BETTER LIFE: More people are expected to benefit from the country's raised poverty threshold (WANG SONG)

Gifts Disguised as Bribes

The Chinese lunar New Year is almost here. Many companies are allegedly busy preparing gifts for government officials who can help them expand their business operations.

Some companies may give the impression that they are forced to offer gifts, for fear of falling behind in the gift race.

If a company knows that its rivals have offered gifts to relevant officials in order to achieve some business transactions, it may well choose to follow suit. As a result, the gifts become more expensive. This will take corruption among officials to a new level.

Sometimes, companies that do not offer gifts are unfairly treated by officials, but this happens only when gifts have been offered by some and not others. If no gift is given by any company, officials will not have anyone to mistreat.

More importantly, if companies are afraid that dishonest officials might make things hard for them just because they do not offer gifts, they are supposed to safeguard their own rights through legal means, instead of following the herd and sending more gifts.

Procuratorial Daily

Poverty Line Questioned

According to a decision of the State Council, China's official poverty line has been raised from 786 yuan ($112) a year to 1,067 yuan ($152) in 2009. As a result, 28.4 million more people have been included in the country's poverty alleviation program, in addition to the current 14.8 million.

Raising the poverty threshold is a big progress, but it's still not enough. Despite continuous hikes, China's poverty line, which was first announced in 1985, remains low given current consumer prices. It's also still a long way off from the World Bank's definition of extreme poverty-living on less than $1 per day.

Economically developed Jiangsu Province in east China set its poverty line at 1,500 yuan ($214) in 2006 and has pledged to raise this figure to 2,500 yuan ($357) before 2010. Since the economic development levels are different around the country, we don't expect all local governments to increase poverty relief funds sharply and immediately, but they need to do their utmost to do so and to improve impoverished people's livelihoods.

China's economy has made great headway in the past 30 years, and it's totally within the government's capacity to raise the poverty threshold higher. When more poverty-stricken people begin to live a better life, it will also help to boost domestic consumption.

Dazhong Daily

College Payola

Nowadays, there are a variety of university rankings in China. For most students, whose parents know little about China's many tertiary institutions, these rankings are an important reference when choosing a future school for their children. However, what the parents and students do not know is that most institutions that compile the rankings do so only to make money. The more a college pays, the higher it is ranked.

These fraudulent practices show the universities' lack of basic academic morality and principles.

If all the universities and colleges focused on improving their academic performance instead of being distracted by fame, they would be confident enough of being recognized as good places of learning, instead of cheating students through bribing their way up the college rankings.

However, we have to admit that today it's not easy for a university to stick to academic morality and not be affected by the huge commercial profits a higher rank will bring. Corruption, it seems, touches all walks of life.

Yanzhao Evening News

Take Our Lives Seriously

According to a recent report issued by the China Food Service Packaging Association, 80 percent of large-scale supermarket chains and wholesale markets in Beijing are selling kitchenware that contains melamine.

In November 2008, this organization reported this serious safety problem to the local quality watchdog but received no response. Worse still, although it's known to all that the kitchenware is made of materials containing the toxic chemical, their samples passed all tests conducted by the National Quality Testing Center.

People's health is closely linked to food safety-related issues. When it comes to public concerns in these fields, the government should always take them seriously, no matter if they are real risks or just people's overreactions. It's unacceptable for issues concerning people's lives to be so neglected.

The Beijing News