Making sense of property tax proposal

Property tax has become a hot topic of discussion in the Chinese media after figuring in the Decisions on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, issued by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee as a blueprint for reforms.

No shortcuts to development

The Western Development Strategy adopted in 2000 has accelerated economic growth in the western region. Over the past decade, the GDP of the western region has increased from 1.6 trillion yuan ($263.5 billion) to 11.4 trillion yuan; its proportion in China's overall GDP had increased from 16.8 percent to 19.8 percent. The implementation of the Western Development Strategy has narrowed the development gap among different regions in China, and strengthened the coordination of regional development. The Western region's industrialization level has increased, and its economic endogenous growth capacity has been strengthened. The urbanization process has been accelerated, and it has risen from 29 percent in 2000 to 43 percent in 2011. Infrastructure construction and public service supply capacity have also increased significantly.

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Dishonest beauty in pursuit of profit

A new buzzword doing the rounds of the media in China is "soft power". There are many manifestations, so we are told, of soft power, the "culture industry" being one. The culture industry includes, among other things, the performing arts such as songs, dance, music, theater, opera, puppetry and movies, as well as painting, sculpture, pottery and even handicrafts.

Rural reforms dig deeper

Improving the living standards of rural villagers is key to building a well-off society by the year 2020. This is how important rural work is, as described at the Party's conference on rural work, and this points to what improving the lives of rural residents means to the future of this country.

US just passing the buck

More than unhelpful, it is unjustified for some officials in the United States to try and make China the bogeyman to try and deflect the anger and mistrust generated by the disclosures of its pervasive snooping, said a Xinhua opinion piece.

Family planning as a Mao concept

The family planning policy has been grabbing headlines since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee eased some of the policy restrictions. The family planning policy, introduced in the late 1970s, allowed most families to have only one child.

Time for Abe to show real leadership

The first year of Shinzo Abe's second term as Japan's prime minister was a domestic political triumph, but his country has paid an enormously high price for it in its long-term economic policy and standing in Northeast Asia. Prospects for peaceful cooperation and understanding in the region have taken a battering which will take years to repair.

Letters

Privatization no economic panacea

From the Chinese Press

Official bumbles, couple in trouble

Balancing hand of government

In a move to promote the healthy and sustainable development of the national economy and elevate China's economic and comprehensive national strength to a new high, the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China vowed to push for more scientific macroeconomic regulation and effective governance.

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