What we did and what we thought in 2019
In January, the Chang’e Lunar Lander and Rover landed on the dark side of the moon. Now, as the year ends, China’s largest carrier rocket, the Long March-5 Y3, was successfully launched as the next step toward the nation’s first Mars probe next year.
The photo provided by the China National Space Administration on January 4 shows Yutu-2, China's lunar rover, on the surface of the far side of the moon.
This was a year of big groundbreaking events and smaller happenings that sometimes slipped from the limelight.
The Chinese mourned the passing of cultural celebrities like fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld and Chinese essayist Lin Ching-hsuan, worried about the fire and repair of Notre Dame in Paris, and reveled in a grand military parade and mass celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
It was a year when decades of efforts paid off.
Chinese actor Wang Jingchun and actress Yong Mei won Silver Bear awards for their performances in the Chinese drama “So Long, My Son” at the Berlin Film Festival, fugitives on the run for years were tracked down by new technology, the grand Daxing International Airport finally opened in Beijing, and the Nasdaq-style technology and science STAR Market was launched in Shanghai.
The SSE STAR Market was launched in June.
In Shanghai alone, new parks, Metro lines, art galleries, museums, theaters and libraries opened. By the end of 2020, the city will boast some 300 parks.
It was a year when strides in technology accelerated the changes in lives of residents.
In January, many residents were still pondering what benefit they would gain from at new tax deduction. Now, as the year draws to the end, everyone is registering on a one-stop mobile app for the deduction next year. The Ministry of Finance recently announced nearly 2 trillion yuan (US$286 billion) in tax cuts and administrative fee reductions in the first 10 months, benefiting both individuals and companies.
Last year, face recognition was a hot topic, with many worrying about how and where it would be used. Today, thousands of people are scanning their faces to pay in shops without giving it second thought.
In June, national authorities granted commercial 5G licenses to China’s top three telecom operators. Nearly all Chinese smartphone vendors have launched new-generation 5G models. Today, 5G operations are up and running in about 40 major cities, with Shanghai hosting 10 percent of nationwide base stations. Next year, the entire city will be covered by 5G.
China launched commercial 5G services this year.
It was a year when China strengthened its profile on the world stage.
After rounds of negotiations that started in 2018, China and the United States have reached a phase-one agreement for an economic and trade deal — an upbeat note to end the year that marks the 40th anniversary of China-US diplomatic relations.
Promises to further open China’s markets to the world were implemented. A series of measures, such as the Foreign Investment Law, which will increase intellectual property protection for foreign investors and companies, will come into effect next Wednesday.
Shanghai hosted the second China International Import Expo, attracting an increasing number of companies from around the world and racking up ever higher numbers of deals. Work is already under way for the 2020 expo.
The city continued steps to transform itself into a world science and innovation hub, hosting the second World Laureates Forum. More than 40 Nobel laureates attended.
Macau celebrated the 20th anniversary of its return to the motherland under the “one country, two systems” framework.
Efforts are continuing to develop the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area around the Pearl River Delta into a world-class urban cluster. The areas are now connected by the world’s longest cross-sea bridge.
This year is the 20th anniversary of Macau’s return to the motherland.
The year also saw Chinese-owned app TikTok become the fourth-most popular download, growing faster than Facebook or Instagram.
Chinese Internet celebrities are going beyond the border, garnering millions of foreign fans with an array of videos highlighting ancient craftsmanship and the tranquility of the Chinese countryside.
Shanghai Daily has picked several key viral moments.
Trash sorting
“Is this dry, wet or recyclable?”
That was the common question heard throughout the summer as the city implemented the nation’s most comprehensive regulations on sorting waste.
At first, many local residents were perplexed, worried that they might face fines if they didn’t deposit waste in the proper receptacles. Trash never seemed so complex.
Communities initiated clever ways to help residents sort their trash, including a mobile app that breaks down sorting item by item, and volunteers who stood by to help the confused.
Today, the new system is running smoothly, and public anxiety has eased.
Peace-blossom land
In a 10-minute video, a young Chinese woman dressed in a period costume sits in an ancient-style house, surrounded by greenery and colorful ingredients commonly used to make Chinese snacks like dried beef, dried fruits and candies.
Uploaded in February, the video, with no subtitles, has been viewed more than 40 million times, eliciting thousands of comments in many languages. The 29-year-old vlogger Li Ziqi garnered more than 7.8 million subscribers on YouTube.
A top vlogger in China since 2017, Li lives with her grandmother in the countryside of Sichuan Province. Her average videos are about 10 minutes long. They show her applying traditional crafts to cooking — from collecting soybeans and making soy sauce in the old way, to collecting plants and flowers to make natural cosmetics.
Her simple period costumes and make-up hark back to ancient Chinese paintings. They evoke tranquility to those living pressured urban lives.
Li’s success inspired other Chinese vloggers, especially those in the countryside, to upload similar videos.
Grandpa Amu, a master carpenter, has had his videos viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube. The videos show how he makes intricate wooden toys for his grandson.
Box office breakthroughs
It was the year the Chinese filmmaking flourished in renaissance.
Two weeks before the end of the year, China’s box office had already surpassed last year’s record receipts of 60.7 billion yuan. “Birth of the Demon Child Nezha,” a 3D animation featuring the mythological character Nezha, is undoubtedly the biggest winner.
The film took in 5 billion yuan at the box office, the highest grossing movie in China this year and the 10th-highest grossing film around the world in 2019. In China, it is second only to record holder “Wolf Warrior 2.”
The story of the mythological protection god — a rebellious child riding wind-fire wheels — has been adapted into animation many times, with some classic versions that have become childhood memories
The film is not only a symbol of the re-emergence of Chinese animation, but also a window into better-quality, higher grossing Chinese movies in general. Only five years ago, half of the top grossing movies in China were Hollywood films. This year, only “Avengers: Endgame” and “Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw” made it to the top 10.
Among the success in domestic movies was China’s first big-budget sci-fi film “Wandering Earth,” adapted from a short story by “Three-Body Problem” author Liu Cixin, and two movies dedicated to the nation’s 70th founding anniversary.
“My People, My Country” recalled one historical moment in each of the last seven decades.
“The Captain” was based on the true story of a captain with Sichuan Airlines plane who managed a miraculous emergency landing in 2018 and saved all the passengers’ lives.
Leveling the playing field
It was a year when perceptions of inequality still dogged the sports realm.
For years, Chinese sports fans have uttered the term “men outmatched by women,” expressing their disappointment at the Chinese men’s soccer team while the women’s soccer won championships.
The frustration extended beyond soccer this year.
The 2006 World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi, whom Chinese fans placed on a pedestal since he took over China’s national team, resigned after the team’s defeat by Syria in a 2022 World Cup qualifier.
In basketball, another popular sports in China, the national team also disappointed fans when it failed to qualify for the second round of the Basketball World Cup after a defeat to Venezuela. That came despite China hosting the event this year.
The only comfort for Chinese sports fans this year came from the women’s volleyball team, which won the gold medal at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup, catapulting the team and head coach Lang Ping into the spotlight.
Lang, former head coach of the US women’s national volleyball team, was the most valuable player in women’s volleyball at the 1984 Olympics and the first person to have scored Olympic wins both as a player and as a coach, after she led the Chinese team to the championship at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
A movie based on Lang’s story is hitting the cinemas next month, with top Chinese actress Gong Li playing Lang.
Crime never pays
It was a year when crime, as usual, captivated the public.
A short video of 45-year-old Lao Rongzhi getting a profile picture taken as she was taken into custody went viral in early December.
The notorious femme fatale, with a creepy smile in the video, was accused of killing seven people in the 1990s and had been on the run for 20 years since her partner-in-crime and boyfriend was arrested and executed.
She had been working short-term jobs in bars and small shops under fake identities in various cities, making it difficult for police officers to track her down. But new technology helped the hunt.
Officers in the southeastern city of Xiamen used Big Data technology to find her and confirmed Lao’s identity with a DNA test.
It was not the only instance of delayed justice.
Gang boss Sun Xiaoguo was recently sentenced to death, for a second time, 21 years after the first sentence. The original death sentence in 1998 involved various violent crimes, but was reduced to 20 years. Sun was set free in 2010.
Once out, he continued his crime spree. The details of his escape from the first death sentence revealed corruption by officials in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province.
Sun was finally brought to justice, and the original death sentence was reinstated. Nineteen officials tied to the corruption case were also found guilty and sentenced to as many as 20 years in prison.
