Stop Gold-Medal Worship

China Economic Weekly

August 6, 2012

At the London Olympic Games, China was hugely successful in winning 38 gold medals. Together with this success, the cash investment in athletes attracted wide public attention.

In this issue, China Economic Weekly details the sponsors of the Chinese sports delegation to the games and looks at the phenomenon of overvaluing gold medals. It reports the expenditures on athletes, including that for routine training, partner training, competition and the athletes' salaries. All the expenditures are sponsored by the Chinese Government and enterprises. Even with no specific numbers, it is speculated that the amount is huge.

Unlike other countries where sports brought profit, Chinese sports consume a huge amount of money, said Bao Mingxiao, Director of Social Science Research Center of the Institute for Sport Science under China's General Administration of Sport. China could learn from foreign countries to make sports a part of the tertiary industry instead of solely pursuing gold medals, he added.

Smartphone Craze

South Metropolis Weekly

August 6, 2012

Steve Jobs was a legend to the business world and encouraged many Chinese to follow in his footsteps in the mobile phone industry.

South Metropolis Weekly looks at the current phenomenon of Chinese Internet companies rushing into the manufacturing of smartphones. According to the magazine, the huge market potential of smartphone users in China, approximately 700 million, is the main attraction. Moreover, owing to the gloomy economy, the stocks and real estate market are no longer the best investment options for capital.

Smartphones made by these Internet companies are characterized by low price but high quality. However, insiders said the real motivation by the companies was to monopolize phone users' access to the Internet so that they could charge users with online services later.

Urbanization Crisis

Legal Daily

August 16, 2012

China is now undergoing urbanization at an unprecedented rate. The latest report by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that the urban population of China reached 691 million in 2011, exceeding the rural population in the first time.

Urbanization is an inevitable trend of human society. However, cities in China are not ready to embrace such a large number of farmers. The household registration system still keeps farmers from being treated equally with urban citizens, and cities haven't fixed the problems like traffic jams, high housing prices, environmental pollution and limited education resources. Therefore, it is unwise to promote urbanization. Instead, the government should first make efforts to improve the infrastructure and public services in cities.

Overseas Study Popular

Xinmin Weekly

August 13, 2012

More and more Chinese learners are studying abroad at an early age. Statistics by the United States Department of Homeland Security showed that the number of the Chinese high school learners studying in the United States surged nearly 100-fold from 2005 to 2010.

The magazine looks at those young children and their parents. It concluded that the children were mostly born into rich families and had good academic performance and outstanding language skills. Favorite study destinations include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 

Some parents hope to make their children more globally competitive while others wish to avoid China's exam-oriented education system.

E-Retail Price Wars

Guangzhou Daily

August 16, 2012

A price war involving China's leading e-retailers of 360buy, Suning and Gome, broke out on August 15, 2012, as the companies competed to offer larger discounts. For consumers who have been long suffering from price monopolies, it seems to be good news. However, what happened in developed market economies proved that excessive or unfair competition was the enemy of the market economy. While encouraging fair competition, they made laws to forbid those who aimed to exclude competitors.

Instead of focusing on making efforts to improve competition and explore the huge market potential, retailers waste their time on price wars. It is unwise and unfair. Any trade might have to undergo a price war, but if the competition is conducted with no bottom line, it will eventually become a disaster.