Even as the Chinese government touts the railway as a successful development project, international activists and Tibetans-in-exile are critical. If trade and tourism take off, they argue, most of the benefits will accrue to Lhasa's rapidly expanding population of Han Chinese, who control most of the tourist industry as well as most trade between Tibet and the rest of China. Most of the construction companies benefiting from the railway are from eastern China, and the same is likely to be true for mining companies now hoping to use the railway to facilitate their operations in the region. The railway also seems sure to accelerate Han migration to Tibet, which could further stir resentment among the Tibetan population.

excerpted from The Economist

    1. In a modern society higher credit pressure prevails. The parents believe that more training course brings about better credits and more success. The more the children can do, the better prerequisites for their life in the future.

    2. Many parents have grown up during the Culture Revolution. They enjoyed no good school training and suffered from lack of knowledge. Therefore they definitely wish that their children grasp the opportunities of an allround training. Their children have the duty to make come true the dream of their parents.

    Anyway shortcomings lie in the behaviour of the parents. Many parents forget that children are, after all, children, which means the parents require their children too much. They overburden them.  Experts suggest give the children more time to arrange by themselves. In such a period, children may do what they feel like to do, either hang out with other children, read or just make a dream. The parents have to understand the word "spare time". Spare time means time without duties, which is needed by everyone, especially children.

Le limogeage de l'un des vices-maires de Pékin, Liu Zhihua, 57 ans, relance le débat sur la corruption en Chine. Responsable des projets d'environnement et de construction pour les Jeux olympiques de 2008, Liu gérait un budget énorme : 32 milliards d'euros.

A-t-il été choisi comme bouc émissaire pour donner du poids à la « campagne des huit honneurs et des huit hontes » lancée fin mars pour inculquer un peu de civisme aux cadres du parti ? Selon un rapport de l'OCDE, la corruption aurait représenté l'an dernier de 3 à 5 % du PIB chinois...

Les réalisations de Liu ont-elles déplu? Pékin est engagée dans une modernisation sans précédent. La vieille ville a été rasée au cours des dix dernières années et des programmes surgissent de toutes parts, alors que les périphériques se multiplient. On cherche en vain un plan d'ensemble, une vision, ou même un centre. Pékin a été livrée à une spéculation immobilière effrénée et à des promoteurs dénués de scrupules.

Les hauts dirigeants voulaient-ils utiliser cette affaire pour faire baisser les prix dans la capitale ? L'immobilier a été multiplié par cinq depuis 2002... Un récent sondage indique que seulement trois Chinois sur dix sont en mesure de s'acheter un logement à Pékin. Le gouvernement veut éviter des troubles, notamment parmi les familles délogées du centre-ville et mal indemnisées.

A moins que Liu, sans doute corrompu, installé par l'ancien gouvernement, n'ait été politiquement lâché à l'approche du congrès de l'automne 2007. La presse chinoise garde le silence sur cette affaire, en contradiction avec la volonté affichée de montrer un exemple de la lutte anticorruption. Le successeur du vice-maire, Ji Lin, 44 ans, est un représentant de la nouvelle génération politique, ancien chef de la Ligue de la jeunesse dans la capitale, apprécié en haut lieu. Ce scénario rappelle l'affaire Chen Xitong, voilà dix ans. L'ancien maire de Pékin avait été limogé puis condamné à seize ans de détention. Pour corruption manifeste. Mais surtout pour raison politique

Par LePoint

迎奥运，搞腐败

北京市57岁的副市长六枝花的下马再次掀起了对中国的腐败现象的讨论。作为2008年奥运会环境规划和场馆建设工程的负责人，liu 掌控着一笔庞大的预算：320亿欧元。

谆谆教导党内干部行为准则的“8荣8耻”在三月底推出，liu是否就是为配合这次运动而被选出的替罪之羊？根据“经济合作发展组织”的一份报告显示，腐败在去年占到中国国民生产总值的3-5%...

是 liu 的所作所为树大招风？北京正在以空前的速度搞现代化建设。在过去的十年间，这座老城处处立项目，圈圈建环路，一派旧貌换新颜的景象。一幅愿景、一份整体规划方案、甚至连一个建设中心都无从看到。毫无约束的房地产投机行为以及毫无顾虑的开发商充斥北京。

高层们愿意利用这件事情降低首都的房价吗？2002年以来房地产项目增长了5倍... 近期的一项调查显示，只有三成的公民考虑在北京购置房产。政府想摆脱掉这个包袱，尤其是那些被勒令从市内迁居且赔付不力的家庭。

腐败确凿的 liu 若不是经由上届政府任命，是不会在2007年人代会即将到来之际走露政治风声的。中国媒体不仅对此事一直讳莫如深，还以司马昭之心树立反腐败斗争战役的榜样。副市长的继任者，44岁的吉林，是新一届政权的中坚分子。这个共青团的前头目深得高层赏识。此情此景让人联想起陈锡铜， 十年茫茫。时任北京市市长，罢免后判处16年有期徒刑。腐败不过是表面原因。归根到底还是政治借口

译自《观点》周刊

标准法语之滥觞

Corruption in the form of Olympic

The removel of Liu Zhihua, 57, vice-mayor of Beijing, from his post, restarts the debate over the corruption in China. As responsible for the projects of environment and construction for the 2008 Olympic Games, Liu directed an enormous budget: 32 billion Euros.

Has he been chosen as scapegoat for the campaign of attaching importance to the "8 honours and 8 dishonours" launched at the end of March as to inculcate the moral of party cardres? According to a report from OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), the corruption last year would have represented from 3% to 5% of the Chinese GDP ...

The achievement of Liu has been displeasing? Beijing is engaged in an unprecedented modernization. The ancient city has been shaven during the last ten years by the emerging programmes all about, while the belt roads multiplies. Beijing has been provided with an unbridled speculation in real estate and the developers stripped of scruples.

Would the top leaders reduce the prices in the capital through this affair? Real estate has been timed 5 since 2002... A recent survey indicates that only 3 out of 10 Chinese are in consideration of purchasing an appartment in Beijing. The Government wants to escape the troubles, especially among those families dislodged from the downtown and poorly compensated.

If it were not for his being installed by the former government, Liu, undoubtedly corrupted, would not have been politically released as the congress approaches in autumn, 2007. Chinese media keep silence over this issue, and to the contrary, show an example of struggle against corruption with a posted intention. The successor of vice-mayor, Ji Lin, 44, representative of the new political generation, former head of the Youth League in the capital, is appreciated by the higher level. This scenario reminds of the Chen Xitong affair ten years ago. The former mayor of Beijing had then been dismissed and sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment. For corruption as manifested. For political reason after all.

 Translated from LePoint

whose language selected as the most standard French

A hidden vice
A corruption scandal has shaken Beijing's municipal government in the run-up to the Olympic Games in 2008. Liu Zhihua, the vice-mayor in charge of Olympic-related construction projects, was abruptly fired on June 11th for "corruption and dissoluteness", according to a terse dispatch from China's official Xinhua News Agency. The report provided few details of Mr Liu's misdeeds, saying only that city officials had "verified the facts of his wrongdoings" and had found them to be "quite serious and have baneful social influence". Mr Liu has been detained and his case referred for investigation and prosecution.

China's bureaucratic ranks are rife with corruption, and Mr Liu's position gave him ample opportunity to bend rules in his favour. Vice-mayor since 1998, he supervised the construction of Olympic sporting venues, as well as an estimated $40 billion-worth of related infrastructure projects. City officials and Olympic organisers rushed to limit the scandal's damage, naming another vice-mayor, Ji Lin, as the new head of Olympic projects on June 14th and assuring the public that construction would continue apace. But a sceptical public, and even some officially run newspapers, have wondered about the details of Mr Liu's case and how far-reaching the corruption may be.

From The Economist with flawless English

MADRID.- El número de 'nuevos ricos' españoles aumenta significativamente. Las ganancias de la Bolsa o la revalorización de la vivienda están detrás del crecimiento, el segundo más alto de la zona euro y que lleva a España a entrar en el 'top ten' de los países con mayor número de grandes fortunas.

del Mundo

Madrid.- The number of spanish "new riches" has significantly augmented. The gains from the stock-market or house revaluation are behind the increase, second highest in the Euro Zone and making Spain rank "top ten" countries with biggest numbers of great fortunes.

From el Mundo

AMERICANS do not go in for envy. The gap between rich and poor is bigger than in any other advanced country, but most people are unconcerned. Whereas Europeans fret about the way the economic pie is divided, Americans want to join the rich, not soak them. Eight out of ten, more than anywhere else, believe that though you may start poor, if you work hard, you can make pots of money. It is a central part of the American Dream.

The political consensus, therefore, has sought to pursue economic growth rather than the redistribution of income, in keeping with John Kennedy's adage that “a rising tide lifts all boats.”Even in a country that tolerates inequality, political consequences follow when the rising tide raises too few boats. The impact of stagnant wages has been dulled by rising house prices, but still most Americans are unhappy about the economy. “If things carry on like this for long enough,” muses one insider, “we are going to end up like Brazil”—a country notorious for the concentration of its income and wealth.

Excerpted from Economist