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Hopes and gripes aired as lawmakers convene
By Wang Yong |
March 3, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
"HOW I cherish my childhood when fish and shrimp frolicked in a creek in front of my house. Now these creatures are all gone. In their place have come cars after cars whose emissions blur the sky over our fine city."
This is the complaint of a netizen recorded late last month on the website of People's Daily, which is a flagship publication of the Communist Party of China.
The netizen is one of the respondents to a nationwide survey by the online version of People's Daily about what Chinese people expect most from China's top legislative and political consultative conferences beginning this week.
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference opens its annual session in Beijing today, while the National People's Congress starts its annual session on Saturday.
The online survey ended Tuesday, attracting more than 100,000 respondents. It's the first time that environmental pollution has been among the top 10 concerns since the website launched similar national surveys in 2002.
"It shows that China's public awareness of environmental pollution has grown over the years," wrote Cao Hua, a reporter from the online edition of People Daily, on February 16. By Tuesday, environmental pollution ranked 5th among the top 10 public concerns. The survey found that 51 percent of the respondents supported an environment tax that would increase the burden for polluting firms.
However, tax doesn't fundamentally tackle China's environmental pollution, nor does a brake on local governments' rush to grow the economy. After all, it's only normal to grow an economy so that its people are fed properly. And an environmental tax, though possibly a deterrent to minnow polluters, would hardly deter any mammoth.
The true reason behind worsening environmental pollution lies in a lack of talented and enlightened officials, coupled with a lack of checks and balances against their power. China would have as many creeks, fish and shrimp as did the ancients if only most local officials held nature in awe as did their ancestors - and if they didn't show proper reference, the public could scuttle their plans.
In a chat with netizens through Xinhua news agency and other portals on February 27, Premier Wen Jiabao said that officials of all levels must understand they cannot sacrifice nature for economic growth or expansion. The premier would not have had to spell it out had all of our officials understood the importance of nature. Many local officials not only hold nature in contempt but stifle differing voices. That explains why cultural relics have been razed and land has evaporated before bulldozers driven not just by diesel, but by mayors' will to destroy history and nature in the name of boosting GDP and hence, their position and pay.
In his online chat, Wen also said the cause of abuse of power by some "number one" officials is the over-concentration of power in their hands. "A government will not be corrupt only if it comes under the supervision of the people," Wen said.
The emergence of skyscrapers and cars and the disappearance of creeks and shrimp have less to do with economic theories than with official incompetence, corruption or both. If you get capable and clean officials to serve the people, not only our skies will be bluer, but our income gap will be narrower, our housing prices will be lower, our retirement life will be happier, and our courts will be cleaner and more just.
I've singled out environmental pollution from the top 10 topics not because I dismiss the rest as less important but because, in my humble opinion, environmental pollution exemplifies most problems in China today. They are caused not so much by a limit on natural resources as by a lack of human resources - those talented and enlightened officials who would willingly place themselves under effective public supervision.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the former Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The online edition of People's Daily on Tuesday reported an academic seminar in Beijing on a new book published by the Social Sciences Academic Press (China) about why the former Soviet Communist Party fell.
According to the book, what finally fell was not a Soviet Communist Party that originally had defined itself as the vanguard of the proletariat, but one that later betrayed Marxism, socialism and the people's interests. Where there's reflection, there's hope. Premier Wen's frank chat with netizens and the People's Daily candid coverage of thoughtful academic discussions bode well for a nation strong enough to face its own problems. Chinese public voices their major concerns (Below are four of the People's Daily's top 10 complaints voiced by citizens online.The rest are pollution, corruption, education, medicare, food security, commodity prices, )
Judicial fairness
About 70 percent believe that corruption has eroded justice, especially judicial fairness. Many Netizens believe that judicial corruption reveals itself most clearly in cases of judges succumbing to power and distorting the law.
Income gap
About 40 percent say they're dissatisfied with their income. Their average monthly salary ranges from 1,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan. About half believe that a root cause of income disparity is that pay levels vary wildly between industries.
Housing prices
Seventy-five percent say they want to buy an apartment this year but cannot afford it. Fifty-three percent believe housing prices will continue to rise this year, though at a slower rate. Only 9 percent predict a fall in housing prices.
Social insurance
More than 90 percent complain about the gap in retirement entitlements for civil servants and corporate employees. They are also concerned about social insurance and the hard life of laid-off workers.
This is the complaint of a netizen recorded late last month on the website of People's Daily, which is a flagship publication of the Communist Party of China.
The netizen is one of the respondents to a nationwide survey by the online version of People's Daily about what Chinese people expect most from China's top legislative and political consultative conferences beginning this week.
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference opens its annual session in Beijing today, while the National People's Congress starts its annual session on Saturday.
The online survey ended Tuesday, attracting more than 100,000 respondents. It's the first time that environmental pollution has been among the top 10 concerns since the website launched similar national surveys in 2002.
"It shows that China's public awareness of environmental pollution has grown over the years," wrote Cao Hua, a reporter from the online edition of People Daily, on February 16. By Tuesday, environmental pollution ranked 5th among the top 10 public concerns. The survey found that 51 percent of the respondents supported an environment tax that would increase the burden for polluting firms.
However, tax doesn't fundamentally tackle China's environmental pollution, nor does a brake on local governments' rush to grow the economy. After all, it's only normal to grow an economy so that its people are fed properly. And an environmental tax, though possibly a deterrent to minnow polluters, would hardly deter any mammoth.
The true reason behind worsening environmental pollution lies in a lack of talented and enlightened officials, coupled with a lack of checks and balances against their power. China would have as many creeks, fish and shrimp as did the ancients if only most local officials held nature in awe as did their ancestors - and if they didn't show proper reference, the public could scuttle their plans.
In a chat with netizens through Xinhua news agency and other portals on February 27, Premier Wen Jiabao said that officials of all levels must understand they cannot sacrifice nature for economic growth or expansion. The premier would not have had to spell it out had all of our officials understood the importance of nature. Many local officials not only hold nature in contempt but stifle differing voices. That explains why cultural relics have been razed and land has evaporated before bulldozers driven not just by diesel, but by mayors' will to destroy history and nature in the name of boosting GDP and hence, their position and pay.
In his online chat, Wen also said the cause of abuse of power by some "number one" officials is the over-concentration of power in their hands. "A government will not be corrupt only if it comes under the supervision of the people," Wen said.
The emergence of skyscrapers and cars and the disappearance of creeks and shrimp have less to do with economic theories than with official incompetence, corruption or both. If you get capable and clean officials to serve the people, not only our skies will be bluer, but our income gap will be narrower, our housing prices will be lower, our retirement life will be happier, and our courts will be cleaner and more just.
I've singled out environmental pollution from the top 10 topics not because I dismiss the rest as less important but because, in my humble opinion, environmental pollution exemplifies most problems in China today. They are caused not so much by a limit on natural resources as by a lack of human resources - those talented and enlightened officials who would willingly place themselves under effective public supervision.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the former Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The online edition of People's Daily on Tuesday reported an academic seminar in Beijing on a new book published by the Social Sciences Academic Press (China) about why the former Soviet Communist Party fell.
According to the book, what finally fell was not a Soviet Communist Party that originally had defined itself as the vanguard of the proletariat, but one that later betrayed Marxism, socialism and the people's interests. Where there's reflection, there's hope. Premier Wen's frank chat with netizens and the People's Daily candid coverage of thoughtful academic discussions bode well for a nation strong enough to face its own problems. Chinese public voices their major concerns (Below are four of the People's Daily's top 10 complaints voiced by citizens online.The rest are pollution, corruption, education, medicare, food security, commodity prices, )
Judicial fairness
About 70 percent believe that corruption has eroded justice, especially judicial fairness. Many Netizens believe that judicial corruption reveals itself most clearly in cases of judges succumbing to power and distorting the law.
Income gap
About 40 percent say they're dissatisfied with their income. Their average monthly salary ranges from 1,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan. About half believe that a root cause of income disparity is that pay levels vary wildly between industries.
Housing prices
Seventy-five percent say they want to buy an apartment this year but cannot afford it. Fifty-three percent believe housing prices will continue to rise this year, though at a slower rate. Only 9 percent predict a fall in housing prices.
Social insurance
More than 90 percent complain about the gap in retirement entitlements for civil servants and corporate employees. They are also concerned about social insurance and the hard life of laid-off workers.
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