THIS WEEKPEOPLE & POINTS

PARTY CHIEF OF XIONGAN NEW AREA

Chen Gang,former Party chief of Beijing’s Chaoyang District, was recently appointed interim Party chief of Xiongan New Area, a new development zone near Beijing.

Chen became a member of the Standing Committee of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China in late May. He visited Rongcheng, Xiongxian and Anxin counties—the key areas that constitute Xiongan New Area—as the top official on June 2, two months after the Central Government announced its decision to create the new area.

Born in 1965 in east China’s Jiangsu Province, Chen graduated from Peking University with a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1990. Between 1990 and June 2013, he worked in the capital, serving in various positions, including head of the Beijing Glass Research Institute and mayor of Chaoyang District. In June 2013, his political career shifted to Guizhou Province. Before being transferred to Hebei, he served as Party chief of Guiyang, the provincial capital of Guizhou.

Discrimination Hurdling Job Hunting

Guangming DailyJune 7

Employment is the biggest livelihood issue and this can’t be truer for new graduates busy with job hunting. The Ministry of Education points out in this year’s guideline on college graduates’employment that no discrimination is allowed to appear on hiring ads. However, a survey by the China University Media Union on 605 new graduates from over 100 colleges and universities shows that 75.7 percent of them say they have been unfairly treated in the process of hunting for jobs.

The fight against labor market discrimination is extremely important at this critical moment. A large number of companies recruit graduates only from certain key universities. About 42 percent of the interviewees said they were blocked from company recruitment by the university-class threshold, as they did not graduate from those universities. Some interviewees said they were even discriminated against based on their traditional Chinese zodiac horoscope. To bargain for higher wages with their would-be employers is totally out of the question.

China’s Labor Law explicitly stipulates that no discrimination against laborers for the sake of ethnic group, race, gender, religion, etc. is allowed. However, covert job discrimination is omnipresent. In a disadvantageous position, students can hardly argue with potential employers. The lack of effective punishment on such discrimination can only harden the difficulty facing them. At the time of graduation, the best gift to them is a fair job market.

“Compared with leaving the wall broken, people will feel even more insulted seeing the national symbol being restored in the wrong way, because that means even bigger damage.”

Song Xinchao, deputy head of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, commenting on draft guidance on Great Wall renovations released on June 6 by the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage

“As these high end travelers become increasingly independent in terms of wealth, cost considerations weigh less heavily and they are able to travel more freely to the places they favor the most.”

Rupert Hoogewerf, Chairman of the Shanghai based Hurun Research Institute, speaking about the Chinese Luxury Traveler 2017 Report jointly released on June 5 by the Hurun Research Institute and International Luxury Travel Market Asia

Music Festival Matters to a City

Oriental OutlookJune 1

Cities famous around the world for their music are usually noticed, such as Vienna and Prague. In China, various music festivals began to thrive 10 years ago. In 2016, 202 music festivals were staged, while in 2017, the single month of May saw 31 such festivals around the country.

Music festivals are mainly favored by the young, who find their desire for social interaction and entertainment can be partly fulfilled by these events. However, it is revealed that 80 percent of the music festivals are operating at a deficit. Cities don’t make direct profits from these festivals, but they can help to boost local tourism, the catering sector and so on.

China’s music festivals are still experimenting with diversified models for further development. Apart from ticket profits and commercial sponsorship, broadcasting rights as well as creative derivatives can also bring greater revenues to host cities. From the perspective of a city’s development, what matters is the establishment of its own music festival brand to avoid imitating others. It is also important to continue upgrading relevant facilities and security management.

A city capable of nurturing successful music festivals should be blessed with a vibrant cultural market that envisions a bright uture for the young, so that more and more young people would choose to stay. In this way, culture will play an increasingly signifi-cant role in promoting social development.

Irreplaceable Examination

Nanfang DailyJune 7

This year marks the 40th year since China resumed the college entrance examination system,gaokao, after it was suspended during the “cultural revolution” (1966-76). Forty years after thegaokaowas restored, the fate of several generations has completely changed and the country’s intellectual and cultural appearance has been reshaped.

The significance of thegaokaolies in the fact that it offers fair access to universities for all participants. Without it, many unqualified students may enter university through the so-called recommendation system, while qualified students may miss the opportunity due to various covert deals.

So far, no selective examination can compete with thegaokaoin terms of fairness and social recognition. However, it must be admitted that, compared with the first years following resumption, disputes about and even criticism of this system have increased. Some have questioned the falling proportion of recruited rural students, and the policy of adding extra points to certain students’ scores has raised concerns over unfairness and even corruption. The vast majority of criticism, however, does not mean to abandon thegaokao, but to show hope for a more updated and efficient system.

In response, the Chinese Government has launched pilot reforms in places such as Zhejiang Province and Shanghai Municipality. For example, students can take the English exam twice during the senior high school period and choose the one that bears the higher score as a parameter for their finalgaokao. This round of reform is the biggest overhaul of thegaokaosystem since its resumption.

SEPTUAGENARIAN SOUTH KOREAN TO GET SECOND PH.D. IN CHINA

Kim Young Joon, a 75-year-old Ph.D. candidate from South Korea at the Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics, is about to be granted his second doctorate in China in 10 years after passing the viva exam on June 1.

Kim obtained his first Ph.D. from the China University of Political Science and Law at the age of 70, writing a thesis on how laws in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in fluenced laws in his native country. This year, Kim’s thesis focuses on copyright law. “I hope my studies can contribute to China’s legislation, which to a large extent will influence the world as a whole,” Kim said.

Kim passed South Korea’s judicial exam in 1965 and worked as a prosecutor for 20 years from 1971. He came to China in 2007 and began to study for his first doctorate after spending two years learning Chinese.

“We’ve got to make sure that Australia doesn’t become a safe haven for criminal assets and we are very committed to doing that.”

Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan, expressing willingness to work with China in the fight against illicit drug trafficking and the hunt for graft suspects in an interview with Xinhua News Agency during his recent visit to China

“Cutting emissions has been an irreversible international trend, though there might be some temporary setbacks.”

Tao Wenzhao, a researcher in U.S. studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, on U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. will pull out of the Paris Agreement