您现在的位置: Language Tips> Columnist> Liu Shinan  
   
 





 
 
Let 10,000 rare plants be preserved
The Three Gorges Botanical Garden of Rare Plants was closed last month for financial reasons.
[ 2007-07-04 14:31 ]

Let 10,000 rare plants be preserved

The Three Gorges Botanical Garden of Rare Plants was closed last month for financial reasons.

Thousands of rare plants in the reserve which had been transplanted from their original habitat before it was submerged by the reservoir are now facing the danger of perishing because of bureaucratic indifference.

When the Three Gorges hydroelectric project was officially launched 15 years ago, the government promised that the adverse impact on the environment would be minimized. But it seems the relevant authorities have done a poor job in preserving rare plants and maintaining biodiversity in the reservoir area.

It is unfair to accuse the government of inaction. The central authorities did make some moves. The Three Gorges Office under the State Council allocated funds to finance scientific research for "rescuing rare species" and the State Forestry Bureau appropriated 3.13 million yuan ($391,250) to the Three Gorges Botanical Garden of Rare Plants. And Premier Wen Jiabao gave special instructions on how the work should be carried out.  

However, there seems to have been no serious implementation of the instructions on the part of local authorities. In its five years of existence, the botanical garden has been maintained by one individual not connected with the government and the 20-plus workers he personally employed.

Xiang Xiufa, a former fish pond farmer, gave up his own business to launch the botanical garden in 2002. Supported by China's top botanists, the garden received funds from the State Forestry Bureau for its first stage of development. The money was soon used up in constructing the garden's infrastructure. Xiang sold his fishing business with its 300,000 yuan ($37,500) annual income and part of his residence to pay for transplanting wild plants and paying the workers' wages.

He and his team raced against time to rescue the wild plants from the rising water and by mid-2004 had succeeded in preserving nearly 10,000 rare plants of 175 species in the botanical garden. However, lack of money prevented him from employing qualified technicians for better management of the garden.

After Premier Wen Jiabao issued instructions on the matter in April 2005, the Chongqing municipal government made three decisions: build a highway leading to the garden; draft an overall plan for financial support to be submitted to the central government; and include the garden in the local government budget.

Not one of the decisions has been implemented. The reasons? There were a number of them: bureaucratic inaction; buck passing between government departments; and unwillingness to dig into the local treasury for a non-lucrative business; but most of all, the officials' indifference toward the protection of the rare plants.

Maybe the central government should allocate more money to help with the job. But the local government failed to draft, as it has promised, the required plan and application though two years have passed. And local officials did not do much to help Xiang despite his repeated appeals citing the premier's instructions.

A journalist who has followed Xiang's efforts for many years remarked: "He is too naive, thinking that he has won powerful support from the central and municipal leaders. He doesn't understand the rules - a distant supreme leader is not as substantially powerful as an immediate superior."

This mirrors one of the vital problems in China's administrative culture: Strong central policies end up with weak or non-existent implementation by local officials.

Email: liushinan@chinadaily.com.cn


(China Daily 06/06/2007 page10) 

 

About the author:
 

刘式南 高级编辑。1968年毕业于武汉华中师范学院(现华中师范大学)英文系。1982年毕业于北京体育学院(现北京体育大学)研究生院体育情报专业。1982年进入中国日报社,先后担任体育记者、时政记者、国际新闻编辑、要闻版责任编辑、发稿部主任、《上海英文星报》总编辑、《中国商业周刊》总编辑等职。现任《中国日报》总编辑助理及专栏作家。1997年获国务院“特殊贡献专家政府津贴”。2000年被中华全国新闻工作者协会授予“全国百佳新闻工作者”称号。2006年获中国新闻奖二等奖(编辑)。

分享按钮
中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
相关文章 Related Story
 
 
 
本频道最新推荐
 
伪造照片 doctored photo
俄科学家预测20年内人类和外星人相遇
公开的秘密:美总统签名多为机器代劳
空脑壳 airhead
9句表达让对方“别闹了”
翻吧推荐
 
论坛热贴
 
原来国家的名字如此浪漫
Funny lines about getting married
关于工资的英语词汇大全
关于职业装的英语词汇
余光中《尺素寸心》(节选)译