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China, Britain issue joint statement, pledge to forward cooperation

English.news.cn | 2014-06-18 07:07:34 | Editor: Lu Hui




Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) holds an annual meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London, Britain, June 17, 2014. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)


LONDON, June 17 (Xinhua) -- China and Britain agreed to work together to push forward bilateral cooperation in growth, reform and innovation, according to a joint statement issued here on Tuesday.

The document, issued after the annual meeting between visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his British counterpart David Cameron, underlined that since the establishment of the China-Britain comprehensive strategic partnership a decade ago, bilateral relations have made significant progress.

China and Britain agreed that their comprehensive strategic partnership has become an indispensable element of each other's foreign policy agendas, the document said.

China and Britain stand ready to expand economic and trade cooperation and promote development in each other's markets. They renewed their commitment to the joint target of 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2015.

The two countries stressed the importance of mutual investment in promoting respective long-term economic growth and employment. Britain welcomed Chinese investment in infrastructure such as transportation and energy, particularly nuclear, high-speed rail, offshore wind power and photovoltaic projects.

Both sides agreed to establish a strategic partnership on infrastructure and committed to working together to support further collaboration between Chinese and British companies on more projects.

China and Britain welcomed the cooperation on civil nuclear energy and signing of a joint statement on civil nuclear power.

The two sides agreed to promote substantive cooperation on rail, including high-speed rail, in areas such as design, engineering, construction, supply operation and maintenance, on projects in China and Britain.

Both sides welcome a greater role of RMB in international trade and investment and the establishment of an RMB clearing bank in London.

The document also covers bilateral cooperation in such areas as urbanization, aerospace, maritime development, healthcare, people-to-people exchanges, education, scientific innovation and cultural and creative industries.

It said the two sides attach importance to the China-Britain Joint Scientific Innovation Fund, and will enable research and innovation in key areas which are priorities for both countries including health, environmental technologies, food and water, urbanization, energy and education.

According to the document, both sides attach high importance to deepening the China-European Union (EU) strategic partnership. They support negotiations for an EU-China investment agreement to lift pragmatic cooperation to a new level, and reaffirm their commitment to the long term goal of an ambitious and comprehensive EU China free trade agreement.

On global and regional affairs, China and Britain agreed that as major countries with global influence and permanent members of the UN Security Council, their close cooperation is conducive to tackling the global challenges of the 21st century.

Both sides are ready to make joint efforts for the strong, balanced and sustainable growth of global economy, maintain and consolidate the multilateral trade systems represented by the World Trade Organization, and oppose protectionism of any form.

Earlier in the day, Li met with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle and held talks with Cameron at the annual prime minister's meeting.

The Chinese premier arrived here on Monday for an official visit. Britain is the first leg of his two-nation trip to Europe, which will also take him to Greece.


China, Britain issue joint statement, pledge to forward cooperation - Xinhua | English.news.cn
 
Well done !
Both sides welcome a greater role of RMB in international trade and investment and the establishment of an RMB clearing bank in London.


Does China Li sell high-speed rail to Britain in this visit ?
Britain welcomed Chinese investment in infrastructure such as transportation and energy, particularly nuclear, high-speed rail, offshore wind power and photovoltaic projects.
 
Deals worth billions signal new era for UK-China relations



By Louise Armitstead | Telegraph – 5 hours ago

Premier Li Keqiang believes the UK and China are “indispensable partners in economic and social development”

Two years after Britain was almost frozen out of diplomatic links with China after a spat over Tibet, the dragon economy’s new leader has heralded the start of distinctly warmer relations based on business partnerships.

On his first visit to Britain as leader of the powerhouse economy, Premier Li Keqiang declared that the UK and China were “indispensable partners in economic and social development”.

Together with David Cameron, Mr Li presided over the signing of £14bn of business deals in London. Meanwhile, Britain and China set a target of boosting bilateral trade to $100bn (£60bn) by the end of next year.

The Prime Minister declared a new “partnership for growth, reform and innovation” with China. He said that Britain’s exports to China had already doubled in the past five years and were finally growing faster than France and Germany’s, which are still bigger by volume.

The biggest growth has been seen more recently. The UK has exported more to China in the past 18 months than in the previous 30 years combined, Mr Cameron said.

On Tuesday night, Mr Li also joined Mr Cameron at Downing Street for talks with international financial leaders designed to promote global free trade.

Chaired by George Osborne, the Chancellor, the talks were attended by Christine Lagarde, the boss of the International Monetary Fund, Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, and Angel Gurria, head of the OECD. Mr Cameron said that the expansion of global free trade was one of Britain’s top priorities. The Chancellor went on to speak at a dinner hosted by the China-Britain Business Council.

Although Mr Li was forced to defend China’s record on human rights, the three-day visit was firmly focused on business and investment.

“The UK has advanced technology that can be married with China’s vast markets, and by doing so we can create huge energy,” Mr Li told a joint a press conference, through an interpreter. “We should not only expand our bilateral trade to $100bn, but also make our co-operation of better quality and greater content.”

BP (LSE: BP.L - news) dominated the list of trade deals with a £12bn agreement to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China’s state energy company, CNOOC (HKSE: 0883.HK - news) . The deal, which is driven by China’s desire for cleaner energy, will see 1.5m tons of LNG shipped annually for 20 years starting from 2019. Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) also extended an agreement with CNOOC.

Although there were few details, there was intense focus on the announcement that the leaders had discussed Britain’s need for investment in its multi-billion-pound infrastructure projects. The two leaders discussed high-speed rail, raising the possibility that China could invest in Britain’s controversial HS2 link and its planned programme of new nuclear power stations.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Department for Transport and its counterpart, the NDRC, committing the countries to “business co-operation in the rail sector”.

There was also an MoU between the Chinese Atomic Energy Authority, the Chinese National Nuclear Corporation and the Department of Energy on “nuclear fuel cycle supply chain collaboration”. China is already a minority partner in EDF’s plans to build a new nuclear station at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

Separately, Rolls-Royce said it had agreed to co-operate more closely with China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) on civil nuclear power.

Another MoU was unveiled between Lloyds Banking Group and China Development Bank on “infrastructure financing co-operation”.

Other deals included the pledge of a £1.5bn investment from China Minsheng Investment Corporation (CMI (Shenzhen: 000504.SZ - news) ) which announced it was opening its European HQ in London. The investment will target advanced technology, financial services, off-shore engineering, new energy and environmental protection. MAP Environmental and ZNShine Solar announced a joint venture to purchase, develop and construct £400m of UK solar assets.

Lord Livingston, the Trade Minister, said: “UK exports to China are growing faster than our French and German competitors with exports almost doubling since 2009 — reaching more than £1bn per month.” He added: “The UK is also the most popular European destination for Chinese investment. Inward investment is running at record levels, creating thousands of jobs for British workers.”

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said: “Our country’s brand is recognised around the world and the Chinese have an appetite for high-quality British goods and services.”


Deals worth billions signal new era for UK-China relations - Yahoo Finance UK
 
Minister tells schools to copy China - and ditch trendy teaching for 'chalk and talk': Teachers speaking in front of a class 'much more effective than independent learning'

  • Education Minister Nick Gibb said 'whole class teaching' is more effective
  • It involves the teacher instructing all pupils together using blackboard
  • Remarks follow scheme which saw teachers from UK visit Shanghai
  • Researchers have found children in China achieve 30% higher marks
  • Method was used in UK until '50s when it was deemed too authoritarian


Schools are being urged to go back to ‘chalk and talk’ teaching that was once widespread in Britain – in order to reproduce the success the traditional methods now have in China.

Education Minister Nick Gibb said having a teacher speak to the class as a whole from the front was much more effective than children working on their own – the method which has become dominant in schools over the past 40 years.

Mr Gibb’s intervention, which will infuriate many in the educational establishment, follows a Government scheme in which more than 70 maths teachers from British primaries went to Shanghai to study the teaching styles of their Chinese counterparts.

Researchers have found that children in China achieve marks in maths up to 30 per cent higher than English pupils of the same age.

In ‘whole class’ teaching, which was common in this country until the 1950s, the teacher instructs all the pupils together by using a blackboard, or its equivalent, while testing the children with questions.

But progressive educationalists argued this was too authoritarian, and instead promoted the ‘child-centred’ approach that has been prevalent in primary schools since then. Under this system, pupils are encouraged to ‘discover’ knowledge by themselves, working at their own speed or in small groups, with the teacher offering them support.

Mr Gibb told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I would like to see schools across the country adopt whole class teaching methods, particularly in maths and science. Research shows it is significantly more effective than other methods that concentrate more on personalised learning.’

He said Shanghai schools topped international league tables, with 15-year-olds there three years ahead of their English counterparts in maths.

Mr Gibb added: ‘In Shanghai primary schools, whole class teaching with all pupils taking part in question and answer sessions is key to their success. All their pupils are taught the same curriculum and all are expected to reach the same high standard.’

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said: ‘English education was overtaken with progressive ideas in recent decades, which held it was better for children to learn by themselves and at their own pace.

‘This was clearly madness, and it has taken 40 years to realise this.

‘The trouble with the trendy methods is that the children are left to their own devices, including chatting to their friends, while the teacher is elsewhere. It is a very inefficient use of time and resources.’

Mr Gibb’s comments have been backed by recent research, which concluded that the success of pupils in the Far East is largely down to teaching methods.

Maths tests taken by 562 nine and ten-year-olds in classrooms in Southampton and Nanjing in China found that the Chinese pupils scored between 20 and 30 per cent higher than the English youngsters.

Researchers also used video to analyse what was going on in lessons and found that in the Chinese classrooms – where pupils sit in rows of desks facing the front – ‘whole class interaction’ was being used 72 per cent of the time, compared with only 24 per cent in England.

By contrast, the classes in England, where pupils are often grouped in clusters of desks, spent nearly half – 47 per cent – of their time in ‘individual or group work’, compared with 28 per cent in China.

The research, by Zhenzhen Miao and Professor David Reynolds of the University of Southampton, concluded: ‘Effective teachers spent longer time on interacting with the whole class rather than with individuals/groups or leaving pupils to independent seatwork.’

Prof Reynolds said he was disappointed that more schools were not increasing their use of the ‘whole class’ approach as it would improve results in most subjects.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2836240/Minister-tells-schools-copy-China-ditch-trendy-teaching-chalk-talk-Teachers-speaking-class-effective-independent-learning.html#ixzz3JGwISAOM
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As an instructor, I've dealt with both "student-centered learning" and "chalk and talk". They have their own merits. In my opinion, however, "chalk and talk" is indeed the most efficient way of transmitting information from me to the students. "Student-centered learning" is an effective way of evaluating student progress and getting them to think deeply about the material; however, without the knowledge already given through "chalk and talk" or forcing them to read the textbook, they cannot think deeply about something they don't understand and your evaluations will only come out to "they have no idea".
 
Minister tells schools to copy China - and ditch trendy teaching for 'chalk and talk': Teachers speaking in front of a class 'much more effective than independent learning'




    • Education Minister Nick Gibb said 'whole class teaching' is more effective



    • It involves the teacher instructing all pupils together using blackboard



    • Remarks follow scheme which saw teachers from UK visit Shanghai



    • Researchers have found children in China achieve 30% higher marks



    • Method was used in UK until '50s when it was deemed too authoritarian

Schools are being urged to go back to ‘chalk and talk’ teaching that was once widespread in Britain – in order to reproduce the success the traditional methods now have in China.

Education Minister Nick Gibb said having a teacher speak to the class as a whole from the front was much more effective than children working on their own – the method which has become dominant in schools over the past 40 years.

Mr Gibb’s intervention, which will infuriate many in the educational establishment, follows a Government scheme in which more than 70 maths teachers from British primaries went to Shanghai to study the teaching styles of their Chinese counterparts.

Researchers have found that children in China achieve marks in maths up to 30 per cent higher than English pupils of the same age.

In ‘whole class’ teaching, which was common in this country until the 1950s, the teacher instructs all the pupils together by using a blackboard, or its equivalent, while testing the children with questions.

But progressive educationalists argued this was too authoritarian, and instead promoted the ‘child-centred’ approach that has been prevalent in primary schools since then. Under this system, pupils are encouraged to ‘discover’ knowledge by themselves, working at their own speed or in small groups, with the teacher offering them support.

Mr Gibb told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I would like to see schools across the country adopt whole class teaching methods, particularly in maths and science. Research shows it is significantly more effective than other methods that concentrate more on personalised learning.’

He said Shanghai schools topped international league tables, with 15-year-olds there three years ahead of their English counterparts in maths.

Mr Gibb added: ‘In Shanghai primary schools, whole class teaching with all pupils taking part in question and answer sessions is key to their success. All their pupils are taught the same curriculum and all are expected to reach the same high standard.’

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said: ‘English education was overtaken with progressive ideas in recent decades, which held it was better for children to learn by themselves and at their own pace.

‘This was clearly madness, and it has taken 40 years to realise this.

‘The trouble with the trendy methods is that the children are left to their own devices, including chatting to their friends, while the teacher is elsewhere. It is a very inefficient use of time and resources.’

Mr Gibb’s comments have been backed by recent research, which concluded that the success of pupils in the Far East is largely down to teaching methods.

Maths tests taken by 562 nine and ten-year-olds in classrooms in Southampton and Nanjing in China found that the Chinese pupils scored between 20 and 30 per cent higher than the English youngsters.

Researchers also used video to analyse what was going on in lessons and found that in the Chinese classrooms – where pupils sit in rows of desks facing the front – ‘whole class interaction’ was being used 72 per cent of the time, compared with only 24 per cent in England.

By contrast, the classes in England, where pupils are often grouped in clusters of desks, spent nearly half – 47 per cent – of their time in ‘individual or group work’, compared with 28 per cent in China.

The research, by Zhenzhen Miao and Professor David Reynolds of the University of Southampton, concluded: ‘Effective teachers spent longer time on interacting with the whole class rather than with individuals/groups or leaving pupils to independent seatwork.’

Prof Reynolds said he was disappointed that more schools were not increasing their use of the ‘whole class’ approach as it would improve results in most subjects.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2836240/Minister-tells-schools-copy-China-ditch-trendy-teaching-chalk-talk-Teachers-speaking-class-effective-independent-learning.html#ixzz3JGwISAOM
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But Chinese education system is beginning to reform by copying the western system :lol:
 
Western education is affixed in PBL format , which is contrary to East Asian teaching standard , which focuses more on direct hard-line memorization. Tho there are strengths in PBL format, I believe that the hard-line memorization of subjects and concepts is perfect for long term embedding and serves students. Even in the United States , public education schools now focus on a "Common Core" methodology, which, in my opinion, grossly destroys qualitative learning.
 
Xi Jinping has already emphasized the Communism/Maoism + Confucianism.

It is a big slap on the face to those pro-West liberals.
who knows. In liberal shanghai, they allow students to grade teachers lol. What a joke. So teachers cannot fail students and have to pamper them because the students are their boss :lol:
 
who knows. In liberal shanghai, they allow students to grade teachers lol. What a joke. So teachers cannot fail students and have to pamper them because the students are their boss :lol:

Both Shanghai and Guangdong are quite liberal now, because the thick ice was not formed in just one day.

Xi Jinping has already expressed the disappointment towards the westernization of the Chinese education system.
 
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