China Report - Issue 109 - June 2022

70 Pages·2022·7 MB·English

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POLITICS 1

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The logistics of keeping m
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ECONOMY
Blocked Berths:
Shipping struggles with
crew, port restrictions
SEEKING OFFICE
As China's employment landscape changes, there is
more competition for coveted white-collar jobs
£ 3.50

EDITORIAL
China needs to be creative in increasing the overall
Published by China News Service
coverage of its pension system
Publisher: Chen Lujun
Executive Director:
Chen Lujun
Editor-in-Chief: Tan Hongwei O n April 21, the Chinese government programmes. It means that while the private
Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Li Jia announced the creation of a private pen- scheme may increase the pension replacement rate
sion scheme to allow Chinese employ- for people already covered by existing schemes, it
Editorial Office
Copy Editors: Kathleen Naday, James Tiscione ees to invest and supplement funds in their pension will do little to promote overall pension coverage
Lead Writers: Yu Xiaodong accounts. It is considered a land- across the whole population. As
Senior Editors: Wang Yan, Yi Ziyi
mark move for China to tackle those already covered can benefit
Editors: Xie Ying, Xu Ming In designing
Consultant Editor: Chen Shirong its rapidly ageing population. further from tax deductions un-
First Reader: Andrew McEwan However, under the current personal pension der the private pension scheme,
Address: 5th Floor, 12 Baiwanzhuang South
policy arrangement, the im- schemes, the it may actually further increase
Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, China
Post Code: 100037 pact of an individual pension government the inequality of pension benefits
Tel: [phone] scheme may be limited. For a between groups.
must seek to
Fax: [phone]
long time, China rested on three Therefore, in designing per-
Email: [email protected] make innovative
Website: www.ChinaReport.co.uk fundamental tenets to build a sonal pension schemes, the gov-
arrangements to
robust pension system, namely: ernment must seek to make in-
Art Department
Art Director: Wu Shangwen a government-run basic pension expand the overall novative arrangements to expand
Art Editor/Designer: Zhang Dawei, Zhang Xu scheme, enterprise-run annuity coverage of pension the overall coverage of pension
Marketing/Advertising/Subscription schemes and individual private benefits benefits. For example, the gov-
EMEA Office pension schemes. ernment should make the hous-
Foremost 4 Media Ltd
China established a State-run ing fund transferable to pension
Duty Editor: Sophie Lang
Email: [email protected] basic pension system in 1997. funds. Currently, an employee
Tel: [phone] According to data released by the can only use their housing fund
Fax: [phone]
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, to buy or rent a flat. By allowing it to be transfer-
Website: foremost4.media
the State-run pension fund now pays out an aver- able to pension funds, it could better utilise the
Marketing Office in China
age monthly pension of 2,900 yuan (US$427). fund and increase the pension replacement rate.
Director: Wang Chenbo
Account Manager: Ren Jie With an average pension replacement rate of 43.6 The government should also streamline and digi-
Tel: [phone] percent, it covers 426 million people, or about 30 talise the administration of enterprise-run annuity
Circulation Manager: Yu Lina
percent of China’s total population. schemes, to reduce the administrative barriers for
Tel: [phone]
Compared to the State-run pension fund, the enterprises to join schemes.
London Office: Zhang Ping
coverage of the enterprise-run annuity schemes lags Most importantly, the authorities should strive
New York Office: Ma Delin, Liao Pan
Washington Office: Chen Mengtong, Sha Handing far behind. As of the end of the third quarter of to encourage small and micro businesses to join
Los Angeles Office: Zhang Shuo
2021, the enterprise-run annuity schemes, which pension schemes. They should be allowed to con-
San Francisco Office: Liu Guanguan
Houston Office: Zeng Jingning exists mostly among State-owned enterprises, tribute to the State-run pension scheme at a lower
Tokyo Office: Lu Shaowei
only covered 28.37 million people, or about 5.6 rate, rather than the rigid 16-percent contribution
Paris Office: Li Yang
Bangkok Office: Wang Guoan percent of those covered by the State state-run basic rate, and to suspend contributions under certain
Kuala Lumpur Office: Chen Yue
Moscow Office: Tian Bing pension fund. conditions. Their employees should be allowed to
Manila Office: Guan Xiangdong A major reason is that the employer contribu- obtain pension benefits from multiple employers,
Berlin Office: Peng Dawei
Sydney Office: Tao Shelan tion rate to the State-run pension fund is already so part-time and flexible workers can have access to
Brussels Office: De Yongjian quite high (16 percent) and many enterprises lack pension benefits.
Astana Office: Zhang Shuo
Rio de Janeiro Office: Wang Xi the incentive to offer pension benefits to their As for enterprise-run annuity programmes and
Johannesburg Office: Song Fangcan employees. Big, profitable enterprises prefer to use private pension schemes, they can be consolidated
Jakarta Office: Lin Yongchuan
Kathmandu Office: Zhang Chenyi salary and equity incentive plans to attract talent. into an individual pension account, and employers
Legal Advisor: Allen Wu
For small- and medium-sized enterprises, with in small and micro businesses can make flexible ar-
ISSN 2053-0463 their relatively low revenue and short lifespans, it rangements to make contributions to the accounts
is already difficult to comply with the mandatory of their employees. After all, to tackle China’s age-
pension contribution under the State-run system. ing population, it is as important, if not more so, to
Participants in personal pension schemes would grant more people access to pension benefits of any
mostly be those already covered by the State- sort, as to increase the pension replacement rate of
run pension fund and/or the enterprise annuity those already covered by existing programmes.
CHINAREPORT I June 2022 1
CONTENTS
CROWDED MARKET
The current crop of graduates are
finding it harder than ever to find a
job that fits their qualifications
P
F
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P16 by
o
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P
EDITORIAL
01 China needs to be creative in increasing the overall coverage of its pension system
INTERNATIONAL
14 Asia-Pacific Future:
A Path for Sustained Prosperity
P24
COVER STORY
16 Employment:
Work in Progress/Taken for a Ride
ENVIRONMENT
24 Wetland Conservation:
Keeping Wet and Wild
POLITICS P38
28 Transport:
Bad Brakes
2 CHINAREPORT I June 2022
CONTENTS
P60
P28 P14
31 Research Database: HISTORY
Academic Racket 57 Ancient Bronzeware:
In the Name of China
SOCIETY
34 Anti-Counterfeit Drive: OUTSIDE IN
Faked Crusaders 60 Beijing:
38 Migrant Child Education: Capital’s Hidden Assets
Life Lessons
04 SNAPSHOTS
EDUCATION 08 MEDIA FOCUS
42 Private Technology University: 09 WHAT THEY SAY
High-tech Vocation 10 NEWS BRIEF
12 NETIZEN WATCH
ECONOMY 53 CHINA BY NUMBERS P57
46 Film Industry: 62 ESSAY
Screen Test 64 FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH/REAL CHINESE
50 Shipping Industry:
Choppy Waters
INTERVIEW
54 Interview:
Space for Collaboration
CHINAREPORT I June 2022 3
SNAPSHOTS
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1. Inside the Jiangwan Stadium, Yangpu District, Shanghai, a centralised isolation site is completed
on May 9, with 1,100 isolation rooms and 1,800 beds for close contacts of confirmed cases of
Covid-19 (Photo by VCG )
2. People take selfies in front of Wukang Mansion (or Normandie Appartments), a famous historic
building in the Former French Concession, at Wukang Road in Shanghai, which was recently lifted
from lockdown, May 18. Some residents in areas of Shanghai where there have been no new case
in the previous 14 days have been allowed to leave their residential compounds since mid-May.
(Photo by The Paper )
3. Beijing residents queue up for Covid-19 nucleic acid testing, Zhongguancun, Beijing, April 26
(Photo by VCG)
4. A husky pops its face out of a hole at a quarantine venue for pets in Shanghai, May 17. On May
17, 18 pets, whose owners had tested positive to COVID-19 affected or were close contacts, were
reunited with their owners (Photo by VCG)
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CHINAREPORT I June 2022 5
SNAPSHOTS
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1. A face fragment from a
clay Buddha statue from the
Northern Wei Dynasty (493-
534) is displayed at the Luoyang
Museum, Luoyang, Henan
Province, May 16. One of the
most famous cultural relics in
China, this clay Buddha fragment
is distinguished by its warm smile
(Photo by VCG)
2. A teenager poses in front of
a giant astronaut model at an
astronomy-themed immersive
exhibition called “Boundless,”
Chengdu Jinghua Wanda Plaza,
Chengdu, Sichuan Province,
May 14 (Photo by VCG)
3. A woman is rescued from a
collapsed building, Wangcheng
District, Changsha, Hunan
Province, May 1. The incident,
which occurred on April 29,
killed 53 people, while 10 were
rescued (Photo by VCG)
4. Dozens of swimmers swim
in the Yangtze River, Jiangjin
District, Chongqing, April 28
(Photo by VCG)
6 CHINAREPORT I June 2022
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CHINAREPORT I June 2022 7
ChinaReport, Chinese Edition World Affairs
May 2, 2022 April 16, 2022
Gaps in Orthodontist Provision US Indo-Pacific Strategy Aiming to Shape
China’s Neighbouring Area
In February, the White House released its first “Indo-Pa-
cific Strategy.” Some Chinese analysts believe it shows the
US’s resolve to shift its strategic centre to the Indo-Pacific Region no mat-
ter what happens in other parts of the world. They remark that the Biden
administration, unlike the previous Trump administration, pays much more
attention to strengthening its ties not only with its treaty allies, but also with
“leading regional partners.” It will also build connectivity between the EU
and the Indo-Pacific region. For China, the question is how important the In-
do-Pacific region is in the US’s new global strategy. And it is clear that the US
is trying to shape China’s neighbouring areas based on US interests and ideol-
The frenetic pursuit of a perfect smile has triggered an over- ogy in the following decade. China needs to win the hearts of its neighbours
heated market where the number of professional orthodon-
through better implementation of projects like the Belt&Road Initiative.
tists is far from enough. The number of clinical orthodontic
cases almost doubled from 1.6 million in 2015 to 3.1 million in
2020 and the figure is expected to rise to 9.5 million in 2030.
Honest Outlook
Compared to the growing demand, the country’s 6,100 rec-
April 16, 2022
ognised orthodontists are insufficient to satisfy the market,
leaving a great gap that is being tapped by retainer producers Ingrained Corruption over Crops
and dental clinics. But without properly trained professionals,
many clinics and online producers are bringing more trouble A nationwide anti-graft drive launched by the Central
than beauty to dental patients. Because of unscrupulous op- Commission for Discipline Inspection and National
erations, many customers find their costly tooth correction Supervisory Commission since August 2021 has ex-
only worsens their oral condition and forces them to seek posed a spate of corruption cases surrounding grain
corrective treatment in dental hospitals. Some companies
sales, purchasing, transportation and storage. A number of officials were
also target children aged 3-5, who should not be undergoing
colluding to take advantage of supervisory loopholes. After buying crops at
orthodontic treatments.
lower prices from farmers, the officials pretended to sell grain to the mar-
ket on fabricated contracts before purchasing them again at higher prices
Caijing Magazine under assured price schemes. They also played tricks on farmers by cut-
April 25, 2022 ting purchase prices and lying to them that part of the crop did not meet
quality standards, later selling it for themselves. They even sold reserved
Auto Industry Hits the Brakes
grain stocks at much higher prices. To fight against corruption, the State
The shortage of auto parts has im- Council plans to reform the supervisory body and install AI technologies
posed an unprecedented challenge to monitor more than 900 granaries in the country.
to China’s automobile industry
whose retail sales may grow by zero
this year. From March on, the Omicron wave caused Nanfang People
widespread strict lockdowns in Shanghai and Jilin Prov- April 4, 2022
ince, two of the main auto parts manufacturing and Animation Comes of Age
distribution centres in the country. Meanwhile, price
hikes of auto chips, batteries and raw materials forced Pixar Animation Studios’ latest film Turning Red has won
manufacturers to increase sales prices for new vehicles. great accolades on Chinese social media platforms since its
Even though some manufacturers resumed production premiere in March on streaming platform Disney+, rated
in April, lack of staff and blocked logistics are causing 8.2/10 on Douban, China’s leading art review platform. Created by Chinese Ca-
problems. Starting in March 2020, the government ad- nadian Domee Shi, an Oscar winner for her animation short film Bao in 2018,
opted policies to boost the auto market, including tax Turning Red explores ethnic and gender differences centered on the conflict and
rebates for purchasing new-energy vehicles, facilitating reconciliation between 13-year-old girl Mei from an ethnic Chinese family in Can-
second-hand vehicle trading and relaxing restrictions ada who transforms into a red panda. The transformation represents the puberty,
on buying passenger vehicles. But rising auto prices and the awakening of the power of women and the fear of the awakening. Unlike her
weakened expectations over household income will con- mother who gives up her own dreams to meet the expectations of her family, Mei
tinue to make consumers hesitant to buy cars. decides to be herself. It is an affirming coming-of-age moment.
8 CHINAREPORT I June 2022