Toll Fees Need Regulation

The transportation authorities in south China's Guangdong Province recently announced that during the Spring Festival travel peak, if serious traffic jams occured on freeways--a car queue of 500 meters or longer--the vehicles would be allowed to pass through tollgates free of charge. Jiangxi Province has also stipulated that freeway tollgates within the province should not charge vehicles if there was a 200-meter or longer car queue because of poor weather conditions.

For years, the public has complained about the overwhelmingly large number of tollgates throughout the country and blamed freeway operators and government regulators for toll greed. Against this background, the two provinces' new regulations on freeway tolls are laudable. But after all, of the many provinces in China, only two have made this decision. Given that current toll policy is unlikely to be scrapped in the near future, it's necessary to standardize the toll system around the country.

A sound toll system should at least give consideration to the following two factors: First, the standard of toll fees must be based on the public's ability to pay; second, the collection of toll fees must be connected with the service quality, that is, if the collection activities interrupted traffic flow, the fees should be cut or cancelled. At least the two provinces' new rules are the first step toward a more equitable system, but much needs to be done.

Workers' Daily

Wedding Splurges Unrealistic

In January, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics released a survey on wedding expenses, showing that in 2007, the average wedding expenses for Beijing residents reached 53,600 yuan (about $7,150), up 95 percent compared to 2003. This figure does not cover the biggest expense for an urban couple: housing. If this amount is included, then the highest wedding expense is in Shanghai, an average of 1.4 million yuan (nearly $190,000), while Beijing is not far behind with 1.06 million yuan (about 140,000).

With an improved living standard, more and more couples choose to hold a grand wedding. Some even compete in terms of extravagance. As a result, luxurious weddings are becoming heavy burdens to their families, as the annual per-capita disposable income of urban Beijingers was a mere 21,989 yuan (about $2,930) last year. It's estimated that 81 percent of young couples need financial support for their big day. In many cases, young couples are actually eating into their parents' savings, which should be kept as the elders' pension. In reality after these flash weddings, many couples live with heavy debt for years.

Most couples also believe that the grander their wedding is, the greater their post-marriage will be. However, in the long run, this splurge on weddings brings no tangible benefits.

China Youth Daily

Challenges Face Uni Recruitment Program

Peking University recently disclosed its plan to replace the graduate school entrance examinations with an application and approval recruiting system, while the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University also announced a similar program for enlisting new doctoral students. Both universities claim that the falling academic quality of graduate students has forced them to try something new.

Indeed, the traditional recruitment method is not perfect, but who can ensure the fairness and efficiency of the proposed application system or recommendation system without exams? Given that academic corruption in student recruitment is commonplace, how can these universities effectively prevent the corruption that could follow after the abolishment of examinations?

Besides, even if the new recruiting method can improve the quality of recruited graduate students, there are still a lot of problems plaguing graduate education. For example, the currently common practice that a tutor has too many graduate students in his/her charge is certainly unfavorable to the students' academic growth. Also, many graduate schools have attempted to prepare their students for academic researches, which does not meet the varied needs of all the students and, as a result, some of them may wish to follow other parts. This will inevitably lower the interest in learning.

In light of this, an overhaul of the graduate student recruitment system alone cannot revive China's graduate education.

Nanfang Daily

Make Art More Accessible

According to a five-month survey conducted by the Shanghai Art Museum, 76 percent of the city's primary and middle school students have never been to an art museum.

Art, in any of its forms, is very important to the formation of the aesthetic perspective, lifestyle and personality of human beings, especially for children and teenagers. France is famous for its classic artworks and its art-loving population. How does this come into being? Apart from its fine tradition, countless art museums are subtly influencing French population. There, local residents begin to develop the habit of going to museums when very young. In China, however, even many students majoring in art have never been to art museums.

There are many reasons for this, but the key is that the examination-oriented education system has robbed students of the motivation to be influenced by art.

To improve the situation, art museums should create more opportunities for students to learn and enjoy art while the state's policy support is also necessary for art courses.

Oriental Morning Post