Building a stable housing market

Chinese people have become accustomed to their premier mentioning "real estate regulations" in the Government Work Report delivered to the annual session of the National People's Congress, given that "housing regulations", "to curb the rise of housing prices" and other such phrases were buzzwords at previous NPC sessions.

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Social media are self-correcting

Three days have passed since contact was lost with Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Like many people, once the news broke I followed the latest developments through micro blogs and the popular instant messaging service WeChat. There was good and bad news, but much of it has proved to be rumor as nothing is yet known of what happened to the plane and its passengers and crew.

For judicial fairness

Last year, 825 defendants were acquitted of the offenses they were charged with, according to the report the president of the Supreme People's Court delivered to the current session of the National People's Congress. During the same period, the Supreme People's Procuratorate urged the withdrawal of 25,211 cases that should not have entered the process of litigation, an increase of 25 percent over the previous year, according to the SPP's report to the session.

No hasty tax reforms

Every year during the annual sessions of the country's top legislature and the political consultative body, proposals pertaining to individual income tax receive widespread attention; this year has been no exception.

Combining reform with growth

The Government Work Report presented by Premier Li Keqiang at the annual session of the National People's Congress on March 5 confirms that the central leadership will start implementing a fairly comprehensive set of reforms this year. The report discusses plans to implement reforms this year to enable the market and private sector to play a larger role in conjunction with a recalibrated role of the government.

Take proper care of elders and betters

Much of the debate on aging society in China has focused on the material challenges faced by senior citizens-the level and fairness of pensions, the cost of healthcare and the financial support that should be provided by their children. Not much has been said about the challenges of emotional and social care faced by a society that within the space of two generations has changed from one in which the elderly enjoyed an honoured status in extended families to one where the number of "empty nests" is growing by the millions every year.

Letters

Terrorism has no place in society

From the Chinese press

Focus on real issues at sessions

Baucus can make a difference

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1979, all US ambassadors to China have had a special political resume. Max Baucus, the new US Ambassador to China, is no exception. At a time when the media in the United States has been taunting President Barack Obama about his offering ambassadorships to his campaign donors, Baucus was confirmed with the whole Congress in favor of his appointment, a demonstration of the level trust the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has gained as a senior political leader.

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Young metropolitans redefine "fashionable"

Results of a recent survey showed that Shanghai has overtaken Hong Kong in the ranking of fashionable cities. This has predictably caused a stir among the fashionable crowds in Hong Kong's hip neighborhoods where young professionals in finance and property gather in the evenings to talk shop over a drink or two.