Indefensible smog response

With air pollution increasingly compro-mising the quality of people's lives, the lack of action by local governments in response to the heavy smog at the weekend is being widely criticized.

Regulate approval procedures

Want to start an investment program? Be prepared to face kilograms of paperwork.

A US envoy and a good listener

On Feb 4, the US Senate's Foreign Relations Committee approved President Barack Obama's nomination of Senator Max Baucus (Democrat from Montana) to become US ambassador to China. The full Senate confirmed Baucus' nomination several days later.

Beijing subway fare rise justified

Beijing's subway system - one of the longest in the world at 465 kilometers - is plagued by excessive congestion and costly government subsidies. Now, in a controversial move, the Beijing municipal government has decided to increase the subway fare, currently fixed at 2 yuan ($0.33) per trip. If the proposal survives an upcoming public hearing, Beijing will join the ranks of cities like Sao Paulo and Mexico City in raising public transport fares.

Letters

Help hotline for Chinese tourists

From the Chinese Press

Survey could be misleading

On road to trade excellence

China's rise as a strong trading nation will not only help it meet its domestic economic goals, but also deepen its ties with the world

Cartoon

Start fight against corruption from daily life events

Ask any experienced driver in Beijing about the ways to save parking fees, which have gone up several times in the past few years, and he or she will teach you how to negotiate the rates with parking fee collectors, giving an insight into one of the crudest and most common forms of corruption in our daily life.

Cultural identity soars up human development

Until he typed the last word of his inspirational book China Developing: Cultural Identity of Emerging Societies, George Fusun Ling must have endured agony and ecstasy during his lifelong search for solutions to the puzzles of human development. A Yale- and Oxford-graduated doctor of philosophy, Ling came to "respect many deep-seated ideas and values upheld in the West" but saw "how unsuccessful those values and ideas had played out socioeconomically as well as culturally in some of the developing countries".

Striking the right balance

Washington cannot earn the trust necessary for its geostrategic interests if he keeps turning a blind eye to Japan's provocations

Cartoon