Cardens of the paople

A paltry fee of one kuai al lows admission into one of Beijing's best-kept secrets. Barely identifiable for what it is, the Altar of the Sun could easily be mistaken for what it isn't: just another secure embassy behind a ten foot wall. A few blocks removed from the main drag, and a stone's throw west of the British compound, Ritan Park is a diversion from the nearby commercialism of Silk Alley and the Russian market. First established in 1540, this serene park, like local Gardens of the People throughout China, still presents a microcosm of the social mo-     

Highway and railway to Tibet——Bruce Connolly travels by bus and traint hough one of the emptiest areas in China

One of the most fascinating journeys I have had in a life of travel was a recentbus ride from Gansu Province to Qinghai Province. A journey that took mefrom the Silk Road oasis of Dunhuang up to the remote town of Germu in thestunningly beautiful lands bordering the Tibet Plateau.Leaving Dunhuang shortly after 7.30 am just as the sun was rising, the bus passeda fort looking as though it had defended the area for hundreds of years. It was actu-ally built recently for movie productions. Ver…     

A Pearl Embedded in the New Silk Road——An Exclusive Interview with Mayor of Kaifeng Ji Bing

正KAIFENG,located in the heart of China,was the world’s biggest and busiest city during the 11th and 12th centuries.As the intersection of the land and maritime Silk Roads,it was a place from where goods were dispatched and traders from the East and West met.Today,it is a major city in the central China economic region due to its integrated development with Zhengzhou,capital of Henan Province.     

Meeting Held for the Publication of Biography of Han Xu——Experience of a Diplomat

A meeting for the publication of the Book Biography of Han Xu--Experience of a Diplomat was held in the auditorium of the CPAFFC on September 20. Chen Haosu, president of the CPAFFC, and Wang Chengjia, president of the World Affairs Press, co-chaired the meeting. About     

Rewi Alley:Great New Zealander in China——Random Notes on His Autobiography

By way of commemorating the centenary ofthe birth of Rewi Alley, our great New Zea-land friend, the Chinese People's Association forFriendship with Foreign Countries, the Rewi Al-ley Memorial Cooperative Foundation and theChina Friendship Peace and Development Foun-dation recently sponsored the publication of a re-vised edition of Rewi's autobiography in both Eng-lish and Chinese languages. This important andconclusive book completed by the author in hislast years was published in 1986. The original booktitle of its English version was At 90: Memoirs of     

Xiahe——a Jewel in Gansu

In a remote southwest corner of GansuProvince, five hours from Lanzhou, liesGannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Formany years I had a desire to visit the principaltown, Xiahe. 3,000 metres above sea level, it isa major centre of Buddhism and hence attractspilgrims from a wide area.I visited Xiahe in the autumn of 1997 aspart of a journey I was undertaking along the fa-bled Silk Road.I appreciated the kindness and help shown     

Xiong Qinghua—Mayor and Scholar

Editor: Baoshan is a frontier city in western Yunnan Province on the Myanmar border.It was formerly one of the Southwestern Silk Road trade routes. Nestled among mountains, Baoshan is green as far as the     

Stories Beyond the Red Wall

Painter Wang Tao, 46, studied at the Central Academy of Arts and Design (now part of Tsinghua University) in the 1980s. After graduating he took more specialized courses in oil painting. It was during Wang’s boyhood that he began to fantasize about what lay behind the mottled red walls that he passed on his way to school each day. This childish fancy gave birth to a series of paintings with a wall motif. As all aspects of society, art included, inexorably change, Wang Tao uses hi…     

黑水城:大漠中的传奇（英文）

<正>Once upon a time,travelers made a stop at Ejin near the oasis on their way to the Silk Road.Also known as Ejina,or as"Yijinai"in Mongolian,the banner Ejin was close to Juyan Lake.The words of Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei,well-known to most Chinese,relate the area's mystique,recounting smoke rising into the Great Desert's evening sky.     

Kunming——Blooming and Booming

KUNMING in central Yunnan Province is he largest city in Chi-na's extended south-vestern frontier. Two housand years ago, it was a hub on the Southern Silk Road that connected inland China with Southeast Asia and a converging point on the Sichuan-Yunnan-Vietnam passageway. Today, as the capital city of Yunnan, it is home to 26 ethnic groups and a popular destination for tourists and business travelers from around the world.     

Suzhou Silk Museum

SILK production in China has a history of 6,000 years. As early as the fifth century B.C., silk was exported to Asia, Europe and Africa along the Old Silk Road, making an outstanding contribution to world civilization. Suzhou has been a silk producer for centuries, and China's first silk museum was built in this ancient city.Suzhou Silk Museum is multi-functional, and combines exhibits with demonstrations of silk weaving. Exhibits on display in its various exhibition halls reflect the or…     

The New Maritime Silk Road,A Historic Choice

正THE concept of a 21st century Maritime Silk Road was initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to the ASEAN region in October 2013.President Xi proposed the strategy creatively,considering both the history of the region and its future against the current global climate.The New Maritime Silk Road and the New Silk Road Economic Belt together construct an important pillar of the Chinese dream of rejuvenating the na-     

An Unforgettable Trip to Nepal

When it was still cold winder in Beijing in February, spring was in the air in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal at the foot of the world's most imposing mountains-the Himalayas. It was in such a pleasant season that a CPAFFC delegation led by its vice president Wang Yunze paid a 4-day friendly visit to Nepal at the invitation of the Nepal Arniko Society.     

PEOPLE/POINTS

Govt Gets New Spokesperson The Chinese Government has named veteran journalist Wang Chen as its chief spokesperson.Wang replaces Cai Wu as minister of the Information Office of the State Council.Cai was made minister of culture at the First Session of the 11th National People's Congress in March. Wang,57,spent 26 years in journalism at Guangming Daily,a Beijing-based publication mainly catering for the country's intellectuals. In August 2001,he was appointed editor in chief of People's Daily,China's largest national newspaper,after serving 14 months as vice minister of the Publicity Deoartment of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.Wang was promoted to publisher of People's Daily in November 2002.     

Diverse Xinjiang——The Western Regions

Xinjiang is China‘s largest provincial-level administrative region. Covering an area of 1.6 million square kilometers, there are eight countries along its 5,600-kilometer border. According to archaeological findings, human habitation began here in the Neolithic Age, Xinjiang was a main aspect of the Old Silk Road that traversed the region 2,000 years ago, and instrumental in linking the East and West. Migration from Central Asia and intermarriage brought about complex ethnic relationships culminating in the 13 ethnic groups that today inhabit this region of diverse culture and topography,     

Setting the Stakes

The term "stakeholder," first used by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick in a speech on U.S.-China relations last September, has since been frequently quoted and discussed as a buzzword in bilateral relations. According to Wang Jianwei, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a senior associate at the Shanghai Institute for American Studies, "stakeholder" was "mainly put forward as a demand upon China by the United States," which implies that China is not yet a 'responsible stakeholder." If this is the case, "it will not serve as a solid basis for a stable relationship," Wang writes. His main ideas follow:     

GREETINGS FOR CPAFFC'S 40TH ANNIVERSARY

IT has been my great good fortune to have been associated with the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries in a number of ways for nearly 30 years. For me it all began in 1966 when I was editor for Longmans of a series of booklets for high school students called "The World's Villages" and at the suggestion of the late Rewi Alley I was invited by Youxie to "study the life of the people in the Chinese countryside". From the very beginning     

Rewi Alley and the Chinese Cultural Relics

December 2, 1997 marks thecentenary anniversary of thebirth of Rewi Alley, a New Zea-land friend. The departments con-cerned in New Zealand and Chinaare now preparing its commemo-rative activities. Rewi Alley, agreat internationalist reputed bycomrade Deng Xiaoping as an"old soldier, old friend and oldcomrade" of the Chinese people,had lived and worked in China for     

In Fond Memory of Rewi Alley

Rewi Alley passed away on December 27,1987 at the age of ninety. News of his demise cameas a great shock to me, then on a diplomatic assignment in Washington, D.C. where I was serving as press counsellor of the Chinese Embassy. Even to this day I still deeply regret for not being     

Think Globally,Act Locally

<正>Four years since the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative,also known as the Belt and Road Initiative,was put forward,various regions in China have leveraged their advantages to support its implementation.As its initiator,China has exemplif ied how this vision will be turned into reality.Northwest China was on the ancient Silk Road routes.The region is a key area of the Silk Road Economic Belt,as it is a hub