China News Digest 4

1.Date: 08-Nov-17

2. Current Exchange Rates ($/Yuan): I US Dollar Exchanges for 6.64 Chinese Yuan

3. During the past week (or since your last entry), what has been the major economic or business news relating to China?

Firstly, the e-commerce giant company in China, Alibaba, announced that it will start using drones, commonly referred to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for the over water delivery of packages. Ahead of the much awaited “Singles Day” shopping spree that happens in November 11th, this drones will be a cheap and convenient way of delivering packages to various destinations. The drones, according to the company, can carry up to a total of 7 kilograms and even more, and can fly in moderate to slightly strong wind conditions to make the deliveries. The first use of the drones was in the delivery of passion fruit from Putian, five kilometers over water to Meizhou Island, taking 9 minutes to make the journey. The drones, also according to the company, can be used to transport other products such as fruits and medical supplies, over the water, thereby cutting logistics costs and time of transportation. With enough drones, the service can be more efficient than using boats and other means of water travel to make the deliveries. http://en.people.cn/business/n3/2017/1107/c90778-9289675.html

China is a renowned technology giant in the world, and this move to use drones for transportation is hardly surprising. With the production of the drones scaled up considering the numerous to which they can be put to, the cost of production will conveniently reduce, thereby making the use of drones for delivery services a convenient way of transport. In addition, the drones can be used for transportation of products even to remote places, and this ultimately increases the use to which they can be put. Furthermore, the drones can be used in adverse conditions, and they are a safe way of making deliveries all across the vast population of China. I feel that this is a very convenient way of making transports, and it will reduce congestions on the roads. The drones do not fly too high, and they will hardly tamper with the flights that come into or go out of the Chinese airspace.

Secondly, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation in China will be giving tax incentives to agricultural products and small business in the country. This is a move that will inherently improve the economy of the country a great deal. The tax incentives include exemption from paying stamp tax for businesses that borrow loans from the various financial institutions, and exemption from paying value-added-tax for small businesses for a period of about 12 years starting from the coming year. http://www.china.org.cn/business/2017-11/07/content_41855743.htm

The government of China is committed to the growth of the country’s economy, and the agricultural and business sectors contribute to such an economy. Therefore, tax incentives to help with the growth of such dockets will go a long way into encouraging more people to start small businesses and take on agriculture, an aspect that will eventually help the economy grow and see more money be returned to the people in effective means.

4. During the past week (or since your last entry), what has been the major political news China?

     During the past week, President Xi Jinping of China, appointed Wang Ke to be the ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania, and Wei Qiang as the ambassador to the Republic of Panama. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-11/07/content_34236337.htm

For a country such as China, success in world politics depends on relations with other countries of the world. For this reason, the appointment of the two ambassadors to the two countries is an important step in securing the relations with the countries, a move that can see cooperation between them become enhanced, in a manner that will be beneficial to the Chinese economy.

5. What new information have you found related to religion in China?

    Even though Confucianism was one of the oldest religions in the country, a bigger portion of the population is Buddhist. Confucianism allows the Chinese people to be more tolerant of other forms of beliefs, including atheism where the atheists do not believe in the existence of deities. In a culture such as the Chinese, it would be difficult to imagine or believe that a religion such as Christianity would be existing here, but the truth of the matter is that about 33 million people are Christians in this country. However, there are other religions such as Taoism and even Islam in the country. The interesting thing is that, the people here have learn to properly co-exist with one another, and cases of religious persecution are hardly heard of. In retrospect, the Confucianism religion allowed the people to be more open minded about the aspect of free will when it comes to believing in the existence of a deity, and this is perhaps why people are free to practice whatever form of religion they choose in this country. https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/religion/

The holy city of Lhasa in china is very popular for encouraging people to visit the Buddhist temples and offer their respects in form of pilgrimage, something which conforms to the holy city of Mecca that is popular among the Muslims for instance.

6. During the past week (or since your last entry), what has been the major health news relating to China?

      China is one of the most advanced countries in the world, in terms of technology, and part of this is applied to the field of medicine. With advanced cardiac intervention, training in china is one of the more prestigious options for cardiac intervention doctors around the world, and this was applied to the training of over 60 cardiac intervention doctors in major hospitals in Beijing and Shanghai. The training program is an initiative by China to promote the health of the people not only in the country, but also in the region, by ensuring that cardiac problems are properly handled by different doctors in different hospitals all around the country, and even in other countries as well. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-10/30/c_136715729.htm

7. During the past week (or since your last entry), what has been the major news story regarding to the environment in China?

   As we know it, the Chinese environment is expected to be comprised of technology advancements that are unlike anything seen in most of the other countries around the world. True to this analogy, a robot made by Chinese technology firm iFlytek and Tsinghua University took a national medical examination offered by the National Medical Examination Centre, and scored higher than any human has ever scored before. This was even despite the fact that the robot did not have any kind of signal access or internet as well, which shows that the only kind of knowledge it used during the examination was derived from its already contained knowledge, and its ability to gather more knowledge from the already existing knowledge. The exceptional score also proved very important for the doctors in the country because the robot can act as a counterpart to the medical doctors in the country, assisting them in the diagnosis of common or even uncommon diseases in the hospitals, or even deal with patients. With the ability to store that kind of knowledge and process information fast, the robot will revolutionize the Chinese environment and make things easier for everyone in the country, especially regarding aspects of health. In addition, if such a robot could be made, the company could also make other kinds of robots to help with other kinds of functions around the Chinese environment, something which will make the environment that much better. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-11/07/c_136734470.htm

8. During the past week (or since your last journal entry), what other news story did you find interesting?

     The other news story that I found to be particularly interesting was that of a 90 year old who had an interesting procedure done on her in the southern Hunan province in China. With a 1 cm shrapnel logged in her left leg since 1945. What was interesting was the fact that doctors were able to perform the delicate procedure on the old woman, and considering her age, the risk of an operation was great. However, the risk of operation was not greater than the risk of having the leg amputated, because doctors said she may not have survived the procedure. The fact that this could be done after such a long time of living with the piece of metal in her leg was what was interesting to me. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-41902224

9. Temperature in Shanghai: 15°C

10. Temperature in Beijing: 4°C