OPINION> Columnists

Kang Bing

Beware of travel agents

Want to go on a trip? The most convenient way seems to be joining a packaged tour. You scan the advertisements, find a good bargain, sign a contract with a travel agent, and all the while not knowing you might be falling into a trap.

Gao Anming

Stimulating domestic consumption

For most people, this seems rather like a joke: Xing Pu, a member of the CPPCC Shanghai Committee, proposed last month that the government, fresh from a hefty increase in financial revenue, hand out 1,000 yuan ($142) to each citizen as a subsidy against soaring inflation.

Wang Hao

And the gold goes to ... volunteers

My parents were fascinated by the Water Cube when they watched an international swimming gala, a test event for the Beijing Games.

You Nuo

Man who had his foot in the mouth

Why should this column, which is usually on economic issues, be about the exit of a government spokesperson? I asked myself the question as I started to plan this piece. But since some of the Beijing-based journalists offered him flowers after they heard about his new appointment (to head a State-owned textbook printing company), and many domestic media have been talking about him, why should China Daily stand aloof?

Li Xing

Many things modern are great follies

A few weeks ago, the health reporter of my paper got the news that all public toilets in Beijing would be provided free toilet paper and paper towels during the Olympic Games.

Liu Shinan

They don't serve who stand & stare

On the morning of July 20, the first day Beijing exercised the rule on alternate permission of vehicles on roads according to their license numbers, I was driving on the Fourth Ring Road as my license number happened to be an even one.

Raymond Zhou

Nudist beaches not a big deal

I never knew China has nudist beaches. Even now, I am still not sure. I have not seen one myself, but then I must confess I have not been to one of those "hot" places.

Ravi S. Narasimhan

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

A senior colleague has a peculiar problem: He owns a car whose license plate allows him to drive on even-number days - but since he works nights, the day turns odd-numbered by the time he leaves for home at around 2 am.

Liang Hongfu

Pankaj Adhikari

Home of solitude, anguish

Last week I went to Razor Hill, Sai Kung in the New Territories to visit a home for mentally challenged adults. Run by the social welfare department of the Hong Kong government, the home nestles on a hill amid sylvan surroundings and lush woodlands.

Patrick Whiteley

Your front-row seat to history's great showcase

ABeijing English-language magazine recently speculated about a possible post-Olympics exodus of expats. As Erik Nilsson's interesting article opposite reveals, this prediction is wrong. Most expats are staying, and after the coming Games, I forecast a rising tide of newcomers.

Brendan

Towards that winning goal

With a sense of dismay I read this week of the replacement of the Chinese men’s football coach, Serbian Ratomir Dujkovic. After two years of initial success and support, recent poor performances no doubt contributed to his departure.

Zou Hanrou

Hong Kong flushed with loo ideas

Public toilets are the very places for tourists to get their first and lasting impressions of a city. Of the many elements that combine to qualify a city as being modern and civilized, well-managed public lavatories ought to be one essential yardstick. In this respect, Hong Kong definitely qualifies.