NOT GOOD ENOUGH: Economically developed Dongguan, Guangdong Province, features modern residential blocks, but locals say it still needs greater efforts to improve people's livelihoods before fully achieving modernization (TANG ZHAOMING)

Google's Miscalculation

At the beginning, Google complained about hacker attacks on its servers, but it later asked China to abolish its censorship requirements, and threatened to retreat from the Chinese market. The problem of Internet security thus turned into demands for China to change its current laws.

Is Google doing business or playing politics? If business, then it should act within the commercial sphere. Disputes are common things, and can be solved through commercial channels. However, the nature of the things will change if Google attempts to intervene in China's politics and social reform through commercial behavior.

Today's Chinese society is already quite open, and is being further opened due partly to the development of the Internet. However, openness is in no society absolute and it needs time. As to what extent the door should be opened and how to open it, the Chinese people have their own plans and schedule, and outside opinions can only be a reference. It's unwise for an Internet company to try to affect this process, even if it boasts advanced technologies and adequate capital.

Transnationals' constructive criticisms and suggestions are helpful to China's development, but if they are made out of certain political motivations and want to force China to submit through threats, they are naïve.

Global Times

A Shared Environment

Severe sandstorms attacked north China in late March. In 16 provinces, about 270 million people were affected by swirling clouds of airborne sand.

The sandstorms originate in underdeveloped western provinces. In order to make money in the fight against poverty, local governments have arbitrarily decided to approve highly polluting programs and residents have even developed, in a somewhat irrational manner, mineral mines and damaged plant coverage. Therefore, it seems the western region should be accountable for the overwhelming sandstorms.

But does that mean other regions are totally innocent? When the worship of money has become a characteristic of all of society, impoverished regions strongly thirst for development. Excessive pursuit of wealth makes them forget about the preservation of the ecological environment.

Environment is a shared thing, because air and water are circumfluent. As the sandstorm-affected area expands, people living in other parts of the country should also ask themselves: Have we consumed too much energy?

When it comes to environmental problems, officials must understand the direct victims of China's deteriorating environment are the whole Chinese nation and its land and ecological system. No one can escape the consequence of environmental degradation.

Yanzhao Evening News

Imperfect Modernization

In an interview, a vice mayor of Dongguan in south China's Guangdong Province said, in accordance with the city's 11th five-year development program devised in 2006, Dongguan will basically realize modernization in 2010. So what is the goal of modernization? Their answer is $7,000 per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) in the Pearl River Delta region and more than $10,000 in Dongguan.

But, as "modernization" approaches, various problems remain thorny. Many residents in Dongguan are still living under the poverty line and migrant workers there complain their incomes are much lower than published figures.

Their doubts pose a question: What is the significance of modernization based on GDP statistics?

Nevertheless, the local government has already realized various problems, especially the uneven living standards. The city's development program goal overemphasizes economic performance, so Dongguan still has a lot to do in improving people's livelihoods and the social safety net. Without the well-being of local residents, modernization of a region is empty talk.

As for those who are still wild for success on economic indicators, Dongguan's experience is undoubtedly a warning. It's hard to imagine why, when a certain number of people are still living under huge pressures from housing, education and health care, and cut off from discussions about and decisions of public affairs, a society is still termed "modernized."

Qilu Evening News

A Special Festival

Water-Sprinkling Festival, which comes in mid-April, is the New Year's Day of the Dai ethnic people in southwest China's Yunnan Province. In face of the current serious drought disaster, there have been calls for canceling this year's festival celebrations.

Droughts and floods are not new things. Still, the Water-Sprinkling Festival keeps going on year by year. Indeed, this is a serious drought, but that is not a reason to cancel this year's celebrations. After all, it is an important event for Dai people to carry forward their culture.

Of course, the drought will affect the celebrations to some extent. Given the severity of the disaster, this year not so much water is available for sprinkling. So many Dai people suggest only symbolic activities be held. They also call for donations to be made and prayer ceremonies for rain around the festival. This is expected be a special Water-Sprinkling Festival.

Huashang Daily