CHINA, NATIONAL, LIFESTYLE, FEATURE: Five Mascots for Beijing Olympic Games

By Ellen Ji

The Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games in Beijing recently launched the five Mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They took the images of the fish, the panda, the Olympic flame, the Tibetan antelope and the swallow, named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini, and as a whole "Beijing Huanying Ni," or in English, "welcome to Beijing," showing the gracious invitation of the Chinese people.

The Five Mascots, based on the colors of the five rings, applied traditional Chinese art, representing the best wishes of the Chinese people, and the close relationship with ocean, forest, fire, land and heaven. Each of the five mascots symbolizes a blessing, according to Chinese tradition, and will bring blessings to the people of the world. Beibei represents the blessing of prosperity, Jingjing the blessing of happiness, Huanhuan the blessing of passion, Yingying the blessing of health and Nini the blessing of good luck.

They spread good hope for friendship, peace, the Olympic spirits and harmony between humans and nature.

Beibei:


Takes the look of the fish, which symbolizes prosperity and harvest and also the realization of dreams in Chinese tradition.

Jingjing:


Is a lovable panda, a precious animal on the level of a national treasure. From the vast forest, Jingjing, a symbol of co-existence between humans and nature has gained people's preference all over the world. It's honest and cheerful, always full of strength.

Huanhuan:

Is the big brother of the five mascots, representing the holy Olympic flame. It's the embodiment of sports and passion, spreading the Olympic spirits--Swifter, Higher, Stronger--to the world. It shows the gracious hospitality of Chinese people to the world.

Yingying:

Is an alert and agile Tibetan antelope from the vast expanse of the Tibetan Plateau, western China, delivering the wish of health to the world.

Nini:

Is the messenger from heaven, a swallow spreading its wings and flying in the sky. It's created from the swallow--shaped kite in the tradition of China, which will bring hope and pleasure to people wherever it flies.
　

CHINA, NATIONAL, SPORTS, COMMENTARY: Falling

By Christina Liang

A body of one hundred and seventy pounds fell on the tatami like a straw--with it went our belief in the sporting spirit.

October 13, 2005, in the women's 78-kg judo final of the 10th National Games, former Olympic champion Sun Fuming (from the Liaoning team) fell on the tatami, under the eyes of all the audience who supported her, after being stricken by a young player Yan Sirui (from PLA team). The audience was astonished by the way she fell--ordered by her coach, she pretended to be beaten by Yan's slightest push, like a jackstraw. Sun lost the gold medal in a most incredible way--she gave it up.

"I saw the coach from Liaoning province gesture at Sun, and then she gave up the competition," said Ms. Zhu, a member of the audience.

However, Sun was not a good actress. The committee pointed out the fake performance, punished the coach and announced a replay on October 15, 2005. But Sun lost again. She used another inevitable failure to end up the replay, end up all the ups and downs, and end up the whole farce.

The loss of sport spirit

After the final, Sun Fuming's coach, Liu Yongfu protested that, "Both of them are from Liaoning province. No matter who wins the gold medal, it's the same. If it had been a harsh battle, it would have hurt them. Giving up the game was to protect the players. That's nothing special."

We are shocked. How can these words come from the so-called "gold-medal" coach? Does he teach the players in this way? Where is the sport justice or sport spirit we have been after for so long before?

Sport, it is not just a word about competition, achievement or glory. What's more important is that it symbolizes justice, purity, peace and friendship. It gives us a chance to praise the beauty of the human body and also a chance to show our will of transcending ourselves. That's why we can find the love of sports throughout human history. So the meaning of the competition is not merely who is the winner of the medal, but a performance of the sporting spirit. Nonetheless, the coach and the two competitors took it as a private game within their own group, neglecting the spiritual effect they should deliver to the public. This kind of neglect leads to a very dangerous condition that all the participants are merely longing to win the game, or say, gain their own interest, no matter adopting what kind of methods. And the victim who suffers the most is the sport itself because it would not be the original one people have always loved.

They've been hurt.

Not only was the sport spirit hurt by this farce, but also people's hearts.

Sun Fuming was hurt. As an old player who won the 1996 Olympic gold medal and the 2004 Olympic copper medal, she really wanted to end her career with this gold medal of the National Games. After the final on October 13th, Sun cried out with regret.

"But I have followed Coach Liu for a long time. I understood his suggestion at that time (during the final). I can't disobey his will."

In China, a player is inculcated with the idea that an individual's success, to a large extent, owes to the coaches' effort and the cultivation by the nation. Lacking these, he or she will never reach the peak of their careers. So at some critical time, the player should obey the will of the coach, caring nothing about its rightness, or he or she would be taken as ungrateful and selfish--"individualism." This absolutely doesn't go with what we advocate: collectivism. But this collectivism neglects both the real meaning of sports and the feeling of the players--two of the most important things we should respect. It has already pushed famous Ping-Pong player He Zhili to Japan because of a similar case. From then on, the authority of the Ping-pong field strictly banned this kind of fake behavior, lest other excellent players get hurt and leave. How can the same thing happen on the tatami again?

Yan Sirui was also hurt. In the whole farce, the coach was the director, Sun was the leading actress, but Yan played only a minor role, maybe only an unwitting minor role. The dramatic effect of this play has diluted the gold medal of Yan. All the effort Yan has made seems to be ignored or regarded as part of the play. Even though Yan won the replay, people can't help doubting the real worth of this national champion.

And the audience was hurt.

"I bought the ticket to see the presence of the Olympic champion and looked forward to a wonderful competition. But I feel cheated," said Mr. Zhang who works in a foreign company in Nanjing.

The public feels cheated. Besides the somewhat "ideal" sports spirit, there is also a more realistic thing we should obey: the sports rule. The rule is we can't betray our audience. Only by meeting our audience's needs, can we prolong the lifetime of sports. The public needs honesty, transparency, justice, and a good performance. They don't want to be cheated, even fooled.

However, such cases damage the credibility of sports. If they can't believe their eyes anymore, why will they still pay to see the competitions?

Some people may think that we can still win Olympic gold medals without the audience so it doesn't matter. Maybe we can, because nowadays these kinds of Olympic sports rely on support from the government. It won't bother them if people don't buy tickets, because they still have food. But what if one day they are thrown to the market to feed themselves?

Let's look at the professional Chinese soccer. Now that they live on the market, they can't cheat the public anymore. The soccer market, at present, is decreasing throughout China. It is very "natural" that there are a large number of vacant seats in the stadiums. The behavior of Chinese soccer has really disappointed soccer fans.

The Olympic sports don't want to hurt the potential market, do they?

Who was the writer?

Who was the writer of the farce? What was the real purpose of giving up the gold medal? Did the coach only want to protect the players from a harsh battle? If there had been no interest, who would rather lose a gold medal?

According to the evaluation system of the 10th National Games, if a player from the PLA team wins a gold medal, both the PLA team and the home province of the player will be given a gold medal. In this case, if Sun had won the match, only Liaoning province would have gotten a gold medal. So why not act as a "kind" person? What's more, Sun's days have passed but Yan is a rising star of Liaoning. Obviously, cultivating a new star has more benefits than helping an old player write a full stop of her career.

Besides, this case was not the only one. In the men's over-100-kg judo competition on October 13, player Wei Xiangjun of the PLA team (the output province is Shandong) met player Shi Huayong of the Shandong team. Wei beat Shi, who intended to give up, in no more than one second. Another judo player said, "Obviously, this will save Wei's strength. It is the same for the Shandong province no matter which one of them enters the final."

Then who is the writer of these farces? The answer is the maker of the rules. The players, the coaches and the teams are just playing by the "rules" of the game. It is the rule-makers who leave the loopholes for them. While criticizing and punishing the players and the coaches, can we perfect our rules or systems first?

The body of 78kg has fallen on the floor.

We don't want our belief and love of sports to fall with her.

CHINA, ENTERTAINMENT, COMMENTARY: What Can Film Classification Do?

By Louise Liu

Films have never been distinctly and strictly classified in China. We do label some films as "Unsuitable for Children." Unfortunately, its good intention has been taken advantage of for vicious purposes. Somehow the label "unsuitable" has become an indicator of violence, nudity, and sex, which caters to the appetites of certain people. So these films are promoted to attract particular audiences even when they are actually suitable for the general public. In such cases, these audiences feel cheated after seeing such films. Some producers even deliberately add nude scenes into a film to make it "unsuitable." All of these behaviors are in defiance of the classification system.

In contrast, in many other countries films are strictly classified.

In America, according to the MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America), there are 5 categories of movies: G (General Audience); PG (Parental Guidance Suggested), PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned); R (Restricted), NC-17 (No One Under 17 Admitted). They are classified according to the proportion of nudity, violence, bad language, terror, etc., in the content.

In Britain, 6 categories are classified as Universal, suitable for pre-school children, Universal, under 12, under 15, under 18, and R18. In Hong Kong, films are classified into three levels: for the general audience, unsuitable for children, and for adults. The classification systems are different but similar in the purpose of protecting children from bad influences.

In Mainland China, there are no such strict restrictions, which doesn't mean that the films being shown in our cinemas are all proper for the general public. For example, the blockbuster Saving Private Ryan was put on the silver screen years ago in Mainland China and no special introductions were given. Many parents took their kids to the cinema. As a result, the audience, especially the children, were stunned, or horrified by the bloody scenes, not mentioning the frequent usage of dirty words. The film was graded as an "R" in the states, but it met no restrictions at all in Chinese markets. And its DVD is available to everyone in supermarkets or video stores.

Nowadays, the children are encouraged to learn English through watching English-speaking films. A very interesting phenomenon can be noticed among the children: Having been exposed to lots of English films, they've made quite limited progress in their language studies, but they become more and more familiar with taboos such as shit, damn and fuck.

That's an important reason why so many people are appealing for classifying films in China. At the same time some suspect the effectiveness and practicality of setting film classifications in China.

Wang Jing, a famous commercial film director in Hongkong, holds the opinion that classification will not solve the problem. In China, pirate activities are so rampant that almost all kinds of films are available on the pirate market. Thus restrictions in cinemas are almost useless as the kids have easy access to the forbidden ones anyway.

Besides, many people still wonder whether film classification will become a sign of permission for pornographic films. Actually, the classification means to categorize films and ensure that they be in accordance with mainstream moral standards. The final standards for classification will by no means overthrow social moral standards. And the content of sex and violence should be in accordance with the plot, and within the limit of appreciation by the general audience.

But even a perfect classification system will not solve the problem once for all as long as the pirate market still exists, which means all the efforts made for regulating the film industry are bound to be meaningless.

CHINA, NATIONAL, BEIJING, SOCIETY, NEWS BRIEF: Are We Ever Supposed to Own Our New Bicycles?

By Li Zhen

On October 6th, after having lunch in NongYuan Cafeteria, Tracy put her new bicycle in the rack in front of the Guanghua Management School building, at Peking University, locked the chain, went in and began her preparation for the Postgraduate Entrance Examination. After a whole afternoon's study, she left the classroom and could not find her new bicycle anywhere. Suddenly she realized it was stolen.

Tracy, a fourth-year student of HuaQiao University, Fujian Province, came to Beijing this past summer vacation to gain access to the teachers and lectures of the renowned school. She rented a dormitory at DaoXiangyuan, which is not far away from the university. Since the campus is a bit large, she bought a bicycle several days ago, and it was quite convenient for her to travel by bicycle to study everyday, especially when she carried her laptop and lots of books.

She was quite disappointed the moment she realized that her bicycle was stolen. After a night's sorrow, however, she said to one of her good friends the next morning: "Just forget about it, after all, we have much more important work to do. Tomorrow is another day."

On October 8th, Jane, a student of BFSU, went to Peking University to listen to a lecture given by Jing Yidan, a very famous anchor on CCTV. She put her bicycle where she always did with all the others in front of the Science Building, and carefully locked it together with her friend's bicycle. Although a bit worried that it might be stolen because it was new, cool and expensive, she fitted it with two new locks and reminded herself of her belief that people were in essence good.

When the lecture finished, she found that she was not only naive but had greatly underestimated the skill of the thieves. The lock was cut off and her new bicycle was gone forever. It was her second bike--the first one stolen only a week before. Frustrated and heartbroken, she swore never to buy a new bike again.

This kind of phenomenon is quite normal in the Haidian District, a university-centered area in Beijing, especially at Peking University, where lots of people come in and out every day. Most of the students interviewed were quite used to the situation. When every new semester begins, there is a great demand for bicycles, especially used ones. Out of the south gate of Peking University, you can easily find people selling stolen bicycles along the street, with broken locks but quite cheap prices.

"Using the ordinary locks, it is almost useless in preventing bikes from being stolen," said one of the bicycle repairers at the university. "Nowadays the thieves have become more and more skillful and it is a piece of cake for them to unclench or cut the lock off if your lock isn't strong enough."

When we walk around the campus, we can easily find people selling new bicycles. But many of them are actually used ones. People fix-up the secondhand bikes, or recondition them, paint and sell them as new ones.

There is a great demand for secondhand bicycles on the campus because the thieves steal so many only to turn around and sell them back to students. Students are afraid that their bicycles will be stolen, however, they keep on buying stolen bicycles from the thieves even though they know the source. It is a vicious circle.

It is so easy for thieves to enter universities since a university is a public place. The flow of people is large and it's hard for police to keep a close eye on every corner of the campus.

Under the circumstances, we cannot help wondering: when we are ever going to really own our new bicycles?

CHINA, NATIONAL, SOCIETY, NEWS COMMENTARY: Panic Is Caused by Covering Up Truth

By Li Shuting

"I know that bird flu is striking our province and several infected people died in other provinces. What a big deal? We just fight against it. Actually, I feel sorry for the thousands of poor chickens that were killed," my 74-year-old grandmother said in an easy tone yesterday.

I can still remember that two years ago she was in a panic about SARS, but now she is so calm and confident; she even feels sympathetic with the chickens.

Why is it so different? My grandmother gave me an interesting answer--what always causes panic is not truth, but fear in people's hearts resulting from rumor, ignorance and distrust.

In the early spring of 2003, I first knew about SARS from a neighbor who came back from Guangdong Province, where SARS first attacked. He described the disease in a very horrible way and said hundreds of people had already died from it. I couldn't help panicking then, and now I know why many people were panicking.

Firstly, at that time no news came from any official source, only frightful rumors spreading in the public. People had no chance to know the exact number of deaths from any trustable media, and the number was various in different versions. In some rumors, the numbers were terribly large.

Secondly, being ignorant of the knowledge about the disease, people feared SARS but didn't know what to do or how to protect themselves. The government was busy covering up the truth; no authority gave any suggestion about precautionary measures.

Thirdly, since the government was not honest but attempted to conceal the truth, people began to distrust it. Hence many people felt that they had lost their spiritual support.

Remember or imagine the situation: people were threatened by an infectious fatal disease without knowing how to protect themselves. What's more, they felt that they were cheated by and were disappointed in their government. What could they do? Panic.

Some officials were afraid of causing panic if they informed the public about the disease. But what happened when they finally told the truth? People became calm and seriously adopted the precautionary measures; the cooperation between government and the public became a sharp weapon, and with it we defeated SARS.

Facts tell us that the public can be rational and powerful. To conceal the facts can result in nothing but panic.

Admittedly, government is doing a better job coping with bird flu now. Not only is it adopting more effective measures to prevent the disease from spreading, but also it is being honest with the public. Sometimes attitude means even more than methods.

TV, radio, newspaper and websites...various sources not only update the public on information about the disease, but also passes experts' suggestions about precautionary measures to people.

Though we are informed that bird flu is spreading to more and more regions everyday, we stay calm. There is no reason to panic--we know what's going on; we know how to protect ourselves and we trust the government.

Just tell us the truth, and people will say, "What's the big deal? We'll just fight against it."

Panic is caused by covering up truth.

CHINA, NATIONAL, BEIJING, SOCIETY, NEWS BRIEF: Drivers' Training Is a Fever

By Dong Yinglei

Drivers' training is becoming more and more popular in China with the rapid development of a private car economy.

It is 7:30 on a Saturday morning in Beijing. It is still quiet in the community as a young lady rushes out of apartment Number 3 with bread and milk in her hands.

"I hope I can get to school on time," Zi Xia said. The 25-year-old girl, working as a purchaser in a private-owed electronic company in Beijing, began drivers' training this October. Taking an hour and a half bus ride to drivers' training school every Saturday morning has became a part of her weekend life.

"Female drivers contribute another perspective to the private car economy. They can bring feminine factors into cars, which now is so masculine," Zi Xia explained. "It's a wonderful match. And how cool it is when you drive your own car to the suburbs and smell the fresh air," she said with shining eyes.

"Driving is no longer only a man's thing, a man's skill. Women are no weaker than men. I can afford to buy a car," she said. Owning a private car is no longer an extravagantly high hope. And white-collar females who share Zi Xia's opinion make up a major portion of people going to drivers' training school.

When Ding Li, a 26-year-old sales manager in a real-estate company, walks out of the bank's door he is one large stride closer to his dream. The way to the Bank of China could not be more familiar to him. He goes there every two months to deposit part of his salary in a personal savings account. After three years accumulation, Ding Li has saved enough money to buy a car.

"I decided to buy a car this year. My favorite car is in my mind. But the problem is I haven't yet learned to drive," Ding Li said with an embarrassed smile. "I must learn to drive before buying car. It would be ridiculous if I buy a car without using it. I'm really hoping the training course starts as early as possible."

Xiang Lu, a sophomore in Zhejiang University, is learning to drive in her spare time this semester. "Actually, I didn't intend to learn driving so early," she said somewhat surprisingly. "But there are reasons behind it. My parents have a car and they hope I can help to drive when they are tired. And possessing another skill can provide more chances for me to find a job after graduation."

"Though I'm a member of the drivers' training class, I'm a little confused about my decision," Xiang Lu continued. "Environmental pollution caused by waste gas discharge, the soaring death toll of naive drivers, traffic jams, etc., all these are problems you can't avoid when you go on the road. Even though you finally pass the examination and get a drivers license, it only proves you can drive, not that you can drive well."

"To be a good driver, you have to spend much time behind the wheel. You should consider carefully whether it's the right choice before queuing up for the team," Xiang Lu concluded with a sigh.

CHINA, NATIONAL, SOCIETY, NEWS FEATURE, EXAM SYSTEM: The Comprehensive Assessment System - Is It Fair?

By Dan Ran

"So many young people, with excellent intelligence and beautiful future dreams, are ranked by this ridiculous score, showing who is better than whom, and who is superior to whom! I will never believe that I am valued by this mere 80 score!" On his personal weblog, a Grade Three student of the Diplomacy Department at Beijing Foreign Studies University, expressed his anger. On October 25, 2005, the result of the annual Comprehensive Assessment of BFSU students came out, arousing strong, numerous responses.

The Comprehensive Assessment system was adopted by BFSU more than a decade ago, having quantified the performance of countless students, those currently studying and those who have graduated from the university. Comprising three parts, namely, moral education scores (20%), intellectual education scores (70%), and P.E. scores (10%), the system aims at annually evaluating and ranking the performance of all the students in a comprehensive way.

"The system is the best we can adopt," said Miss Guo, an adviser at BFSU. "It contains the three main elements involved in a student's college life with a rational proportion of them."

However, about the "three main elements," some students see more than just what Guo said.

"The system is far from being rational as the three parts of the scoring hardly reflects the real ability of a student," said Jingwen, a Grade Three student in the School of International Business at BFSU. "For example, many students who have rich knowledge and broad horizons do not necessarily get a high score in exams. But the exam scores, ironically, are the only thing related to the intellectual education score."

"On the surface, it seems fair enough to simply add up the three scores to have the final score. But how can this show the strong suit of each student?" Weiwei, a Grade Two student in the Law Department at BFSU, said. "Some students are particularly talented in P.E., yet they only do moderately in the other parts, thus their total score ranks only in the middle or even the last in the department. In this way, how can their P.E. talent be recognized and appreciated?"

In response to this, a school officer in charge of the Comprehensive Assessment replied, "As to those who have particular excellence in certain fields, the system has taken them into consideration in the form of awarding them with extra points."

Yet the rule of awarding students with extra points does not satisfy everyone.

"It is often the case that the extra points play the decisive role in the ranking of the total scores, as we don't have a very big disparity in the intellectual education score," said Zixian, a Grade Two student in the Journalism Department.

According to a school official document published in August this year, there are rules regulating the extra scores. For example, those who get first place in a school-level sports competition can get 1 point added to the final score, and those who get second place can have 0.7 extra points, etc.

"There are so many kinds of different competitions concerning all fields, held by such a large number of organizations, that it is almost impossible to cover all the awarded students with detailed regulations," Zixian said after reading the published official document.

The P.E. scores aroused strong controversy.

An official document, "Guide For Conducting P.E. Courses in Universities," issued by the Ministry of Education in August 2002, required universities to put more emphasis on P.E. courses. Thus, the P.E. score takes up a considerable proportion of the final score, 10%, which is not considered fair by all of the students.

"The proportion's just too high," said Zixian, "I spend so much time reading books and preparing for my exams that I rarely have time for physical exercises. And I don't feel the necessity of such a harsh demand on P.E. performance in universities. We're no longer children, after all. We should choose our own emphasis in life."

Xiaoyun, a Grade Two student in the English Department, smiled in appreciation of the P.E. score proportion. "It's just good to see the school realize the importance of P.E., as the intellectual education scores can hardly be completely fair, while the P.E. scores can," he said.

Though much doubt has been cast on the system, there are many students who feel contented and appreciate it.

Cailan, a Grade Two student of the Diplomacy Department said: "I'm happy to see such a system that evaluates students not only by their academic performance but also by their performances in morality, P.E., extracurricular activities. Compared to the system in the middle schools, this is already big progress."

"There must be a standard to quantify performances," said Shuang, a Grade Two student in the English Department. "I don't see much trouble with it. I especially appreciate the moral education part, as the score of this part usually reflects a lot, such as the general reputation and personal relationship of a student."

The Comprehensive Assessment system works not only in BFSU, but also in a large number of other universities in China, including elite universities such as Tsinghua University.

Pingyi, a student in the Architecture Department of Tsinghua University summed up the position of those who favor the status quo:

"I don't think there is any system that can evaluate every student with total fairness. Every system has its loopholes and fallacies. The Comprehensive Assessment system has shortcomings, of course, such as not being objective enough. Yet I appreciate the core principle of it, that is, viewing a person from multiple angles, manners, social work participation, leadership, artistic talent, and of course academic achievement, rather than one perspective only. This is the most important thing."

CHINA, NATIONAL, BEIJING, SOCIETY, NEWS BRIEF, Is the "Right" Job Worth a Life?

By Tian Yuan

Five Peking University students committed suicide in the past seven months, a death toll far greater than any previous year. It has aroused a lot of attention at what is often considered to be China's premier university.

On April 22nd, 2005, a girl undergraduate student majoring in Chinese jumped from the 9th floor of building no. 2. On May 7th, a male doctor majoring in mathematics jumped from the same building. On July 26th, a male undergraduate student majoring in psychology jumped from the veranda of the 5th floor of building no. 33. There were two other deaths with no exact time and place.

Blood clearly rang the alarm bell for all the students. They have begun to reconsider the meaning of life.

The most typical reaction was from Lian, a postgraduate student studying Chinese, "It's your own business. Nature provided us the choice of life, how to live it, or whether we live it or not, is a private thing." To such students, living and dying are natural acts therefore should be private choices.

Other students argued that being a member of China's top university, they should be more responsible for family and society than others. Life was first and for the most part a social process rather than a natural one. Therefore they should not treat current difficulties as too important, but to devote themselves to studying well and working for the country in the future.

What's more, their gaining a successful living was also an important source of their family's happiness. To them, the students who committed suicide were cowards who could not face or overcome the hardships of life and were irresponsible to their parents.

There were some students who had thought about killing themselves because of the "unbearable" pressure on their shoulders. With the proliferation of college graduates, it's become very difficult for students to find the good jobs they and their parents had expected after graduation. Even students of Peking University cannot avoid it. Which is why the students there are thinking and talking about the value of life. And death.

CHINA, NATIONAL, SOCIETY, NEWS FEATURE, The Cruelest Choice

By Yu Zhijuan

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) carriers often encounter extreme frustration in finding a mate and a job, even though people in China now have a better understanding of the disease and its prevention.

Each weekend, Xiao Huang dates his girl friend Xiao Lv, taking her to their favorite restaurant. In people's eyes, they are young lovebirds envied by others. However, few really know that their love is being severely tested.

"My mother is still against us staying together. Our future is full of darkness," said Xiao Lv, who told the writer their story.

Four years ago, Xiao Huang and Xiao Lv both entered Beijing Jiaotong University and became classmates majoring in computer science. When their friendship turned into love, Xiao Huang revealed to his girlfriend that he was an HBV carrier.

"As soon as my mother heard this news, she tried every means she could to prevent me from seeing him," Xiao Lv said. Her mother ordered her to come home to Shi Jiazhuang (capital city of Hebei Province) as soon as she graduated from Beijing Jiaotong University. Her mother tried to arrange for her to meet guys she'd never heard of before.

"I could understand all that my mother did," Xiao Lv said. "She meant well. But it is ridiculous that, to avoid these things, you make every boy have a physical examination before you fall in love with him."

Xiao Lv revealed that actually she, like her mother, had worries about their future. "I am afraid that once we are married and have children, the hepatitis B virus will be transmitted to our kids."

Xiao Lv complained that she often quarreled with her boyfriend over the problem. "I don't know what to do next. On the one hand, our love is not likely to ever get permission from my parents. On the other hand, since we have known each other well for about two years, I cannot simply say goodbye to him."

Besides the pressure from Xiao Lv's family, Xiao Huang also has to face the difficulties of finding a steady job.

As a computer major, Xiao Huang first applied for a job as a network controller at a college in Beijing. Although he was more qualified for the work than other candidates, personnel officers of the college refused his application as soon as they found out he was an HBV carrier.

At last, in September 2005, Xiao Huang found a job in Beijing Western Railway Station. However, Xiao Huang kept his health problem a secret. "I'm afraid he will lose his job again if his boss learns about it," Xiao Lv said in gloom.

It is not Xiao Huang alone that faces these intense dilemmas. Statistics show that there are about 130 million HBV carriers in China, which makes up 10 percent of the Chinese population. And like Xiao Huang and Xiao Lv, many of them will experience similar cruel choices in love and career.

INTERNATIONAL, COMMENTARY: A Wailing Land Calls For Cease-Fire

by Song Rui

With the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraqi war now well over 2000, anti-war protests have swept through America. I believe there are a number of reasons for this intensified round of protests in America.

First of all, the Americans have obviously come to realize that they have paid too much for this war. American soldiers in Iraq continue to die every day, and terrorist bombings and kidnappings have never ended. Besides those killed, thousands of soldiers are suffering from heartaches. Among the protesters is Cindy Sheehan, the arrested "anti-war mom", who lost her son last year in Iraq. And many people in America share her sorrow. Having lost so many, they cannot bear loosing more sons, brothers and husbands.

Second, the American soldiers are unwilling to continue the war. From the death notes of the American soldiers, we can feel their love for life and abomination for war. In those notes addressed to their loved ones, they talked about the new computers they would never buy, the courses they would never take, the Christmas presents they would never open and the lovely kids they would never kiss. Every word of theirs urges their families to earnestly request President Bush to call off the battles early, so as to avoid more tragedies.

Besides the sorrow for the huge loss, there are still other reasons for anti-war protests in America. High technology and large defense budgets were meant to reduce casualties. But the low--or even zero--casualties the American people had expected proved to be unrealistic, bringing more pain to their sensitive emotions. Moreover, there's hot debate on the justifiability and the necessity of the Iraqi war. The public began to doubt the reasons for going to war.

Last but not least, hurricane Katrina awakened the Americans to the fact that their most urgent affair is to improve the security situation within the nation rather than sending countless troops to other countries to promote "democracy". When people in the richest country in the world are crying for food and water, who could continue believing in President Bush's agenda as announced on March 19 2003, that America would start "military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger"?

Therefore, the anti-war protest in America is stronger than ever. The war has to be stopped; otherwise, the dual power of it will wound both sides.

But war continues on this land, the land that gave us the wheel, writing and mathematics, where the people first divided time into units of 60 and where they first divined the God of the Old Testament. This land is wailing, not only for its people, but also for the American soldiers who have died there.

CHINA, NATIONAL, SOCIETY, NEWS FEATURE: When Going to School Is a Matter of Life and Death

By Liu Liting

Late last August, a country girl in Xiejiaying village, Gansu Province, jumped off a cliff because she was too poor to continue her education. Her father, using a trick of "drawing lots," made the decision that she give up her chance to study so that her younger brother could have his.

Yang Yingfang was 18 years old and attended the same senior school as her brother. Yang's father, the 53 year-old Yang Yuxiang, spent most of the year working in the field; the rest in big cities doing labor work to support the family.

The family worked 27 acres of farmland, 3 acres of which was turned into forests, following the policy of the government. So most of the family's income was from the other 24 acres. Last year, they sold all the paddy and wheat they got from the fields--some of which had been saved for 3 years--for 1700 Yuan. Yang Yuxiang did urban labor work for two months and brought home a little more than 1000 Yuan.

The money wasn't enough for tuition and living fees at school for two children. Yang Yuxiang said he needed at least 7000 Yuan per year to continue both his children's education. And that was only 90 Yuan per month for Yang's and her brother's living expenses: enough to sustain their lives but not enough for their stomach's to ever feel full. The father felt he had no choice but to stop Yang Yingfang's study,

At noon on August 24, Yang's family returned from the field after half a day's hard work. Yang and her brother were gulping their lunch when their farther came up to them with two paper clumps in his hands. With no expression on his face, their father said: "We don’t have enough money for both of you to go to school now. One of you must quit. We will decide who will quit by drawing lots. Here are two paper clumps. Whoever gets the one with no words on it will leave school."

Yang's brother, Yang Dong, said he wouldn't draw lots over such a thing. He added that if his sister quit school, he would quit, too. Yang also didn’t want to 'lot.' Instead she told her father to pay for her brother's tuition fee first and keep her fees in arrears. She did not realize it was her father's trick to make her stop her study.

Yang Yuxiang put on a smile and said: "Just try one. Try one and let's see." Saying this, he deliberately stretched his hands out to his daughter. Seeing her father was determined, Yang took a clump. She opened it. There were no words on the paper. Yang lost all feeling and strength. At the same time, the father, Yang Yuxiang, with another empty paper clump in his hand, remembers feeling remorse and pain for cheating his daughter.

When Yang Yingfang woke up the next day, her parents had already gone to the field. Feeling so sorry and guilty towards their daughter, they did not return home at noon. Yang prepared lunch and then sat on her bed, thinking for a while. In the afternoon, her brother went out and herded cattle. She took out her math book to read but could not keep anything in her mind.

"I busied myself by doing some farm work but it didn't help. I still felt so desperate and annoyed. Then I decided to go out for a walk," Yang later told a journalist. "When I arrived at a cliff, I sat down on a big rock and began thinking. It was already dark at that time. I felt a little bit afraid. I was thinking of what I could do if I did not go to school. I did not want to go home. But, I had no money with me and couldn't go anywhere. Suddenly I lost all hope of life and jumped off the cliff."

The villagers searched for Yang for two days and three nights before finding her at the foot of the mountain on August 28, alive and conscious. After she was saved the only thing she cared about was whether her brother had gone to school. During her recovery time in bed, she read her textbooks all day long.

When asked whether she regretted having attempted suicide, without hesitation, Yang replied: "No! If I couldn't go to school, the only one chance of changing my life was lost. What could I do with a meaningless life?"

Talking about her future, she wept. She still did not know whether she would be able to go to school even after attempting suicide. "Money is a really big problem. I do not have hatred for my father; he really had nothing else to do. I can understand him," Yang said through her tears.

CHINA, NATIONAL, SOCIETY: Confession of a 'Ghost Examinee'

By Lin Lin

Ghost examinees, nicknamed "gunmen," are people who take exams for other people. Some take this job for money, but more often they take it for the sake of their friends. However, what is waiting for them is: once caught, dismission with no exception.

Most ghost examinees are very talented students. However, in today's China, leaving university without a bachelor's degree and a stain on school records, it is like a death penalty. Thus many people feel the authorities have overdone the harshness in dealing with these students. On the other hand, the school authorities insist upon the efficacy of 'fairness and seriousness' in examinations; the tough crack down on any form of cheating in exams is to protect the reputation of Chinese academia.

Regulation or compassion? When faced with these youngsters, which shall we choose?

~ ~ ~

I was said to be the first student ever expelled from BFSU.

BFSU was not my first choice. Before coming here, I'd always been a top student, but my inertia urged me to come here as a recommended student. I was interested in linguistics studies, but what was taught and the way of teaching here failed me completely. I began to fall.

Sadly enough, in my sophomore year, the Arabian word atom bomb was always on the tip of my tongue while the word egg was not in my vocabulary. I was totally at loss and could not find a way out. Rock n' roll, skateboarding, computer games, girlfriends took almost all my time. All my ambition, my promise and the top position I'd gotten used to had died away in the smelly dormitory and smoky internet cafes. The decadent life eventually led to the fall of my morality.

The first time I took exams for others was in my freshman year. Altogether I've done it three times, all for the sake of my friends. As for the pay, nothing for the first time, then 700, and the last time 600--only half of the street price. As friends, they paid as much as they wanted or even nothing and I never cared.

Frankly, I seldom suffered a financial crisis--my 800-Yuan monthly income as a tutor was enough for my spending habits. I took the jobs 25% for money, 25% for friends and 50% for fun. It was a way to release my excessive confidence and get a sense of achievement. I could do the listening and reading comprehension simultaneously, and finish the test within one hour, and then sleep for another. And of course, I got the marks my client wanted each time. I never saw the job as a risk, but as a stroll in the park on a sunny Sunday in May. I did it to play with the national-level tests and to mock these rubbishes. In some ways, I am not really a ghost examinee.

Before taking the job, though not 100% sure, I pretty much knew that once caught both students would be expelled. However, in my experience, the fake ID card can get through at first sight, but I never expected that the client's enemy would disclose it and I was caught. Blank-minded, I'd rather believe it was only a nightmare.

Ironically, when I took the job, some of my friends followed, some appreciated and some sat by, but no one ever persuaded me not to do it. People are numb. Sad for the society.

After what had happened, Mom immediately flew to Beijing, visiting the superiors one by one. Her emotion was too vulnerable to bear such a shock. She wept and couldn't sleep every night. This was what I felt most sorry about. Dad never said what I did was right or wrong, but instead gave me many suggestions, both short-term and long-term.

My calm reaction astounded my roommates. Without tears, my parties, computer games, band rehearsals still went on. I spent my last days like nothing had happened, preparing for final exams, queuing in the 3rd dinning hall for kong pao chicken and talking about plans for the next semester's classes.

No outsiders could see I was in trouble. No one knew that when class was over, I went to all departments concerned, knocked on every door and talked with every teacher, in the hope of finding remedies.

I paid for what I've done. Regrets cannot help. As for the future, it's either going abroad or finding another university. But no matter which way I chose, I knew clearly that my family wouldn't give me any financial support. All of my family members are well educated, and you can see how embarrassed I would be not getting even a bachelor degree.

Now I am studying in Europe. Despite the hasty preparation, the process went smoothly. I love the environment here, the challenges along with the opportunities. Striving abroad gave me back a clear mind; I found myself and my drive for life again.

I've paid such a high and painful cost--losing my student identity. It means that I have to pay twice the efforts and an additional 2 or 3 years to get back to the same starting line. Also, I had to leave my best friends and familiar environment to start from nothing in a foreign land. But above all, my life has been blemished forever.

On the other hand, it's also a priceless experience for me. I've always believed that the ultimate goal of life is to experience. Though this case is an extreme one, it enriched my life. It also dragged me out of the sense of loss and made me find myself again. For the first time in my life, I thought seriously and deeply into morality, ethics and people's values systems, things that I'd never bothered to think about before.

It was also my first time to experience the power of the State, which made me more realistic and rational. As for the future, I believe the past will not influence it too much. After all, our life depends on our ability and ambitions, though the ways might be different.

I believe that the current policy towards ghost examinees is only a temporary solution. It can hardly affect a permanent cure. The authorities' attitude is really tough, but I have no objection to what they've done to me. I don't like bureaucracy and support their directness. But whether it is legal to deprive students' identity still needs further discussion. There was a lawsuit concerning the issue, which ended up with a triumph of the student side.

You know, almost all the university students in China are patients, and they need a thorough treatment. The fall of my, or rather our morality, is only superficially owed to the social environment, but it is deeply rooted in our sense of loss. As the elites of the country--allow me to address myself this way--we live without drives and goals, and the decadent campus life finally leads to the fall of morality.

Besides, the inadequate education system as well as the general fickleness among students accounts for much of the frequency of cheating and plagiarism. When I took the job, many friends had the same intention and came to me for consultation. They all seemed so excellent and innocent; but if the conditions permitted, they would do the same thing I did.

I don’t feel as guilty as I appear on my self-examination report. Don't take me as stubborn--I know I have nothing to argue about: But should you not forget that while I was polluting the society, the society had already polluted me. I was a pest, but I was also a rotten leaf gnawed by pests. While I shoulder my responsibility, the society should take its own responsibility as well.

We are ill. Seriously. What we need is a thorough treatment rather than some superficial work. I hope that my case is the beginning of this thorough treatment by society, not just like spoiled meat sliced off and thrown into the garbage bin.

CHINA, NATIONAL, SOCIETY, COMMENTARY: Chinese Media and Homosexuality, a Marriage of Opportunity or Idealism?

By Lou Li

A gay university student came on the screen talking about his relationship with another young man and how he was infected with HIV/AIDS from unsafe sex.

A gay couple was interviewed about their relationship and their plans for the future.

On August 9, in a 45-minute program titled In the Name of Life, CCTV (China Central Television), China's biggest and most widely received TV station, scored big ratings talking about homosexuality. Chinese homosexuals, after being hidden in the dark for so long, are finally occupying a prominent presence on Chinese official media.

CCTV was not alone in giving a special focus to homosexuality in China. A month before, Tianjin TV aired another program on homosexuality, titled Under the Same Sky. Beijing News Radio's franchise program Life Hotlines ran live talk shows on homosexuality for three days beginning August 29. At the same time, China Newsweek, one of the three biggest news magazines in China, published a story on lesbians in China, a more mysterious group of homosexuals.

The news that Fudan University scheduled a course called Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies, the first of its kind ever offered to Chinese undergraduates, was a common headline in all newspapers across China on September 7.

Statistics show that news about homosexuality popped up on Chinese websites almost every day in 2005, which was certainly not the case only a year before.

Thus, some conclude that 2005 was a turning point in Chinese media's attitudes toward homosexuality, marking the end of the invisibility of homosexuals in China. The epochal fact that homosexuality is gaining tolerance and understanding gradually in Chinese society can be distinctly tracked through the voice of media.

CCTV's program In the Name of Life took many people by surprise when it aired and soon created a huge stir all over China.

"In the past, this topic was surely locked in the forbidden zone--and minefield--of Chinese media," said an editor with a government newspaper.

Xiao Li, a reporter, was sorry that he missed the broadcast time of the program. But he said that it wasn't the content of the program that was so important. "That a program on this issue can be broadcast on a state-owned national TV station is the biggest news." He that that his reporting on China's first film festival featuring homosexuality in 2001 was "killed" immediately by senior editors due to the "sensitiveness" of the topic.

Professor Zhang Beichuan with the medical school of Qingdao University, who gives his professional opinion on CCTV's program, said that CCTV actually produced a program on the same topic as early as 2002. But under the social environment then, it was not allowed to be shown to the masses.

The number of homosexuals in China remains unclear. From one source, the number of homosexuals is between 360,000 and 480,000. The World Health Organization has confirmed that homosexuality is a natural preference shared by a minority of people. But in China, it has long been a sensitive and taboo topic, hard for the mainstream society to understand.

Since it was a traditional obligation in China to bring children into the family, homosexuality was considered a threat not only to families but also to society.

Though there are no laws against homosexuality in China, Chinese homosexual life has existed solely underground for many years. Media, who are supposed to take the responsibility of reporting the real world, also turned a blind eye or a deaf ear to this topic for decades.

However, things began to change in recent years.

Homosexual behaviors were decriminalized in China's New Criminal Law in 1997, and the new Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses on April 20, 2001. At the end of 2004, for the first time, China's Health Ministry reported publicly on the number of gays infected with the AIDS virus in China.

An Internet survey in 2000 showed that Chinese people are becoming more tolerant towards homosexuality: among the 10,792 surveyed, 48.15% were in favor, 30.9% disapproved, 14.46% were uncertain, and 7.26% were indifferent.

Professor Hu Peicheng, the secretary general of China Sex Study Association, says it's social progress when homosexuality can be discussed openly. "It's actually conducive to the settlement of social problems brought about by homosexuality when we put it in public discussion."

No one is happier to see the change in the attitudes toward homosexuality by media and public opinion than homosexuals themselves. After watching In the Name of Life, Juan, a gay, broke down and cried. He later wrote to Professor Zhang Beichuan, "Finally there came people willing to speak for us." Professor Zhang has received hundreds of letters like this in recent months.

Films are usually regarded as the pioneer of all forms of media in dealing with homosexuality. However, homosexual characters in earlier Chinese films appear as victims. In Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine, for example, a young actor with the Beijing Opera is condemned to be a sexual plaything of a lustful mandarin. Or else they try to understand their "problem" as shown in the confrontation between a proclaimed homosexual and a policeman in Zhang Yuan's film East Palace, West Palace.

Released in 1999, Men and Women, directed by Bingjian Liu, was the first Chinese film that depicted homosexuals as normal people living normal lives. Cui Zien, a professor with the Beijing Film Academy, is openly gay and has an important voice on homosexuality across the media spectrum, wrote the script. "I wanted to show how we live day by day," Cui said. The film is set in a rapidly changing urban society where different lifestyles coexist. In this context, the line between male and female sexual roles is blurred. "Encouraging people to think in these terms could be more effective than waving banners," he said.

Lan Yu, a widely acclaimed film about two men's love, reversed many people's view on homosexuality. "For the first time, I got to know that same-sex love can be as strong, melancholy and touching as any heterosexual love," said Wang Lei, a college student in Beijing.

But how far can China's media go in helping alter the public opinion toward homosexuality and win the rights that homosexuals deserve?

Lacking a film rating system, the Chinese government forbids gay movies on TV or in theaters because they are "inappropriate." Despite having received much attention in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other places, the movie Lan Yu is still forbidden in the mainland although the actors are all Mainlanders, and the story is based on a quite popular Internet story written by a mainland netizen. So far, the authorities have not allowed Cui Zien's film Men and Women to be shown in China.

When dealing with the issue of homosexuality, China's media often attaches it to AIDS, finding that leveraging the rising alarm over the spread of AIDS wins them more 'maneuvering space,' including more tolerance from the government. CCTV's In the Name of Life started and ended with an appeal for HIV/AIDS prevention in the gay population.

Meanwhile, many acknowledge that the media's strategy of using AIDS to broach homosexuality issues carries a risk that homosexuals will be blamed for the spread of the disease.

Zhou Dan, openly gay and an activist in promoting the rights of homosexuals in China, said, "Always attaching homosexuality to AIDS would probably leave an impression on the public that homosexuality is dangerous and equal to AIDS."

Xian, a lesbian and the owner of a les bar in Beijing, said the media may function as a double-edged sword: although they need more public awareness, she worries that the media will fail to present the real living conditions and problems of homosexuals and thus produce even more social misunderstandings about gay life.

CHINA, NATIONAL, BEIJING, SOCIETY, Commentary: Classism in Beijing?

By Yu Feng

This is supposed to be an enlightened age, but you wouldn't think so if you could hear what the average citizens of Beijing city think of the people who come from other provinces. We all know that everybody should be treated equally and with friendliness, however, in Beijing, the Capital of China, and a civilized metropolis of the world, most people from other cities are not treated justly. They contributed a lot to the development of Beijing, yet they are a group of people who are always being neglected. If you look around purposefully, you will find they are some of the loveliest and most respectable people to be found anywhere.

Mr. Ren and his wife Mrs. Zhang are gatekeepers of a playground in Beijing Foreign Studies University. When I went to the playground and wanted to have a chat with them, they were sweeping up the fallen leaves. "We spend five or six hours cleaning the fallen leaves everyday, it gets harder when it snows," Mr. Ren said.

Mr. Ren and Mrs. Zhang came to Beijing from Shangqiu city, Henan Province, two years ago. Before that, Mr. Ren was a carpenter in his hometown and Mrs. Zhang worked in a milk factory in Ningbo city. To find a better life, the couple got their present job through the introduction of one of their friends.

Everyday they get up at 5:00 o'clock in the morning, eat breakfast hastily, open the gates and begin cleaning the playground. They must finish cleaning before PE classes begin in the early afternoon. During the PE classes, they are responsible for supplying various PE apparatus to students and to help them look after their clothes and bags. They can't leave the playground until 10:00 at night. Besides a ten days' Spring Festival Holiday, they have no weekends and holidays off the rest of the year.

"It seems like an easy job, but actually it is not," Mr. Ren explained. "Some people show their contempt when we ask to see their identity cards at the entrance. Facing these misunderstandings, we will forget those unhappy things soon," Mr. Ren added with a smile. "We believe that if we treat them kindly, they will cooperate with us."

Mr. Ren and Mrs. Zhang have two children, a son and a daughter; because the couple can't look after them, both children attend a boarding school in their hometown. When I asked about their future plans, Mrs. Zhang said that she hopes they can earn enough money here to afford for both children to study in a university in Beijing.

* * *
Mr. Yuan is a seller at a fruit stall; the fresh fruit and his good service earn him many repeat consumers. Eight years ago, he came to Beijing and sold fruit from a tricycle, and then he got a job working for the owner of a fruit stall. He has three children; because his children can't enter a primary school in Beijing and they can't afford the high-standard life, Mr. Yuan and his wife also have to leave their children in their hometown.

"Life is full of hardship, I have to stay outside day after day, and the housing condition is bad. However, I have to sustain my whole family," Mr. Yuan said. When it is not busy, Mr. Yuan likes to read novels next to the fruit stall. He said his biggest wish is to have his own fruit store one day.

According to statistics, there are about 3.595 million people from other provinces now living in Beijing. Some of them work in companies as white-collar employees, or mechanics; most of them work in the service industry, such as a detail seller, baby-sitter, milkman, postman and cleaner. They are an inseparable part of the city. It is reported that when people from other provinces return home for unity during the Spring Festival Holiday, two-thirds of the citizens of Beijing city have no fresh milk to drink and no newspaper to read.

However, most of the people from other provinces don't lead an easy life in Beijing. The local people often trick them; their children have no equal rights to go to school; they are not even allowed to enter certain public places. Yet they truly contribute themselves to society; they are worth our attention and respect.

Recently, in the newly revised "Norms of Behavior for Primary and Middle Students of Beijing City," some new contents were added, including the admonition not to despise people from other provinces; not to insult them; not to laugh at their pronunciation and appearance; and not to play tricks on them. This is a good beginning. It will be even more sensible when these basic norms are carried to a larger extent.

An energetic city firstly should be a harmonious city; everyone should respect each other like family members. Only in this way can our society continue developing in a promising direction.

CHINA, NATIONAL, SOCIETY, Commentary: Love Beijing, Love its History

By Lylian Chen

I told one of my foreign friends, as we were wandering around HouHai Lake, that there were many Hutongs in the area typical of the ancient Beijing city. But he replied: "I am afraid this area is too commercial now. Beijing is no longer what it was like twenty years ago."

I felt embarrassed. What kind of Beijing city should we have? Beijing is one of the most prominent ancient cities in the world and a symbol of Chinese culture. But what kind of appearance should this city exhibit to the modern world?

In the latter half of the last century, China changed rapidly, resulting in changes to its capital, the city of Beijing. The city wall, which used to be known as "the necklace of China," was totally torn down. More and more Hutongs were replaced by lifeless skyscrapers. Except for the Forbidden City, sitting lonely in the center of the city, Beijing has become increasingly similar to many other cosmopolitan areas at the expense of its own charming features.

Many renowned architects tried to prevent this. Liang Sicheng was one of them. He claimed the old city was a treasure owned by the entire human race and shouldn't be demolished casually. But what they did proved to be of little help. The ancient remains disappeared, together with their place in Chinese history and Chinese culture.

However, we have to thank the 2008 Olympic games. It will not only boost our economy, but also give us a chance to reconsider our traditional culture, especially the magnificent character of Beijing, and present it to the whole world. In this way, what will follow are the projects best reflecting the city's history, such as reconstructions of the YongDing Gate and the Yu River watercourse, and even renovations of the Palace Museum.

It seems that Beijing City is gradually taking on a look of what it was decades or even centuries ago. Some people have begun to doubt: If we are going to rebuild the Hutongs and such, why are we demolishing them at the same time? Some experts have pointed out that no matter how exquisite the reconstructions are, they are no longer historical relics, but comparatively valueless reproductions. Some even argued that such projects should not have been started at all. They said if we could not recreate history, then keep it as it is like the Old Summer Palace.

Such debate will continue throughout the rebuilding process. It's hard to tell who is right, but it is a good lesson for us. How do we balance the modernization process with cultural identity? A distinguished German historian once said: "In the future you (Beijing city) will own everything we have now, but we can never obtain what you own at this moment." Obviously, we still have a long way to go.

CHINA, NATIONAL, SOCIETY: China’s Top Muckraker Wants To Tell It Like It Is

By Li Mu (Lianne)

"Probe the Truth: News Probe."

On the screen, Cheng Kejie, Vice Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, confessed to taking 41 million RMB worth of bribes, which was soon followed by a court decision imposing the death penalty--the highest-ranking official since the foundation of the PRC to receive a death sentence.

"Who gossiped? I will take care of him!" the head of a county raged in the face of a reporter who enquired about the misuse of public funds of an irrigation construction program.

"I shall appeal to justice till the end of my life," Wailed Li Yufeng. Her son, Fan Li, was wrongly sentenced to death by local authorities.

Every Monday at 10:35 a.m., the real-life investigative TV program News Probe is shown on CCTV 1. Since the first broadcast in 1996, the 45-minute news program has made history in the field of investigative reporting in China. Modeled after CBS's 60 Minutes, it was the first TV program in China to be labeled "investigative," focusing on reporting corruption, injustice and assorted other social problems.

"In our concept, truth stands for facts concealed by power, special interests, prejudices, and is sometimes limited by our social circle and collective conscious," declared Zhang Jie, executive producer of News Probe.

The TV program produced its catch phrase, "Probe the truth," in 2000, when the program reset its mission as independently investigating acts transgressing the public's interests. That is when the program took shape as an independent investigating entity. Before that, its journalists chiefly assisted investigations carried out by the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection and judicial institutions.

"The inspection of the Yuncheng irrigation construction program in 1999 was the first time we supervised local power as an independent media. Since then we have been ever stressing the independence of working journalists," said Zhang.

In 2003, News Probe underwent another transformation that consolidated its position in investigative reporting. "We have raised the motto of 'Doing real investigations,'" Zhang said. "Along with our regular social reporting, we directed our energy to muckraking. Our competition strategy is to make at least one influential investigative program every month with the journalist as the leader. To achieve our goal, we have reformed our evaluation system, encouraging journalists to oppose authorities and do original reporting."

Zhang argued that although the ideology and industrial level of China is different from western countries, it has the same goal of constructing an independent fourth 'power' to supervise society, to safeguard democracy and prosperity. He believes investigative reporting can serve the same role in China.

But tight censorship does not often concede that point, adding to the obstructions of independent investigations. A News Probe director said that the authorities canceled some of their investigation programs. "We are running into a catch-22 between marketing strategy and restraints coming from our state-ownership," Zhang said. "I personally think everything will be better, with the market becoming more open. Freedom of media is something every journalist should strive for."

In an open talk in 2003, Zhang told his listeners that he became a father of a newborn baby. He also told them, "I see in him the future of myself and my country. I do not wish for him to grow up in a country that is still corrupted and polluted."

CHINA, NATIONAL, BEIJING, SOCIETY, MIGRANT LABORERS: Just Making Do, Selling Fruit in Beijing

By Zhu Chaoli (Julia)

Though only 37, Wu You seems older than her age. She, together with her husband, has been running a sidewalk fruit stall outside the southern gate of BFSU for more than ten years.

They both come from a small village in southern Henan Province, which is considered to be one of the poorer areas in today's China. "It is by chance that my husband and I came here," Wu said. "Life in our hometown was just too hard. So one of our relatives already in Beijing suggested we come to seek a chance." And they came. With a small tricycle, the couple stocked themselves from the Fruit Wholesale Market of Mingguangsi and packed up a small stall.

It was not easy in the first few years. The couple rented a small room more than ten miles away from where they ran the business. "Our first daughter was still small then, so I had to care for her at home and it was my husband who managed the stall and earned the money."

Wu was referring to the years when a large amount of rural laborers began to flood into big cities. At that time, the city's regulation of private stalls, especially those set up by people from outside of Beijing, was very strict.

"When selling fruit, we had to keep an alert eye so that we could quickly notice officers of the city administration and run away from them," Zhang Jing, Wu's husband, explained while displaying goods on the shelves. "For once caught, one would be fined about 200 Yuan and worse still, one might be sent back to the police station of his hometown, waiting for a family member to bail him out," Zhang said. "But one can never be too careful. I was still caught about two times per month. And the money I had earned went all for that."

In recent years, as the government began to pay attention to the development of rural areas and the life of rural laborers, the supervision over owners of the small stalls was relaxed. "Now we don't have to worry about the officers as much as before, though they may still come on special days, such as the days around Spring Festival," Zhang said.

But the relaxation of policy also provoked an enormous increase of fruit stalls. The number of similar stalls in the area of Weigongcun, once reached over one hundred. This added greatly to their difficulty in earning a living.

"The competition was more and more fierce. Therefore we had to cut the price," Wu said. A number of the other fruit vendors couldn't meet the increasingly tight competition and gave up. But Wu and her husband stuck it out.

"It is not easy for people like us to find a job. Even if you find it, it may be as laborious as the present yet with lower pay," Wu sighed. "It is really toilsome to run this small stall, but we have no better choice. The good thing is that the stall can narrowly support the family."

As thousands of rural laborers rush into the city and compete for the very limited labor jobs, the opportunities are few. On the other hand, to go back to farming is also not a good option. "As peasants, you make great efforts but gain little," said Zhang. He went on to give an example of his experience growing legumes. After spending great efforts on tilling the fields, scattering seeds, watering, fertilizing, and later reaping and packing, they only earned a gross profit of 30 Yuan per day. "That is far from enough for the whole family," Zhang said.

Luckily for them, their honesty, integrity and hard work through all these years gained them a good reputation among their customers, which ensured repeat business. "You feel assured buying fruit from them. They never cheat me on the weight and their fruit is usually fresh," said Ms Liu, a resident living nearby.

"The quality of their fruit is good and the price is also reasonable, much lower than that on campus," a BFSU student said as he was buying apples.

"They are warm and kind. And sometimes they will give some other kind of fruit to you for free," said Miss Li, who identified herself as a senior student in BFSU.

However, life is still hard for them. Here is what Wu said about a day in their life:

"My two children get up at 6:30 a.m., prepare breakfast themselves and then go to school. I start out at 8 o'clock in the morning. My husband has gotten up much earlier since he has to stock the goods. I pull the tricycle out and start the business.

"There are two rush hours in the day. The first is 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. when students finish their morning’s classes. As we have to care for the customers, our lunchtime is not fixed, sometimes 11 a.m., and sometimes 1:30 p.m. The content of our lunch is instant noodles or steam bread (steam bread costs about 0.5 Yuan), or fast food (3 Yuan each).

"It is not very busy in the afternoon until 5:30. My daughter often prepares our supper when she comes back from school. Then my husband and I will go separately to sell goods. He will go onto the streets, constantly changing locations, sometimes as far as Sanyimiao (more than half an hour ride from Weigongcun). After 10:30, when there are few students passing by outside the university, I go into the street, too."

The very nature of the business means instability of income, yet for a family that includes three generations, there are certain fixed expenditures. According to Wu, every new term, the family has to hand in a total of 1,000 Yuan for their two children’s education. Every month, they pay 600 Yuan for rent, 60-70 Yuan for electricity and water, and send several hundred back to their hometown for their grandparents. Though they have tried their best to save money, such as cutting down on the cost of their meals, and seldom purchasing new clothes--most of their clothes, including the children’s, are donations from the nearby residents--they have great difficulties meeting just these basic living costs.

As typical a country wife as Wu You is, she has something special of her own. As the fourth child of her family, she enjoyed a comparatively happy childhood. Her parents didn't put much farm work or family chores on her and, instead, sent her to school, which was very rare in the countryside at that time. She was very hard-working and insisted on continuing her schooling until she finished senior school.

Restricted by the unenlightened village education and the awkward financial situation of her family, she didn't make it to university. "I am very regretful about that. Even to this day, I constantly dream of the days of studying in school and admiring the famous works," she sighed. "Now it is too late for me to go back to school. Therefore, all I wish now is that my children make good use of their chance, work hard, and realize the dream I couldn't."

When referring to her children, she is proud as well as deeply concerned. "The teachers think highly of my daughter and keep saying she is doing well in her lessons. But I don't think so. I think she still has a long way to go and shouldn't be slack."

Wu has a Chinese mother's typical expectation for her children. "I am sorry that all we can give them is so little. My daughter even has to help us after coming back from school. I just hope they will change it themselves! I hope they can work hard, go to a good senior school, attend a good college, and thus find a good job. As for their education fees and living costs, I, together with my husband, will pay for them so long as we have the capability, and we will try our best."

CHINA, NATIONAL, BEIJING, EDUCATION, One of the Two "Devil Teachers" at BFSU

By Li Shuting

Not every student in BFSU knows his name, but every student in BFSU knows his nickname--"One of Two BFSU Devil Teachers." Lu Xiaoke, who teaches Main Thoughts of Mao Zedong, is famous for his strictness, or rather, harshness.

Mr. Lu is from Jiangsu Province; he graduated from Nanjing University with a major in History. When talking about his personal experiences, he said no one in his generation grew without frustration.

He was born in 1954; when he graduated from primary school in 1966, the Cultural Revolution broke out. As a result, he had to stop studying until the year 1968. Then, in 1970, he graduated from junior middle school and later joined the army.

"Chairman Mao said the People's Liberation Army was a large school, and the youth could be trained there. However, I was shocked by some phenomena there," Mr. Lu said.

"Because of the abnormal political atmosphere, many soldiers felt depressed and even got some psychosomatic diseases at that time." Mr. Lu felt obliged to inform his superiors, and he never stopped doing so. His letters didn't reach high authorities, but he did finally irritate local authorities who were always trying to cover up the truth. Hence, during the following years, Mr. Lu was treated unfairly in the army.

He knew his behavior might cause him trouble beforehand, but he couldn't stay silent because of his strong sense of responsibility. "Though I had a number of complaints about the unfairness, and the whole system, I've never felt regretful for it. I just did what a soldier should do." Mr. Lu said he was a serious person, and he always had a strong sense of responsibility.

In 1973, Mr. Lu left the army and entered a factory. Four years later, he entered Nanjing University and majored in History. After graduation, he came to BFSU and taught the History of the Communist Party for some years. Then he began to teach Main Thoughts of Mao Zedong.

Mr. Lu has loved history since he was very young, but the aim of his studies in history was not to study history itself, but to find out the truth from historical events and improve the present social situation with its help. He believed that Main Thoughts of Mao Zedong was the essence of Chinese modern history, and it could direct China towards the right path. So he was happy to teach that course and believed that it could help China become a better country.

Mr. Lu said he was deliberately strict with students, and he felt obliged to do so. "Some students want to relax themselves in college," he said. "But we teachers should warn them against decadence. Being strict with them is an effective way, and it's out of responsibility."

Mr. Lu knew that many students don't like his course. However, he believed that if he kept on trying to improve his way of teaching and relating the course to reality, more and more students would love it.

"I heard that students gave me a nickname--'One of two BFSU devils.' Instead of being irritated, I feel happy to know that. Many students greet me when I am walking on campus; many graduates still keep in contact with me... . All of this shows that students can understand me and accept my way of teaching. I am gratified for it, and the nickname sounds to me as if they're praising me for my strictness," Mr. Lu said and smiled.

CHINA, NATIONAL, SPORTS, The Sporting Farce - Who is Really Being Cheated?

By Liang Liang

A body fell on the tatami like a straw--with it went our belief in the spirit of sports.

October 13, 2005, in the women's 78-kg judo final of the 10th National Games, former Olympic champion Sun Fuming (from the Liaoning team) fell on the tatami, under the eyes of all the audience who supported her, after being struck by the younger player Yan Sirui (from the PLA team). The audience was astonished by the way she fell--ordered by her coach, she pretended to be beaten by Yan's slightest push, like a jackstraw. Sun lost the gold medal in a most incredible way--she gave it up.

"I saw the coach from Liaoning Province gesture at Sun, and then she gave up the competition," said Ms. Zhu, a member of the audience.

However, Sun was not a good actress. The committee pointed out the fake performance, punished the coach and announced a rematch for October 15, 2005. But Sun lost again. She used another inevitable failure to up-end the rematch, up-end all the ups and downs, and end up the whole farce.

After the final, Sun Fuming's coach, Liu Yongfu protested that, "Both of them are from Liaoning Province. No matter who wins the gold medal, it's the same. If it had been a harsh battle, it would have hurt them. Giving up the game was to protect the players. That's nothing special."

We are shocked. How can these words come from the so-called "gold-medal" coach? Does he teach the players in this way? Where is sports justice or the sporting spirit we have been after for so long?

Sports, it is not just a word about competition, achievement or glory. What's more important is that it symbolizes justice, purity, peace and friendship. It gives us a chance to praise the beauty of the human body and also a chance to show our will of transcending ourselves. That's why we can find the love of sports throughout human history. So the meaning of the competition is not merely who is the winner of the medal, but a performance of the sporting spirit.

Nonetheless, the coach and the two competitors took it as a private game within their own group, neglecting the spiritual effect they should deliver to the public. This kind of neglect leads to a very dangerous condition wherein all the participants merely long to win the game--or to say, gain their own interests, no matter what methods they adopt. And the victim who suffers the most is the sport itself because it is not the original that people have always loved.

Not only was the sporting spirit hurt by this farce, but also people's hearts.

Sun Fuming was also hurt. As an older player who won the 1996 Olympic gold medal and the 2004 Olympic copper medal, she really wanted to end her career with this gold medal of the National Games. After the final on October 13th, Sun cried out with regret: "But I have followed Coach Liu for a long time. I understood what he wanted me to do. I can't disobey his will."

In China, a player is inculcated with the idea that an individual's success, to a large extent, is owed to the coaches' effort and the cultivation by the nation. Lacking these, he or she will never reach the peak of their careers. So at some critical time, the player should obey the will of the coach, caring nothing about its rightness, or he or she would be taken as ungrateful and selfish--"individualism." This absolutely doesn't go with what we advocate: collectivism.

But this collectivism neglects both the real meaning of sports and the feeling of the players--two of the most important things we should respect. It has already pushed famous Ping-Pong player He Zhili to Japan because of a similar case. From then on, the authorities in the Ping-Pong field strictly banned this kind of fake behavior, lest other excellent players get hurt and leave. How can the same thing happen on the tatami again?

Yan Sirui was also hurt. In the whole farce, the coach was the director, Sun was the leading actress, but Yan was only a minor player, maybe only an unwitting minor role. The dramatic effect of this play has diluted the gold medal of Yan. All the effort Yan has made seems to be ignored or regarded as part of the play. Even though Yan won the rematch, people can't help doubting the real worth of this national 'champion.'

And the audience was hurt. "I bought a ticket to see the Olympic champion and looked forward to a wonderful competition. But I feel cheated," said Mr. Zhang who works in a foreign company in Nanjing.

The public feels cheated. Besides the "ideal" of the sporting spirit, there is also a more realistic thing we should obey: the sports rule. The rule is we can't betray our audience. Only by meeting our audience's needs, can we prolong the lifetime of sports. The public needs honesty, transparency, justice, and a good performance. Sports audiences don't want to be cheated, even fooled. Such cases damage the credibility of sports. If they can't believe their eyes anymore, why will they pay to see competitions?

Some people may think that we can win Olympic gold medals without the audience so it doesn't matter. Maybe we can, because nowadays these kinds of Olympic sports rely on support from the government. It won't bother them if people don't buy the tickets, because they still have food. But what if one day they are thrown to the market to feed themselves?

Let's look at professional Chinese soccer. Now that they live on the market, they can't cheat the public anymore. The soccer market, at present, is decreasing throughout China. It is very "natural" that there are a large number of vacant seats in the stadiums. The behavior of Chinese soccer has really disappointed soccer fans.

The Olympic sports don't want to hurt the potential market, do they?

Who was the writer of the farce? What was the real purpose of giving up the gold medal? Did the coach only want to protect players from a harsh battle?

According to the evaluation system of the 10th National Games, if a player from the PLA team wins a gold medal, both the PLA team and the home province of the player will be given a gold medal. In this case, if Sun had won the match, only Liaoning Province would have gotten a gold medal. So why not act as a "kind" person? What's more, Sun's days have passed but Yan is a rising star of Liaoning. Obviously, cultivating a new star has more benefits than helping an old player write a full stop of her career.

Yet this case was not the only one. In the men's over-100-kg judo competition on October 13, player Wei Xiangjun of the PLA team (the output province is Shandong) met player Shi Huayong of the Shandong team. Wei beat Shi--who intentionally gave up--in no more than one second. Another judo player said, "Obviously, this will save Wei's strength. It is the same for Shandong Province no matter which one of them enters the final."

Then who is the writer of these farces? The answer is the maker of the rules. The players, the coaches and the teams are just playing by the "rules" of the game. It is the rule-makers who leave the loopholes for them. While criticizing and punishing the players and the coaches, can we perfect our rules or systems first?

The body fell on the floor like a straw. We don't want our belief and love of sports to fall the same way.

CHINA, NATIONAL, MINORITIES, SOCIETY, Being Tibetan at BFSU

By Shi Rui

When their peers are worried about what to eat at noon, what to wear to the party, several Tibetan girls have already considered their future and their people's future a thousand times.

On their way to the dining hall, some students of Beijing Foreign Studies University saw girls in traditional Tibetan dresses in front of a pile of books. A poster was up that read "They Need Your Help."

The girls were Tibetan students, and they were holding a donation program to collect books for Tibetan children. As a minority, they are more conscious of the future of their people, though they are far away from home.

Qiong Zhuoma, 21, a Tibetan student of BFSU majoring in English soon accepted our interview, and unfolded her life story over the next four hours to all of the gathered Han students, her schoolmates.

Zhuoma is the most typical name for Tibetan women, it means Bodhisattva. Her grandfather was a rich businessman, but gave up his fortune during the time of liberation.

"My mom always told me the story of her throwing Tangkas (pictures painted with the powder of gold, rubies sapphires and emeralds) into the river," Zhuoma said.

She went to primary school in Lhasa where her family lived; the graduation exam of the primary school changed her life--she got such a great grade that she won the chance to study in Shanghai.

"It's an aid-Tibet program run by the government," Zhuoma explained. "I stayed in Shanghai for four years for my junior high school, free of charge. I didn't go back home even once, because I was too young and my home was too far away. It was just impossible for me to travel alone"

"All the lessons in my primary school were taught in Tibetan, and we did not start learning Pinyin until grade 4, so when I first arrived in Shanghai I could not speak Mandarin," Zhuoma said. "We began to learn 'ABC' in the second semester of grade 8, in Shanghai. I feel lucky that my major is English now. Some of my friends were put into the French or German departments."

Another crucial exam was given to Zhuoma and other Tibetan children in Shanghai in 2000. Losers would be sent back home. Zhuoma passed again. She then came to Beijing for senior high school study. The tuition fee was 1500 Yuan ($183.6) per semester and she studied there for 3 years.

Zhuoma took the national college entrance exam in 2003, and was enrolled by BFSU. She admitted that there was a preference policy for the Tibetan graduates--they got a 100-point bonus when applying for universities. (The full mark of the college entrance exam is 750 points.)

When she first entered the university she felt regretful.

"Both of the high schools in Shanghai and Beijing were for minorities only, so it was my first time to stay with so many Hans when I came here," Zhuoma said. "I thought I should go to the Tibetan Univer