NEW LEADER OF CHINA’S ARTISTS AND WRITERS

Writer Tie Ning， 59， was elected on November 2 as chair of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles （CFLAC） at the organizations national congress in Beijing.

CFLAC is a public institution composed of 54 nationwide associations of writers， actors， filmmakers， painters， dancers and other artists. It holds activities such as performances， exhibitions， competitions and academic studies. The institution receives funding from its members as well as the Chinese Government.

Tie was also re-elected chair of the Chinese Writers Association， a CFLAC member association， on the same day.

Tie won national acclaim in the 1980s for her prize-winning short story Ah， Xiangxue about the adventure of a country girl who yearns to see the outside world and boards a train by mistake.

Online Donation Fraud

Xinhua Daily Telegraph December 1

A message from Shenzhen journalist Luo Er to his 5-year-old daughter， who is undergoing intensive care for leukemia， recently spread virally on WeChat. Luo said a third party had offered to pay 1 yuan （$0.15） toward the cost of his daughters treatment each time the message was reposted. Shortly afterward， however， the post was debunked： It turns out that Luo， who owns three properties and two cars， is not as much in need of money as he claimed. Some people who forwarded the post feel their kindness has been abused.

Online donation fraud is nothing new in China， and its frequent occurrence has made people more suspicious of donation appeals. Chinas charity sector is in the preliminary stage of development， so problems will inevitably be encountered. We should not deny the validity of online charity appeals altogether simply due to a few isolated cases.

Online donation appeals offer an effective way for individuals in difficulties to seek help and exemplify the spirit of mutual assistance. To ensure fairness and avoid donations becoming untraceable， however， professional charity organizations should be introduced to supervise and monitor such activities.

The whole charity sector should try to develop more convenient and trustworthy channels to facilitate public donations. Meanwhile， charity organizations should accept public supervision.

Early Education Trap

China Newsweek December 5

When early education programs were introduced to China in 2003， the concept was new to the country. After over a decade， though， early education institutions are gaining popularity， with parents paying high prices to enroll their children at such institutions.

These institutions often take advantage of parents strong sense of insecurity to promote their services. Their argument is that children who dont sign up for an early education program before the age of 3 will lose the best opportunity for personal development. Early education curricula for children aged 0-3 focus on training visual， auditory and tactile senses， while those for children aged 3-6 aim to improve thinking by teaching languages， mathematics and science.

Early education institutions defend the high prices by claiming their courses and classroom settings match international standards. However， in reality， some institutions compile their curricula simply by combining the contents of early education books and online information.

Many such institutions are no different from kindergartens. The industry lacks an admission threshold and supervision by educational authorities. There is no standard for teacher qualifications， with most practitioners holding low academic degrees and lacking professional training.

Experts say educating parents in parenting skills is preferable to sending very young children to attend early education programs. What such children need is influence from their parents in a family environment rather than kindergarten-style or primary schoolstyle education.

Self-Discipline Key to Bike-Sharing Services

China Youth Daily December 1

Bike-sharing services， which allow users to grab a ride at the touch of an app， are gaining traction in cities. Such services not only help solve the difficulty getting from a public transport stop to ones final destination， but also serve to ease traffic congestion and reduce pollution.

For instance， bike-sharing network Mobike not only allows app users to borrow a pair of wheels for just 1 yuan（$0.15） per 30 minutes， but is also happy for you to drop the bike off wherever you like， rather than at the nearest bicycle hire point， unlike the government-run alternative service.

The new service， however， has run into a variety of problems during its nascent development stage. For instance， some users take a bike home， destroy its QR code， and add a lock to prevent others from using it. Advertisers have also pasted advertisements on the bikes.

The precondition for the profitability of bike-sharing networks is users endorsement of the sharing concept. They should park the bikes properly， cherish the bikes and report malfunctions in a timely fashion in order to ensure the bikes will remain available for public use and people will enjoy a good service.

Its hard for service providers to supervise their bikes use and to penalize improper behavior. The healthy and sustainable development of the sector relies on users selfdiscipline， without which， the convenience of bike-sharing will diminish.

TMOTHER OBTAINS JUDICIAL CORRECTION

Zhang Huanzhi， a bereaved mother in her 70s， has finally managed to clear the name of her son， Nie Shubin， who was wrongly sentenced to death by a court in his native Hebei Province for rape and murder and executed 21 years ago.

While Zhang appealed for the incorrect verdict to be overturned， no actual progress was made until December 2014， when the Supreme Peoples Court， Chinas top court， ordered a review of Nies case in the Shandong Peoples High Court. In June this year， the Supreme Peoples Court decided to retry the case in its Second Circuit Court in Shenyang， Liaoning Province， which declared Nie was innocent on December 2.

“I am satisfied with the verdict. Its what I want， but my son is no longer alive，” said Zhang， adding that she would seek state compensation.

“Unrestricted power is dangerous. Regulations should serve as a check and balance on power.”

Wang Qishan， head of the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection， reiterating the importance of discipline while visiting Zhenjiang in east Chinas Jiangsu Province in early December

“Abe should visit China rather than Pearl Harbor. He should go to Nanjing to get to know how much pain the（Nanjing） Massacre brought to the Chinese people.”

Honzawa Jiro， a Japanese critic， reacting in a recent interview to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abes planned visit to the United States naval base in Hawaii later this month， purportedly to remember the thousands killed there by Japans surprise military attack 75 years ago

“More and more Western filmmakers now realize they should not only sell films to Asian countries， but also cooperate with their Eastern counterparts.”

Chen Li， editor of Screen International （Asia）， a British film magazine， commenting on an emerging filmmaking model on the sidelines of a roundtable forum held in Hong Kong on December 2

“For a domestic firm eager to expand， the biggest challenge comes from cultural differences， which cannot be solved by buying companies.”

Wang Chuandong， Lenovo Chinas Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer， speaking in a recent interview about his companys experience of expanding overseas