Beijing, China — Recently, a 74-year-old Chinese scholar named Yan Chongnian was slapped by a young man while signing and selling his books at a bookstore in the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu province. The reality in China’s society shows that some still find it difficult to tolerate opposing points of view.

Beijing, China — A young, controversial Chinese writer has been engaged in a war of words with the China Writers Association, as the Chinese media add fuel to the flames. The smell of gunpowder surrounds the battle, which has been described as an “incident” in Chinese literary circles.

BEIJING, China — "Patriotism" seems to be a magic word for the Chinese. As long as a Chinese person claims to be a patriot, he or she immediately assumes the moral high ground. Whatever he or she says or does in the name of patriotism is perfectly justified, and other citizens are classified as either patriots or traitors.

BEIJING, China — China's move to consolidate its bureaucracy into several "super ministries" got the most attention during this week's meetings of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing. This goal cannot be achieved without supporting measures, however.

BEIJING, China — Chinese university students are being asked to sign a letter of guarantee that they will not cheat on English exams required for graduation. The letter serves the same function as the slogans authorities used to paint on walls, and now hang up on banners. Can this guarantee honesty in the exam hall?

BEIJING, China — A Guangzhou court has handed a life sentence to a 24-year-old migrant worker named Xu Ting for withdrawing 170,000 yuan (US$24,000) from a malfunctioning ATM. Compared with financial crimes by corrupt officials, Xu's is a small case, yet most officials receive much lighter sentences.

BEIJING, China — Many mainland Chinese are afflicted with empleomania -- an obsession with holding public office. This is demonstrated even in the sad story of a poor worker from the countryside named Xiao Zhijun.

Beijing, China — China's State Administration of Taxation announced that, effective July 1, the tax on vehicles and vessels would more than double. No explanation was given for this increase.

Beijing, China — China's cities have become a world full of security cameras. Cameras are found in almost all public places, and even in places that are not really public.

Taiyuan, China — Deng Xiaoping delivered a famous speech on May 24, 1977, in which he declared that the "two whatevers" policy did not conform to Marxism. (Hua Guofeng, who briefly succeeded Mao Zedong as China's top leader, had said whatever decisions Mao had made would