High celebrity payments a tax on ignorance

Chinese media is fuming over the rapid rise in celebrities' incomes. In 2016 Actress Zhou Xun netted an astounding 95 million yuan ($13.77 million) for a leading role in the TV series Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace. Sun Li, Zhao Wei and Wu Yifan were also paid tens of millions of yuan. Celebrities' payments are growing faster than housing prices.

Parents need not be pupils' unpaid homework tutors

It seems to be increasingly the case that, as soon as Chinese parents return home from a hard day's work, they start working as unpaid tutors to help their children with their homework.

US not a victim, but beneficiary of trade

As Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said, when speaking to the media on the sidelines of the ongoing session of the National People's Congress in Beijing on Saturday, a trade war between China and the United States would only cause pain, and benefit neither.

No China concessions on THAAD

In response to what it said was China's trade retaliation for the Republic of Korea's deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system, the policy committee of the ruling Liberty Korea Party is considering filing a complaint to the World Trade Organization.

Political whirlwind in the ROK shows its ties with Japan are shaky

The Republic of Korea is set to have a presidential election, likely in early May, thanks to the country's Constitutional Court stripping Park Geun-hye of her presidential powers on Friday.

Scientific solutions sought to eliminate smog

WHILE ATTENDING A PANEL DISCUSSION of the Shaanxi delegation during the fifth plenary session of the 12th National People's Congress on Thursday, Premier Li Keqiang vowed to reward research teams that are capable of unveiling the root causes of smog and offering viable solutions to curb airborne pollution. Beijing News commented on Saturday:

Zombie enterprises parasites that need to be eradicated

NING JIZHE, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, pledged on Friday to make extra efforts to deal with consistently loss-making, debt-laden State-owned enterprises, so-called zombie enterprises. Beijing News commented on Friday:

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UN will help consign poverty to history

An ambitious goal of China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), which entered its second year, is to eliminate extreme poverty by 2020. The progress is well on track, as 10 million people had been lifted out of poverty by the end of 2016. This success is very encouraging as it is an indication of China's continued contribution to global development goals.

Tackling the heavy air pollution problem

Editor's note: With the environment being one of most important issues on the agenda at the ongoing annual sessions of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the country's top political advisory body, Hu Jingnan and Cai Fahe from the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, and Gong Zhengyu from the China National Environmental Monitoring Center, present their views on how to control air pollution.

Popularity of virtual payments means cashless society will soon be a reality

AT THE ONGOING FIFTH PLENARY SESSION of the 12th National People's Congress, Yu Chun, a deputy from Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, called for more efforts to establish a cash-free society. Thepaper.cn commented on Saturday:

Rights reports expose US' own faults

United States citizens own the largest number of private guns in the world. Last year, 31 percent of the US population owned more than 357 million guns, according to US media reports. Every year, more than 30,000 people are shot, accidentally killed or commit suicides with guns, and over 200,000 people are wounded in shootings.