Exam over father?

Relatives, teachers and classmates of Lu Na, a student attending this year's college entrance examination in Southwest China's Chengdu successfully concealed the news of her father's death for 13 days - until she finished the test. While many readers found the story touching, a comment by Lian Hongyang in the Qilu Evening News expresses a different view.

Lu's story poses a question to us: Which is more important, a visit to her father at his death-bed or the upcoming college entrance examination?

A last meeting with her father was surely important for Lu, who had been living with her divorced father. Of course, there was a possibility that Lu, on learning the news, would be so devastated that she could not attend the test or would perform badly in it. However, she could also achieve more, motivated by her father's hope. The college entrance examination is held every year, but Lu has only one father. It is sad that the college entrance examination has distorted our value system to such a degree.

Though with a successful career, a person cannot be called noble-minded if he/she cares nothing about others. A society can never be harmonious without warm-hearted feelings among its people, even if it is economically advanced. Therefore, such a practice that overemphasizes the role of the college entrance examination and ignores basic humanity should not be praised.

Sex bribery as a crime

A female student who failed in this year's entrance examination for post-graduates revealed to Beijing media recently that she had obtained the answers to test questions prior to the test after having sex with the professor responsible for the test paper design. The professor has denied the charge. An article in the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily doubts whether the professor and the student should only receive moral criticism if sex is really involved in this case.

If an individual's action violates social norms, but does not violate public interest or bears no or little social harm, we regard it as just a moral issue. However, careful consideration is needed in this case if the professor and the student are proved to have had an affair and evidence points to a connection between their affair and the leakage of test answers. If the professor, who was responsible for designing the test questions and was thus "State personnel" according to China's Criminal Law, really said that "everything has a price", he actually asked for a "bribe".

The point here is that "sex bribery" is not a crime in China, despite the fact that it can help bribers get illegal gains, much like other forms of bribery.

Most countries and regions have included sex bribery in the category of bribery crimes. Some scholars in China have argued that making sex bribery a crime is not feasible due to difficulties in definition as well as in conviction. If sex bribery has the general characteristics of a crime, why can't it be listed as a crime?