Internet Finance

Caijing Magazine
January 6

It has been 10 years since Internet finance came into existence in China; within the past year, it surged and shook up the strictly controlled financial industry, opening up new space for the quickly developing Internet industry.

Currently, thanks to the relaxation of the financial industry and convenience brought by the 4G era, a battle of Internet finance innovation and market competition led by emerging internet giant companies such as Alibaba Corp. and Tencent is in full swing. This fight will reshape both the Internet and finance industries.

Alipay, Alibaba's online payment solution hit a trade volume of 35 billion yuan ($5.8 billion) in a single day: November 11, 2013, a day which has become something of an impromptu annual shopping festival. Tencent boasts a huge number of users, with close to 800 million using QQ, their instant messaging app, and a further 600 million registered domestic and international users of its more recent mobile messaging app WeChat.

With these advantages, the two giants are unsurpassable for the traditional financial institutes in terms of Internet financial business. The future of the finance industry belongs to the Internet finance. And Internet companies will play the major roles on this battlefield.

Firework Fracas

Beijing Times
January 23

In recent years, haze and PM 2.5 have become a major environmental concern of the public. As the country makes efforts to rein in air pollution and improve the environment, fireworks are increasingly frowned upon as a tradition to celebrate the Spring Festival.

Thus, the custom of setting off fireworks is triggering debate among people in large cities like Beijing. Environmentalists argue that fireworks will not only produce air pollution but also bring risks of fire accidents. But defenders say it has been a historical tradition in Lunar New Year celebrations for thousands of years. Without fireworks, the Spring Festival will lose a part of its profound cultural meaning to Chinese people.

At present, the government has not strictly prohibited the practice. Thus, the use of fireworks is a personal choice unfettered by regulation. However, tradition always changes itself to adapt to new situations. Today, Beijing has grown into a megacity with a population of 21 million people. Air quality in Beijing is closely linked to public health. Moreover, dense residential communities increase the hazards of lighting fireworks. The traditional cultural significance of fireworks has become relatively less important in modern cities. The public will be required to transform social traditions and customs in a way that is suitable for modern society.

Vaccine Controversy

People.cn
January 23

The news that the Hepatitis B vaccine produced by a domestic company was potentially fatal for newborn babies has been proven untrue by health authorities. But the false news has had a large impact on the country's medical industry and the public. For instance, the number of newborn babies receiving a Hepatitis B vaccination dropped drastically, as many parents became suspicious of the vaccine's safety.

The mistrust stemmed largely from a widespread lack of understanding of vaccine-related medical science. The media should learn from the event. Every year, a certain number of babies die of a variety of causes in China. Journalists should have made prudent conclusion on the reason for the babies' deaths.

Medical authorities should also revise procedures for dealing with such accidents. Particularly, medical authorities should not have kept silent on vaccination skepticism from the start, which prompted rumors and fake news to spread among society. They are responsible for carrying out timely investigations into the deaths of newborn babies and informing the public.

Dietary Iodine Additives

Oriental Outlook
January 9

Recently, a food safety risk assessment lab in China published an assessment report in Nutrition, an international health journal, drawing the public's attention once again to iodized salt. The report concluded that China should continue to use iodized salt.

The assessment report was launched as early as in 2010, when some experts doubted the government's universal salt iodization policy and thought that residents in coastal areas might have consumed too much iodine as a result. Now, although the report provided the scientific grounds for the country's salt iodization policy, the policy is no longer as rigid as it was before.

Beginning from March 15, 2012, China adopted new standards for the quantity of iodine added to salt, lowering it from 35mg/kg to 20-30mg/kg. In the meantime, it has provided three standards, allowing each province to choose one independently.

The problem was that, before the lowering, only about 5 percent of the Chinese people may have taken in too much iodine, while 30 percent of the Chinese people—especially pregnant women—may have taken in insufficient iodine. Once the standard is lowered, this group may easily lapse into an iodine-deficient lifestyle. This requires the government to follow up with monitoring.