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Today's model citizen makes consumption a spiritual quest

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-12-16

AS 2011 approaches its end, in freezing cold and pervading haze, enthusiastic shoppers are heading to one shopping mecca after another, scouring for discounts, bargains, and "free" iPads. There have been warnings...

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There's more to personal change than willpower

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-12-10

YOU are who you're married to. I have changed my spendthrift habits because of my frugal wife. It was not that I had suddenly exercised willpower to save money because of her reprimands - her chiding would...

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Market credo tarnishes healing arts as profit comes before people

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-12-9

THE sharp rise in medical disputes in recent years and subsequent media interpretations of these events have significantly tarnished the image of the healing profession. Doctors in China were once known as "angels...

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Behind school bus crashes lie a host of problems

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-12-1

A DONATION of 23 school buses to Macedonia has sparked online fury in the wake of a spate of fatal traffic accidents involving children in buses and minivans ("Anger over donation of buses to Macedonia," Shanghai Daily,...

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Trashy bus ads make deafening racket

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-11-30

FROM January 1 next year, there will be no commercials during any TV drama. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television announced the ban on Monday in response to repetitive public complaints about too...

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Culture is serious business, not business

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-11-30

CULTURE may need capital, but capitalized culture may not create cultural power. After three decades of hectic growth in manufacturing and export of commodities from cars to cups, China is turning to its culture...

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Empty education sends students to false gods

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-11-24

WHEN Fudan University professor Zhang Qingxiong went to deliver his lecture at 1:30pm on November 10, he came upon an empty classroom. The professor of philosophy learned later that Hong Kong entertainers including...

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Moral decay stems from pursuit of wealth at all cost

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-11-3

RECENTLY there has been considerable speculation that our citizens are fast losing their moral decency. A host of reports are shameful reminders of the degree of decay. On October 13, in a marketplace in Foshan,...

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Truth in advertising lost on real estate giant

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-11-1

NO sooner had China's Cabinet called upon the whole nation to be honest and credible than one of China's largest property firms sought in vain to defend its controversial sales advertisement that many customers claimed...

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Too much too soon about birds and bees

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-10-28

RECENTLY there has been a significant move among Chinese educators to provide better sex education to students in college, primary schools and even kindergartens. The Ministry of Education recently issued a circular...

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Passersby not the only ones at fault in death of neglected toddler

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-10-27

SHE was born in June 2009 and died in October 2011; she was just 28 months old. Little Yue Yue (literally meaning "merry") was struck by two hit-and-run drivers on October 13 in Foshan City in Guangdong, one of...

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High tech can make swill oil or biofuel

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-10-24

THE latest headlines about swill oil, or gutter oil, dramatizes both the potency and impotence of technology. Biofuel technology equips criminal suspects with the know-how to turn residual oil from sewer or slops...

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Luxury labels conceal blood, sweat and tears

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-10-14

SHANGHAI Daily reported on Tuesday that some former employees of Gucci complained of "inhuman working regulations" in a Gucci flagship store in Shenzhen. The staff said they had to ask permission if they wanted...

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New US envoy stands for balance and reason in resolving disputes

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-10-14

IT takes a balanced mind to mitigate trade disputes. Mr Gary Locke, the new US ambassador to China, exemplified this spirit of balance when he chatted with reporters in Shanghai yesterday on a range of issues...

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US lawmakers forget big profits from cheap labor

Opinion | Shanghai Daily columnists
2011-10-13

IN the early 1990s, a top Chinese trade official lamented that China had to sell tens of millions pairs of shoes to the West in exchange for one airliner. Even today, China still has to sell everything cheap in return...