Wu Guangqiang

    THE Year of the Tiger is roaring past and the Year of the Rabbit is kicking in.

    Our farewell to the Year of the Tiger is with mixed feelings. Like the tiger — dynamic, swift and sometimes ferocious — the past year has witnessed breathtaking changes, both encouraging and discouraging, in China.

    Despite the sluggish global economy, China’s economic growth remained strong and fast, expecting to register an increase of 10 percent, making China the second-largest economy on Earth. In step with explosive economic expansion, the construction of high-speed railway networks dazzled the world with its ever-accelerating speed and massive scale. The successful host of the Shanghai World Expo drew more than 70 million visitors from home and overseas. The grand and colorful Asian Games in Guangzhou added a perfect final touch to the eventful Year of the Tiger.

    Yet, the tiger never fails to be a fierce animal. The Year of the Tiger was not a placid and smooth one. Frequent natural disasters kept assailing China, a natural disaster-prone country. On April 14, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Yushu in Qinghai Province, killing over 2,000 people. On Aug. 8, the county seat of Zhouqu in Gansu was almost buried by a huge mud slide, with 1,434 lives lost.

    More tormenting was the nonstop occurrence of man-made calamities. Hardly any single day went by without reports of accidents such as those at coal mines and other places. In July alone, three major disasters occurred in China: leakage of poisonous pollutants at the Zijinshan Copper Mine in Fujian, an explosion at a depot in Dalian and a blast at a chemical plant in Nanjing. Other nerve-wracking news included conflicts between official demolition teams and property owners, many of which ended in bloodshed and endless exposure of corrupt officials.

    What worried the public most was the rampant inflation that devoured their hard-earned wealth. Ascending CPI figures defied the Central Government’s efforts to curb surging prices of food and daily necessities in particular, which affect the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. A series of measures taken by the government to rein in wild home prices did not seem to work. Increasing costs outpaced incomes greatly reducing a sense of achievement and happiness in the population as a whole. 

    With the characteristics of the rabbit: peace, patience, virtue and ambition, the Year of the Rabbit, I hope, can bring about some positive changes in China. After the hectic and somewhat turbulent Year of the Tiger, what China needs to do in the new year is move forward slowly but surely. Aggressive pursuit of GDP growth will give way to a new development mode, which, with a slower growth rate, will benefit the majority of the people and be friendlier to nature. Hard-working Chinese people are entitled to a bigger share of the nation’s wealth.

    Further efforts are needed to clamp down on real estate speculation and build more affordable homes. Inflation must be brought under control to ensure the people live with dignity. Other primary public concerns to be addressed include expensive health care services and the grave unemployment situation for college graduates. In China, nothing trumps the wellbeing of the people.

    By uprooting the causes leading to public resentment, social unrest and confrontation, such as corruption, privilege and injustice, China will emerge more as a congenial power than as a forbidding one, where the people enjoy an affluent and free life.

    (The author is an English tutor and a freelance writer.)