HELP IN NEED: Travel agencies are eager to see the return of spring in China's tourism market after an economic winter

Cuts From the Top

When a company's business operations are failing, downsizing staff and cutting salaries are considered the most effective ways to cope with a difficult situation. The questions are, who is to be fired and whose salaries are to be cut?

China Southern Airlines Co. Ltd., one of the country's three largest state-owned civil carriers, has suffered a huge loss this year due to rising fuel costs and slower demand caused by the cooling Chinese economy. Recently, the company revealed that as early as in July, it decided to cut the salaries of high- and middle-ranking managers by 10 percent, while low-level workers were left unaffected. This move is totally different from the common practice of targeting ordinary workers first for salary reductions or staff downsizing.

What China Southern Airlines has done against the background of the global economic crisis is to build up the awareness of crisis in all workers and encourage them to jointly pull through hard times. When a business encounters difficulties, ordinary workers should not be victimized.

China Southern Airlines is setting a good example for businesses that are planning to fire workers to make their way through this winter. Staff downsizing will not necessarily solve all the problems.

Yanzhao Evening News

Travel or Leisure?

China's National Tourism Administra-tion recently devised a national leisure promotion program in hopes of boosting domestic tourism.

Seemingly, the program is for the good of all people, but actually it is more for the tourism sector than anyone else.

If it focused on cheap popular leisure activities, the program would be well-received. But in the face of the spreading economic slowdown, people have smaller interest in travel due to the risk of income loss.

If the goal is to promote the tourism market, tangible measures will speak louder than the so-called "leisure" promotion program. Otherwise, tourism authorities alone will be unable to fulfill the task.

Under current circumstances, the priority should be to ban arbitrary fees in the tourism sector. It's also important to improve services. Only when travel programs are more affordable and prepared well for the general public, will the domestic tourism market get its much-needed boost-something the leisure promotion program cannot achieve.

Shanghai Business

Fill Poor Purses

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning body, is reportedly working out a new policy to increase peoples' purchasing power, for example through raising workers' wages. People, however, are unsure whether the wage increase initiative can fully achieve its expected results to expand consumer spending.

From the macroeconomic perspective, for years, the proportion of urban and rural residents' income to the gross national domestic has always fallen. Official statistics show that the figure dropped to 41.4 percent in 2006 percent from 53 percent 10 years ago. However, this ratio is 50-60 percent in developed countries. In China, the government and enterprises control most of the wealth.

Sustainable economic growth needs richer residents, and the goal of economic growth is to let all people live a well-off life. We need to establish an effective mechanism that can guarantee continual national income rises, so that all people can benefit more from the country's development achievements.

Besides, when taking action to raise wages, the government must try to prevent the further widening of the rich-poor gap. The key to boosting consumption is to fill poor people's purses.

If the government is successful in putting more money in the hands of ordinary people, this will be of great benefit to the country as a whole.

Changjiang Daily

In Tune With the People

China's Ministry of Culture is consulting the public on a regulation on profit-driven performances. If the regulation is adopted, performers who cheat their audiences by lip-synching or pretending to play their instruments at "live" shows would be punished by law.

According to the Law on the Protection of Consumers' Rights and Interests, consumers have the right to know about the reality of the commodities and services they are buying. By lip-synching, singers are offering fake services to audiences.

It is reported that the most-watched annual Spring Festival Gala, which is produced by the national TV broadcaster CCTV on the eve of China's lunar New Year, also includes lip-synching performances. According to the producer, this practice is necessary to prevent unexpected errors from disrupting viewers.

Is it really for the sake of the audience? The truth is that some pop singers cannot hold a tune.

Stage performance demands performers show their real talent. Lip-synching is the shame of the singing profession and a kind of retrogression. It's good news that the Ministry of Culture will ban it, but how effective it will be in curbing the fakes remains to be seen.

Workers' Daily