THIRST FOR WORK: College graduates desperately search for opportunities at a job fair in Haikou, Hainan Province, on May 8 (GUO CHENG)

Angel or Demon

Recently, it was revealed that during the building of a safe drinking water project in Jinshi Town, central China's Hunan Province, a manganese mining company that had been refused access in other localities for causing severe pollution, was allowed into the town. The move might have the consequence of seriously polluting local water resources.

The local government's decision to play the overlapping roles of angel and demon has confused many people. However, the two seemingly ambivalent roles in the current official performance appraisal system do not contradict each other. The water project showcases the government's achievement in improving people's well being, while bringing in the mining company, despite the pollution, will add to local gross domestic product (GDP).

Sometimes, GDP grows but it does not necessarily increase social wealth. For example, building a bridge will push up GDP, pulling it down and rebuilding it will also push up GDP. But, after the process, GDP is up while a huge amount of public funds is wasted.

Nowadays, the government puts forward the policy of "never sacrificing the environment for economic development." This awareness is not enough. The key is to establish an environmental accountability system, so that no matter what officials have done about environmental protection, once polluting enterprises emerge, their achievements will have to be discounted.

Chinese Business Morning

Helpless Jobseekers

A recent survey in Beijing found one fifth of this year's college graduates were willing to accept a zero-salary job for one to six months, compared to 1.2 percent in 2009. As well, 10 percent of those with a master's degree or a doctorate expressed willingness to do the same.

Just a year ago, zero-salary jobs were the only choice for junior college graduates and a small proportion of undergraduates, but today master's and doctoral graduates are also willing to bend. Does it mean zero-salary jobs will spread to a greater number of sectors under the veil of "a realistic attitude toward employment" and later become a common practice?

Basically, not paying salaries to employees is illegal. China's Employment Contract Law explicitly stipulates, in Article 20, laborers' payment during probation should not be less than the local threshold wage and 80 percent of the lowest wage for regular employees doing the same work.

The legal regulation at least implies two things: First, no matter how many surplus laborers there are, wages cannot be cut to zero; second, because of gloomy employment prospects, college graduates may choose to accept lower and lower wages, but even if they agree to zero-salary jobs, the law does not allow these types of agreements between students and enterprises.

Basically, accepting zero-salary jobs reflects the graduates' helpless situation.

China Youth Daily

Lively and Outgoing

After several campus attacks in recent months, students' safety has now become the priority of many primary schools and kindergartens. Under this excuse, some of them cancelled their celebratory activities for this year's Children's Day due to be held outside campus.

Students' safety should be given top priority, but when absolute safety becomes the only objective of school education, the overemphasis proves to be unfavorable for the children, who should be exposed to colorful environments for healthy growth.

Schools are not supposed to become so overcautious to forbid all out-of-school activities using the excuse of ensuring students' safety. Why don't they do more work on enhancing security measures, but always choose to simply cancel this or that activity?

Beijing Times

Fare Adjustment

The National Development and Reform Commission said recently since the number of passengers on the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway, the country's first high-speed railway, was still growing, the costs of operation and depreciation could not be accurately calculated, and hence fares could not be adjusted.

A one-way trip on the 120-km Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway, which takes 30 minutes, now costs passengers 58 yuan ($8.49) for a second-class seat and 69 yuan ($10) for a first-class one. Ordinary trains between the two cities take around 90 minutes, but only cost about 20 yuan ($2.93).

When the Beijing-Tianjin link began operating in August 2008, questions were raised about whether "the fares were too high for ordinary people to afford." The Ministry of Railways then promised to fix ticket prices through public hearings after a "one-year trial run." Nearly two years have passed since then but the price regulator still refuses to adjust the fares. Does this mean the "high fares" will not change in the near future?

To determine if Beijing-Tianjin high-speed train ticket prices are too high, four lawyers have conducted a study based on fares, quality of service and passenger flow. They found that even if 29 yuan ($4.25) was charged for a one-way journey, the high-speed railway would make a profit and recover expenses before the scheduled time.

In such a situation, the railway authorities should hold the long-promised hearing, and fix the fares on the basis of the country's per-capita income, sooner rather than later.

Xinhua Daily Telegraph