Beijing’s New Health Care Reform Blueprint: Offering both Hope and Doubt

In setting up the new health care reform guideline, the Chinese government did the right thing by putting public interests before profit-making, and by striving for equality between rural and urban areas. 

Millions of Chinese people who have suffered in various ways from a twisted and corrupt health care system would probably feel relieved upon reading the news: at least on the paper, the government clearly stated that it is on our side. China’s vast group of farmers would probably hail the new reform plan as well, since it set the tone for setting up a health care system that will provide equal care to both urban and rural residents, limit drug prices and build more health care facilities in rural area, according to a story in the South China Morning Post. 

But a lot of people would not jump up and down on the new plan just yet. As Chinese people have learned over so many years and so many things, a good plan does not guarantee a good result. 

Yes, the government is now saying that public hospitals should no longer pursue profits as their priority and treat patients based on their ability to pay. But how to maintain or improve the quality of health care? 

The current plan is issued by the central government and serves as a guideline, while the local governments get to set up specific rules and regulations for hospitals to follow. Will local governments faithfully adhere to the line set by the government? Many people would doubt that because in many places, the local authorities no longer treat directions from the state government seriously. 

Even if good rules and regulations will be in place, no one can be sure that they will be well followed. Can the good rules get over bad officials who have their hands in all fields that could bring them extra cash and a bureaucratic system that is so corrupt? Will China’s medical education system produce enough practitioners with not only deft hands but also good hearts, who can therefore sustain a health care system that truly serves the public? 

On the surface, it sounds like a good thing that the government finally decided to intervene and do its part in fixing a corrupt health care system. At the same time, however, the reform nevertheless falls into the old circle of relaxing and tightening control, whereby the government relaxes rules to encourage reform in a certain area, only to rush to get the control back after market-oriented behaviors went awry and hurt the public. 

China’s health care system is now a big mess but can’t afford of being unfixed. In a society that is already threatened by all kinds of social conflicts, a sick health care system could only aggravate public grievance. Fixing it is a big challenge and it waits to be seen whether the Chinese government can meet the challenge.  

Shanghai Disneyland Project still up in the Air

Shanghai government officials told Xinhua on Wednesday that there was still no final decision regarding building a Disneyland in Shanghai. However, Shanghai mayor Han Zheng told the press earlier that his government and Disney had being “dating” for more than a decade, but there was no timeline for “getting  married.” 

It is said that the planned Disneyland in Shanghai will be eight times as big as the one in Hong Kong. 

The Chinese public has debated about the pros and cons of building a Shanghai Disneyland, including its economic, cultural and environmental impact. More than a year ago, online comments regarding the issue mostly supported the project. But now, given the harsh economic situation, people start to doubt the wisdom of spending a huge amount of money on an amusement park. 

http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2009-03-26/025517482117.shtml

http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=263308216

http://news.sohu.com/s2008/dianji31/

 

Street Talk: US Economic Recession Hit Chinese Village

Millions of migrant workers in China lost their jobs as a result of the US economic recession and had to return home




One thing that truly surprised me during my recent trip back to China was the big impact of the ongoing financial crisis, originated in the US and soon spread globally, on Chinese people’s life. As one local official in Henan told me, the financial crisis “affected even a brick plant in a village.”

How so? I couldn’t help but ask. “Well,” the official said, “because of the financial crisis, Americans are buying fewer goods from China, and therefore many Chinese plants closed. Many migrant workers lost their jobs and had no money to build new houses in their home village, and thus the decline of sales of bricks.”

Just by looking around, I couldn’t tell that the economic recession in the US had hit China hard. Restaurants in Beijing were full of eaters like always, while supermarkets were crowded and stuffed with plenty of products, so many that some of them piled up along the stairway. On the surface, Chinese people were living a happy and prosperous life and enjoying ever growing purchasing power. What I didn’t see, however, were the huge flow, usually in millions, of job-less migrant workers, from coastal and eastern area to their inner-land hometowns, which had become the No.1 headache for many local governments in the past couple of months.

One of my friends from Guangdong told me that one town there was practically lawless as unemployed migrant workers were robbing everyone they can in the streets. Such robberies were so common that local police no longer bother to launch any investigation or law enforcement effort. “They now only do something when people are murdered,” my friend said. In other places, local governments were trying everything they can to make sure that returning migrant workers can get a job or at least do not make trouble, people told me.

Hearing these stories made me wonder: is the US the only country in the world that had been buying products from China? Or is most stuff made in China actually made for American consumers? Maybe. The current economic crisis has been a strong testimony of the far-reaching impact of globalization, so much so that what happened in Wall Street would end up being reflected in a brick plant in a remote village half the world away.

Chinese Bloggers on Obama Victory: Admiring American Dream, Concerned about Sino-US Relations

One Chinese blogger blogs about Obama's election win







Obama’s victory in yesterday’s presidential election taught a great lesson about American dream and democracy to many Chinese bloggers, whose enthusiasm in blogging about this historical moment is manifest in the thousands of blogs appearing in the past less than 24 hours.

They recognized the power of American dream and ideas, America’s achievement in overcoming racial conflicts, and the value of democracy. Some bloggers expressed admiration for these American values, exclaiming “dreams will come true!” and calling such a success story an example of a “positive culture.” Obama's victory even inspired one blogger to imagine the possibility of a Chinese American president of the US.

Blogger Yao Xiaoyuan writes that because of this election, Chinese people will like the United States more and more, out of their admiration for the “universal human values represented by the United States.” However, not many bloggers used Obama’s case to advocate applying American values to China. The American dream stays American.

To some Chinese bloggers, the outcome was a surprise. Yang Hengjun, for instance, thought it was more possible to have a white woman than an African-American man as American president.

Meanwhile, many bloggers discussed the implication of Obama’s presidency to China’s interests. In this regard, the picture is not as rosy at all.

“Once the [American] economy turns better, I believe the Democratic Party will talk with us about trade protection,” one blogger writes. Another blogger concurs, concluding that China will face more pressure in energy security and decline in export due to Obama’s energy and economic policies.

These bloggers, however, failed to notice Obama's close tie with Hawaii, a state heavily populated by ethnic Chinese, which may influence the new president's approach to China.