Rural Banks

Oriental Outlook

March 15, 2012

For thousands of small enterprises in China's rural area, the biggest difficulty is financing. A new kind of financial institution, village and town banks are looking to solve the problem. Unlike current commercial banks, the rural lenders operate on a much smaller scale and particularly target on small enterprises in rural areas.

The problem with such banks is that they run at high costs and risks, a common problem of small loans. It restricts the banks' ability to make profit. According to the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, the average profit rate of village and town banks in 2011 was 4.49 percent, much lower than that of commercial banks, 22 percent.

Unexpectedly, there are few bad loans in the business done by village and town banks. "As long as they have money, the farmers will write the loan off no matter how small the amount is," Zhang Shiyi, the president of a village bank in rural Beijing, said.

Women's Status

Xinmin Weekly

March 12, 2012

Equality of men and women is a universal topic around the world. As women's status improves, new problems have emerged in their lives.

Xinmin Weekly in this issue looks at women's life in modern society. With more and more career women, extra pressures are imposed on females. According to a report by The Economist, nearly 70 percent of women in China have jobs. This employment rate is the highest in the world. While working as hard as their male counterparts, women have to shoulder more domestic responsibilities at the same time, like doing housework, raising and educating children and taking care of parents, all of which are seen as women's duties in Chinese tradition.

Women also have less chance to be promoted than males and get paid less for doing the same job, the magazine said. Therefore, to promote women's status, we should not require women to be as strong as men, but should give them more opportunities in the workplace and more choices in their lifestyle.

Govt Transparency

The Beijing News

March 17, 2012

The departments of Beijing Municipal Government, which released their fiscal budget this year, have disclosed the number of civil servants they employ and their salaries and benefits to the public.

Like governments' expenses for overseas trips, receptions and purchase and maintenance of official vehicles, civil servants' salaries used to be a sensitive topic. By making it transparent, this move will stem public speculation on civil servants' salaries and help eliminate irrational resentment, making it easier for the public to monitor government operations.

The move makes it easier for the public to see where their taxes are going and the same initiative should be carried out in more departments and areas.

Poverty Alleviation

China Economic Weekly

March 12, 2012

For nearly three decades, the Chinese Government has been giving financial and policy support to poverty-stricken areas. In this issue, the magazine looks at how the poverty alleviation fund was used and how the areas could get rid of poverty. 

About 60 percent of the fund was used to promote the development of certain agricultural sectors based on reality, such as planting and livestock breeding. Local government used 30 percent of the fund to improve infrastructure to facilitate the supported industry. And another 10 percent was used to train farmers so that they could master advanced technology.

However, poor counties won't get rich solely depending on government's subsidies. Local governments should seek ways to improve farmers' capacity to get rich by themselves with the help of the Central Government's financial subsidy and policy support.

Fake Charity

Wenhui Bao

March 19, 2012

An enterprise claiming to be a non-profit organization was exposed on March 15, International Consumer Rights Day, for fraudulently getting students to buy glasses in the name of protecting their eyesight. This enterprise cheated students with the excuse of helping charity. It ruined the reputation of Chinese charitable causes and damaged people's spirit of kindness. 

The enterprise took advantage of loopholes in current laws and regulations. The incident urged related departments to make laws and regulate the charity field so that the true non-profit organizations can be soundly developed.