OPEN TO ALL: Residents of Jing'an County in Jiangxi Province read books in their library (XINHUA)

Aiming for Equality

The Chongqing Municipal Government is planning to restructure its income distribution system, setting the goal of bringing down the Gini coefficient from the current 0.44 to 0.36 during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). At the same time, the Gini Coefficient will be considered as an important factor to assess the work of local officials.

The move of the Chongqing Government is applaudable. Generally speaking, a 0.2-0.3 Gini coefficient means a relatively reasonable income distribution, while one between 0.4 and 0.5 implies a large income gap. China's Gini coefficient exceeded 0.4 in 1994 and then kept rising despite growing incomes of people and the rapid economic growth of the country.

To bring down the high Gini coefficient is the responsibility of governments. But, under the current performance appraisal system, officials are not responsible for the increase of the Gini coefficient. Keywords related to people's livelihood such as income distribution equality and social stability are not yet on the list of performance assessment. When the Gini coefficient is covered in the assessment, officials will be motivated to solve the striking problems posed by income inequality.

To achieve its aim, Chongqing will help residents to increase their income, and to reduce tax burdens for low-income people. The restructuring also calls for subsidies and support in housing, education and medical care among other areas.

But, in a unified market, regional reforms may serve as a pilot program, but to what extent the reforms will be successful is hard to say. It is necessary to carry out similar reform throughout the country.

The Beijing News

Unconnected to Reality

The participation of several grassroots stars in the 2011 Spring Festival Gala will make this year's event somewhat different from previous ones.

The Gala has long been criticized for its disconnect with ordinary people's lives. Therefore, the involvement of these grassroots stars will to some extent make it friendlier. But the participation of several of these stars does not necessarily mean human solicitude.

For example, during the 2008 Spring Festival Gala, a program called the Song of Migrant Workers brought a breath of fresh air on to the stage. But the lyric was a bit disappointing, although it meant to encourage the country's tens of millions of struggling migrants. The song indicates that by working hard and believing in themselves, they will be new masters of cities, but how many of them have achieved this dream? Maybe it was the lyricist's and the director's own wish. While a small fraction of migrant workers have become integrated into urban life, most of them are still struggling hard for any sort of future.

To care for a unrepresented group such as migrant workers is not as simple as just picking some of them to sing several encouraging songs. After all, leaving the stage, they'll still have to face up to harsh conditions in real life.

China Youth Daily

Route Change Urgent

Nirvana Fitness and Spa, a fitness club giant in China, suspended five of its clubs in Beijing for three days, triggering worries about the loss of money paid in advance by the company's clients, but three days later the five clubs were reopened. Marketing manager of the company Wu Xiaotian said problems in Nirvana's capital chain caused the suspensions.

Since its founding, Nirvana has been following a marketing policy of serving high-end clients, which means the relatively wealthy section of society. Even as fitness clubs of various types targeting various clients are mushrooming around the country, Nirvana's high-end road remains unchanged.

While Nirvana may think its profit margin is being squeezed by low-threshold fitness clubs, clients are happy to find there are cheaper clubs near their homes, which provide similarly good services as Nirvana. Diversion of clients and coaches will be inevitable in these cases.

Physical fitness is no longer a luxury preserved for a few rich, but is becoming available to ordinary people. The marketing concept big profits come simply from targeting high-end clients without improving services will probably speedily bring about a business's downfall.

People's Daily

An Open Library

The news Hangzhou Public Library is granting beggars and vagrants access to the building and its book collection is now a hot topic on many of China's Web portals.

Public libraries are supposed to be open to the public and since beggars and vagrants are members of the public, they naturally have the right to enjoy library service. The question is, why has such a common thing stirred up so much excitement among the public?

The admission of beggars and vagrants has been resisted by some readers, so full, open access is a hard-fought achievement by the library after sweeping aside various hindrances.

The curator Chu Shuqing's remark "I have no right to stop anyone coming to read in this public library, including beggars; but you do have the right to leave if you don't like being in the same room with them," was not hailed greatly online. In 2003 the Hangzhou Library was reformed into a completely free and open public library, welcoming people from all backgrounds, including migrant workers, and beggars who go there to read or rest.

The public's overreaction to the library's practice somewhat implies some people don't think beggars and vagrants enjoy equal rights to read in libraries. More importantly, our public libraries have not done enough to make libraries easily accessible places for all members of society.

Qianjiang Evening News