Let the top ones face global tests

It is another kind of Olympics, but a rather cheapened version. As many provinces are celebrating for the number of their entries into the list of "China's top 500 companies", a massive number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are suffering from unprecedented difficulties in many years.

As a quick scan of the Chinese business press can tell, in the last couple of days (following the release of the list on August 30), some of the formerly lackluster agrarian provinces tend to be most excited about their local corporate heroes. Ningxia has got four. Hunan has got seven. Shaanxi has got eight. Anhui and Yunnan have each got nine. Hubei has 10.

The fact however is it is the eastern provinces that have reaped the largest number of "medals" - 10 coastal and near-coast cities claiming more than half of the tally.