OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Nanfeng Chuang

December 1, 2010

China began levying a city maintenance and construction tax and education surcharge on foreign-invested companies as of December 1, 2010, marking the end of the "super-national treatment" for foreign companies. This change led to complaints that China's investment environment is deteriorating.    

According to the Industrial Catalog Guiding Foreign Investment issued by China's National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce, while restricting and forbidding investments in highly energy consuming and polluting industries, China encourages foreign companies to invest more in environment-friendly industries. "In this sense, China's investment environment is not deteriorating, but optimizing," said Wang Jicheng, Associate Research Fellow with the Development Research Center of the State Council. This change is actually an opportunity for foreign companies, as they will gain more advantages with their advanced technology in future competition, he added. 

PRICE SURGE

China Economic Weekly

November 29, 2010

The year 2010 saw a surge in the prices of agricultural products like garlic, ginger, soybean, sugar and cotton. Apart from the influence of the international market, hoarding these products for market speculation is a primary reason for price hikes, according to Robert Subbaraman, Chief Economist of Asia Ex-Japan, Nomura Securities Co. Ltd. Behind the speculation is the overflow of capital. Subbaraman pointed out that some capital has been withdrawn from the real estate market and been invested in the stock and agricultural products markets because China implements an easy monetary policy and restricts investments in real estate. As agricultural products are daily necessities, they have become the victim of the overflowing capital.

MEASURING HAPPINESS

Yanzhao Evening News

November 29, 2010 

In order to boost psychological health education for middle and primary school students, the education authority of Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan Province is planning to work out a system to measure students' happiness.

A recent international survey shows, of the 21 countries involved, Chinese children rank first in terms of computing ability while in imagination they were last and in creativity fourth from the last. It was proposed legislation should be enacted to guarantee investment in education for developing the imagination of primary and middle school students.

MAN-MADE THREATS

Southern Metropolis Weekly

December 6, 2010

Consecutive events endangering public health happened in 2010. Closer observation showed that all these events were man-made, falling into three categories. The first was caused by the abuse of medical technology as seen when hundreds of children were killed or disabled after being injected with poisoned vaccine. The second resulted from an unhealthy lifestyle. Nowadays, people eat more high-fat, high-calorie food and do less exercise, increasing the chance of getting diseases like diabetes. And the last one was caused by environmental pollution. The reason why three female infants in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, underwent abnormal sexual development was said to be environmental pollution.

PROTECTING ANIMALS

Xinmin Evening News

December 1, 2010

Recently a particularly brutal four-minute video of a girl torturing a rabbit triggered public indignation. Later it was revealed a commercial organization had made a number of animal abuse videos for sale. The girl responsible was soon found by enraged netizens and apologized for her cruel actions.

It's necessary for humans to show respect for other forms of life. A society's development level is not only based on how human beings are treated, but also on how all other life is treated.