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Media Survey Showed Most People Used “Exhausted” to Describe Their Feelings during 2013

Guangming Daily reported that, in November 2013, Insight China magazine and the Media Survey Lab of Tsinghua University conducted a survey in which 2013 Chinese people participated. The survey results showed that most people had mixed feelings about their lives in 2013. The description that was used most to describe their feelings durig 2013 was that they were exhausted both physically and mentally.

The article quoted Fu Chunsheng, the Principal of Beijing Boai Psychological Medical Research Institute on why Chinese people felt exhausted. According to Fu, feeling exhausted is a reflection of people’s lack of a personal value system in their lives. Therefore, they tend to lack a goal in life; they do not know who they are or why they are busy with life. Another reason is that people often felt insecure due to the uncertainties in their lives: they were unable to afford a car or housing and were therefore unable to get married. In addition to feeling exhausted, people also used “uninterested,” “good,” “busy,” and “irritated” to describe their feelings.

Source: Guangming Daily, December 6, 2013
http://life.gmw.cn/2013-12/06/content_9724288_2.htm

Over 1/5 of the Working Population in China Stopped Paying into Social Security for Their Retirement

On December 2, 2013, China Review News published an article on China’s social security problem. Based on data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China, 23 percent of the working people in China no longer pay anything into social security for their future retirement. According to China’s official data, 38 million of about 300 million Chinese who have participated in China’s basic pension insurance for urban employees stopped paying their fees in 2013. The article gave a number of possible reasons behind this trend of leaving the government’s social security system.

Source: China Review News Agency, December 2, 2013
http://hk.crntt.com/crn-webapp/aboutus_en.html

Xinhua Comments on Explosions in Taiyuan

On November 7, Xinhua published a commentary on the multiple explosions that took place in front of the Provincial Communist Party building in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province.

“On November 6, there was an explosion in front of the Provincial Party building with one fatality, one in critical condition, and seven with minor injuries. Police have found steel balls and circuit boards on the site. The preliminarily determination is that the explosions were set off deliberately.” 

“Some recent bombings have gone beyond an ordinary individual ‘venting,’ and have even put on the cloak of terrorism. As ordinary citizens, on the one hand, [we] should be vigilant and create in the whole society a situation ‘to prevent and to fight back against such actions so that acts of extreme violence will have no opportunity to start. On the other hand, we must also remain cool and calm and not exaggerate the significance of such extreme violence. China has already entered the era of a complex society. Modern terrorism and extremist activities outside China are very frequent. Inevitably there are a few flies [in China] that follow them.” 
“Security and order are still the main theme in China. The law will eventually punish any acts of extreme violence.” 
Source: Xinhua, November 7, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/comments/2013-11/07/c_118040363.htm

Series of Fabricated Bomb Threats to Mainland Airliners Made the Authorities Very Nervous

China Gate republished an article originally from the Central News Agency, the state news agency of the Republic of China (http://www.cna.com.tw/) about a recent series of fabricated bomb threats that targeted mainland airlines.

On October 31, 2013, at least four different airlines had flights, either to or from Changsha City in Hunan Province, that received bomb threats. The threats disrupted China’s flights and caused chaos at the airports. According to the article, as China’s ruling Communist Party will hold the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee soon (on Nov. 9-12 in Beijing), these ardent bomb threats to the airlines have made the Chinese authorities very nervous.

Source: Central News Agency, November 1, 2013
http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2013/11/01/2759992.html  

Beijing to Include Counter Terrorism and Anti-Violence in Public Stability Work

Following the October 28 incident in Beijing in which a car crashed into a crowd in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square causing five deaths and dozens of injuries, Guo Jinlong, Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, issued a directive that counter terrorism and anti-violence measures are to be included in the city’s public stability work. According to Guo, the effort will focus on the development of public safety measures in strategic key locations and improve the early warning ability of the city’s management system, especially in its data collection on the mobile population living in leased apartments and hotels.

Source: Xinhua, November 3, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-11/03/c_117979881.htm

Increase in Medical Disputes Has Caused Deep Concern for Medical Doctors’ Safety

According to an article that Xinhua originally published, Chinese medical doctors are facing increased pressure and frequent medical disputes. Work safety has become a huge concern. The article reported that 80 percent of all medical patients are spread throughout the countryside while 80 percent of medical resources are concentrated in urban areas. This imbalance was blamed for costly medical expenses, the inaccessibility of medical facilities, and frequent medical disputes. Hospitals in China also tend to prescribe excess medication, examinations, and treatments in order to increase their revenue. This has resulted in deep dissatisfaction from the patients.

According to statistics that the China Hospital Management Association published, medical disputes in China have grown an average of 22.9 percent each year since 2002. Recently in Guangzhou, after the death of a patient, the patient’s family member seriously injured his doctor. A patient in Zhejiang Province, who became violent, injured two doctors and caused another’s death. Doctors in China often suffer physical and mental stress. Statistics show that 78 percent of doctors do not want their children to become doctors.

Source: China News, October 27, 2013
http://news.china.com.cn/2013-10/27/content_30414901.htm

Scholars: Chinese Culture Should Be Used to Develop Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

Ye Zicheng and Long Quanli, two scholars at Beijing University, wrote an article that was published in the International Herald Leader recommending that China’s fine traditions should be used to develop socialism with Chinese characteristics. 

The two scholars believed that, in addition to political, economic, and social reform, China must re-establish its national ideology and re-build its core values. “The revitalization of a nation involves developing its spirit. The rise of a country involves its ideologies. The current task for China is to, using the Chinese national fine culture, enrich and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics and make it more powerful, influential, solidifying and inspiring.” 
Source: International Herald Leader, October 8, 2013 
http://ihl.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2013/1008/282563.shtml

People’s Daily: Beijing PM2.5 Pollution Reached Hazardous Level

People’s Daily reported that, on October 5, Beijing’s air pollution level peaked out in the morning with PM2.5 readings in a number of different locations reaching as high as 240. The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center has been monitoring PM2.5 levels continuously and has strongly suggested that Beijing residents stay indoors, especially children, the elderly, and people with heart or lung disease. On October 6, the pollution intensified. In some areas the PM2.5 24-hour average number reached 435.
PM2.5 particles are air pollutants with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less, small enough to invade even the smallest airways. These particles generally come from activities that burn fossil fuels, such as traffic, smelting, and metal processing. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers a PM2.5 number below 10 to be safe. The highest PM2.5 level in Beijing was recorded by the U.S. Embassy on December 4, 2011. That number was 522. China started official monitoring not long after that. New York’s PM2.5 peak level was 68 on October 5, 2013.

[Editor’s note: According to a U.S. Embassy site in Beijing (http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/aqirecent3.html), a reading of 201 to 300 is considered unhealthy; 301-500 is considered hazardous.]

Source: People’s Daily, October 5 & 6, 2013
http://society.people.com.cn/n/2013/1005/c1008-23106740.html
http://ah.people.com.cn/n/2013/1006/c227130-19636767.html