In a recent conference on air pollution prevention in the Pearl River Delta, it was disclosed that, according to clinical statistics, all residents aged 50 and above in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, have blackened lungs due to the inhalation of excessive pollutants.

Guangdong has a large discharge of two major air pollutants of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. As a result, among the province's 21 cities, 15 have experienced acid rain and eight of them, including Guangzhou, are severely affected.

Polluted air is likely to trigger or impact on respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and even cancer. Moreover, it raises the lead levels in children's blood.

Threatened by serious air pollution, Guangzhou has to take substantial actions to protect local residents from an impending environmental crisis. Stricter law enforcement, more severe administrative punishments and enhanced publicity should all be used to prevent this crisis from escalating and to improve living conditions.

Guangzhou Daily

Gov't Example Needed

June 12-18 marked China's 18th Week of Energy Conservation. Energy conservation is not a once-off action, and its success does not depend on one person or a certain group. It is now a responsibility of the entire nation.

However, in China, government departments are said to have done a poor job in saving energy. Take China's capital Beijing as example. The per-capita electricity consumption in 48 surveyed municipal and district governmental departments in 2004 was 19 times that of ordinary residents. Until April 2004, Beijing had 1.35 million registered cars, of which 360,000 belonged to government departments at various levels. Four of every five cars running on the street at any given time are either government owned or taxis.

Given this situation, Shanghai recently announced many energy-saving measures and tried to put them into practice among government workers. According to Shanghai's new polices, civil servants are encouraged to share cars with colleagues or take public transport when going out on business, lifts should not be used below the fourth floor and the government procurement list should include only low-emission and energy-efficient cars.

To ask government workers to take the lead in saving energy will set a good example for the rest of the country. Since oil and gas prices are on the rise, it's necessary to promote energy conservation awareness in more effective ways.

Dahe Daily

Punish Exam Fraudsters

In this year's national college entrance examination, 14 people were found to be taking the exam for absent students at a high school in northwest China's Gansu Province. Moreover, a teacher organized and led this team of substitutes to Gansu from east China's Shandong Province. Local education officials are reportedly astonished by the fraud ring's "daring actions."

Every year after the national college entrance examination, cases of exam fraud emerge. It's possible that more fraud cases will emerge as investigations ensue. Apart from traditional fraud techniques, the use of mobile phones and wireless electronic devices are now commonplace.

In order to prevent exam fraud, education authorities have reiterated on many occasions that they would severely punish those who are involved, yet still the trend continues. Fraudsters are well paid by clients if they succeed. This is a low-risk practice as the underdeveloped legal system and weak law enforcement can do little to punish the miscreants.

Exam fraud will affect social and education fairness. To curb this rampant trend, law improvement and effective law enforcement are necessary, and fraudsters must be severely punished.

Procuratorial Daily

Banks Violate Policies

In south China's Shenzhen City, the average housing price in April saw a decline of 13 percent month on month. However, before the downtrend could continue, major commercial banks in the city allegedly had manipulated the central bank's restrictions on purchasing a second apartment, a major part of the government's regulatory efforts to curb overheating in the property market.

Why does the state issue policies to raise down payments and lending rates on buyers' second apartments? The reasons are to stabilize housing prices, maintain the sustainable development of the property market and improve the health of the financial industry. But obviously, lenders haven't followed through.

Due to its underdeveloped fund-raising system, China's real estate industry depends largely on bank loans. However, the U.S. subprime loan crunch and rising mortgage delinquencies in China have warned the banking system against housing loan risks. By putting their industry interests above social interests and immediate interests above long-term interests, commercial banks are now faced with tremendous risks and are likely to suffer bigger losses because of the property market slump.

As for the government, when these new polices fail to curb the overly high housing prices, homebuyers will continue to complain. This is not good for the country's economic security and social harmony. Real estate developers are being helped superficially by lenders. But if homebuyers eventually cannot afford to pay off their house loans, the houses are likely to be devalued, and this will make home sales more difficult.

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