Star’s appointment heralds better sports management

CHINESE BASKETBALL STAR YAO MING was elected chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association by a unanimous vote at the association’s ninth national congress on Thursday. Thepaper.cn commented on Friday:

As the first head of the Chinese Basketball Association from outside its ranks, Yao is expected to breathe some fresh air into the top basketball governing body that is undergoing a management reshuffle.

In recent years Chinese basketball players have failed to impress their fans with their performances in tournaments at home and abroad. Nor are there any youngsters setting the courts alight. This has a lot to do with the excessive institutional barriers on club-to-club transfers.

Yao, who played for the Houston Rockets in the United States from 2002 until he retired injured in 2011, was voted a National Basketball Association All-Star eight times, and had long been hailed by many as the most apt candidate to be head of the Chinese Basketball Association, not just because of his successful career as a player, but also

Lu Kehua, vice-minister ofHousing and Urban-Rural Development, said on Thursday that the introduction of real estate tax was a reform task set during the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and he said that because of his expertise in running a basketball club. He bought his hometown club, the Shanghai Sharks, in 2009. He also led Team China to an alltime equally best of eighth place at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

When it comes to picking the top decisionmaker for basketball, it is difficult to find a candidate as resourceful and respected as Yao, in addition, his key aides are veteran basketball players or coaches, which means the association’s management is now arguably the most “professional” in years. This heralds a significant move to separate the nation’s sports associations from State control and leave the management to those in the know.

Still, it is worth noting that Yao’s election is just the beginning of the long journey to professional sports management. legislation for real estate tax is now being drawn up by the departments concerned.

What Lu said drewwide public attention, as the proposed legislation for real estate tax will be comprehensive and cover all real estate economic activities, not only residential properties but also commercial real estate.

Real estate tax has been on the cards for more than 10 years, and the central authorities have several times proposed legislation

Home to abundant tourism resources, Yunnan province, as Chen discovered during his private tour, has some undesirable practices in its tourism industry. According to Chen, the group of tourists he was among were lured into a local souvenir shop and forced to buy what was on display. They were even not allowed to leave until they had purchased enough.

Chen is not the first senior official to embark on such a “secret” inspection. Two years ago the China National Tourism Administration sent nine inspection teams to a number of regions, Yunnan included, and urged them to keep such forced shopping at bay. But unlike his colleagues who had previously inspected the local tourist attractions, Chen was not identified during his tour because he only took office in November.

Many argue that the blatant violation of tourists’ interests is already known and such “secret” inspections by leading local officials are uncalled for. But is that actually the case? Yes and no. It is laudable that leading local officials want to find out for themselves what is happening in the local tourism industries. But their findings will make little difference if they are not taken seriously by those whose job it is to enforce market order and if the travel agencies are not held accountable for their illicit activities.

That said, extra efforts are called for to improve the implementation of executive orders and find out why they are not fully complied with.

Legislation for real estate tax

be introduced.

But as a long-term mechanism to regulate the real estate market, the influence of a real estate tax depends on the specifics of the law, and it will take some time for a real estate lawto be written.

Scan it for more hot words.