Sensationalizing magic potions irresponsible

A RECENT TV REPORT about muskmelons in Lanxi county, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, found that a sweetening liquid is injected into the melons, sparking public concerns. Li Baoju, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, comments on Beijing News:

Many worry that the "sweetening liquid" might contain harmful chemicals. As a result, people have said they will hesitate before buying the muskmelons in the future.

That's a total misunderstanding. The "sweetening liquid" contains nothing but micro-elements, amino acid, potassic fertilizer, which do little harm to human bodies. However, the report did not explain that clearly.

The report in the case is only one of its kind. In another report, done by several media outlets, they said farmers make their cucumbers look better with a kind of hormone that's similar to that in contraceptive pills. That misleads people into believing the cucumbers they buy in the market may harm their health, but actually the hormones are plant hormones that have little effect upon human bodies.

Such reports share one point in common: They were written by journalists and editors without any professional knowledge and without interviewing any experts. Maybe some of them avoid interviewing professionals because they hope to tell only part of the truth to their readers so as to attract more eyeballs; Maybe they simply do not think of asking professionals.

But one thing is certain: Such reports without proper professional knowledge have misled consumers and cast negative effects upon the market. According to reports, the price of cucumbers dropped from 4 yuan ($0.59) to 1.6 yuan a kilogram in some places after the "hormone" report.

In order to prevent such things from happening again, journalists and editors should consult experts to comment on such practices rather than sensationalizing their reports. And more important, the agricultural supervision departments need to better regulate the market, so as to strengthen public confidence in agricultural products. Only with joint efforts from both sides will people have solid trust in agricultural products, which benefits both consumers and farmers.

THE STATE COUNCIL, China's Cabinet, approved Shandong provincial government's application to merge its smallest administrative area, the city of Laiwu, with the neighboring provincial capital Jinan last week. China Daily reporter Li Yang comments:

The move will increase Jinan's area from 8,177 square kilometers to 10,244 sq km, its population from 7.4 million to 8.7 million, and its annual gross domestic product from about 809 billion yuan ($120 billion) to 913 billion yuan, according to last year's data.

The merging of the two cities is not a surprise to many, as the Shandong provincial government started carrying out a regional integration development plan customized for the two cities in 2013, and a 117-km high-speed railway connecting the two cities has been under construction since late 2017.

Both cities will benefit from becoming one administrative area. Jinan will further consolidate its position as the second largest city economy in the province, second only to the coastal port city of Qingdao whose GDP is about 1.2 trillion yuan. And if Jinan's current annual GDP growth rate of about 12 percent is maintained, its GDP will increase to more than 1 trillion yuan－which is the threshold for first echelon of cities in China of which there are about 13 at present.

For Laiwu's part, although many people lament its disappearance as a city in name, the local people and economy will benefit from the move. The city－which was upgraded from a county of its western neighbor of Taian to a city in 1992 thanks to the booming of its steel industry that contributes to more than half of its economy today－is expected to receive more support from Jinan. And Laiwu will have more resources and room to diversify its economic structure.

Despite this, Jinan will have to help upgrade Laiwu's industrial technology, and improve its urban management and public services, which Jinan has been doing for itself, so as to shorten the development gap between the two places. If this work is not done appropriately, one plus one will be less than two.