From the Chinese Press

Academically bright, socially poor

Abe raises militarist specter

In the Harry Potter story, the dark wizard Voldemort dies because the seven horcruxes, which contain parts of his soul, have been destroyed. If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is a kind of horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation's soul.

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Hard crackdown on irregularities needed

The government has issued a range of directives aimed at providing greater protection for the interests of stock investors. Such a move has been widely regarded as long overdue.

Save water in all ways

The importance of water conservation can never be overestimated for China, whose water resources per capita are about one-fourth the world average.

Pardon to Snowden

Newspapers in the United States and Britain on Thursday simultaneously pushed the Barack Obama administration to give the whistleblower Edward Snowden a pardon.

Market reforms enter new era

With the introduction of reform and opening-up in 1978 and its deepening since 1993, the People's Republic of China has been successfully accelerating its economic development. Over the last 35 years, China has imported know-how and reaped productivity gains by shifting underemployed workers in agriculture to export-oriented manufacturing, to become the second-largest economy in the world while substantially reducing poverty. More recently, after the global financial crisis, growth has depended more on domestic consumption and investment. There has also been impressive progress in many social areas, such as education, healthcare, pensions, and gender equality, to name a few.

Potholes could make for a bumpy year

As we look forward into 2014, I see more "potholes" than "black holes". What I mean by "black holes" is that I cannot see anything presently that might blow up the markets, perhaps worryingly no one else can either. Policymakers and central banks have by-and-large put in place guidance and policies to mitigate many of the systemic risks out there over the last few years. But there are some potential potholes ahead such as those arising as governments try to cope with their fiscal responsibilities and those from the European periphery (Portugal and/or Greece), the Asset Quality Review, or the European parliamentary election in May.

What's the buzz

Only receiving a small amount of money for their year-end bonus tops people's concerns ahead of this year's Spring Festival holiday, according to an online survey. Other concerns are the travel rush, being urged to get married, the need to give gifts, and talking about age. What are you most troubled by in the run-up to this coming Spring Festival? China Daily's mobile phone news readers share their views:

Letters

Be aware of Abe's evil intentions

March of socialist democracy

Reforms have given people greater scope to exercise their right to know about, participate in and supervise government matters

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