Syrian business seeks growth at CIIE amid Western sanctions

As the China International Import Expo (CIIE) continues to serve as a vital platform for international trade, Syrian businesses are seizing the opportunity to expand their reach, despite the challenges posed by Western sanctions.

One notable participant is the BioCham company for natural oil extracts, founded by Roula Ali Adeeb, who is attending the expo for the fourth time.

Her business was built on the Damascena rose - one of the oldest and most sought-after rose strains in the world. This unique rose is cultivated on her four-hectare farm adjacent to her factory, where she produces a diverse range of products, including rose water, rose hydrolat, herb seeds, and various beauty and health extracts.

"The concentration of the oil in the water is higher than anything that you can find anywhere. I'm doing this because I want to [popularize] the word 'Rose Hydrolat' from Damascus Syria," she said.

As the economy of a war-torn country like Syria is in tatters, Adeeb has faced many financial setbacks since the start of the domestic Syrian war due to the weak purchasing power for Syrians, the blockade on the country and inability to participate in any expos in Europe or the U.S. The deterioration continued till she was offered the chance to participate in the CIIE for the first time in 2018, which marked a turning point for her business.

"It is our biggest opportunity to actually be able to sell to China, no matter how little it is, because there is a market. It's hard to go into the European market; it's hard to go into the American market, it's hard. But the Chinese are actually welcoming. Every year, when I think about products and all this, I'll think about China," she said.

Adeeb's factory was damaged in internal clashes in Syria, but she did not give up on her life project. She repaired the damage and continued working, tackling all sorts of shortages in basic needs for production such as fuel, electricity power and work force shortages.

Currently, the safety of her staff is now at stake as her establishment is located in southern Syria where a major escalation between Syria and Israel could unfold.

"We survived the really bad fights here in the area. Now we hope, in the southern region, if Israel comes to hit Syria, it will go over us. We are very close to the south. We worry," she said.

Syria has been trying to set a foothold in the vast Chinese market as compensation for inaccessible global markets, and help is provided for those who wish to participate.

"Most of the world's countries organize expos mostly for promoting their own products but the CIIE does not focus on exports of Chinese products to the world, but on what can enter the Chinese market from outside. And this is why we need to take advantage of this chance by participating with competitive products," said Rania Alahmad, Assistant Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade of Syria.

The business exhibition of the world's first national-level exposition dedicated to imports has attracted about 3,500 exhibitors from 129 countries and regions this year. Notably, a record high of 297 Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders are attending the six-day expo from Nov 5.

Syrian business seeks growth at CIIE amid Western sanctions

The Yunmeng Xiangshan Museum in central China's Hubei Province has more than 5,000 pieces of cultural relics with the most famous collection being bamboo and wooden slips, the main medium for writing documents in China before the widespread use of paper, offering a rare glimpse into the nation's administrative, legal and social structures 2,200 years ago.

Among the museum's collection are 49 under national first-class protection, 64 second-class, and 242 third-class.

Over 1,000 bamboo slips were discovered in a Qin tomb in Yunmeng County in 1975. The artifacts are of great value to the historical analysis of the politics and law of the late Warring States Period (475-221 BC) to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC).

The bamboo slips detailed the legal system, local governance, and medical practices of the period. Containing about 40,000 characters, these slips represent the first known documentation of Qin Dynasty laws and administrative systems.

Among them, The Eighteen Types of Qin Laws is the earliest and most complete ancient legal document discovered in China to date. It provides detailed regulations on various aspects from agricultural production to warehouse management, currency, and provisions for the postal system. These legal texts and their underlying principles hold significant value for studying the history of China's ancient legal system.

Ancient bamboo and wooden slips are slender, rectangular pieces on which ancient Chinese recorded information using brush and ink before the invention of paper. Every slip measures 23.1 to 27.8 centimeters in length and 0.5 to 0.8 centimeters in width. They're a symbol of Chinese heritage and provide detailed and reliable information for further research focusing on ancient China.

Next to each of the displayed slips is the original text of the ancients and its translation into modern terms. The handwriting is clear and the translation is easy to understand. It records the social order, wisdom and family affairs thousands of years ago.

"Yunmeng is the first place where Qin Dynasty bamboo slips were discovered. It not only fills a gap in archaeological history, but the content recorded in it, especially the legal content, is the earliest and most complete evidence of legal code seen so far in China. In addition, the earliest wooden slips of family letters discovered so far and the longest document in China were also unearthed here," said Zhang Hongkui, curator of the museum.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited the museum earlier this week to learn about the local efforts to enhance the protection, research and use of cultural relics in Yunmeng County.

President Xi said ancient bamboo slips are precious and important physical evidence of ancient China which should be well protected and carefully studied. He emphasized that archaeological work must be continued to gather more materials depicting the country's history.

Yunmeng Xiangshan Museum offers insight into ancient China's governance