?When I hit the big time, I will buy a BMW7 series car as my marriage dowry,? said sparkling 22-year-old Jian Jingtao, ?and I?ll give it to my fiance to show him how much I love him.?

In China, the cheapest BMW7 series model costs nearly 1 million yuan (133,000 US dollars) while the average annual income for urban residents, nationwide, is only 12,000 yuan (1,600 US dollars) in 2006.

Jian, a civil servant in the southwestern province of Sichuan, makes about 1,200 yuan (around Rs 5, 200) a month, and she also works as a part-time weatherwoman in a TV station in Liangshan Yi, an impoverished area of the province, where most people haven?t even heard of BMW. The part-time job doesn?t bring her much money.

Then, how can she possibly realize her dream? Well, instead of counting on her part-time job, she has other ideas.?I?m taking the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) test and I?ve passed Level II,? says Jian, her eyes shining with hope, ?just one step away from the best financial institutions!?She believed getting a job in such institutions would mean she is one step closer to her dream car.

Official data suggested that staff workers in China?s well-known financial institutions are making 15,000 yuan (around Rs 64, 000) a month and more. And jobs in the financial sector have being taking the lead, driven by the basic principle of a market economy ? supply and demand.

Around 45 million people will join the labor force in the next five years in China, but many of them will have to take jobs as laborers and construction workers and make just 800 yuan (around Rs 3, 500) a month.

When lecturing in China?s leading Tsinghua University, China Construction Bank (CCB) Chairman Guo Shuqing testified that the most troubling problem facing his bank in its ?go overseas? strategy is a shortage of talented professionals. CCB, one of China?s four biggest commercial banks, wants to set up branches in New York and London, Guo told the students, adding that the bank is ?hungry for people specialized in financial accounting, securities analysis, portfolio management, interest rate pricing and foreign exchange pricing?.

China, the world?s fastest-growing economy with an annual GDP growth of almost 10 percent for the last 10 years, has long been considered the world?s factory, producing about 75 percent of the world?s home appliances for example. But as the country moves to a more market-oriented financial system, financial talents are at a premium because there are so many issues to deal with.

As new regulations come into play concerning foreign investments, Chinese fund managers and securities traders would like to foot it out with overseas competitors ? which brings us back to the lack of financial talents. Not surprisingly, foreign banks are also on the lookout for qualified people in China. In 2005, the Bank of East Asia opened personal services, the first to do so in China.

As the government opens the banking sector to meet its World Trade Organization commitments, the human resources battle for the best and brightest in the financial sector has escalated as well.

China has outlined its new policies for the finance industry, including deepening the reform of state-owned banks, facilitating rural financial reforms, and steadily pushing forward the reform of foreign exchange rate. The country?s financial sector is set to speed up as the market continues to swing open.

In that case, Jian Jingtao, the young woman with so many traditional Chinese virtues, has an excellent chance of realizing her dream and the dream of her lucky boyfriend, probably with a little help in the shape of a bank loan.

Xu BO

(China Features)

As China, the ?land of the bicycle?, tries to fight climate change, Chinese President Hu Jintao is trying to set the example. He and a group of other state leaders were recently pictured wearing open-necked shirts with short sleeves, rather than their normal jackets and ties when attending a high-profile conference at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. China?s leaders were trying to set an example for all the office workers to dress in light, casual clothing in summer in order to reduce the use of air conditioners. Climate change is a major issue in China, considered as one of the world?s biggest polluters.

Ding YIMIN

CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART COMES OUT OF THE SHADOW

Yue Minjun enjoys laughing at the world.

He paints himself on canvas: a group of Yue?s laughing during military exercises, laughing while flying on backs of geese and laughing at historic world events.

The 44-year-old Yue has a reason to laugh in the real world now. His painting, The Pope ? a giggling Yue dressed as a Pope ? sold for 2.14 million pounds, or over 30 million yuan, at Sotheby?s London auction in June 2007, setting a new record for Chinese contemporary art piece.

The last record holder before was Liu Xiaodong, whose painting The New Migrants of the Three Gorges sold for 22 million yuan at Beijing Poly International Auction in November 2006.

Chinese contemporary art has taken off in the international art world. Yue is not the only Chinese avant-garde artist selling at international auctions; others include Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun, Liu Xiaodong and Yang Shaobin.

Zhan YAN

GROWING OLD WITH DIGNITY : CHINA STRUGGLES TO CARE FOR AN INCREASING NUMBER OF ELDERLY

China has more than 40,000 senior care institutions with about 1.7 million beds for its population of 145 million over 60, of which about 67 percent live in rural areas and about 13 million aged people over 80 are now in dire need of care. About one-third or half of the elderly in large cities are without support from their children or a livelihood. More elderly people are realizing they cannot expect their working children to shoulder the responsibility of supporting and taking care of them. However, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has endeavored to build up a senior care social service system based on family care, supported by community services and supplemented by institutional services.

Miao HONG

CONSTRUCTING FOR 2008 OLYMPICS

As Beijing prepares to host athletes throughout the world to participate in the 2008 Olympic Games, the city?s Olympic new look begins to unfold.

Of the 31 new and refurbished venues for the Olympics, the iconic ?Bird?s Nest? National Stadium and the ?Water Cube? Aquatics Center are the landmark showpieces. The main stadium for the Games, the National Stadium is located at the Olympic Green, east of the city?s north-south axis and to the north, covering an area of 258,000 square meters (63.8 acres).

Its twisting structure, which gives the 91,000-seat stadium its nickname, is made of 45,000 tons of steel. It will host the opening and closing ceremonies, track and field events and football finals. The ?Bird?s Nest? has the world?s most advanced screening and omni-directional systems and mobile seating. It will be used for large sports events, conventional competitions and non-competitive events as well as provide wide-ranging entertainment and sporting facilities to residents after the Games.

Rong JIAOJIAO