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☆ Building Fire in China Kills at Least 39, With Others Trapped
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Vivian Wang | More About Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A fire in a commercial building in southeastern China killed at least 39 people on Wednesday, as emergency workers raced to rescue people still trapped inside. The fire broke out around 3:30 p.m. local time in Xinyu, a city in Jiangxi Province, in the basement of a building that housed an internet cafe on the ground floor and an educational center upstairs, according to Chinese state media and a local government announcement. A video posted on social media by the Communist Party-affiliated outlet Beijing News showed thick black smoke billowing out of windows. Other videos posted by social media users on Wednesday, of what appeared to be the same building, showed people jumping from upper floors to a mattress on the ground outside, and a boy climbing down a ladder, wearing a backpack.

Organizations: Communist Party -, Beijing Locations: China, Xinyu, Jiangxi Province

☆ W.H.O. Says China Has Shared Data Indicating No Novel Pathogen
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Vivian Wang | More About Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The World Health Organization said that China had shared data about a recent surge in respiratory illnesses in children, one day after the agency said it was seeking information about the possibility of undiagnosed pneumonia cases there. The Chinese data indicated “no detection of any unusual or novel pathogens,” according to a W.H.O. statement on Thursday. The data, which included laboratory results from infected children, indicated that the rise in cases was a result of known viruses and bacteria, such as influenza and mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacterium that causes usually mild illness. Hospital admissions of children had increased since May, as had outpatient visits, but hospitals were able to handle the increase, China told the global health agency.

Organizations: World Health Organization Locations: China

Meeting with President Biden for the first time in a year, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, reiterated his determination to unify with Taiwan, but stopped short of mentioning the potential use of force. He denounced what he called futile American efforts at containing China, but also acknowledged that U.S. tech restrictions had taken a toll. And he broadcast that China had global ambitions for its influence — while also trying to reassure the world that those ambitions did not have to lead to conflict with the United States. Mr. Xi wants to convince Washington, and the world, that he is willing to engage with the United States, in part to lure back foreign investment to bolster China’s ailing economy. But he also wants to demonstrate to the Chinese people that he strongly defended Beijing’s interests, and burnished its image as a world power on a par with the United States, not a secondary one making concessions.

Persons: Biden, Xi Jinping, Xi Locations: Taiwan, China, United States, San Francisco, Washington

Not long ago, Chinese propaganda was warning that American attempts at easing tensions were mere performance. The country’s leader, Xi Jinping, declared that the United States was engaged in a campaign of “all-around containment, encirclement and suppression,” in remarks broadcast across state media. Now, the tone used to discuss the United States has suddenly shifted. game,” the article continued, describing a visit by Mr. Xi to the United States in 2012. “Veterans visit Chinese cities, anticipating everlasting China-U.S. friendship,” one headline declared.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Xi, “, ” Organizations: Xinhua, American Ballet Theater, Philadelphia Orchestra, Veterans Locations: United States, “, States, Iowa, China, Japan

☆ China to Its People: Spies Are Everywhere, Help Us Catch Them
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Vivian Wang | More About Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Beijing sees forces bent on weakening it everywhere: embedded in multinational companies, infiltrating social media, circling naïve students. Chinese universities require faculty to take courses on protecting state secrets, even in departments like veterinary medicine. A kindergarten in the eastern city of Tianjin organized a meeting to teach staffers how to “understand and use” China’s anti-espionage law. Its first post: a call for a “whole of society mobilization” against espionage. The country’s economy is facing its worst slowdown in years, but China’s authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping, appears more fixated on national security and preventing threats to the party’s control.

Persons: China’s, Xi Jinping Organizations: China’s Ministry of State Security, Communist Party Locations: Beijing, Tianjin

☆ China’s Economic Outlook: Pep Talks Up Top, Gloom on the Ground
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Vivian Wang | More About Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the residents and business owners of Chedun, a working-class neighborhood in the southwestern outskirts of Shanghai, the signs of an anemic economy are all around. The factories that once drew workers from around the country have moved away. Around the affordable eateries and motley shops where workers once crowded, employees eagerly latch onto anyone passing by. A gulf has emerged between the Chinese economy as many Chinese are experiencing it, and Beijing’s narrative of it — and that gulf is only widening. For many ordinary Chinese, one of the worst economic slowdowns the country has faced in decades has translated into widespread pessimism and resignation.

Persons: “, ” Cherry Qian Locations: Shanghai

Not long after Shen Peng’s grandfather died, his grandmother visited the site of the house where she and her husband once lived. The government had demolished the house, in northern China, nearly 15 years before as part of a redevelopment project. Mr. Shen wondered: Could he help her relive her memories another way? Finally, Mr. Shen, now 31, presented his grandmother with a surprise — a handcrafted 1:20 scale replica of her old home. Mr. Shen had even traveled to the site of the old house to better recreate the fragment of brick wall that still remained.

Persons: Shen Peng’s, Shen Locations: China

There were plenty of reasons to think the “Barbie” movie might have a hard time finding an audience in China. It’s an American film, when Chinese moviegoers’ interest in, and government approval of, Hollywood movies is falling. It’s been widely described as feminist, when women’s rights and political representation in China are backsliding. But not only did the film screen in China — it has been something of a sleeper hit, precisely because of its unusual nature in the Chinese movie landscape. It has an 8.3 rating on the movie rating site Douban, higher than any other currently showing live-action feature.

Persons: Barbie, It’s, ”, Mina Li, Greta Gerwig, “ Barbie ” Locations: China, Beijing, Weibo

And it involved a meeting with the Chinese defense minister, who has rebuffed multiple requests to engage with his American counterpart. Beijing has turned to those it deems more aligned with its position as it has become more skeptical toward, and at times openly frustrated with, the Biden administration. With the visit by Mr. Kissinger, whom Mr. Xi and other officials called an “old friend,” Beijing has sought to emphasize cooperation and mutual respect between the powers. With visits by business leaders like Bill Gates — also dubbed an old friend by Mr. Xi — and Elon Musk, China has tried to highlight the longstanding economic relationship and the perils of untangling global supply chains. Such efforts may become increasingly significant as Beijing pushes back against what it sees as the Biden administration’s efforts to contain China geopolitically, militarily and technologically.

Persons: Henry A . Kissinger, Xi Jinping, Kissinger, Biden, Xi, ”, Bill Gates —, Mr, Xi —, Elon Musk Organizations: Democrats, U.S Locations: Beijing, ” Beijing, China

In the sandstone desert of China’s far west, a local meteorological station recorded an all-time high temperature of 126 degrees. In central China, heat-induced mechanical problems trapped tourists riding on a cable car in midair. The heat wave choking China is so intense that it even became a repeated talking point for John Kerry, President Biden’s special envoy for climate change, as he met with China’s premier on Tuesday in Beijing to discuss cooperation on slowing global warming. “You and I know things are changing,” Mr. Kerry told the premier, Li Qiang, while sitting in the Great Hall of the People, on the edge of Tiananmen Square. “In the last weeks, scientists have expressed greater concern than ever about what is happening on the planet,” said Mr. Kerry, who also met separately with Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official.

Persons: John Kerry, Biden’s, Mr, Kerry, Li Qiang, ”, Wang Yi Organizations: China’s, of Locations: China, Beijing, Xinjiang

☆ Kissinger Makes Unannounced Visit to China, Meets Defense Minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Vivian Wang | More About Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Henry A. Kissinger, the 100-year-old former secretary of state who has pushed the United States to take a more conciliatory approach to China, has made a surprise visit to Beijing, meeting with China’s defense minister. The previously unannounced trip by Mr. Kissinger, who more than 50 years ago helped pave the way for diplomatic ties between the United States and China during President Richard M. Nixon’s administration, coincided with a string of visits by currently serving American officials to China. On Tuesday, the day that Mr. Kissinger met with Li Shangfu, the defense minister, President Biden’s climate change envoy, John Kerry, met with the Chinese premier and top foreign policy official. But while those officials met with varying levels of chilliness or scolding from Chinese officials or state media, reflecting the geopolitical tensions, the defense ministry’s description of the meeting with Mr. Kissinger was warmer. The fact that Mr. Kissinger met with Mr. Li at all was notable: China last month rebuffed a request for Mr. Li to meet the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, at a summit in Singapore.

Persons: Henry A . Kissinger, Kissinger, Richard M, Li Shangfu, John Kerry, Antony J, Blinken, Janet Yellen, Li, Lloyd Austin Locations: United States, China, Beijing, Singapore

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