"If the Central Government refuses to cover part of the debt, the corporation will have no choice but to raise ticket prices. Some fares for high-speed lines will probably cost more than airline flights."

Wang Mengshu, deputy chief engineer of the China Railway Tunnel Group and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, commenting on the huge debt of the just dissolved Ministry of Railways at the annual session of the National People's Congress in March

"People's craze for English learning has wasted education resources and threatened the study of Chinese."

Zhang Shuhua, Dean of the Information and Intelligence Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, speaking at a meeting during the annual session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in March

"The cause of cancer is not entirely clear, but a large number of investigations and basic research have confirmed that it is closely related to the degree of pollution in the environment in which we live, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the lifestyles we lead."

Hua Yawei, deputy head of the Henan Tumor Hospital, calling for the introduction of a pollution index directly related to human health

"School performance should be evaluated in a comprehensive manner, not solely on students' test scores."

Liu Limin, Vice Minister of Education, commenting on a recently launched national campaign aimed at alleviating students' heavy workload