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☆ Rock ’n’ Roll According to the Chinese Communist Party
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( Vivian Wang | Weiyi Cai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

Rock ’n’ Roll According to the Chinese Communist PartyA man spends decades working a monotonous factory job. Then a local Communist Party group decided to rewrite it. Changed lyrics ORIGINAL REWRITE TITLE VERSE 1 VERSE 2 VERSE 3 CHORUS ORIGINAL TITLE VERSE 1 Changed lyrics VERSE 2 VERSE 3 CHORUS REWRITE TITLE VERSE 1 VERSE 2 VERSE 3 CHORUSChina’s government has long used censorship to control expression. As the Communist Party embraced market reforms in the 1990s, workers at state-run companies in Shijiazhuang, in northern China, faced mass layoffs. 日新月异二十年初心指向航向 Original aspiration: A common phrase in Chinese Communist Party propaganda about the party sticking to its founding principlesIt’s little surprise, then, that the two versions end in completely different places.

Persons: Ji Geng, ”, 用, 锈, 河北, worldviews, 如此, 翻天覆地, 日新月异, It’s, 迎风 Organizations: Communist Party, Chinese Communist Party, Society, Communist Youth League, Pharmaceutical, Hebei Normal University Locations: Shijiazhuang, Beijing, Shijiazhuang 杀死, Shijiazhuang 杀, China, Hebei Province, Hebei

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

☆ 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

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

☆ China Took Her Husband. She Was Left to Uncover His Secret Cause.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Then, the blog went silent in May 2021 — the same month Mr. Ruan, now 46, was arrested. Whether Mr. Ruan was Program Think is virtually impossible to confirm. China treats national security cases with absolute secrecy, and Ms. Bei has not been allowed to speak to Mr. Ruan. She didn’t even bother circumventing China’s internet censorship. But as she was forced to search for answers, she found herself on a journey of awakening — much like the kind Program Think had set out to inspire.

Persons: Bei, Mr, Ruan, Xi Organizations: Communist Party Locations: China

☆ As Blinken Heads to China, a Wall of Suspicion Awaits Him
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rising nationalist sentiment in China — often stoked by the authorities — cheers on Beijing’s hawkish foreign policy. President Biden, even as he has declared his desire for dialogue, has described China as America’s greatest geopolitical challenge. The United States has issued a barrage of sanctions on Chinese officials and companies, and tried to cut off Chinese access to critical technology globally. At the heart of Beijing’s chilly posture toward Mr. Blinken’s visit is its claim that American overtures are insincere, and its treatment of China unjust. When Mr. Blinken postponed his previously scheduled visit in February, over a Chinese spy balloon, Beijing called it an overreaction.

Persons: Xi, Beijing’s, Biden, Blinken’s, Blinken Organizations: Communist, United, Mr Locations: China, Washington, United States, Cuba, American, Beijing, Ukraine

☆ Hosting Palestinian Leader, Xi Pushes China as a Peacemaker for Israel
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Chinese state media had also fiercely criticized the United States for failing to broker a settlement between the two. And on Wednesday, Mr. Xi put forward a three-part proposal for a two-state solution to the conflict, according to the state media. The plan appeared largely similar to a proposition that Mr. Xi had put forward in 2013, which failed to achieve any breakthroughs. “Justice must be returned to Palestine as soon as possible,” Xinhua, the state news agency, reported Mr. Xi as saying. “China is willing to play a positive role in helping Palestine achieve internal reconciliation and promote peace talks.”

Persons: Xi Jinping, Mahmoud Abbas, Abbas’s, Xi, ” Organizations: Palestinian, Palestinian Authority, Xinhua Locations: Beijing, United States, China, Israel, Palestine

☆ Behind a Rare Clash, a Fight Over Faith in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Walking through Nagu, a small town in the mountains of southwestern China, the signs of a vibrant Muslim community are ubiquitous. Loudspeakers broadcast passages from a Chinese translation of the Quran. Towering over it all is the Najiaying Mosque, a white building topped with an emerald dome and four minarets that reach 230 feet into the air. For decades, the mosque has been the pride of the Muslim Hui ethnic minority that lives here. As the officers blocked the mosque and used pepper spray, residents threw water bottles and bricks.

Organizations: Hui, Communist Locations: Nagu, China

☆ China Announces Plan to Land Astronauts on Moon by 2030
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China plans to complete a mission to land a person on the moon by 2030, a government official announced on Monday, in the highest-level confirmation of China’s ambitions for a crewed lunar landing. Chinese scientists have previously nodded at a 2030 goal in a less formal capacity; for example, the chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program said last month that a 2030 landing would be “no problem.”“We can clasp the moon in the ninth heaven,” Lin Xiqiang, the deputy director of China’s Manned Space Agency, said at a news conference on Monday, quoting a Mao Zedong poem. Mr. Lin said the moon landing project, part of the country’s broader Lunar Exploration Project — also known as the Chang’e Project, for the Chinese moon goddess — had “recently” been kick-started, though he did not offer specifics. The project would also seek to enable short-term stays on the lunar surface, as well as collect samples and conduct research, he said.

☆ Inside the Barbecue City That Is China’s Hottest Tourist Destination
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The flame-shaped neon archway was visible from miles away, which was good since there was little other reason for anyone to be in that part of town, an expanse of fields outside an industrial city in eastern China. The lights flickered between icy blue and red-hot, leaping toward the night sky beside a jumbo sign: “Zibo Barbecue Experiential Ground.”And what an experience awaited. Inside this Coachella for barbecue, visitors could pose with a mascot dressed like a meat skewer. They could watch a concert against an LED backdrop of radiating flames. Zibo, a once-obscure chemical manufacturing city in Shandong Province, has suddenly strangely — thanks to, of all things, barbecue — turned into China’s hottest tourist destination.

☆ Deaths of Seniors in Hospital Fire Point to China’s Elder Care Shortfall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Vivian Wang | Joy Dong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING — The hospital in southern Beijing advertised itself as specializing in vascular tumors, especially benign birthmarks that often appear in infants. The tragedy at Changfeng Hospital — the deadliest fire in China’s capital in more than two decades — has renewed scrutiny of a long-running problem. China’s population is rapidly aging, with 400 million people, nearly 30 percent of the population, expected to be over 60 by 2040. But medical resources have not kept up; there were only about eight million nursing home or elder care beds at the end of 2020, according to official statistics. The authorities have recognized the urgency of addressing the shortage, with Beijing’s latest five-year plan pledging to raise that number to nine million beds by 2025.

☆ The Shining Promise and Dashed Dreams of China’s Live Shopping Craze
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Now nearly half of China’s one billion internet users have tried it, even as it remains largely unfamiliar in the West. To Americans, it may be reminiscent of television shopping — but interactive and, as a result, far more compelling. For viewers, the appeal is not only convenience, but also the feeling of being catered to. Global brands from Ikea to Louis Vuitton have paid China’s influencers to stream their products. But much of the appeal of this line of business is that anyone can do it: Farmers, factory workers and retirees have joined the frenzy.

Two months after issuing a vague plan for ending the war in Ukraine, China’s leader, a close ally of Vladimir V. Putin, on Wednesday acceded to repeated requests from the Ukrainian president to talk. The one-hour telephone discussion between China’s Xi Jinping and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was the first known contact between the two leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. China’s official account of the discussion was notable for its omission of two words: “Russia” and “war.” It referred instead to the need for a “political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” and warned of the danger of nuclear escalation. For his part, Mr. Zelensky said the two leaders “had a long and meaningful phone call.”In recent months, Mr. Xi has been trying to burnish his image as a global statesman by helping restore diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran and by rolling out the red carpet in Beijing for visiting world leaders like President Emmanuel Macron of France.

☆ China Drops Covid P.C.R. Test Rule for Inbound Travelers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The United States and China have not yet lifted tit-for-tat caps that they imposed on routes between their two countries during the pandemic. In January, as the coronavirus spread widely across China, several countries, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, announced mandatory tests for inbound travelers from China. (South Korea had also suspended some visas for Chinese travelers.) The United States, Japan and South Korea no longer require any predeparture tests for travelers arriving from China, but China had not changed its rule until Tuesday. Travelers from other countries to China, meanwhile, had been allowed to take antigen tests.

☆ China Accuses a Liberal Columnist of Espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Vivian Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The editor, Dong Yuyu, was a columnist and deputy editor of the editorial section at Guangming Daily, one of the party’s major newspapers. For decades, he had routinely met with foreigners, including diplomats and journalists, in part to inform his own prolific writing. At the same time, he has virtually eliminated the space for liberal views like Mr. Dong’s — in part by depicting them as another symptom of foreign meddling. The relatively liberal Chinese publications where Mr. Dong once published, in addition to writing for his own employer, have been gutted. Chinese journalists have been barred from writing for overseas publications; previously, Mr. Dong had contributed several articles to The New York Times’s Chinese website.

☆ Restaurants and hotels are driving US job economy. Here are thousands of open roles as the hospitality sector offsets steep staffing cuts in big tech.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Danni Santana | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The leisure and hospitality sector continues to drive US job gains, the Labor Department said. Still, the US Travel Association estimates about 2 million open roles in leisure and hospitality. The leisure and hospitality sector encompasses restaurants, hotels, arts, entertainment such as theme parks, and other tourism-oriented businesses. Overall, the US Travel Association estimates about 2 million open roles remain unfilled in leisure and hospitality. Here's a look at who is hiring in restaurants and hospitality at large chains.

October 2022 Wang Linfang,92, molecular biologist Four members of China’s two most prestigious academic institutions died in October – in line with the average in recent years. October 2022 Wang Linfang,92, molecular biologist Four members of China’s two most prestigious academic institutions died in October – in line with the average in recent years. Zhang Guocheng, 91 Zhao Zisen, 90, developed China’s first practical optical fiber Tang Hongxiao, 91 The obituaries began accumulating. October 2022 Wang Linfang,92, molecular biologist Four members of China’s two most prestigious academic institutions died in October – in line with the average in recent years. October 2022 Wang Linfang,92, molecular biologist Four members of China’s two most prestigious academic institutions died in October – in line with the average in recent years.

Gao Mingjun’s mother, who works and lives at the Foxconn industrial park in Zhengzhou, Henan, was forced to wait outside in the middle of the night when one of her co-workers tested positive.

Then, two men led Mr. Hu — who appeared reluctant to go — out of Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. Was Mr. Hu, 79, suffering from poor health, as Chinese state media would later report? When the aide finally succeeds in coaxing Mr. Hu from his chair, Mr. Li, the No. As the two aides begin guiding Mr. Hu away from his seat, the older leader stops to say something to Mr. Xi. The state broadcaster’s news program that night showed footage of Mr. Hu voting, and then his empty seat later in the ceremony, without explanation.

In 10 years of ruling China, Xi Jinping has expunged political rivals, replacing them with allies. With Comrade Xi Jinping as the core” Unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. Take practical actions to welcome the victory of the Party's 20th National Congress” With Comrade Xi Jinping as the core” With Comrade Xi Jinping as the core” Unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. Take practical actions to welcome the victory of the Party's 20th National Congress” With Comrade Xi Jinping as the core” With Comrade Xi Jinping as the core” Unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. Earlier this year, local officials in the southern region of Guangxi printed and distributed small red booklets about Xi Jinping Thought.

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