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Media Digest
THIS WEEK> THIS WEEK NO. 52, 2014> PEOPLE & POINTS> Media Digest
UPDATED: December 22, 2014 NO. 52 DECEMBER 15, 2014
Media Digest
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Parks and Recreation

Oriental Outlook

December 18

Following the establishment of the first national park in the world—the Yellowstone National Park—in the United States in 1872, about 100 countries and regions have set up their own equivalents. There are altogether thousands of national parks around the world, and they have become important symbols of modern civilization.

Although China commenced construction of pilot national parks in 2008, these programs have failed to meet their initial target. Local governments have followed the same management methods used with heritage sites or natural conservation areas in constructing these pilot projects. Some do not even have a clear understanding of the concept of national parks.

National parks should not be equated with natural conservation areas. The latter are designed for the protection of biodiversity and may not have high landscape value, whereas for national parks, high landscape are requirement.

Developed countries have established a sound system for the management of national parks with an agency exclusively responsible for managing such parks. For example, the National Park Service in the United States takes responsibility for appointing the management staff, both temporary and permanent, of national parks across the country. To ensure the quality of service, these staff members are required to possess higher education qualifications.

In order to regulate the management of national parks in China, such a department is urgently needed.

Railway Construction Fund

Caijing Magazine

December 8

The China Railway Corp. (CRC), which operates the country's railway network, established the China Railway Development Fund Corp. on September 26. The establishment of the fund is aimed at attracting more social capital to the construction of railways.

In the first round of fundraising, the subsidiaries of four banks—the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the China Construction Bank and the Industrial Bank—invested a total of 8.2 billion yuan ($1.3 billion). The CRC put in an investment of 75 billion yuan ($12.1 billion).

As a reward, the four aforementioned banks are due to receive a 5.5-percent profit dividend every year. However, they are not allowed to participate in the management of the new corporation or hold seats on its board of directors.

The corporation plans to carry out four rounds of capital raising and to accumulate between 400 billion yuan ($64.6 billion) and 600 billion yuan ($96.9 billion) over the next two years in the process.

However, some insiders say that the operation of the company is incompatible with market rules, as stockholders other than the CRC have little say in its running and the rewards as they stand are too small. Such a fundraising system more closely resembles loans from banks and, in the long term, is unsustainable.

Punishing a 'Gang of Four'

Beijing Youth Daily

December 16

An in-flight brawl between Chinese passengers and Thailand flight attendants on December 11 forced the plane to return to Don Mueng International Airport in Bangkok. The four passengers involved, which included a couple, were taken away by Thai police. They were required to pay compensation of 50,000 Thai baht ($1,525) to the flight attendant. Prior to their arrest, the female member of the couple had thrown hot water at the attendant and another of the four had even threatened to blow up the plane.

The actions of the four have been widely criticized on the Internet. However, they have received only light punishment from the Jiangsu Provincial Tourism Bureau since returning to Nanjing. The bureau has required that the behavior of all four be inscribed in their personal ill credit records and published. Many have wondered why these offenders were not subject to criminal charges.

According to Chinese law, endangering flight safety with violence is a crime. However, the law does not specify which kinds of behavior can constitute violence. Therefore, it is ambiguous whether or not throwing hot water at a flight attendant can be construed as an act of violence.

In order to improve citizens' behavior, the terms of the relevant laws should be made clearer and expressed in greater detail so as to allow an appropriate level of punishment to be meted out to offenders.



 
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