TRUTH WANTED: The Information Office of Shanxi Provincial Government holds a press conference on March 22, explaining the vaccine incident to the news media and the public (XINHUA)

Potential Danger

A man stabbed eight school children to death and injured five others recently in Nanping City in southeast China's Fujian Province.

The killer was a doctor from a local community clinic who lost his job and had experienced several failed relationships. It was reported that the man was experiencing times of adversity and suffering from a morbid state before he carried out the killings.

This is not the first case of its kind in recent years. It shows a bad need for a sound social security net to provide for people like the killer, so that they are able to lead meaningful lives while addressing psychological problems they may be suffering.

Who should do this work and how should such people be taken care of?

We need a well-designed plan to take care of those in adversity, in particular those suffering from psychological problems. This is a very fundamental way to prevent more troubles in society.

China Youth Daily

Vaccine Tragedy

Nearly 100 children have died or fallen ill in Shanxi Province after being vaccinated, the Beijing-based China Economic Times reported on March 17, quoting Chen Tao'an, a whistle blower who worked with the Shanxi Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2007.

The report said that four children died between 2007 and 2008, and 74 became ill.

On March 22, the Shanxi Provincial Government held a press conference responding to the report. But the hasty conference raised more questions than it answered.

Only 10 minutes or so were allowed for questions and the half-hour press conference revealed a grating ambivalence on the local authorities' part. Not only were journalists' questions not answered, most of the core concerns were ignored.

The public suspects there must be some shady facts. To regain public trust, the local authorities have to find the people responsible for the tragedy as soon as possible and put them behind bars. Also, a comprehensive examination of all children who were given the vaccine should be made. Besides, the authorities should be more forthcoming with the media and make all relevant information public.

Beijing Times

Universities' Bankruptcies

"With the decline of China's population base and descendant tendency of a population suitable for higher education, some universities, especially private ones, will face fierce competition for recruitment and are likely to shut down during the next 10 years," said Gu Hailiang, President of Wuhan University.

Statistics from the education bureau show numbers of students taking the 2010 national higher-education entrance exam in Beijing dropped by 20 percent from the previous year. In Shanghai, the numbers taking the higher-education entrance examination have fallen for three consecutive years.

Most public universities in China are burdened with big debts. Experts said many public universities could have been bankrupted.

Although these public universities owe heavy debts, they are still very keen on enrolling more students, which will lead to a decrease in education quality. Finally, they will lose credibility and find it difficult to enroll students. For them, bankruptcy looms in the near future.

The Beijing News

A Good Storyteller

At an anti-corruption meeting in Changsha, in central China's Hunan Province, Lei Yuanli, the former Vice Mayor of Chenzhou who was sentenced to 20 years' jail in 2008, was invited to talk about his own corruption.

In the short term, the action may shock officials who were present, but it will not have long-term effects. To officials who have diverse experiences in dealing with corruption, the action only indicated defects of current anti-corruption system.

On one hand, it gives the public the impression the current anti-corruption system is useless and governments are not sufficiently determined to crack down on corruption. On the other, it is likely to expose supervision weaknesses and leave loopholes for engaging in corrupt activities.

The key to the fight against corruption is in the further development of a monitoring system and operability of systems to deal with corruption. "Telling a story" will not restrain corruption.

Yangtze Evening News