Sometimes it takes pictures to demonstrate the seriousness of a situation. The Philippine government in Manila must have come to this conclusion, as it has recently published coastguard photos of intimidation attempts by Chinese ships in disputed waters. They show ships targeting much smaller boats with water cannons. It is a David versus Goliath battle, which is also symbolized by these photos, with which Manila wants to generate international attention.
Manila’s self-confident transparency campaign has certainly been successful, as Michael Radunski analyzes. It has already led to expressions of solidarity from the USA and other countries. China is now also showing the images, but interpreting them completely differently. The struggle for interpretational sovereignty has therefore begun.
In wintry Beijing, the leadership of the Communist Party, including party leader Xi Jinping, spent two days at its annual Central Economic Work Conference debating the course of economic policy in the coming year. There were signs of this on Tuesday: Beijing could now launch another comprehensive economic stimulus package after all. The most important indication: in October, Beijing decided to issue new government bonds.
Companies despairing of weak demand can therefore cautiously hope for an economic upturn.
The Chinese leadership apparently wants to do more on credit again in order to free itself from the economic slump. According to a Chinese-language summary of the Central Economic Work Conference that ended on Tuesday, the “appropriate intensification of proactive fiscal policy” (积极的财政政策要适度加力) is at the top of the list of measures that Beijing considers necessary to stimulate growth.
This formulation could already be found in reports on last year’s Economic Work Conference. At that time, however, the leadership was still confidently expecting a roaring growth party after the end of the coronavirus measures – which then failed to materialize. This year, however, Beijing had fittingly just expanded its national debt as the conference came to an end. This means that the government can now spend more money to create jobs and boost growth.
The CP now wants to promote the high-tech sector in particular. The report announced tax breaks for “scientific and technological innovations”, which had not been mentioned in 2022. Industry is also set to benefit from tax cuts. The document also states a different focus for growth expectations than a year ago: instead of private consumption, technology investments are now the top priority. Overall, the impression is that the realization of how serious the economic problems are has reached the very top.
The annual Economic Work Conference, which takes place in November or December, sets out the guidelines for the coming year. According to Chinese economic experts, the possible economic stimulus program could help the country achieve a growth rate of 4.5 to 5 percent in the coming year. It could therefore succeed in cushioning and stabilizing the plummeting growth. The biggest concerns of the high-ranking conference were the highly indebted municipalities and the ailing real estate sector.
The economic stimulus program is apparently to be financed by higher government debt. This is because the increase in spending that has now been decided follows the Ministry of Finance’s announcement in October that it would issue new government bonds worth one trillion yuan (around €130 billion). According to economists, the government is on the verge of exceeding the generally recognized safety limit of three percent of the national deficit in relation to gross domestic product – something the party has previously shied away from.
Many have been asking for some time: Where is the economic stimulus package to get the economy moving again? Xi had hesitated to launch a major spending program due to the experiences of previous decades. China last launched a major economic stimulus program in 2008. In the wake of the global financial crisis, the country put together a rescue package worth four trillion yuan (€520 billion).
It is true that these programs drove growth at the time. But at the same time, a large real estate bubble and considerable overcapacity formed. Many local authorities plunged into enormous debt. This is paying off today, as the real estate crisis shows.
The Central Economic Work Conference of the Communist Party brings together the party’s top personnel. The chairman is Xi Jinping himself, who gave the speech from which the state media quoted extensively on Tuesday. Also present are key members of the Policy Bureau and the Central Committee of the Party, i.e. the most important bodies in Chinese politics. Premier Li Qiang also gave a speech.
Despite the downgrade of its credit rating outlook by the rating agency Moody’s, the central government’s financial position is strong enough for an increase in the deficit, said Zhang Jun, chief economist at Beijing-based Galaxy Securities. At the same time, many observers are of the opinion that the deficit should be kept below 3.5 percent of GDP.
Once the limit is breached, debt could quickly rise further. This is because the sources of public funding that resulted from the years of boom are currently drying up one by one.
For all these reasons, Beijing is keen to avoid the kind of excessive economic rescue measures it has taken in the past. In view of the difficult situation, however, the government apparently has no choice but to inject economic stimulus.
To ensure that the planned investments provide tangible benefits and have minimal side effects, the first round of fresh funds amounting to one trillion yuan will be used exclusively for reconstruction and projects to protect against future water disasters in areas that were affected by flooding in 2023. Further guidelines for eligible projects are expected to follow soon.
In addition to the collapsed real estate sector and municipal debt, the economic authorities are also facing the following problems that could justify an expansive financial plan for short-term growth:
China still does not have a reliable indicator for unemployment. But this year, news of company closures, downsizing, and wage cuts seemed to far outweigh news of new openings and wage increases – pointing to more unemployed.
Consumption also clearly reflects the situation. The mantra of Chinese consumers in 2023 is “consumption downgrade” (消费降级 xiao fei jiang ji): fewer restaurant visits, fewer new clothes and bags, less travel for leisure and generally fewer luxuries.
Retail sales, the most important barometer of consumer sentiment, rose by 6.9% year-on-year from January to October, and by 7.6% in October alone. At first glance, these figures seem impressive. But they compare to 2022 when people were at home in lockdown and only bought rice, toilet paper, and Covid tests.
The cost of rescuing the municipalities will ultimately be borne by the parties involved, explained an analyst in Hong Kong who wished to remain anonymous. “It’s a political task,” she said.
The lion’s share of local authority debt consists of loans from commercial banks. After the debt crisis came to a head this year, the State Council of the People’s Republic issued guidelines in September and instructed debtors, creditors, the Ministry of Finance, and the central bank to work together to find solutions. There was talk of issuing refinancing bonds, debt rescheduling, and restructuring. The Chinese central bank pledged to grant emergency aid to the most heavily indebted municipalities facing immediate payment difficulties.
The struggle of indebted real estate companies such as Country Garden continues, and although the central government has been calling for necessary measures to complete buildings that have already been paid for but are still under construction since 2022, progress has been slow. At the same time, many local governments have been quietly trying to ease purchase restrictions in the hope of reviving the market. Liu Yi
Two battles broke out in the South China Sea over the weekend: physically on the high seas and in the media for the prerogative of interpretation. The first part is quickly told. Philippine boats were intercepted by the Chinese Coast Guard on their way to the so-called Second Thomas Reef on the Spratly Islands. There were tangible clashes: The Chinese side fired water cannons and rammed several boats.
Should the conflict escalate, this would quickly have global repercussions. This is because the USA is linked to the Philippines by a military assistance pact. However, the region is not just about rich fishing grounds and potential oil and gas deposits. World trade would also be massively affected: Almost one in three shipping containers passes through the South China Sea. Fortunately, we are not there yet.
Beijing claims practically the entire South China Sea for itself – including areas in the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of the neighboring countries. The Second Thomas Reef is located in the EEZ of the Philippines and China’s claim area. A battle has now broken out over the weekend’s incident to determine who is responsible for interpreting it.
On the one side is Beijing, which is extremely angry. The Philippines should immediately stop violating China’s sovereignty, attacking it for no reason, denigrating it, and undermining peace and stability in the South China Sea. China itself had once again shown goodwill and restraint, said Foreign Office spokeswoman Mao Ning at the beginning of the week in Beijing. The implicit threat: China will not always behave with such restraint.
The Philippines are also furious: the attacks are “a serious escalation on the part of the agents of the People’s Republic of China“, said Jonathan Malaya, spokesman for the National Security Council. At the same time, the official presented pictures and videos of the water cannon and ramming operations. It is the Philippines’ new strategy: using images and video recordings to expose China’s aggressive behavior and present it to the general public.
Raymond Powell calls the approach an “assertive transparency campaign“. “With this new campaign, the Philippines is trying to defend itself against China’s ‘gray zone’ tactics,” explains the former US Air Force pilot in an interview with Table.Media. Powell is now head of Sealight, a project on transparency in maritime law at Stanford University.
And China’s leadership is reacting – with a combination of gradual escalation and its own information operations. Beijing refers to the same footage and explains that it did not fire directly at the Philippine boats for a long time. So it’s a case of statement against statement – as it has been for years. What is new, however, is that thanks to the footage, the public can see for themselves – in the truest sense of the word.
“Exposing China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea is a smart and important strategy,” says Abdul Rahman Yaacob from Australia’s Lowy Institute to Table.Media. In this way, Manila is succeeding in countering China’s narrative that the Philippines is the aggressor.
“The policy of transparency allows the Philippines to disclose the actual reality on the ground to a domestic and international audience, which is crucial to gain their support for the Philippines’ claim in the South China Sea against China,” Yaacob explains.
The USA already has Manila on board. Matthew Miller, spokesman for the US State Department, called for China to stop its “dangerous and destabilizing behavior”. The UK also condemned China’s behavior as unsafe and escalatory.
Expert Powell believes in the success of the new strategy. “International partners are voicing their support more and more loudly and are beginning to offer material support.” He cites as examples Japan’s help with coastal protection and coastal radar equipment or Canada’s help in “detecting so-called dark ships” that are traveling with their trackers switched off. In addition, both the USA and Australia have initiated joint sea patrols.
Yaacob is convinced that Germany in particular can provide practical help in addition to diplomatic support. “The countries in the region are more open to support from middle powers like Germany. Many are reluctant to accept support from the US because they don’t want to give the impression that they are taking sides in the rivalry between the US and China.”
Powell believes that Europe could also benefit from the Philippines’ new approach to ensure greater transparency in other areas. “Europe should look closely at whether there are analogies that it can apply in this and other areas.” The scientist is thinking of areas in which China’s growing influence is having an increasingly negative impact: illegal financial flows, international drug trafficking, economic coercion, environmental destruction, or illegal fishing.
Sinolytics is a European research-based consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and specific business activities in the People’s Republic.
Liu Zhenmin has big shoes to fill. The 68-year-old will most likely become China’s new climate envoy and thus succeed climate czar Xie Zhenhua, who made a significant contribution to the Paris Climate Agreement with John Kerry. As a grey eminence, Xie has had a great deal of influence on Chinese climate policy.
However, career diplomat Liu Zhenmin also has years of experience in climate issues and was able to look over Xie’s shoulder for many years. In 2015, he was involved in the negotiations on the Paris Climate Agreement as Xie’s deputy in the Chinese delegation. Liu also claims to have already attended COP2 to COP5. And Liu was involved in negotiating the Kyoto Protocol as head of the Chinese delegation.
He can look back on more than 30 years of diplomatic experience. Until 2022, he was Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations. He was responsible for the 2030 Agenda, advised António Guterres on development policy and climate issues, and participated in climate conferences with Guterres.
As Under-Secretary-General, he emphasized the “great contribution” the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative could make to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This blending of Chinese interests and the sustainable development agenda was poorly received in the West. However, his repeated criticism of the financial sector’s pursuit of short-term profits and his calls to restructure the financial system should fall on open ears in the climate community.
From 2013 to 2017, Liu Zhenmin was China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. At the time, he refuted former US President Donald Trump’s accusation that climate change was a hoax invented by the Chinese to weaken the USA. His clever retort: It was the US Republicans who started the climate negotiations in the late 1980s.
Liu has a law degree from Beijing University. He was born in August 1955 in Shanxi province, China’s largest coal-mining region, and is married. He is considered less powerful and less well-connected than his predecessor Xie. Xie held the rank of minister, while Liu was only vice minister. Xie previously worked at the National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC), which plays a key role in determining China’s climate policy. According to the assessment of the consulting agency Trivium China, career diplomat Liu has fewer connections to the most important climate decision-makers in the Chinese government and Communist Party.
As UN Under-Secretary-General, Liu Zhenmin wrote, climate change “is a threat multiplier, with the potential to worsen some of humanity’s greatest challenges, including health, poverty, hunger, inequality.” At a conference in September 2023, Liu called for the faster implementation of national climate targets (NDCs), a COP28 decision on climate adaptation and he called on developed countries to fulfill their climate finance commitments. Liu believes that trade barriers should be prevented. Market forces could contribute to climate action – an allusion to current trade policy differences between China and Western countries and CBAM. Nico Beckert
In the exhibition “Magnificence and Grandeur – Immersive Experience of Grotto Art”, which opened on Saturday, visitors to the National Museum of China wander through kaleidoscopically illuminated rooms. The morphing forms are inspired by Buddhist grotto art, such as that from the ancient oasis city of Dunhuang. The Beijing multimedia show, which covers around 1500 square meters, also attracts many young visitors who share the digital updates of historical works of art on their social media accounts.
Sometimes it takes pictures to demonstrate the seriousness of a situation. The Philippine government in Manila must have come to this conclusion, as it has recently published coastguard photos of intimidation attempts by Chinese ships in disputed waters. They show ships targeting much smaller boats with water cannons. It is a David versus Goliath battle, which is also symbolized by these photos, with which Manila wants to generate international attention.
Manila’s self-confident transparency campaign has certainly been successful, as Michael Radunski analyzes. It has already led to expressions of solidarity from the USA and other countries. China is now also showing the images, but interpreting them completely differently. The struggle for interpretational sovereignty has therefore begun.
In wintry Beijing, the leadership of the Communist Party, including party leader Xi Jinping, spent two days at its annual Central Economic Work Conference debating the course of economic policy in the coming year. There were signs of this on Tuesday: Beijing could now launch another comprehensive economic stimulus package after all. The most important indication: in October, Beijing decided to issue new government bonds.
Companies despairing of weak demand can therefore cautiously hope for an economic upturn.
The Chinese leadership apparently wants to do more on credit again in order to free itself from the economic slump. According to a Chinese-language summary of the Central Economic Work Conference that ended on Tuesday, the “appropriate intensification of proactive fiscal policy” (积极的财政政策要适度加力) is at the top of the list of measures that Beijing considers necessary to stimulate growth.
This formulation could already be found in reports on last year’s Economic Work Conference. At that time, however, the leadership was still confidently expecting a roaring growth party after the end of the coronavirus measures – which then failed to materialize. This year, however, Beijing had fittingly just expanded its national debt as the conference came to an end. This means that the government can now spend more money to create jobs and boost growth.
The CP now wants to promote the high-tech sector in particular. The report announced tax breaks for “scientific and technological innovations”, which had not been mentioned in 2022. Industry is also set to benefit from tax cuts. The document also states a different focus for growth expectations than a year ago: instead of private consumption, technology investments are now the top priority. Overall, the impression is that the realization of how serious the economic problems are has reached the very top.
The annual Economic Work Conference, which takes place in November or December, sets out the guidelines for the coming year. According to Chinese economic experts, the possible economic stimulus program could help the country achieve a growth rate of 4.5 to 5 percent in the coming year. It could therefore succeed in cushioning and stabilizing the plummeting growth. The biggest concerns of the high-ranking conference were the highly indebted municipalities and the ailing real estate sector.
The economic stimulus program is apparently to be financed by higher government debt. This is because the increase in spending that has now been decided follows the Ministry of Finance’s announcement in October that it would issue new government bonds worth one trillion yuan (around €130 billion). According to economists, the government is on the verge of exceeding the generally recognized safety limit of three percent of the national deficit in relation to gross domestic product – something the party has previously shied away from.
Many have been asking for some time: Where is the economic stimulus package to get the economy moving again? Xi had hesitated to launch a major spending program due to the experiences of previous decades. China last launched a major economic stimulus program in 2008. In the wake of the global financial crisis, the country put together a rescue package worth four trillion yuan (€520 billion).
It is true that these programs drove growth at the time. But at the same time, a large real estate bubble and considerable overcapacity formed. Many local authorities plunged into enormous debt. This is paying off today, as the real estate crisis shows.
The Central Economic Work Conference of the Communist Party brings together the party’s top personnel. The chairman is Xi Jinping himself, who gave the speech from which the state media quoted extensively on Tuesday. Also present are key members of the Policy Bureau and the Central Committee of the Party, i.e. the most important bodies in Chinese politics. Premier Li Qiang also gave a speech.
Despite the downgrade of its credit rating outlook by the rating agency Moody’s, the central government’s financial position is strong enough for an increase in the deficit, said Zhang Jun, chief economist at Beijing-based Galaxy Securities. At the same time, many observers are of the opinion that the deficit should be kept below 3.5 percent of GDP.
Once the limit is breached, debt could quickly rise further. This is because the sources of public funding that resulted from the years of boom are currently drying up one by one.
For all these reasons, Beijing is keen to avoid the kind of excessive economic rescue measures it has taken in the past. In view of the difficult situation, however, the government apparently has no choice but to inject economic stimulus.
To ensure that the planned investments provide tangible benefits and have minimal side effects, the first round of fresh funds amounting to one trillion yuan will be used exclusively for reconstruction and projects to protect against future water disasters in areas that were affected by flooding in 2023. Further guidelines for eligible projects are expected to follow soon.
In addition to the collapsed real estate sector and municipal debt, the economic authorities are also facing the following problems that could justify an expansive financial plan for short-term growth:
China still does not have a reliable indicator for unemployment. But this year, news of company closures, downsizing, and wage cuts seemed to far outweigh news of new openings and wage increases – pointing to more unemployed.
Consumption also clearly reflects the situation. The mantra of Chinese consumers in 2023 is “consumption downgrade” (消费降级 xiao fei jiang ji): fewer restaurant visits, fewer new clothes and bags, less travel for leisure and generally fewer luxuries.
Retail sales, the most important barometer of consumer sentiment, rose by 6.9% year-on-year from January to October, and by 7.6% in October alone. At first glance, these figures seem impressive. But they compare to 2022 when people were at home in lockdown and only bought rice, toilet paper, and Covid tests.
The cost of rescuing the municipalities will ultimately be borne by the parties involved, explained an analyst in Hong Kong who wished to remain anonymous. “It’s a political task,” she said.
The lion’s share of local authority debt consists of loans from commercial banks. After the debt crisis came to a head this year, the State Council of the People’s Republic issued guidelines in September and instructed debtors, creditors, the Ministry of Finance, and the central bank to work together to find solutions. There was talk of issuing refinancing bonds, debt rescheduling, and restructuring. The Chinese central bank pledged to grant emergency aid to the most heavily indebted municipalities facing immediate payment difficulties.
The struggle of indebted real estate companies such as Country Garden continues, and although the central government has been calling for necessary measures to complete buildings that have already been paid for but are still under construction since 2022, progress has been slow. At the same time, many local governments have been quietly trying to ease purchase restrictions in the hope of reviving the market. Liu Yi
Two battles broke out in the South China Sea over the weekend: physically on the high seas and in the media for the prerogative of interpretation. The first part is quickly told. Philippine boats were intercepted by the Chinese Coast Guard on their way to the so-called Second Thomas Reef on the Spratly Islands. There were tangible clashes: The Chinese side fired water cannons and rammed several boats.
Should the conflict escalate, this would quickly have global repercussions. This is because the USA is linked to the Philippines by a military assistance pact. However, the region is not just about rich fishing grounds and potential oil and gas deposits. World trade would also be massively affected: Almost one in three shipping containers passes through the South China Sea. Fortunately, we are not there yet.
Beijing claims practically the entire South China Sea for itself – including areas in the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of the neighboring countries. The Second Thomas Reef is located in the EEZ of the Philippines and China’s claim area. A battle has now broken out over the weekend’s incident to determine who is responsible for interpreting it.
On the one side is Beijing, which is extremely angry. The Philippines should immediately stop violating China’s sovereignty, attacking it for no reason, denigrating it, and undermining peace and stability in the South China Sea. China itself had once again shown goodwill and restraint, said Foreign Office spokeswoman Mao Ning at the beginning of the week in Beijing. The implicit threat: China will not always behave with such restraint.
The Philippines are also furious: the attacks are “a serious escalation on the part of the agents of the People’s Republic of China“, said Jonathan Malaya, spokesman for the National Security Council. At the same time, the official presented pictures and videos of the water cannon and ramming operations. It is the Philippines’ new strategy: using images and video recordings to expose China’s aggressive behavior and present it to the general public.
Raymond Powell calls the approach an “assertive transparency campaign“. “With this new campaign, the Philippines is trying to defend itself against China’s ‘gray zone’ tactics,” explains the former US Air Force pilot in an interview with Table.Media. Powell is now head of Sealight, a project on transparency in maritime law at Stanford University.
And China’s leadership is reacting – with a combination of gradual escalation and its own information operations. Beijing refers to the same footage and explains that it did not fire directly at the Philippine boats for a long time. So it’s a case of statement against statement – as it has been for years. What is new, however, is that thanks to the footage, the public can see for themselves – in the truest sense of the word.
“Exposing China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea is a smart and important strategy,” says Abdul Rahman Yaacob from Australia’s Lowy Institute to Table.Media. In this way, Manila is succeeding in countering China’s narrative that the Philippines is the aggressor.
“The policy of transparency allows the Philippines to disclose the actual reality on the ground to a domestic and international audience, which is crucial to gain their support for the Philippines’ claim in the South China Sea against China,” Yaacob explains.
The USA already has Manila on board. Matthew Miller, spokesman for the US State Department, called for China to stop its “dangerous and destabilizing behavior”. The UK also condemned China’s behavior as unsafe and escalatory.
Expert Powell believes in the success of the new strategy. “International partners are voicing their support more and more loudly and are beginning to offer material support.” He cites as examples Japan’s help with coastal protection and coastal radar equipment or Canada’s help in “detecting so-called dark ships” that are traveling with their trackers switched off. In addition, both the USA and Australia have initiated joint sea patrols.
Yaacob is convinced that Germany in particular can provide practical help in addition to diplomatic support. “The countries in the region are more open to support from middle powers like Germany. Many are reluctant to accept support from the US because they don’t want to give the impression that they are taking sides in the rivalry between the US and China.”
Powell believes that Europe could also benefit from the Philippines’ new approach to ensure greater transparency in other areas. “Europe should look closely at whether there are analogies that it can apply in this and other areas.” The scientist is thinking of areas in which China’s growing influence is having an increasingly negative impact: illegal financial flows, international drug trafficking, economic coercion, environmental destruction, or illegal fishing.
Sinolytics is a European research-based consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and specific business activities in the People’s Republic.
Liu Zhenmin has big shoes to fill. The 68-year-old will most likely become China’s new climate envoy and thus succeed climate czar Xie Zhenhua, who made a significant contribution to the Paris Climate Agreement with John Kerry. As a grey eminence, Xie has had a great deal of influence on Chinese climate policy.
However, career diplomat Liu Zhenmin also has years of experience in climate issues and was able to look over Xie’s shoulder for many years. In 2015, he was involved in the negotiations on the Paris Climate Agreement as Xie’s deputy in the Chinese delegation. Liu also claims to have already attended COP2 to COP5. And Liu was involved in negotiating the Kyoto Protocol as head of the Chinese delegation.
He can look back on more than 30 years of diplomatic experience. Until 2022, he was Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations. He was responsible for the 2030 Agenda, advised António Guterres on development policy and climate issues, and participated in climate conferences with Guterres.
As Under-Secretary-General, he emphasized the “great contribution” the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative could make to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This blending of Chinese interests and the sustainable development agenda was poorly received in the West. However, his repeated criticism of the financial sector’s pursuit of short-term profits and his calls to restructure the financial system should fall on open ears in the climate community.
From 2013 to 2017, Liu Zhenmin was China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. At the time, he refuted former US President Donald Trump’s accusation that climate change was a hoax invented by the Chinese to weaken the USA. His clever retort: It was the US Republicans who started the climate negotiations in the late 1980s.
Liu has a law degree from Beijing University. He was born in August 1955 in Shanxi province, China’s largest coal-mining region, and is married. He is considered less powerful and less well-connected than his predecessor Xie. Xie held the rank of minister, while Liu was only vice minister. Xie previously worked at the National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC), which plays a key role in determining China’s climate policy. According to the assessment of the consulting agency Trivium China, career diplomat Liu has fewer connections to the most important climate decision-makers in the Chinese government and Communist Party.
As UN Under-Secretary-General, Liu Zhenmin wrote, climate change “is a threat multiplier, with the potential to worsen some of humanity’s greatest challenges, including health, poverty, hunger, inequality.” At a conference in September 2023, Liu called for the faster implementation of national climate targets (NDCs), a COP28 decision on climate adaptation and he called on developed countries to fulfill their climate finance commitments. Liu believes that trade barriers should be prevented. Market forces could contribute to climate action – an allusion to current trade policy differences between China and Western countries and CBAM. Nico Beckert
In the exhibition “Magnificence and Grandeur – Immersive Experience of Grotto Art”, which opened on Saturday, visitors to the National Museum of China wander through kaleidoscopically illuminated rooms. The morphing forms are inspired by Buddhist grotto art, such as that from the ancient oasis city of Dunhuang. The Beijing multimedia show, which covers around 1500 square meters, also attracts many young visitors who share the digital updates of historical works of art on their social media accounts.
