"A crucial water conservation task in China is to safeguard the quality of drinking water."

- Wang Shucheng, head of the Ministry of Water Resources. More than 70 per cent of rivers and lakes in the country have been polluted to varying degrees and about 300 million Chinese are drinking sub-standard water.

"We always see such scenes when we pass windows in residential areas, so we have to work out this bill."

- A Mexican official commenting on a new "nudity is forbidden" act. People will be forbidden from being naked even in their own houses, which is considered by many citizens as a restriction of their private freedom.

"In order to make the beer look sparkling and crystal-clear, we actually use oil instead when shooting the commercials - the colour of oil is similar to beer and even looks more transparent and intense than beer. In order to make the picture perfect, we add foam to the glass, which is actually mousse."

-An advertising industry insider, revealing the secret of shooting commercials. Using "stand-ins" is common when making product commercials.

"It will be as ordinary as a resident of Shandong Province going to study in Shanxi Province and then coming back to work in Shandong."

-Zhan Tao, head of Shandong University, explaining why the word "hai gui" (overseas Chinese students returning to China to work) would disappear from the vocabulary in the future.

"To Chinese travellers, the gate to Germany was opened long before. But now they will have more freedom."

-Xu Shengli, in charge of promoting German tourism in China. As of 2005, Chinese can apply for visas to make non-tour-group trips to Germany.

"If poor people cannot get to university, they will not experience the difference between themselves and the rich, so they can keep living happily as they always have and the society will become more stable."

- Internet comment by a rich college student, widely condemned, but reflecting the relations between rich and the poor students in universities. About 25 per cent of college students - or more than 3 million - are from poor families.