Assessment preys on vanity

It is ridiculous to put state-level poverty-stricken counties on the list of the nation's 100 economically strong counties. But this is what happened when a company published such a list recently.

An investigation by reporters from Xinhua News Agency exposed the assessment as a sham, published by a company that used the assessment to make money.

The company sent forms to county governments' statistics departments asking them to complete the forms so the counties could be listed as one of the nation's 100 economically strong counties. It then asked the country governments to buy the books it published or pay fees for the assessment.