Timely green move

The Chinese government's financial support for widespread use of energy-saving bulbs is a much-needed step to boost the country's overall energy efficiency.

Yet, to shift the focus of national economy to a cleaner and sustainable model of development, policymakers also need to introduce a market-oriented pricing mechanism.

As the world's biggest light-bulb maker, China unveiled on Tuesday a massive subsidy program to promote the use of energy-efficient bulbs. In the first stage of the plan, 50 million energy-saving bulbs will be sold at a hefty discount to consumers and producers who would be reimbursed by the government for the shortfall.