May 4, 2009
Today is National Youth Day, an anniversary established by the Chinese government in 1949 to commemorate the May Fourth Movement in 1919. The political movement involved massive nationwide demonstrations and protests and has been officially recognized as an “anti-imperialist and anti-feudalistic patriotic movement” and “part of the world proletarian revolution”.
Shandong’s Jinan Times features a cover photo showing Premier Wen Jiabao receiving a gift of a portrait presented by an art student at Tsinghua University during a visit yesterday. Wen, who studied geology in university and worked as a surveyor for years, is shown in the painting as a young man, hammering on a rock.
According to the report, Wen received a letter signed by 20 graduates inviting him to the university. Talking to over one hundred graduates who volunteered to serve less economically-developed rural areas and the western part of the country, Wen encouraged them in their “idealism and faith”, and “dedication to the people.” After his talk, Wen had lunch with the students.
The paper’s top headline concerns pigs on a Canadian farm that have been infected by a farm worker from Mexico with the new swine flu. This is the first reported case of pigs having the virus.
Underneath the photo is a report about a high school in Sanmenxia, Henan Province, which recently barred students from taking toilet breaks during class. A banner put up by the administration reads, “Adjust your biological rhythms as soon as possible; using the bathroom during class is not allowed.” In response to the controversy created by this regulation, a teacher at the school explained that the regulation aims to improve learning efficiency.
In other school news, a school in Gong’an, Hubei Province, was fined by county inspectors after three outside-brand cigarettes were found in the teachers’ office. To boost its tobacco industry, the county government recently handed out a policy stipulating that all local government agencies must consume 400 cartons of a local cigarette brand per year, and schools 160 cartons per year. The local financial department is empowered to cut the budget of agency failing to meet its quota.
According to Chen Nianzu, a county government official in charge of regulating the tobacco market, the outside brands have cut down on the county’s tax income, so this policy aims to “guide civil servants to contribute to the local economy.”
After hard bargaining, the school facing a fine for its three butts got off with a warning.
