Public Need Outlet to Complain

Recently, CCTV, the national television broadcaster, initiated a campaign, encouraging the public to expose luxury government office buildings on the Internet, which triggered off a big response from society. People are enthusiastic about the exposure and hope it will make a check on local governments.

Chinese citizens are rarely passionate about such surveys and seem to be lacking in the ability to stand up for their rights as taxpayers. Actually, they are not as indifferent as they seem to be. They want to get involved in issues concerning public interests, but they have few avenues to voice their opinions. Once a legal channel is established for them to exercise their right of supervision over government affairs, they will have no hesitation to do so, as is shown by their passion in this campaign organized by CCTV. It is because of the support of the authoritative and powerful CCTV and the convenience of the Internet that they dare to perform their supervisory rights as citizens.

In most cases, citizens can only report corruption cases to higher authorities by sending letters or calling in the details, and must then wait passively for feedback. Obviously, in this situation, it is the government that has the initiative. It’s possible that some cases will be delayed and the informants may be avenged. That’s why few citizens take the risk.

Yanzhao Metropolis Daily

Obstacles to Recycled Textbooks

China now has 220 million school students. Suppose every student uses 15 textbooks a year, 3 billion copies are needed a year, which is estimated to consume 550, 000 tons of paper, or 11 million tall trees.

In accordance with the Compulsory Education Law that came into effect in September 2006, the state encourages the recycling of textbooks, as it is conducive to the conservation of environment.

Some schools are trying recycling, but they face some obstacles, for example, the content of textbooks has frequently changed in recent years. Some parents also don’t like the recycled books. They don’t care about the money spent on new books, even in economically underdeveloped areas. Most importantly, there is a boycott by publishers. As the publication of textbooks is hugely profitable, if they are used again and again, many publishing houses will lose opportunities to make big money. Suppose half of the textbooks used in the nine compulsory education years are recycled, it means a loss of 15 billion yuan (more than $2 billion) for publishers and distributors.

To promote the acceptance of recycled books, the whole of society needs to consider this problem from the perspective of energy conservation. The government should set up an effective system to ensure it works. Publishers need to enhance the quality of textbooks and schools must do a good job in cleaning and repairing the books.

People’s Daily

Of Mice and Men

Since late June, 2 billion field mice inhabiting the Dongtinghu Lake area in central China’s Hunan Province have begun to invade the surrounding 430, 000 hectares of croplands because of the rising water level of the lake.

According to experts, the “mice plague” results from the serious damage of the ecological balance, because natural enemies of mice, such as snakes, owls and eagles, have almost all been killed and eaten by people. It seems as if nature has taken its revenge on human beings.

In the face of the severe battle between men and mice, we must take into serious consideration the prevailing belief of “GDP above all.” We must stop being indifferent to the many modes of development that go against the law of nature and that make it impossible for us to pursue sustainable development. Otherwise, many more natural or man-made disasters can be expected.

Oriental Morning Post

Grad School Cherry Picks Students

According to its 2008 recruitment plan for postgraduates, Peking University reserves 50-80 percent of the quota to direct admission students. The prestigious university claims that most tutors at its graduate schools want it this way.

Graduate school education requires that students have the strong will to focus on academic work. Whether the qualification to enter graduate schools depends on an examination paper, is hard to tell. However, if the right of selecting qualified students is given to different universities, which are capable of choosing excellent students by referring to their performance during the undergraduate period, graduate schools can get more academically reliable students, as this method values candidates’ overall quality in the whole process. As for those who do not study well during the undergraduate period and only take advantage of the examination as a way of trying their fortune, Peking University’s practice is a warning to them.

The public’s misunderstandings of Peking University’s practice may result from the lack of information on it and also a fear of possible under-the-counter deals in the process. According to the tutors of students who are admitted without examinations, these students prove to be more devoted to the academic research work. Meanwhile, Peking University has announced measures to ensure its graduate schools will carefully and transparently exercise their right of choosing excellent students. When the whole selection system has become mature, the quality of postgraduate education in the university will improve too.

Changjiang Times