Whom to Blame

Caixin
June 10

A blaze that broke out at Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co., in northeast China's Jilin Province on June 3, killed 120. As yet, the government has yet to reveal the final investigation result.

The following have been suggested as possible causes for the large number of casualties:

First, some of the exit doors were closed. Workers who survived the fire told a Caixin reporter that the factory closed exits in order to prevent workers from going in and out of the workshop randomly.

Second, limited fire extinguishing capability. Survivors recall that somebody called the local firefighting squad at 6:30 in the morning. However, a small fire engine did not arrive until 30 minutes later, battling the blaze from 7:20 with only a small volume of water.

Third, lack of disaster relief experience. Several trenchers stood east of the factory when the fire broke out. Some villagers said if people used them to crack open the closed factory doors, workers trapped inside might have been able to escape.

Another important reason for casualties concerns the lack of fire emergency training among workers. Employees said the factory had never held organized fire escape exercises. One told the reporter that some of her co-workers who had escaped outside still lost their lives after returning to the workshop for their money and belongings.

Reliable Ways for Cultural Relic Appraisal

Oriental Outlook
June 20

Before the appearance of a large quantity of high imitation cultural relics, cultural appraisers identified relics by their experience, knowledge and according to such characteristics as shape, color, and decorative patterns.

However, with the advancement of technology, high imitation products are hard to distinguished from real ones. Take porcelain for example. Good imitations can almost completely resemble real objects including radian and aging degrees. Therefore, appraiser eyes may not be able to tell high imitation products from the real.

Technological measures that help identify relics by their material and chemical constituents should have considerable advantages over appraiser eyes, however, no unified database has been formed between the several research institutes that are able to conduct technological appraisals. In addition, the cultural meaning of relics needs to be identified by appraisers in art subjects. Therefore, technological measures should be combined with appraiser eyes.

To fundamentally improve the country's cultural relic appraising ability, rules should be formulated as a basis of conferring qualifications. Appraisers should also be held responsible for mistaken appraisals.

Act Before Tragedy

Xinmin Evening News
June 14

It is reported that Xiamen in southeast China's Fujian Province plans to install automatic blasting devices on the city's 165 BRT vehicles. Accordingly, when the driver slightly presses a button by his seat, numerous chasms immediately appear in the bus' four big glass windows, which are 12 meters in length. Passengers only need to push the glass to make the whole window collapse, allowing for escape during emergencies.

The move was driven by a recent incident of arson in the city. On the evening of June 7, a BRT bus was set on fire, killing 47. The tragedy awakened safety awareness among the public.

Before the tragedy, people only saw the convenience of the BRT, but didn't think about safety concerns. If the bus had already been equipped with an automatic blasting device, perhaps there wouldn't have been so many fatalities.

Why does improvement only come after tragedy? The installment of automatic blasting devices in Xiamen's 165 BRT buses is such as case. We should remember this lesson and be concerned about potential dangers before accidents really happen. When public safety is concerned, we can never be too cautious.

The Way Out for Chinese Soccer?

People's Daily
June 17

China's national soccer team was defeated by a visiting team from Thailand by 5-1 on June 15.

Before the game, China was expected to easily defeat the Thai team, with the former currently at No. 95, far ahead of Thailand's No. 142, on FIFA's world rankings. Moreover, the Thai team mainly relied on younger soccer players for Olympic Games, with most seasoned players remaining at home.

The defeat was China's third consecutive loss within a month. Many people blame Jose Camacho, the Spanish chief coach of the Chinese side. Since he took over in 2011, China has continuously dropped in world rankings.

During the match with Thailand, Chinese players performed poor possession and bad teamwork, and made too many mistakes. They were also scolded by fans for lacking a fighting spirit, responsibility and sense of honor.

The China Football Association (CFA) has an inescapable duty to advance the sport in the country. However, Chinese soccer has long been troubled by frequent scandals concerning fraud, gambling, and etc, with a number of CFA senior officials were imprisoned due to corruption in recent years. However, no tangible moves have been taken to fix it up to now.

In addition, the talent reserve for Chinese soccer failed in the past years. Teenage players have declined to only several thousand from 650,000 between 1990 and 1995. Without a long-term development plan, the future of Chinese soccer looks bleak.