OPEN HEARTS: The Lingwenyi Kindergarten in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, accommodates mainly children from low-income families and is operated with government subsidies (XINHUA)

Get the Balance Right

The government of Luoyang in central China's Henan Province recently announced a new urbanization program, pledging resettlement subsidies to a maximum of 10,000 yuan ($1,500) per person, as well as preferential treatment in health care and children's education to local farmers who volunteer to move to cities. However, many farmers are afraid that the small subsidies are a pittance compared to rocketing housing prices in cities.

Undoubtedly, accelerating the pace of urbanization will help to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas. There are two major methods to realize this objective. First is to constantly expand municipal boundaries to incorporate surrounding rural areas. The second way is to increase input in rural modernization, in hopes that farmers will be willing and able to reside in cities after becoming rich. A city that will only offer a 10,000-yuan subsidy for relocated farmers calls its attractive qualities into question.

China has always been focusing on developing the urban economy in previous decades. At the present stage, more efforts should be made to bring prosperity to the countryside. In the long run, a bright future for China's rural areas depends on its own efforts and the key is human resources. Therefore, instead of encouraging farmers to go to cities and live a difficult life, it's better for Luoyang to encourage urban skilled workers to develop rural areas by offering them preferential treatment. This will allow these rural areas to catch up with more developed urban areas.

Guangzhou Daily

Children's Needs

Finding a kindergarten in China is difficult for many parents, as cheaper public kindergartens are small in number, while private ones are too expensive for most wage-earners.

It has been 30 years since China adopted the policy of reform and opening up. If at this stage there are still some children unable to go to kindergarten because of financial difficulties or there are no kindergartens for them, it's an absolute shame. Given that China's foreign exchange reserves have topped $2.13 trillion, why not use some of that money to build more kindergartens for our children? In other words, if a father is able to make a huge investment in foreign bonds, how can he bear the thought that he fails to afford his children's kindergarten?

To give children everywhere access to kindergartens is not impossible. First of all, we have enough teachers. For the many college graduates unable to find a job, as long as the income is attractive, many of them would be keen to work in kindergartens. As for operating subsidies and facility costs, a very small slice of fiscal revenues could feed the needs of a huge number of kindergartens.

Beijing Evening News

False Pretenses

Not long ago, a newly created private college called Langfang Oriental Polytechnical Institute in north China's Hebei Province, was found to be involved in a scandal of faking teaching resources.

When going through the approval procedures for establishment, this institute reported faked information about its teaching resources. Its prospectus shows that there are more than 170 teachers at the institute, but actually only 50 are available.

Since 2003, a range of private colleges have begun to take over much of China's higher education. They are attracting the attention of a growing number of high school graduates and their parents.

However, rapid development cannot ensure that the quality of teaching resources and facilities is maintained. In order to compete for more students, many schools began to take various risks. They falsify teaching information and manage to enroll students under a cloud of subterfuge. Because of this fraud, every year there are disputes between enrolled students and fraudulent schools and thus these schools generally have a high dropout rate, which makes it difficult for further student enrollment.

If the fraudulent enrolling practice remains, the future of these schools is doomed.

Guangming Daily

A Meaty Problem

The dominance of cheaper water-injected meat in food markets in Tongchuan, in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has recently forced the only meat supplier in the city to launch a suicidal price war in hopes of recovering the market share it has lost to unlicensed abattoirs.

Local authorities explained that Tongchuan's abattoirs have descended into chaos as a result of poor cooperation among the several agencies regulating the food market.

As a matter of fact, there are many cases where quality products are driven away by bad products. For example, due to the lower prices of fake products, prestigious brands lose sales. If counterfeiting is considered the shortcut to profits, those who are doing business strictly in accordance with the law are on the losing end.

No matter what has led to the messy meat market in Tongchuan, ineffective management is to blame. Ultimately it is consumers who lose the most.

Tianjin Evening News