At the beginning of 2008, a lawmaker at the National People's Congress, who is from northwestern Chongqing Municipality, revealed that at least in his hometown, pig farmers had to pay 15 taxes. If it was overtaxation that had driven up the pork price, efforts must be made as soon as possible to rid pig farmers of various unreasonable taxes.

To avoid big pork price fluctuations, more supporting measures from the authorities are also important. For example, when farmers plan to stop breeding pigs, relevant subsidies should be increased to boost production. Only with effective services will pig farmers keep a reasonable number of pigs in stock and the pork price remain stable and reasonable.

Zhujiang Evening News

Relaxation Before Profit

According to China's new holiday schedule effective from 2008, the three-day May Day break is shortened to one day, but three traditional festivals of Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon-Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are now public holidays. Recently, many reports emerged about travel agencies complaining that the total amount of tourists on the four holidays this year was only 80 percent of the May Day holiday in 2007, while the income was only 70 percent of the same holiday.

What these reports mean is that the holiday reform is a failure. Travel agencies may have some losses, but how do most of the ordinary people feel? Actually, although longer holidays will encourage more people to travel further, not all people choose to. Those who do not travel often feel bored with such a long break and some spend the time drinking, playing cards or just watching TV. After the holiday, some people even begin to suffer from a "post-holiday syndrome"-a general feeling of discomfort caused by the person's inability to adapt to work after the holidays end.

The government reformed the old holiday schedule because it wants citizens to have a good rest after months of hard work, which means the holiday schedule is not made for travel agencies but for ordinary workers.

Besides, when travel agencies argue that the business volume of four short holidays is not equal to that of one long holiday, maybe it's because their business strategies are outdated.

The current holiday schedule is not perfect, but the four shorter holidays may provide the public with more opportunities to relax and entertain themselves. The concept of a "holiday economy" may have been necessary 10 years ago, but we are entering a human-centered era, and it's unacceptable to always put travel agencies' economic profits first regardless of people's real needs.

Qilu Evening News