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

US still has a large plank in its eye

In Debating China, a collection of conversations between Chinese and US scholars on relations between China and the United States, the different views expressed by both sides are often enlightening.

Come back onto fair track

US Secretary of State John Kerry will find himself more than welcome in Beijing if he is here to convey Washington's commitment to a positive relationship, as the US Department of State put it.

Abe's march to militarism

The political energy displayed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in sending Japan off in the wrong direction is becoming a real threat that the international community needs to effectively guard against, says an opinion piece in People's Daily.

Tibetans enjoy religious freedom

The year 2014 marks the beginning of the Year of the Horse in China and the "Year of the Wooden Horse" in the lunar calendar of Tibetan people. The Year of the Horse is also the "recurrent birth year" of Gang Rinpoche (or Mount Kailash), a holy mountain in west Tibet. Since circling Gang Rinpoche in the Year of the Horse is a scared tradition among Tibetan Buddhists, this year has seen an endless stream of people flocking to the region to perform pilgrimage.

The road that leads away from thirst

Millions of the world's poorest people face serious water-related challenges - from lack of access and shortages to disputes over supplies - with profound implications for security, economic development and environmental sustainability. As world leaders design a development agenda to succeed the Millennium Development Goals, which expire in 2015, addressing these issues should be a top priority.

Hot words

Gift books 压岁书 (ya sui shu)

From the Chinese press

Grassroots officials deserve raise

Keep the reforms rolling

China's economy has entered a new development stage that requires the central government to make significant strategic policies to address the severe external and internal challenges the country faces. This means comprehensively deepening reform to re-energize the economy and avoid falling into the middle-income trap.