"That's not part of the press conference and I'll tell you later."
- Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs answering the question of a foreign journalist about her next move after leaving her spokesperson position. Zhang, 45, will in fact become China's ambassador to Belgium.
"Giving and receiving so many banquets invitations has exhausted me. Therefore, I have decided to free myself from all that. From now on, apart from the very small number of functions I cannot avoid, I will simply send flowers for weddings, and wreaths and fireworks for funerals."
- Luo Shaowu, head of a police station in East China's Hunan Province, in a notice explaining his refusal to give or accept dinner invitations.
"I wouldn't take money if I could not help people get jobs, or if they were not close to me, or if several people were struggling for the same position."
- Li Gang, head of a county in North China's Heilongjiang Province, after being sentenced to lifelong imprisonment recently for selling job opportunities in governmental units. Li had formulated these "principles" of bribe-taking in order to reduce the chance of discovery.
"I imagine an ideal office to be one without chairs, where you can either lie down or stand up. Those are the most natural and comfortable postures for human beings."
- A European designer describing an office designed for the human body.
"Let's establish a prison that could serve as a home for elderly people. That would be humane and economical, certainly better than letting old people threaten younger ones on the street with hammers."
- A German nurse, responding to the increase in violent crime among elderly people in the country. German seniors have been robbing banks and department stores to survive. There are plans to build a prison specifically for those people.
"To levy taxation on inheritances could raise the cost of 'corruption' in two respects: not only would a large proportion of any bribe or embezzled income that officials took risks to obtain have to be handed over to the government as taxation, the policy would also increase the chance of corruption being discovered."
- Designer of inheritance tax Wang Minggao saying the policy would become an important tool in the fight against corruption in China.
"Some people are glad to see cadres make mistakes. The more officials are punished and the higher their level, the happier such people are. They want to see more senior officials being dragged down from their positions."
- Ren Keli, official of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, suggesting that some people in society were hostile to officials.
"Must a person pay extra for something that might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? If the answer is 'yes,' then the government should charge huge sums of money for registering marriages or for giving birth to an only child."
- A resident at a public hearing questioning the logic of raising the admission prices to six scenic spots in Beijing, arguing that most of the people visiting these sites will only do so once in their lives.
(Star News)
