"The historically low water levels of the Poyang Lake are caused by droughts as well as man-made factors, including the massive illegal dredging of sand for construction purposes."

Kong Fanxiang, a senior research fellow with the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, explaining the shrinkage of China's largest freshwater lake

"First, the number of government cars should be reduced. Second, the monitoring over their purchase and use should be intensified. Third, the fiscal supervision system should be improved and government budgets drafted more democratically."

Deng Lianfan, professor at the School of Law of Central South University, suggesting methods for a new round of reforms on government vehicles

"The nature of acrobatics is to explore the limits of the human body. African students have fairly good physical condition and relatively better balance and flexibility compared to their Chinese counterparts."

Ma Shumin, a teacher at Wuqiao Acrobatic Art School in north China's Hebei Province, commenting on performances of African learners of the school on November 3

"A quarter of east Asia's world heritage sites have been threatened by the booming tourism."

Peter Ogden, a project expert for the UNESCO Beijing Office, commenting at the Lushan Forum on World Heritage Cultural Landscape in East Asia