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should china raise retirement age?china exclusive: survey shows 91 pct oppose raising retirement agebeijing, september 14 (xinhua) - an ongoing online survey on , a popular chinese news portal, found that 91 percent of its over 800,000 respondents were against raising the current official retirement age. as of 9 p.m. tuesday, 745,123 of those surveyed said they opposed raising the retirement age, while only 72,456 supported it. chinese scholars and the public have been debating whether to raise the retirement age for the past few years, but the issue rose to prominence last friday following remarks from an official. wang xiaochu, the official who is the vice minister of the ministry of human resources and social security, said at a press conference that the government was studying the matter in response to a question on whether china would raise the retirement age. the retirement age in china is generally set at 60 for men and 50-55 for women. many opponents in the survey said raising the retirement age would put more strain on the already grave employment situation, as adding working years for those now employed would mean fewer openings for new job seekers. as about 3 million people out of the 110 million employed in urban areas reach retirement age each year, and a higher retirement age would mean three million fewer job openings, zhang chewei, vice director of the institute of population and labor economics of the chinese academy of social sciences (cass), said in a report on . the labor market in china is already oversupplied, yin chengji, the ministrys spokesman, said at the same press conference that 24 million people would enter the job market this year but only 12 million jobs were available. however, others in the survey said a higher retirement age would help to solve the problem of empty accounts in pension fund. the volume of these empty accounts was estimated to be 1.3 trillion yuan (191 billion u.s. dollars) by another cass expert, zheng bingguo, according to media reports in july. but according to ma li, a labor economist and a counselor to the state council, chinas cabinet, the empty account was an unavoidable byproduct of any new pension system and should be funded by the government. prior to the establishment of the public pension system in 1997, pensions were covered by employers and counted as part of their running cost in china. that means the system had no initial funding to begin with. the empty account thus refers to the pension payments of working employees that are spent on paying off the currently retired. the empty account is no justification for raising the retirement age.the pension fund has a surplus now, and it will only run into a deficit in the 2030s ma said. the government should raise the retirement age only when there is a severe labor shortage, relatively high pension payments or the government is in a fiscal crisis, she said, adding that china now had none of these three scenarios. but she agreed with some of the surveyed that the retirement age should be raised among professions that require years of experience to master, such as doctors and lawyers. chinas aging population to hit 31% in 2050citizens over 60 years of agewill riseto31 percent of the whole chinese population by 2050,according to li baoku, president of the china aging development foundation on wednesday.li said the average rate of empty nesters in big cities has reached above 30 percent, with some cities over 50 percent. the aging population has become a severe social problem which adds to the pressure of maintaining the old.li added that to deal with the problem, the countrys old-age security system, medical insurance system and subsistence allowance insurance should be increasingly improved.currently, china has 169 millionpeopleaged above 60, comprising 12.5 securing the future of workersthe news of chinas old-age pension funds having a 1.3-trillion-yuan ($191.31 billion) empty account has caused widespread public anxiety. but social security expert zheng bingwen, the person who revealed this fact at an international seminar, sees the problem differently. to him, an empty account indicates the failure of the personal account mechanism rather than a shortage of money in the old-age insurance scheme.the general director of the center for international social security, affiliated to the chinese academy of social sciences, has studied the countrys pension system for years. he says the intentions of the systems designers were good but they couldnt foresee many of the problems plaguing it today.generally, two types of pension systems are followed globally. one is the pay-as-you-go (payg) social pooling program, under which the government uses the old-age premium paid by current workers to pay pension to retirees. the other is the cash-basis total accumulation account method, the best example of which is chiles mandatory saving personal account system. under this system, employees and employers have to deposit 10 percent of their salaries before taxes into their personal account, from which their pension is paid when they retire.the designers of chinas system wanted to combine the advantages of the two systems to highlight the states role in redistribution and ease the governments financial burden through individual participation. china has set up a partial accumulative pension system, under which an insured employee deposits 8 percent of his/her wages in the personal account and his/her employer pays 20 percent to the social pooling program.since personal accounts were supposed to have been fully funded according to the original design of the system, there should not have been any empty account. the huge transformation cost, that is, the fund gap in the current old-age insurance system caused by pensions paid to people who retired before the reform in 1990s, is to a large extent responsible for the empty account.for many reasons, the problem of transformation cost in the pension system has not yet been overcome totally despite the reform, zheng says. instead of filling in the financial gap through state transfer payment or issuing recognition bonds, which are practiced globally, the government chose to use the money in personal accounts to pay pension to retirees. this made the supposedly-fully-funded personal accounts an empty shell.should gifts be banned on teachers dayteachers told to say no to giftsbeijing - the ministry of education has urged teachers across the country to avoid accepting gifts from students or their parents on the occasion of teachers day, which falls on friday.the ministry posted the proposal on its website on sept 6, a day after 10 primary and high schools suggested the idea. the proposal, which has been hailed by the chinese public, aims to promote the countrys educational equity and safeguard the respectable image of teachers, it said.according to a recent survey conducted by china youth dailys social research center, 62 percent of the 4,083 people polled supported the idea of prohibiting teachers from accepting gifts from students or their parents. some 68 percent of the respondents claimed to be parents of school-going children.only 9 percent of those who participated in the online poll believe gifts are the only way to fully express their gratitude to teachers, while a whopping 65 percent think parents bribe teachers with gifts so that they pay special attention to their children.some 58 percent also expressed fears that their children might suffer if they dont give gifts to their teachers. i was astonished when i realized that everyone around me gave gifts to their childrens teachers, said zhou yan, whose son is enrolled in a beijing-based kindergarten. so i also started sending gifts to the teachers, not expecting them to take better care of my son, but hoping they will treat him fairly, she said.when asked of the best way to thank teachers, 58 percent of the respondents said a phone call or a visit on teachers day works, compared with only 7 percent who said they would pack an expensive gift. teachers feel extremely happy if their students respect them and express gratitude for the work they do, said zhang xiaoli, a beijing parent. so i make it a point to keep in touch with my former teachers. they feel very happy to know a student from 10 years ago still remembers them.keeping in mind the limited educational resources in the worlds most populous country, it is common for chinese parents to send gifts to teachers in order to ensure better care for their children.according to the latest statistics from the ministry of education, there are only 1.1 million teachers for chinas 26 million kindergarten students, which means, on an average, one teacher is responsible for 24 children.do you think the id registration policy benefits mobile phone users?id rule sparks privacy concernshanghai - although the majority of mobile phone users have backed a new policy that requires them to register their real names, some of them are worried the rule, which came into effect nationwide on wednesday, may violate their privacy. while more than 80 percent of those surveyed showed support for the real-name registration system for mobile phone users, 34.6 percent expressed worries that their personal information could be leaked and abused, according to an ongoing online poll conducted by c. the results are based on the opinions of 6,237 people who participated in the poll. the procedure of registration does not bother me. but i am really concerned about any leakage of my personal information, said zhao chen, 27, a beijing resident. if i have to register with my id, it just feels i will be watched whenever i use my phone. in june, five employees of a beijing telecom operator were charged with illegally obtaining, supplying and selling clients call records to private companies, mirror evening news reported. the new policy, intended to crack down on spam, may not achieve its desired effects, warned zhang pei, an assistant lawyer at the guangzhou-based mumianhua law firm. id registration for mobile phone users will not necessarily eradicate or reduce spam, because a considerable amount of spam is sent out by telecom operators, while this new policy has no restriction on the operators, zhang said. moreover, some mobile phone users worry that the new regulation could lead to more crimes, as fraudulent text messages will look more deceptive. in the past, when i received text messages that said my son was sick so i need to transfer money to his friends bank account, i could tell it was a scam and ignore it because the message did not address me clearly, said zhang lan, a shanghai resident. if scammers get their hands on my personal information and address me exactly the way my sons friends would, i would not know if it is a scam or not, she said. people from chinas three major cities - beijing, shanghai and guangzhou - have showed little enthusiasm. beijings roadside newspaper stands have been banned from selling sim cards. violation of the ban could result in a 5,000-yuan ($734) fine, beijing news reported on wednesday. even as the new rule went into effect, prepaid mobile phone numbers were being sold at grocery stores and newspaper stands in shanghai on wednesday and buyers were not asked to present their ids. currently, retailers of sim cards do not have to ask buyers to register with their id cards, as detailed documents on the implementation of the new policy have yet to be released, according to a clerk at the shanghai municipal communications administration who spoke on condition of anonymity. buyers can just put down their id number, if they remember, in my notebook, said yang chunfen, who sells about 50 prepaid mobile phone numbers every day, so far, only one person has left his id information. are developing countries the best destinations for chinese tourists?number of outbound tourists soaringchina tourism academy estimates as many as 54 million tourists will go abroad this year, up from 47 million in 2009, reports yu tianyu from beijing.zhu mingxia, a 66-year-old beijing resident, proudly shows off her passport with tourist visas for 13 countries.she is busy planning another trip soon with her 67-year-old husband but is torn between melbourne and london.my grandson is studying economics in melbourne. we miss him so much and want to see him, zhu said. but, i also would love to visit the british museum because i read an interesting article about it in middle school more than 50 years ago.zhu, a former college professor, and her husband traveled to 13 foreign countries, including south africa and burma, within five years of their retirement.we have become experienced travelers and never joined any tour groups because we wish to freely plan our routes, activities and accommodation and at the same time get to know local people and their culture, she said.ahead of their trips, zhu and her husband always do a lot of homework on local traditions, must-go places and the general culture. zhu said that she booked hotels and regional train tickets online and read many pieces written by other travelers.she said: although we only speak a few words of english, it is still not a big problem because many overseas countries have started to provide services in chinese and there are also many helpful people who are able to speak fluent chinese.zhu is just one of many chinese travel enthusiasts who decided to explore the world as the chinese economy boomed and overseas travel became less of a luxury limited to the privileged few.the annual report of china outbound tourism development 2009-2010, recently released by the china tourism academy (cta), estimated that 54 million travelers would go abroad this year, up from 47 million in 2009.jiang yiyi, director of the academys international tourism development institute, said that the outbound travel market for the chinese mainland would remain brisk this year, continuing to contribute to the recovery of the world economy and helping to offset chinas trade surplus.according to the united nations world tourism organization, china will be the worlds fourth-largest source of outbound tourists by 2020, with 100 million overseas visits.spotting the huge market potential, many countries have striven to lure more free-spending chinese tourists, especially amid the global economic recovery.gregory hywood, chief executive of tourism victoria, australia, told china business weekly in an exclusive interview that 163,000 chinese tourists visited victoria in 2009, accounting for a half of the total chinese tourists who traveled to australia. he added the total length of stay soared by 48.2 percent year-on-year to 6.3 million nights.hywood said his organization had worked out a 10-year plan for the chinese market and it also expects a 70 percent increase in the number of tourists to victoria this year, with chinese visitors accounting for 70 percent of the rise.with an investment of a$1.4 billion ($951.6 million), the melbourne convention and exhibition center has received many groups of chinese visitors in recent years, he said. we will put great efforts into the meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition (mice) business because more chinese enterprises have started putting emphasis on rewarding and encouraging their staff.additionally, events and activities, including the australian open, f1 championship and melbourne film festival, will attract many chinese tourists, especially young people, he said.the india tourism industry has launched its incredible india campaign with dances and cultural events all over china projecting southern asian nation as a top travel destination in an effort to woo chinese tourists.shoeb samad, director of india tourism in beijing has said that the number of chinese tourists arriving in india increased from 21,152 in 2003 to 98,724 in 2008. he said india was a natural destination for chinese travelers looking for a spiritually gratifying experience.sri lanka is also looking towards china to boost its sinking tourism industry. hit by the financial crisis, sri lanka received only 9,000 chinese tourists in 2009, but the number is steadily rising.the sri lankan tourism bureau set up an office in beijing in 2008, while sri lankan airlines also offered a number of tour packages to the chinese market. there are three direct flights from beijing to the capital, colombo, every week with chinese attendants on board.many emerging travel destinations are opening up their arms to welcome chinese tourists.the first chinese tour group of 200 tourists is due to visit the democratic peoples republic of korea on april 12, said a statement from the national tourism administration of china. chinese tourists have been able to travel to lebanon since march 1.a report by ac nielson showed that asian countries were the top choice for chinese tourists with more than 60 percent of respondents favoring the destination. the regions popularity was followed by europe and oceania.according to statistics from travel search engine q, top destinations for travelers departing from beijing were hong kong, tokyo, seoul, singapore, bangkok, new york, paris, kuala lumpur, london and sydney.ma nan, marketing manager of beijing uts international travel service co ltd, said his company was expecting a 20 percent rise this year in tourists visiting south africa, egypt, japan, the us and island countries in southeast asia, despite a possible 5 percent year-on-year rise in prices.ma also said that chinese tourists have gradually got more sophisticated. far fewer now travel long journeys by