Editor,

Good point (Cheap labour is nothing to brag about, March 7). For China to move up the value-added chain, the economy has to be driven by inspiration rather than perspiration. And there is an urgent need for employers in China, both public and private sectors, to rectify the erroneous concept of regarding a good employee as one who spends long hours at work. Instead, workers should be given ample time to rest, and their understanding of depression as an illness enhanced.

The amount of time we spend at work is taking a heavy toll on our health and family life, as well as affecting our ability to improve ourselves by self-education. China should aim to spur economic growth by raising its workforce's productivity, not by working them harder.

David, Hong Kong

Editor,

The workers need time off work for their rest and recreation and at the same time will be able to spend their earnings to generate the growth of the economy. Chinese workers spend 30 per cent of their incomes and save the rest. Without their spending, the growing economy of the country will not be able to sustain itself for long.

The workers themselves will suffer due to the non-stop work that they undertake, and community will pay a heavy price for social and medical problems at the end of the day.

Frank Goh, via e-mail

Treat unnamed artists fairly

Editor:

The intangible cultural heritage of China's ethnic minority people, as discussed in your item on China's living legacy, certainly must be protected. By that we mean their beautiful traditional designs and special means of creation and manufacture of clothing, artefacts, implements, and so on.

Relics of historic value should not be allowed out of the country. But ethnic people should be encouraged to create new tangible items for sale to anyone who will pay them a fair price whether they be Chinese or foreign tourists, or foreign scholars and supplement their meagre incomes.

There is nothing wrong with middlemen in a market economy. But government and cultural organizations should provide the necessary laws and oversight to ensure that ethnic folk are not cheated.

Sha Boli, Beijing

Editor,

I have some comment on the article of "Innovators, artists deserve recognition (March 9)."

Yes, China's treasures are seldom properly packaged into guide-booklets or tour books of each region. There is a lot of business potential in these.

When I went to the United Kingdom, France and Germany, I could buy all the little booklets of each small tourist site. For example, Stonehenge in England has one just for the rather small ancient monument, and lots of us from the tour group from China bought one to read, even though it is in English.

China has many such monuments of historic significance, but they are simply left for tourists to wonder what they are with no explanations. It is really a great pity. These innovations in tourism industry can create numerous jobs for our unemployed rural areas too. The little brochures/booklets for the Stonehenge that we bought cost the equivalent of 10 yuan (US$1.20) each.

Joanne Tse via e-mail

Help families

with sick kids

Editor,

The Netherlands recently considered a legislation for registered "Baby Euthanasia" (The Sunday Times, London, UK; China Daily, Hong Kong Edition, page 9, March 7).

The background rather overlooked was that some couples suffer from complicated lives, feeling deep helplessness when their babies are heavily ill.

Tragedies explicitly arouse our sympathy for both suffering families and legalized "Euthanasia."

Actually, we have to support the suffering parents first by encouraging their efforts to care for their infants no matter how serious the illness is. Hospitals, care centres and volunteers are urgently needed to help couples care for their ill babies.

Show the warmest care with appropriate methods to the suffering families, and help them safeguard their family life and ill infants. This is more urgently demanded than any legalization or support for "Baby Euthanasia."

Raymond IP, Hong Kong Baptist University

(China Daily 03/20/2006 page4)