Focus on Cultural Soft Power

Outlook Weekly
February 18

A remarkable trend ha emerged recently in the development of Chinese culture. In the past, locals were eager to chase Western traditions, but today they are paying more attention to native culture, combining the old with modern elements.

With China experiencing a lag in development since the late 19th century, many locals lost their pride in native customs. With the country's rapid growth over the past decades, however, it has counteracted the trend to again enjoy much influence globally.

Recently, movies and TV series have been forerunners in promoting Chinese culture, with overseas yearly earnings of more than 1 billion yuan ($160.52 million). Local artists have also traveled to various well-known theaters around the world to perform Peking Opera, Chinese folksongs and dances.

However, the booming Chinese culture still has a long way to march, as its strength and international competitiveness is not yet sufficiently developed. In particular, innovation remains weak compared to that in developed countries. China's export of cultural products reached $14.39 billion in 2010, less than 1 percent of total exports in that year.

Only through the efforts of multiple generations will a world cultural power be established.

Dispute Over Oil Standard

Caixin Century Weekly
February 4

Many cities in China have been blanketed with heavy fog during the past winter. Apart from weather factors, people blame air pollution on the low quality of gasoline consumed by millions of automobiles in big cities like Beijing. Environmental experts say car emissions produce 34 percent of PM 2.5, including particles of sulfur and manganese, a major component of smog.

Consequently, the public has urged oil suppliers to improve standards and quality as well as reduce pollutant additives in gasoline as soon as possible. However, more environmentally friendly gasoline will increase costs for oil giants and auto makers who need to improve cars to use new fuel.

Currently, the government, oil giants and car producers are contending sharply over the new oil standard National V. Their arguments mainly focus on whether to prohibit manganese additives in gasoline. The final draft is expected to be submitted to the State Council after a series of discussions and experiments prior to the end of this year.

However, many oil industry insiders say new standards cannot cure air pollution. China's oil refining industry relies on heavy crude oil that contains high levels of sulfur. Thus, fuel quality is not easy to improve in the short run.

Besides, there are worries that consumers will play no part in the process of establishing new oil standards. Moreover, additional costs associated with new oil standards will ultimately affect millions of drivers to balance out the rise in oil prices.

Moral Education

www.people.com.cn
February 25

The son of famous singer Li Shuangjiang has been detained along with four others for suspected involvement in a gang rape. The news has widely spread on the Internet and become a major topic of discussions. As the son of a prestigious artist, Li junior, who is not yet 17 years old, is easily noticed and talked about when a scandal is disclosed. Usually, society sets a relatively high expectation on them in terms of morality. For this reason, future celebrities must remember that education is not just a matter of family, but also involves social responsibility.

It's true that good environments for growth make it easier for celebrity families to produce excellent offspring compared to ordinary families. However, nowadays, education of children from wealthy families is proving to be an increasingly thorny problem, with many kids taking their social position for granted. They do whatever they want because they know their celebrity father or mother can bail them out when the going gets tough. Guided by such misjudgment, they tend to indulge in harmful behavior.

On the education of their son, the Li couple once said in an interview that they did not put expectations on their child to achieve much success or become a celebrity, but want him to grow up happy and free. There is nothing wrong with such an education concept. However, parental guidance remains an urgent task. Parents and society retain an important role of teaching children proper values and moral standards.

Groundwater Pollution

www.chnrailway.com
February 25

Recently, the news that enterprises in east China's Shandong Province pumped polluted water into the ground, contaminating large areas, has attracted public attention and triggered much anxiety.

According to an investigation conducted by the Ministry of Land and Resources 10 years ago, more than half of the shallow groundwater in the country's 1.97 million square km plain areas was already beyond use. Polluted water is posing an increasingly serious threat to public health. Polluting elements such as arsenic and chromium in water have increased the incidence of cancer.

In most cases, water pollution is caused by illegal wastewater discharge from factories. In order to save costs, some facilities do not have treatment equipment. They even pump wastewater into the ground.

Lack of supervision is another reason for the rampant direct discharge of wastewater. Particularly, in rural areas, there is no sewage treatment equipment or supervision. In order to achieve better economic performance, some local governments turn a blind eye to polluting enterprises and sometimes even collude with them to cope with upper-level environment watchdogs.

Environmental problems are directly related to sustainable development. It will be a tragedy if the health of future generations is thus damaged by pursuit of immediate interests. As for the many polluting enterprises, relevant authorities must strengthen punishment and shut down some of the offenders if the situation becomes too serious.