwu, headmaster of employers and universities”caused this
country’s market reforms of the 1980s of one of the private international schools phenomenon in the UK.
and 1990s. Birthplace, hukou status and in Beijing, told Sina Education that the Although China has yet to reach
wealth were the primary determining fac- international education industry in China such a state, the increasing gap between
tors for education outcomes. is hard to measure. rich and poor bodes ill for the coun-
While regional disadvantages have “Different schools have different try’s equality and President Xi Jinping’s
CFP Photos
persisted for generations, such sweep- entrance requirements. International edu- “Chinese Dream.”
ing differences in education outcomes cation in China is not mature. They need to international programs run by public high “The Chinese dream is the dream of
within a single location are a relatively shake off the traditional teaching method, schools, not only do their requirements the people. It needs people to realize it,
new phenomenon. but for cultural reasons most foreign and quality vary – so does their tuition. and it also has to benefit the people,”Xi
In Beijing, students who don’t have methods cannot be directly applied to Keystone Academy, the most expen- said at one political gathering.
local hukou cannot attend public school. Chinese students and families. As far as sive private international school in Bei- If the Chinese government is indeed
Although wealthy families who lack a I am concerned, the international schools jing, costs around 350,000 yuan a year. the government of a socialist country, it
hukou can choose to pay for interna- in Beijing vary greatly in their education Other private schools cost 250,000 to may be time to put forward some mea-
tional school , children from poor fami- quality, and the industry needs more man- 300,000 yuan per year. International pro- sures to create a relatively fair playing field
lies with no Beijing ties are cut off from agement,” Fan said. grams run by public high schools cost where all people can achieve their personal
their studies. For private international schools and between 70,000 and 200,000 yuan. dreams and individual success. ~
EDITOR: YANG XIN ~ DESIGNER: ZHAO YAN
6
JANUARY 29, 2016 COMMUNITY BEIJING TODAY
Afghan Student,
M
aneza Mohammad Ali has no clear
memories of Afghanistan.
Writer Sees
Her family, including her par-
ents, three younger brothers and
grandparents, left Kabul in 1992, shortly after
China as a Step the start of the country’s civil war. Maneza was
3 years old.
They resettled in Islamabad, Pakistan,
where Maneza started school. Her father, a
Toward her
businessman, began doing business in China,
and about nine years later the family relocated gram, according to China Scholarship Council.
again, this time to the Xinjiang Uygur Autono- That’s more than triple the number in 2004,
Dream mous Region. reflecting both an increased interest in Chi-
The transition to China was more difficult, nese studies and an opening of the universities
Maneza recalls. The family had left her grand- to international students.
parents behind, in Pakistan; Chinese culture and The master’s program at Peking University
language seemed very foreign, and they didn’t was the first time Maneza felt pushed in her
BY SIMINA MISTREANU
like the food. The children were homeschooled studies, outside of studying the language. Her
for about a year, and then the family moved colleagues were top students from around the
again, to Beijing. world, who were interested in foreign affairs,
Today, Maneza is a cosmopolitan young cultures and religions.
woman with global ambitions. She graduated
with a master’s degree in international politics The Good, the Bad
and economics from Peking University. She One of the best things about Chinese society is
teaches English and writes political and eco- that it accepts all cultures, nationalities and reli-
nomic analyses on China and the Middle East for gions, Maneza says.
think tanks. She’s active in various organizations “My friends know I’m a Muslim, and I don’t
for professional women. eat pork. They’ll never offend you for this,” she
For how difficult she found it to learn the says. “They know I don’t drink, and they will
language at first, now Mandarin is the main lan- never offend you to push you to drink. In 15 years
guage in which she thinks and expresses herself, in China, I have never experienced any threat or
along with English and Farsi. She loves Chinese offense. I used to wear hijab. People were just
food and has surrounded herself with friends. saying, ‘Aren’t you hot?’ But they weren’t saying,
“I’m almost half-Chinese,” she says. ‘Oh, she’s a Muslim. Oh wow! Extremist, terror-
Yet she sees China as just a stop along the ist!’ They’re not going to say that.”
way to fulfilling her dream, which is anchored During grad school, Maneza also learned to
outside of the country. distance herself emotionally from political con-
versations. This allowed her and her colleagues
An Education who have different backgrounds to exchange
When she started school in Beijing, her lim- ideas and become friends.
ited Chinese experience sent Maneza from But though she has close friends who are
seventh grade back to third grade. She was Chinese, she still has a hard time digesting the
the oldest and loneliest among her colleagues. typical Chinese guanxi network. She doesn’t
But she focused on her studies. During breaks, feel comfortable maintaining relationships “for
she would pay a classmate 1 yuan to teach her profit” and doesn’t like the working environment
more Chinese words. The girl would teach her in Chinese companies, where appearances and
a few words, then run away with the money to obedience are valued more than results.
buy snacks. Maneza thinks she needs to continue to
As she learned Chinese, Maneza started develop outside of China. Politics, her passion, is
skipping grades and ended up graduating from a sensitive topic here. And she’s also looking for a
high school at a normal age. But she doesn’t feel place to belong.
like she got the most out of her education. She “To be honest, I’m really tired,” she says.
says teachers and colleagues are friendly and “Although I can communicate with foreign-
helpful to foreign students, but they have lower ers more easily than with Afghans, my heart
expectations than from Chinese students. is really tired being an outsider. I don’t feel at
“They thought I came here only to learn Chi- home here.”
nese, but I didn’t,” she says. “I came here to get
a normal education, just like the others. That’s The Dream
a very big problem: When a foreigner comes to Maneza’s dream is to eventually go back to
China to study, their teacher only focuses on Afghanistan and serve her people – wei renmin
their Chinese. If you don’t do good work in other fuwu, to use the Chinese phrase.
subjects, they don’t care. They just pass you.” She is considering going to study in the US,
Similarly, when she attended university at where she wants to learn more about Afghani-
China Foreign Affairs University, she was sur- stan politics and perfect her language skills.
prised to learn the school cancelled its English “I work hard… I don’t know, maybe it’s not
classes for foreign students. Most of her col- realistic,” she says. “Some people say it’s not real-
leagues were there to improve their Chinese, istic, especially my family because Afghanistan
she was told. is still at war, security issues are getting worse,
China had 377,000 international students but I don’t know. Since I was a little girl I had that
enrolled in its universities in 2014, the year dream: I work hard, I study hard, I go back to
Maneza graduated from her master’s pro- that country.” ~
China’s International Students
• China had 377,000 international students enrolled in its universities in 2014, according to the International Institute of
Education.
• Of those, 16.7 percent came from South Korea, 6.4 percent from the US and 5.6 percent from Thailand.
• Most students (55.3 percent) come to China to study humanities. Business and management (14.5 percent) and health (13.8
percent) are the next most popular majors.
• 55.6 percent of China’s international students are studying abroad, thus are not pursuing a degree in China; 30.9 percent are
pursuing bachelor’s degrees; and 12.7 percent are pursuing post-graduate degrees.
• The number of international students in China has grown by 240 percent from 2004 to 2014.
Photos courtesy of Maneza Mohammad Ali
EDITOR: SIMINA MISTREANU ~ DESIGNER: ZHAO YAN
7
BEIJING TODAY EMBASSY JANUARY 29, 2016
Photos by Beijing Culture and Art Center
T
he Beijing Culture and Art Center Ph.D trajectory at Delft University of
(BCAC) is announcing the exhi- Technology. Lancel and Maat decon-
bition BCAC Open Display VITA struct automated control technologies
ACTIVA: Saving Face, which opened such as surveillance, social media and
December 26. brain-computer interfaces and connect
The exhibition aims to establish them with human acts of intimacy, sen-
a “digital-synesthetic trust system” sory and aesthetic perception to inspire
through video and scanning technolo- new socio-technical ecosystems.
gies and “caressing one’s self.” As part of their art installation, inter-
Through their art installations, active city sculptures with cameras con-
Dutch artists Karen Lancel and Hermen nected to their screens are installed. The
Maat explore people’s emotional and cameras are equipped with face-recogni-
social tensions related to trust, privacy tion technology. People standing in front
and visibility. of the sculpture are invited to caress their
Saving
“When we meet, face-to-face connec- face, which helps the camera to “paint”
tion, body language and touch are core their portrait on a screen. At the same
components for reciprocity and trust... time as it emerges, the portrait blends
Face
However, these sensory experiences are with those of previous visitors, “co-cre-
increasingly replaced by identity scan- ating transparent, untraceable, fluid, net-
ning technologies. We are faced with the worked identities,” the artists said.
Exhibition
paradox of ‘the higher the surveillance, Each composed identity is then saved
the lower the trust.’ How do we experi- in a user generated database and printed
ence our bodies and identities, technically as a Saving Face Passport. The composed
Creates
being measured and turned into fixated, identities are projected onto screens in
controllable ‘products’?” the artists said. public spaces such as museum halls and
Saving Face emerged from artistic city squares, thus “traveling” to various
Composed
research conducted as part of Lancel’s geographic and cultural contexts. ~
Identities
Beijing Culture and Art Center
L 10 am-5 pm, through February 28
K 3 Wudaoying Hutong, Dongcheng
BY SIMINA MISTREANU P [email protected]
Art Exhibition Brings Russia’s
Best to Beijing
viewers at the Russian Cultural Center.
Boris Chuprov, whose works are
collected by renowned Russian muse-
ums such as the Museum of the Great
BY YANG XIN Patriotic War and many overseas per-
F
rom Russian with Love, a joint art sonal collectors, and Evgeny Pavlovich,
exhibition of Russian contemporary the 78-year-old artist who has been
paintings, opened at the Russian Cultural working for a Moscow art foundation
Center on January 21. since 1965, attended the opening cer-
The two-week exhibition, consisting emony and guided audiences through
of 40 or more representative pieces by the exhibition.
renowned Russian artists, such as Boris As a comprehensive exhibition of Rus-
Chuprov, Evgeny Pavlovich and Olga Mel- sian art, From Russian with Love over-
nikova, arrived in Beijing with the sup- came significant logistical difficulties to
port of the Russian Cultural Center in bring the country’s art abroad.
Beijing and the Art Without Boundaries China, with its growing art market
Association. and everlasting enthusiasm for contempo-
Exhibited works share several rary Russian art, is a promising venue for
common characteristics and exemplify Russian galleries and art institutions to
Russian artistic perspectives. Each promote domestic art and artists.
Photos by Dragen News Russia
shows the artists’ love of their mother- The Russian Cultural Center in Bei-
lands and of Russia’s natural landscapes jing said it is planning more events to Russian Cultural Center
and life scenes. bridge Russian and Chinese art and L 10 am-7 pm, through February 2
Seven participating artists have trav- push forward Sino-Russian cultural K 9 (NAGA), Building 2. Dongzhimennei Street, Dongcheng
eled from Moscow to Beijing to meet local exchange. ~ M [phone]
EDITOR: WANG YAN ~ DESIGNER: ZHAO YAN
8
JANUARY 29, 2016 NEWS RELEASE BEIJING TODAY
I
t’s only one more week until Spring Festival, Chi-
na’s most important holiday. During the holiday
break, most families gather with extended rela-
tives and pay formal visits to close friends and other
connections.
But with a rising standard of living comes the search
for something more. Many young people now take
advantage of the break to travel with their family.
For Beijingers seeking a local destination that will
be free of crowds, Beijing Youth Camp International
(BYCI) offers a interesting possibility.
Spend Spring BYCI was founded in 2013 to cultivate youths from
home and abroad and promote international cultural
exchange. Today, BYCI has five branches across the city.
BYCI builds on the knowledge of foreign youth
Festival at camps together with the support of domestic youth
organizations and non-profit groups. It provides youths
with outdoor and indoor activities and equipments,
which build confidence and leadership skills.
Youth Camp Themed rooms are some of BYCI’s unique indoor
activities, with themes as diverse as childhood, knit-
ting, baking, card motels and planting.
The rooms offer visitors the chance to find happi-
ness in working with their hands and build valuable
knowledge about first-aid treatment and emergency
management.
BYCI is also a good place to learn more about Chi-
nese folk art.
For thousands of years, Chinese folk art has been
going through a cyclic process of reform and develop-
ment to reach its present state. At BYCI, visitors can
learn more about Chinese folk arts and attempt to prac-
tice them on their own. Some classes include rope knit-
ting, flower arrangement, woodworking, Chinese tea
ceremonies and Peking opera makeup.
BYCI’s outdoor activities include a three-legged race,
two-man comic show, CounterStrike-themed paintball
and other games. New facilities for archery tag and
racing are also under construction.
Archery tag was invented by Jack Johnson, an Amer-
ican. Equipped with bow and arrow, two teams shoot
toward each other. The arrows are made of special
materials to keep participants safe.
BYCI is ready to welcome new guests during the
Spring Festival holiday. ~
By Shu Pengqian
EDITOR: SHU PENGQIAN ~ DESIGNER: ZHAO YAN