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65-674: Sinovac Biotech Ltd. ( Chinese : 科兴控股生物技术有限公司 ) is a Chinese biopharmaceutical company based in Haidian District , Beijing that focuses on the research, development, manufacture, and commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases . The company was listed on the Nasdaq but the exchange halted Sinovac's trading in February 2019 due to a proxy fight . The company has faced bribery probes in China. Its COVID-19 vaccine

130-806: A US$ 1   billion loan to make its vaccine accessible for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean , and provide five Southeast Asian countries priority access to the vaccine. The Sinopharm BIBP vaccine and CoronaVac were approved by the WHO as part of COVAX . By July 2021, GAVI had signed advanced purchase agreements for 170 million doses of the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine, 350 million doses of CoronaVac, and 414 million doses of SCB-2019 , another COVID-19 vaccine in Phase III trials. All of these actions have been

195-458: A component in enacting China's strategy of enacting mask diplomacy, where the state has distributed medical supplies, including COVID-19 vaccines, and financial support to other European countries, in an effort to restore China's historically maligned and recently ignominious image. While on the other hand, these actions have demonstrated that China is a pragmatic, self-driven problem solver, willing to establish alliances with other nations contrasting

260-443: A component—either a character or a sub-component called a radical —usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes , or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example, the ⼓   ' WRAP ' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏   ' TABLE ' to form the simplified character 没 . By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of

325-434: A conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed: Sample Derivations : The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Then amongst

390-590: A covert propaganda operation. A senior US military officer involved with the campaign had told Reuters that the US failed to effectively share vaccines with partners, leaving them without much options but to undermine China's diplomatic efforts. US military leaders took precedence over diplomats, fearing that China's COVID diplomacy might draw South-East Asian countries closer to Beijing. The US government later justified its covert disinformation campaign by framing it as retaliation for China's disinformation , which had falsely blamed

455-407: A few revised forms, and was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013. In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字 ; jiǎnhuàzì , or colloquially as 简体字 ; jiǎntǐzì . The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure, a practice which has always been present as

520-399: A means of repairing or strengthening the country's international image. Providing vaccination doses allowed China to combat negative narratives about its early handling of the crisis and recast itself as a provider of needed goods, while cultivating goodwill and showcasing the nation’s technological strength. Through distributing their vaccines, China clearly took a stride to appear favorable in

585-599: A newly coined phono-semantic compound : Removing radicals Only retaining single radicals Replacing with ancient forms or variants : Adopting ancient vulgar variants : Readopting abandoned phonetic-loan characters : Copying and modifying another traditional character : Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List , the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as

650-598: A part in the distribution of the smallpox vaccine . Commentators have identified vaccine diplomacy occurring as far back as the first vaccine, Edward Jenner 's smallpox vaccine. It has also been identified in Soviet involvement with the Albert Sabin polio vaccine. The UN has also brokered ceasefires in order to conduct vaccination campaigns such as with talibans in Afghanistan. Australia promised to ensure early access to

715-568: A part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms. According to Chinese palaeographer Qiu Xigui , the broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical shape ( 字形 ; zìxíng ),

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780-468: A production capacity of two billion doses a year and had delivered 600 million total doses. It is currently being manufactured at several facilities in China, Brazil, and Egypt. On 1 June 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) validated the vaccine for emergency use. Sinovac has signed purchase agreements for 380 million doses from COVAX . According to an investigative report by Reuters ,

845-614: A vaccine "for countries in our Pacific family, as well as regional partners in Southeast Asia ". to help them fight the COVID-19 pandemic. China's infection rates and early success in handling the COVID-19 pandemic were sufficiently low that it could send vaccines abroad without domestic objections. By August 2021, China had donated 700 million vaccine does abroad, greater than the number from all other countries combined. As academic Suisheng Zhao writes, "Just by showing up and helping plug

910-440: Is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨 . The 扌   'HAND' with three strokes on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now seen as more complex, appearing as the ⽊   'TREE' radical 木 , with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨 . Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance,

975-454: Is derived. Merging homophonous characters: Adapting cursive shapes ( 草書楷化 ): Replacing a component with a simple arbitrary symbol (such as 又 and 乂 ): Omitting entire components : Omitting components, then applying further alterations : Structural changes that preserve the basic shape Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds : Replacing an uncommon phonetic component : Replacing entirely with

1040-809: Is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "oversimplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until 31 August 2009, for feedback from the public. In 2013, the List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters was published as a revision of the 1988 lists; it included a total of 8105 characters. It included 45 newly recognized standard characters that were previously considered variant forms, as well as official approval of 226 characters that had been simplified by analogy and had seen wide use but were not explicitly given in previous lists or documents. Singapore underwent three successive rounds of character simplification , eventually arriving at

1105-609: Is referred to as the " big seal script ". The traditional narrative, as also attested in the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary ( c.  100 AD ), is that the Qin small seal script that would later be imposed across China was originally derived from the Zhou big seal script with few modifications. However, the body of epigraphic evidence comparing the character forms used by scribes gives no indication of any real consolidation in character forms prior to

1170-540: Is used instead of 叠 in regions using traditional characters. The Chinese government stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. The Chart of Generally Utilized Characters of Modern Chinese was published in 1988 and included 7000 simplified and unsimplified characters. Of these, half were also included in the revised List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which specified 2500 common characters and 1000 less common characters. In 2009,

1235-602: The goal to reach 40 per cent vaccination in all countries by end of the year. Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard announced agreements with CanSino Biologics and Walvax to conduct clinical trials for vaccines from China, with the possibility of the manufacturing the vaccines in the country. Marcelo Ebrard also announced agreements with Johnson & Johnson to trial its U.S. developed vaccine in Mexico. In July 2020, Japan agreed to provide 11.6 billion yen (US$ 109   million) to five countries along

1300-656: The Chinese language , with the other being traditional characters . Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore , while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan . Simplification of

1365-629: The Maldives . India will also supply vaccines to Pakistan through COVAX initiative. During the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India , the Vaccine Maitri program was put on hold until July 2021 due to increased number of COVID cases in India. As of 29 May 2021, India had exported 66.4 million doses including 10.7 million vaccine provided as grant to more than 95 nations. India's health ministry said

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1430-653: The Mekong River : Cambodia , Laos , Myanmar , Thailand and Vietnam over concerns with China's influence on vaccine production and distribution in Asia. Russia , the first country to claim a COVID-19 vaccine , Sputnik V , says twenty countries "including Brazil, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates" have requested access. Turkey has sent or donated CoronaVac vaccines to Azerbaijan , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Northern Cyprus , and North Macedonia . During

1495-626: The Sinopharm BIBP vaccine and Covaxin , otherwise known as inactivated-virus COVID-19 vaccines in Phase III trials. CoronaVac does not need to be frozen, and both the vaccine and raw material for formulating the new doses could be transported and refrigerated at 2–8 °C (36–46 °F), temperatures at which flu vaccines are kept. A real-world study of ten millions of Chileans who received CoronaVac found it 66% effective against symptomatic COVID-19, 88% against hospitalization, 90% against ICU admissions, and 86% against deaths. In Brazil, after 75% of

1560-832: The Trump administration , Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said the United States will share a vaccine with other countries only after the United States' needs have been met. The United States has funded and placed multi-billion dollar orders purchasing hundreds of millions of vaccines from the United Kingdom's AstraZeneca and Germany's BioNTech SE in collaboration with American Pfizer . The United States offered vaccine development to Indonesia in an August 2020 phone call between Mike Pompeo and Retno Marsudi . The Biden administration has promised to finance vaccine manufacturing in various nations with its announcement in

1625-419: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : Vaccine diplomacy#China Vaccine diplomacy , a form of medical diplomacy , is the use of vaccines to improve a country's diplomatic relationship and influence of other countries. Meanwhile, vaccine diplomacy also "means a set of diplomatic measures taken to ensure access to

1690-456: The "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical form ( 字体 ; 字體 ; zìtǐ ), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes". The initiatives following the founding of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) to universalize the use of their small seal script across

1755-476: The 1986 General List of Simplified Chinese Characters , hereafter the General List . All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List . Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3

1820-508: The 1986 mainland China revisions. Unlike in mainland China, Singapore parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters. Malaysia also promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, though completely identical to the mainland Chinese set. They are used in Chinese-language schools. All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of

1885-658: The BBIB vaccine in 2021, and supplied 200 million doses by May. CoronaVac is used for vaccinations by some countries in Asia, South America, North America, and Europe. Sinovac had a production capacity of 2 billion doses a year and had delivered 600 million total doses. Convidecia is used for vaccination by some countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Production capacity for Ad5-NCov should reach 500 million doses in 2021. China pledged US$ 2   billion to support efforts by WHO for programs against COVID-19,

1950-470: The Chinese government published a major revision to the list which included a total of 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. In addition, slight modifications to the orthography of 44 characters to fit traditional calligraphic rules were initially proposed, but were not implemented due to negative public response. Also, the practice of unrestricted simplification of rare and archaic characters by analogy using simplified radicals or components

2015-557: The Quad Summit held in March 2021 that it will provide supply of up to one billion coronavirus vaccines across Asia by the end of 2022 along with India , Australia and Japan . The United States vaccine export policies have been criticised as "Vaccine Apartheid" by The Independent . UK-based AstraZeneca was accused of prioritizing the UK market and when their EU vaccine production lagged behind

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2080-509: The UK. Diplomatic protests from the Irish and UK sides resolved the matter and the threat was withdrawn. In March 2021, the EU planned to suspend vaccine exports once again in order to incentivize the UK to export its domestic vaccine production. This led to fears about vaccine nationalism , where developed countries would benefit in producing home-grown vaccine and poorer countries would not get access to

2145-583: The United States for the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, the campaign reportedly aimed to counter " China’s COVID diplomacy ", and so to ultimately undermine closer ties between China and countries like the Philippines as a result of such diplomacy during the pandemic. The campaign primarily targeted people in the Philippines and used a social media hashtag for "China is the virus" in Tagalog . The campaign ran from

2210-462: The United States ran a propaganda campaign to discredit the China's Sinovac COVID-19 inoculation, including using fake social media accounts to spread disinformation that the Sinovac vaccine contained pork-derived ingredients and was therefore haram under Islamic law . During the COVID-19 pandemic, China's growing influence by donating vaccines and aid, had prompted US military leaders to initiate

2275-412: The United States' isolationist policies. In addition, China is utilizing this opportunity to distance, and even shift the narrative regarding the start of COVID-19, as the virus was discovered in the nation. Although China gained some international sympathy, the country was also accosted by “accusations of fanning the pandemic by silencing early reports” and “dogged by international criticisms that trace

2340-399: The best practices in the development of potential vaccines, to enhance bilateral and/or multilateral cooperation between countries in conducting joint R&D, and, in the case of the announcement of production, to ensure the signing of a contract for the purchase of the vaccine at the shortest term." Although primary discussed in the context of the supply of COVID-19 vaccines , it also played

2405-428: The character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to a single standardized character, usually the simplest among all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between

2470-407: The chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow: Sample reduction of equivalent variants : Ancient variants with simple structure are preferred : Simpler vulgar forms are also chosen : The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1 : In some instances, the chosen variant

2535-707: The colossal gaps in the global supply, China gained ground." Moreover, the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that its vaccine diplomatic activities earned China goodwill and influence in several middle-income countries, many of which are also notably involved in the Belt and Road Initiative , indicating that such diplomacy could have improved China's image and strengthened its relationships with countries that wished for, or already took part in, strong relationships with China. However, because most of Chinese distributed vaccines have gone to such middle-income countries, many of

2600-402: The country will resume COVID-19 vaccine exports as a part of COVAX and Vaccine Maitri initiative, by October, promising supply development that comes ahead of high-level talks this week on solving vaccine inequity gaps, while World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has hailed India's decision to resume COVID-19 vaccine exports as an "important development" in support of

2665-465: The country's writing system as a serious impediment to its modernization. In 1916, a multi-part English-language article entitled "The Problem of the Chinese Language" co-authored by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and poet Hu Shih (1891–1962) has been identified as a turning point in the history of the Chinese script—as it was one of the first clear calls for China to move away from

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2730-472: The early 20th century. In 1909, the educator and linguist Lufei Kui formally proposed the use of simplified characters in education for the first time. Over the following years—marked by the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty , followed by growing social and political discontent that further erupted into the 1919 May Fourth Movement —many anti-imperialist intellectuals throughout China began to see

2795-486: The eyes of the world, and perhaps reverse the criticism garnered at the early stages of the pandemic. By late March 2021, India had produced 125 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and had exported 55 million doses. 84 countries had received vaccines from India, either through COVAX , grants or regular purchases. India sent millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine to 95 countries including neighboring Bhutan , Afghanistan , Nepal , Bangladesh , Sri Lanka , Myanmar and

2860-616: The first official list of simplified forms was published, consisting of 324 characters collated by Peking University professor Qian Xuantong . However, fierce opposition within the KMT resulted in the list being rescinded in 1936. Work throughout the 1950s resulted in the 1956 promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme , a draft of 515 simplified characters and 54 simplified components, whose simplifications would be present in most compound characters. Over

2925-463: The first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and the confusion they caused. In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters; the resulting List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters lists 8,105 characters, including

2990-465: The following decade, the Script Reform Committee deliberated on characters in the 1956 scheme, collecting public input regarding the recognizability of variants, and often approving forms in small batches. Parallel to simplification, there were also initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of characters entirely and replacing them with pinyin as an official Chinese alphabet, but this possibility

3055-455: The founding of the Qin. The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) that inherited the Qin administration coincided with the perfection of clerical script through the process of libian . Eastward spread of Western learning Though most closely associated with the People's Republic, the idea of a mass simplification of character forms first gained traction in China during

3120-466: The increased usage of 朙 was followed by proliferation of a third variant: 眀 , with 目 'eye' on the left—likely derived as a contraction of 朙 . Ultimately, 明 became the character's standard form. The Book of Han (111 AD) describes an earlier attempt made by King Xuan of Zhou ( d.  782 BC ) to unify character forms across the states of ancient China , with his chief chronicler having "[written] fifteen chapters describing" what

3185-459: The left, with the 月 'Moon' component on the right. Li Si ( d.  208 BC ), the Chancellor of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin small seal script across China following the wars that had politically unified the country for the first time. Li prescribed the 朙 form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as 明 . However,

3250-402: The most prominent Chinese authors of the 20th century, stated that "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die" ( 漢字不滅，中國必亡 ). During the 1930s and 1940s, discussions regarding simplification took place within the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Many members of the Chinese intelligentsia maintained that simplification would increase literacy rates throughout the country. In 1935,

3315-519: The origins of the pandemic to a leak from a Wuhan lab.” A 2020 Pew Research poll further suggests a negative narrative surround China; upon polling citizens in 14 economically advanced nations, including East Asian neighbors Japan and South Korea, a median of 61% said China did "a bad job dealing with the [COVID-19] outbreak" and 78% said they had no confidence in President Xi. Such a poor global perception could suggest that China's distributed vaccines as

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3380-410: The poorest countries are left highly vulnerable, undercutting China's attempts to present itself as a benevolent giver of needed goods and undermining Xi's claim that a Chinese developed vaccine would be treated as a “global public good." The Sinopharm BIBP vaccine is used for vaccinations by some countries in Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. Sinopharm produced one billion doses of

3445-542: The population in Serrana, São Paulo received CoronaVac, preliminary results show deaths fell by 95%, hospitalizations by 86%, and symptomatic cases by 80%. In Indonesia, real world data from 128,290 healthcare workers showed 94% protection against symptomatic infection by the vaccine, beating results in clinical trials. Phase III results from Turkey published in The Lancet showed an efficacy of 84% based on 10,218 participants in

3510-430: The public and quickly fell out of official use. It was ultimately formally rescinded in 1986. The second-round simplifications were unpopular in large part because most of the forms were completely new, in contrast to the familiar variants comprising the majority of the first round. With the rescission of the second round, work toward further character simplification largely came to an end. In 1986, authorities retracted

3575-465: The recently conquered parts of the empire is generally seen as being the first real attempt at script reform in Chinese history. Before the 20th century, variation in character shape on the part of scribes, which would continue with the later invention of woodblock printing , was ubiquitous. For example, prior to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either 明 or 朙 —with either 日 'Sun' or 囧 'window' on

3640-476: The same set of simplified characters as mainland China. The first round was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969, consisting of 498 simplified characters derived from 502 traditional characters. A second round of 2287 simplified characters was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the mainland China system; these were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted

3705-461: The second round completely, though they had been largely fallen out of use within a year of their initial introduction. That year, the authorities also promulgated a final version of the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters . It was identical to the 1964 list save for 6 changes—including the restoration of 3 characters that had been simplified in the first round: 叠 , 覆 , 像 ; the form 疊

3770-597: The spring of 2020 to mid-2021. The primary contractor for the U.S. military on the project was General Dynamics IT , which received $ 493 million for its role. After some American public health experts were briefed by Reuters on the Pentagon's covert anti-vax campaign, they condemned the campaign as unjustifiable, and that it had unethically endangered innocent lives for potential geopolitical gain. Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write

3835-488: The traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of the simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution , a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to

3900-817: The traditional character 強 , with 11 strokes is standardised as 强 , with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters. The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: The traditional component 釆 becomes 米 : The traditional component 囚 becomes 日 : The traditional "Break" stroke becomes

3965-439: The trials. Phase III results from Brazil previously showed 50.7% efficacy at preventing symptomatic infections and 83.7% effective in preventing mild cases needing treatment. Efficacy against symptomatic infections increased to 62.3% with an interval of 21 days or more between the doses. CoronaVac is being used in vaccination campaigns in various countries in Asia, South America, North America, and Europe. By April 2021, Sinovac had

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4030-516: The use of characters entirely. Instead, Chao proposed that the language be written with an alphabet, which he saw as more logical and efficient. The alphabetization and simplification campaigns would exist alongside one another among the Republican intelligentsia for the next several decades. Recent commentators have echoed some contemporary claims that Chinese characters were blamed for the economic problems in China during that time. Lu Xun , one of

4095-543: The vaccine as soon, ultimately prolonging the pandemic. A similar phenomenon was observed during the H1N1 Flu and Ebola crisis. During the pandemic situation, there is a "diplomatic race ... for potential vaccines." Another concern has been that wealthier countries would gain prioritized access to vaccines based on their ability to pay. The COVAX program was established with the intention of counteracting this development. In 2021, an unequal distribution of vaccines based on

4160-461: Was abandoned, confirmed by a speech given by Zhou Enlai in 1958. In 1965, the PRC published the List of Commonly Used Characters for Printing  [ zh ] (hereafter Characters for Printing ), which included standard printed forms for 6196 characters, including all of the forms from the 1956 scheme. A second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977, but was poorly received by

4225-626: Was also the target of a covert disinformation campaign by the US government. Sinovac's commercialized vaccines include CoronaVac ( COVID-19 vaccine ), Inlive ( Enterovirus 71 vaccine), Anflu ( influenza vaccine), Healive ( hepatitis A vaccine), varicella vaccine and mumps vaccine. CoronaVac is an inactivated virus COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac. It has been in Phase III clinical trials in Brazil , Chile , Indonesia , Philippines , and Turkey . It relies on traditional technology similar to

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