School safety

I’M a loyal reader as well as a Senior 2 student of Nanshan Foreign Language School. Deeply shocked by the Newtown shooting in Connecticut as well as the Henan stabbings, I feel that it is time for authorities here in Shenzhen to up their game and take some real action to protect students, who are of course the future of this country.

What concerns me is that the authorities in Henan tried to cover up the stabbing incident, an often-used practice in this country. Instead of facing the truth and taking effective action, authorities in Guangshan, Henan Province, chose to deceive the public.

I wonder if this happens in Shenzhen, would our city government have the courage and sense of responsibility to tell the public the truth and try to prevent further tragedies? What I am trying to say is, I hope that as an influential English-language local newspaper, Shenzhen Daily can rally the government to better train security guards at schools (I don’t think my school’s security guards are qualified enough) and be vigilant to prevent such tragedies.

W. L. Huang via e-mail

SZ skyscrapers

I RECALL reading a news article in Shenzhen Daily recently about the ground-breaking ceremony for the brand-new China Resources (CRC) headquarters in Shenzhen Bay, Nanshan District, which was to be a 525-meter teardrop-shaped tower edifice symbolizing not only the upcoming strength of Nanshan and all of Shenzhen, but also a beacon for more Hong Kong-listed companies to follow its example and relocate their headquarters to Shenzhen.

It saddened me to hear that, in late November, the local aviation authority pushed for a massive reduction in the height limit to buildings in Nanshan that would affect the construction of future landmarks in Nanshan.

The only obvious reason I could think of is the flying paths of some aircraft which, when coming from the east, make a turn above Nanshan while heading for Shenzhen International Airport. That is much more worth changing than jeopardizing the development of the expensive reclaimed Shenzhen Bay area.

A beautiful skyline made up of a number of the world’s tallest towers would be a great plus for the city’s image.

The proposed CRC tower would have been the anchor of the western Shenzhen skyline, for all Hong Kong and international visitors coming from the Shenzhen Bay Bridge to see the growing strength of Shenzhen and China. I believe the Shenzhen government should bravely push the central authorities, including the aviation authority, to get the original project enabled as it should be.

Keep in mind, even if sometimes the balance sheets don’t show the advantages immediately, tall landmark towers benefit everything around them — look at KK100. Developers brave enough to go ahead with such projects — like Kingkey who managed to convince Caiwuwei and other areas to go along with redeveloping — should be encouraged to go as tall as possible.

Nebojsa Novakovic via e-mail