Quotes making news around the 18th Party Congress

"If we fail to handle [corruption] well, it could prove fatal to the party, and even cause the collapse of the party and the fall of the state."
 -President Hu Jintao in his Nov 8 opening remarks.

"The point is not just to double income. The real problem is whether we can improve happiness or satisfaction of the people. Most people care about food safety, our social safety net and high quality education. In the current situation, people feel very upset about the social environment in China."
-Gary Liu, Executive Deputy Director of the think tank CEIBS Lujiazui Institute of International Finance, commenting on Hu Jintao’s pledge to double household incomes. Reuters

"Hu promised to double China’s 2010 GDP by 2020.  That sounds really impressive, but it actually equates to just 7 percent growth going forward — and I’m assuming here that he meant double real, not just nominal GDP, because otherwise the real growth rate would be even lower.  So really, he’s lowering the bar in a pretty significant way.  Hu also set the goal of doubling per capita income by 2020.  The problem is, if GDP and per capita income both double, China won’t see any meaningful rebalancing towards consumption, because household income won’t grow as a portion of GDP — and again, that’s assuming he’s talking about real income growth, because if income only doubles in nominal terms, it will decline relative to real GDP.  To rebalance its economy China needs to grow income faster than GDP — which could either mean faster growth in income, or slower growth in GDP."
-Tsinghua University Economist Patrick Chovanec.

"Red dramas need to be more realistic and not propagate 'party worship' and exaggerate so much...In some red dramas, if a character meets any trouble or danger he will definitely say 'I voluntarily join the Communist Party of China'. When I see this, I usually switch channels." 
-26-year-old Qiu Ying on the flood of “Red dramas” shown on TV during the party congress. Many young viewers have been turned off and gone online in search of more entertaining (often foreign) programs. Reuters

"Technological innovation in the United States, Britain, and France is supported by venture capital and startup investment. A positive environment for equity finance must be the foundation for innovation. This can push China to enter sectors dominated by developed countries. The real economy is still focused on low-value-added production - it's intimately related to the fact that our financial system is not developed. The real economy lags behind because financing is difficult and expensive.”
-Guo Shuqing, Chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission. Reuters

“Every party member, including me, is a reformer.” 
-Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang. When pressed to speak of his views on political reform, Mr. Wang replied, “If you read General Secretary Hu Jintao’s speech from yesterday [at the opening of the congress], you will have all your questions answered.” The Hindu

“Houses are too expensive. Dads and moms of many of my classmates spent all their savings on buying a home and even borrowed money from the bank, and had no money to buy toys for the kids.”
-Zhang Jiahe, an 11-year-old from Chinese Teenagers News, asking Jiang Weixin, the housing minister, how he would lower housing prices. Jiang replied, “I hope our little friends focus on studying hard. The issue of housing prices will be solved in the future.” Ministry of Tofu

“I love snacks, but I don’t dare to eat snacks now and neither do my classmates, as there are so many poisoned foods on the market. So my question to all the minister-level uncles and aunties is: how can we children eat foods without concern?”
- 11-year-old Sun Luyuan, also from Chinese Teenagers News, asked this question to a group of high ministers at the congress. Education Minister Yuan Guiren fielded the question before a surprised crowd saying that the government doing it all could to improve things. Telegraph