THIS WEEK

?

THIS WEEK

BASKETBALL PLAYER RETURNS TO NBA

Chinese basketball player Yi Jianlian， 28， will make his return to the U.S. National Basketball Association （NBA） during the 2016-17 season， four years after finishing his previous stint in the United States. Yi has recently signed a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers.

In 2007， Yi was one of the most highly touted prospects in his draft class，and the Milwaukee Bucks selected him sixth overall. But he spent just fve years in the NBA with the Bucks， the then New Jersey Nets， the Washington Wizards and the Dallas Mavericks， before falling out of the league.

Since his return to China， however， Yi has been a force of nature with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association. Despite the fact that the Chinese team lost all fve of its games at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro， Yi's performance during the games earned him a spot back in the NBA.

White CoIIars' Rights

Legal Daily August 19

Recently， the Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions announced its 2016-20 development plan for workers， setting “decent work” as the core of the plan. It also mentioned special protection to cover groups such as migrant workers， female workers and white collar workers. White collar workers were listed among the specially protected targets for the frst time.

In the eyes of most people， white collar employees tend to work in a comfortable office equipped with air conditioners. It's taken for granted that people working in such a good environment enjoy high-quality labor rights and interests. To make them the target of special protection is thus seen as going too far.

This reaction actually reveals longterm misunderstanding and negligence of this group's real working conditions. A striking issue related to white collar workers' rights is death from overwork. A 2012 survey showed that overwhelming work burdens led to the deaths of an estimated 600，000 people annually. According to other surveys in recent years， only 20 percent of white collar workers are satisfed with their jobs. Half of such employees are denied overtime pay and may also be paid in arrears， even some who are highlevel managerial personnel. In reality，their lives are not as good as most people imagine.

To better protect white collar workers，the key is vocational health. Overwork and sub-standard health should receive special attention. They also need to take more physical exercise， be shielded against electronic radiation and receive regular psychological consultation.

“Our preliminary estimate is that more than 1.2 million Tibetan-language speakers from China will use it. In the future， the number of users is likely to hit 2 million.”

Dorjee Rabthen， Director of the Tibetan Information Research Center of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province，on the launch of China's frst Tibetan-language search engine on August 22

“In addition to the increase of population， the animals have begun to range outside the reserve to neighboring areas.”

Yang Jingyuan， an offcial with central China's Shennongjia National Nature Reserve， recently speaking about the rise in the number of golden monkeys， an endangered species under state protection， in the reserve， which has reached 1，300，doubling that in 1990

“At present， the Sino-Japanese relations are still facing difficulties and are at an important juncture， with both opportunities and challenges.”

Foreign Minister Wang Yi， on the current relationship between the two neighbors at a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on August 24

“The strongest thing about him is his ambition. The weakest thing about him is his ambition.”

Duncan Clark， author of Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built， speaking about Ma， founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba， in a recent interview with Xinhua News Agency

Home AppIiance Industry DiIemma

China Newsweek August 22

The home appliance industry is witnessing a declining trend. The revenue from the industry's core operations amounted to 1.4 trillion yuan （$210 billion） in 2015，down 0.4 percent year on year， according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In the frst quarter of this year，the sales of refrigerators， air conditioners，washing machines and color TV sets all dropped over a year earlier.

One explanation for the decline is the impact of downward economic pressure. The pressure harms the housing market， which is a key factor in pumping up home appliance demand. Competition from Internet service giants， such as smart TV producers Xiaomi and Whaley，has further cornered traditional home appliance suppliers.

In addition， many governmental subsidies for the industry have been withdrawn， worsening the crisis. Consequently，the industry is burdened with excess inventory， especially in the TV sector. Destocking is a headache for many home appliance suppliers. The industry needs to transform and upgrade itself. As Jiang Feng， President of the China Household Electrical Appliance Association， puts it，there are two ways out for the industry: smart manufacturing or platformization. Both are full of uncertainties.

Haier， one of China's biggest home appliance suppliers， has chosen the latter. Since 2012， it has been trying hard to transform itself into a platform where every employee is encouraged to contribute something new that caters to customers' needs. Yet Haier's latest fnancial data show that the transformation hasn't borne fruit. Its 2015 revenue amounted to 89.7 billion yuan （$13.5 billion）， dropping 7.41 percent year on year. How to get out of the dilemma remains a problem for the industry.

Effective Inspection

Workers' Daily August 23

Environmental protection inspection teams began touring eight provinces around the country in mid-July at the behest of the Central Government， and the one-month tour has now ended. More than 2，000 officials have been held accountable for various issues， some of them being punished according to the law.

The failure to curb pollution in many places for so many years is mostly due to the fact that big polluters are often big contributors to local tax revenues. Punishing them will drag down local economies. In this round of inspection， local authorities or offcials that have approved highly polluting programs against the law have come under investigation.

For those who wish to escape the checkup in the hope that the inspection is just a temporary storm that will soon go away，their dream may soon dissolve. The inspection teams will return to the places they have already examined according to a schedule. They will spend two years traveling around the country. Every complaint call is to be carefully treated， and local authorities are required to give timely feedback.

Environmental protection inspection is a complete process， from discovering problems to settlement， based on a welldeveloped mechanism and accountability chain. More importantly， the inspection teams dare to tackle hard-to-crack nuts. This lasting storm is expected to force polluters as well as local authorities to mind their behavior and overhaul their practices.

YOUNG INNOVATOR RECOGNIZED BY MIT

Zhu Jia， 34， a professor with the College of Engineering and Applied Science at Nanjing University， has been listed on MIT Technology Review's 2016 global list of 35 innovators under 35， known as TR35. The list， issued by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-published magazine， features top young inventors， entrepreneurs， visionaries，humanitarians and pioneers.

Zhu was chosen because of his latest breakthrough in water treatment. To generate more clean water， he has created a thin metal sheet capable of foating on the water surface， absorbing sunlight and using the energy to generate steam that condenses into clean water. The device could be used to desalinate seawater or treat polluted water.

Zhu acquired his master's and PhD degrees from Stanford University. He did research at the University of California， Berkley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States after graduation. Aside from Zhu， fve other young Chinese innovators were included on the list.