Employment

Returnees bet on multinationals

Among overseas returnees, those employed by multinational or foreign companies and those who start their own businesses enjoy better career development in China, analysts say.

Thanks to the country's rapid development, demand for such returnees from multinational and foreign companies has grown in recent years. Many who have returned are now senior executives in these companies, says a report conducted by the Center for China Globalization in Beijing last year.

More than 25 percent of overseas returnees have set up their own businesses in China, and another 42 percent said they plan to establish businesses, the report says. For the study, 499 people of different ages were surveyed, and most had studied or worked in the United States or Europe.

Tourism

Paid leave seen as boost

Better enforcement is the key to ensure almost all workers in China enjoy paid leave by 2020, a target set by the top tourism authority, experts say.

The Outline for National Tourism and Leisure, issued by the China National Tourism Administration, includes measures such as reducing the price of entry to scenic spots and improving tourism and leisure infrastructure and accessibility.

The outline aims to meet increasing demands for tourism and leisure. Many economists regard paid annual leave, rather than three week-long national holidays, as the right way to boost the domestic tourism and leisure industries.

However, in a survey by China Youth Daily last year, of 2,400 people, 55 percent said they had never been the beneficiaries of paid leave, and only 22 percent said they could take fully paid leave every year.

Shipyard to build Titanic II

A Chinese shipyard has formed a panel and upgraded its facilities to prepare for the construction of a replica of the Titanic for an Australian billionaire.

The state-owned CSC Jinling Shipyard Co in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, says it will take three years to build. The shipyard signed an agreement to build the liner in April with the Australian mining billionaire Clive Palmer.

The 270-meter-long, 53-meter-high liner will have nine floors and 840 rooms. About 900 crew members and 2,400 passengers will get to travel on its maiden voyage, scheduled for 2016, from England to North America, in accordance with the planned route of the original Titanic, which sank with the loss of 1,502 lives after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic in 1912.

Society

Trust falls to record low

Trust among people in China has dipped to a record low, with fewer than half the respondents to a survey saying they feel "most people can be trusted" while only about 30 percent said they trusted strangers.

The annual Blue Book of Social Mentality analyzed respondents' trust toward various people and organizations and concludes that trust is low. The trust score was 59.7 out of 100; in 2010 the score was 62.9.

The study, conducted by the Institute of Sociology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was based on a survey that asked more than 1,900 randomly selected residents in seven cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

The poll found that family members are viewed as the most trustworthy, followed by close friends and acquaintances.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/22/2013 page2)