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How long will the stock rally last?

The stronger-than-expected rebound of the Chinese stock market in the past couple of months has understandably raised the hopes and fired the imagination of the army of depressed investors and cash-strapped enterprises in the property and other sectors.

Energy-saving upgrading

China's target of cutting the amount of energy used per unit of GDP by 16 percent from 2011 to 2015 will hopefully be met if the country adopts a balanced economic strategy that highlights both growth and sustainability.

Against food waste

The message the "Eat Up All On Your Plate" campaign tries to convey is not new. Our ancestors had verses about the importance of frugality in the consumption of food. But it makes a lot of sense when many are yet to have the awareness that food waste borders on a crime.

Single children 'little emperors'

A study recently published in Science by four Australian scholars (myself, Professors L. Cameron and L. Gangadharan of Monash University and Associate Professor N. Erkal of University of Melbourne) suggests that individuals who grew up as single children as a result of the strict implementation of the family planning policy in 1979 are, on average, less trusting, less trustworthy, more risk-averse, less competitive, more pessimistic and less conscientious.

Too early to judge family planning policy

Research by four Australian scholars claims China's family planning policy has had behavioral impacts on the generation of single children, saying such children tend to be less trusting, less trustworthy, and more risk-averse and pessimistic. The study also claims that such personal traits have implications for China's labor market and social development.

Worrying demographic changes

China's working-age population, that is people aged from 15 to 59, registered a rare and worrying decline in 2012, decreasing by 3.45 million to 937 million, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The proportion in the total population shrinking by 0.6 percentage points to 69.2 percent. This is worrying as the NBS predicts the decline will continue to 2030.

Standoff over Diaoyu Islands

Tensions between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands dispute have escalated after the recent incidents involving the two countries' vessels and planes.

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Defaulting on workers' pay must stop

Not paying the wages of farmers-turned-workers on time has become a chronic problem. So severe is the problem that in 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao intervened personally to get a migrant worker her arrear wages.

Alarming emergence of 'online guillotine'

Two months ago, I wrote a column on micro-blogging in China that now makes me blush. I'm embarrassed to realize how fast the situation has changed and how myopic some of my views were.

US needs to rethink rebalancing

The United States is facing a number of thorny diplomatic challenges at the start of President Barack Obama's second term. For example, stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan to enable a smooth withdrawal of US forces this year; stabilizing the situation in the Middle East, especially to placate Egypt and Israel, and achieve a smooth political change in Syria; managing the issues surrounding the nuclear programs of Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; and handling relations with emerging powers, including the stalled relations with Russia and the complex relations with China.