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LUCRATIVE SPIRITS: liquor prices have kept rising, with the development of more and more high-end products (XINHUA) |
Moon cakes are the traditional food consumed on the Mid-Autumn Festival. They are popular gifts and in recent years elaborately packaged high-end moon cakes have become available throughout the country. As a result of the growing number of "luxury" moon cakes, the price of this delicacy has risen by 65 percent since 2008.
This year, however, in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, a lot of simply packaged moon cakes were available in local markets. Not only are these simply packaged moon cakes much cheaper than those lying in luxury packages, they are also more energy-saving and environment-friendly.
Returning moon cakes to what they originally were, a simple gift, will encourage more people to save energy and reduce waste.
It's a pity that, nowadays, moon cakes are no longer culture-rich traditional food, but professional Mid-Autumn Festival gifts. As gifts, naturally, they are packaged in an increasingly lavish style, selling at prices almost unaffordable to ordinary people. Tasty, simply packaged moon cakes are in danger of being squeezed out of the market.
To make more room for simply packaged moon cakes and to restore moon cakes original significance, the state needs to strictly regulate moon cake packaging, in order to prevent energy wastage. Moon cake producers should be educated to pay more attention to simple packages. Meanwhile, the whole society has to be educated as to the benefits of being frugal and consuming rationally.
Guangzhou Daily
The biannual report of listed companies in 2011 reveals that distillery companies continue to reap huge profits. While China's overall economic growth begins to slow down and lots of businesses see reduced profits, spirits companies have continued to perform well in terms of sales and profits, thanks to rocketing prices for alcohol.
Spirits production and sales have long been restricted in developed countries, however, in China, the spirits industry seems to be a "sunrise" sector, enjoying surging prices.
Why does the industry perform so well? One important reason is that high-end spirits, in particular, contribute high tax revenues. Another worry is the connection between the consumption of spirits and corruption. To some extent, some government departments' enormous consumption of liquor, using public finances, has pushed up the price of spirits.
It's time to impose some limits on profits and a ceiling on liquor prices. Meanwhile, it's also important to strictly supervise the consumption of high-end liquor by officials.
China Youth Daily
The Chinese Ministry of Health issued guidelines on September 6 for helping senior people who suffer falls. The guidelines caution people not to hurry to help those senior people up to their feet.
Five years ago, a man named Peng Yu in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, helped an elderly woman up from the floor, but instead of being thanked, he was accused and blackmailed by the old lady's family. Recently, a similar case was reported in north China's Tianjin Municipality. A man named Xu Yunhe paid a terrible price of more than 100,000 yuan ($15,384.6) for his attempts to help an old man up.
Panicked by this handful of examples, the public is now afraid to offer a hand on similar occasions, which sadly has led to the death of several old people in some cities. These people died because they fell and no one dared to help them.
From a moral perspectives, almost no one would oppose offering help to the elderly who fall down on the country's roads. Unfortunately terrible consequences sometimes follow acts of genuine kindness.
The public's worry and hesitation result from the misdeeds of some professional blackmailing groups, the lack of credibility in Chinese society and sometimes the judicial departments' "absurd" verdicts.
Instead of the Health Ministry's guidelines, what the public needs most is the judicial departments' firm support to helping the elderly up, telling the public never hesitate to help the elderly. In no way should a judgment be made at the cost of the public's willingness to offer a helpful hand to others.
The Beijing Times
On the evening of September 6, a couple was beaten by two drivers. It was discovered that one of the two drivers was a 15-year-old adolescent, too young to have obtained a driving license. The boy's father is China's famous tenor Li Shuangjiang. How come a 15-year-old boy dares to use violence and intimidate those who want to call the police? This boy was selected as China's Olympic ambassador at the age of 4, picked up calligraphy at 8 and entered the Chinese Youth Ice Hockey Team at 10.
The question now is why this excellent education background failed to teach him basic social principles. His prestigious father obviously had a strong impact on his life. No one can choose his or her parents and families.
We should not blame the boy too much. What makes him what he is today is the authority of power, wealth, prestige and things like this in today's society. While these resources are used to affect social justice and fairness, basic education on personality seems so pale. Maybe this is something to be learnt from this tragedy.
Zhujiang Evening News | 
