From 2007 to now, this year might be the one with the least writing. I flipped through the backend article list and found that there have been no updates since April 22. Fortunately, there were 11 posts before April 22. Adding this one, it makes a total of 12, averaging more than one per month.

From 2007 to the present, a few impactful events have occurred each year, and this year seems to follow that pattern.

“A woman should be a good housewife and mother, and not compete with men for territory.” A poster displayed at the Marriage Registration Office in Xicheng District, Beijing, has sparked widespread controversy, and this issue has also been discussed on Zhihu.

Having worked as a “marriage and family mediator,” I’d like to share my personal views.

1. Hanging such a poster is definitely inappropriate. Publicly displaying such a statement is clearly politically incorrect, but it doesn’t prevent it from being conveyed in individual cases.
2. I previously made a mistake in a few comments. Divorce mediation is a mandatory procedure in our court, but it doesn’t seem to be a required step at the marriage registration office. According to regulations like the People’s Mediation Law, mediation at the marriage registration office must be initiated by one of the parties. If both parties agree to divorce and all materials are complete, the divorce certificate can be issued immediately.
3. In reality (cases that enter the judicial process), most situations we encounter involve one party unwilling to divorce or significant disputes over property division, debt allocation, or child custody. Cases where both parties quickly reach an agreement and divorce are relatively rare, though they might be more common at the marriage registration office due to its convenience.
4. Court mediation is mandatory, as stipulated by the Civil Procedure Law. However, mandatory mediation doesn’t mean forcing reconciliation but rather helping the parties reach a consensus—either by signing a divorce agreement or deciding to reconcile and drop the divorce.
5. One of the key purposes of mandatory mediation is to avoid official rulings. The law is impartial, and if mediation fails, the judge must decide on issues like property division, debt allocation, and child custody. Such decisions are painful for both the judge and the parties involved, as forcibly assigning property or custody carries a high risk of dissatisfaction. Judges prefer to continue mediation efforts rather than make a ruling. Additionally, judges receive incentives for successful mediation (a few dozen yuan per case). A successful mediation where the couple happily signs a divorce agreement or withdraws the case resolves disputes, saves judicial resources, and reduces litigation costs, satisfying all parties involved.
6. Mediation is a process where a mediator coordinates interests between parties. The active (weaker) party is more likely to concede than the passive (stronger) party. From a utilitarian perspective, mediators often start by persuading the active (weaker) party to temporarily accept further compromises to resolve the dispute. This can easily lead to scenarios like the one depicted in the poster, where marriage registration staff, aiming for successful mediation, mechanically impose patriarchal ideas on women to dissuade them from divorcing, or emphasize the woman’s vulnerable position to men, suggesting they offer more benefits to gain consent for divorce.
7. Why is mediation necessary? It’s a mandatory step when one party disagrees with the divorce. Without successful mediation, neither a divorce agreement nor a resolution to the dispute can be reached. Even if the marriage registration office does not mediate, the parties may be forced to file for divorce in court, where mediation is still required under the Civil Procedure Law.
8. Whether looking at the Constitution, Marriage Law, Criminal Law, or the Law on the Protection of Women’s and Children’s Rights, women are clearly granted a higher status. Courts tend to favor protecting women’s interests in rulings. For example, men cannot file for divorce when the woman is pregnant, within one year after childbirth, or within six months after an abortion.
9. Compared to special protections for women, courts in divorce cases often prioritize the custody of minor children. If the couple cannot reach a divorce agreement, the court will focus on child custody, arranging property and debt division in a way that benefits the child’s development. In the current social context, many women are less economically independent than men. If the man has no significant legal violations and has a clear advantage in custody, the woman may end up losing both custody and financial support.
10. This highlights the core issue in marriage and family disputes and the dissatisfaction many have with the poster at the Xicheng District Marriage Registration Office: women, who are often in a weaker economic and social position, are seen as the vulnerable party whether they initiate or accept divorce. Those initiating divorce are expected to give up more rights, while those accepting it are expected to fight for more. The marriage registration office, by reinforcing this vulnerable status, has essentially formalized this underlying message. While this approach is wrong, it reflects reality. Even if many economically independent women reject this view, when it comes to personal interest allocation, courts will still assume they need special protection based on legal principles.
11. It’s worth noting that if a man exhibits violent behavior, commits bigamy, cohabits with a third party, abuses, or abandons the family, the woman can seek compensation. If the man attempts to hide or seize property, the woman can also request a larger share. However, forcing a divorce when one party is unwilling carries significant risks. This year, several judicial aid cases we reported involved orphans (with one parent dead and the other sentenced to death). Such outcomes are what we strive to avoid, hence the old saying: “It’s better to tear down a temple than to break up a marriage.” Unless there are legal grounds (such as violence, abuse, bigamy, cohabitation, abandonment, gambling, drug abuse, or separation), it’s best to avoid this path.

During my lunch break, I took the opportunity to create a table using publicly available data to compare the number of civil servants and GDP figures in Foshan with those in some other regions.

My first shopping experience on eBay turned out to be quite unfortunate, encountering an order cancellation. The most frustrating part was dealing with the time difference between China and the US, as well as the low efficiency of American services. The whole ordeal dragged on for over half a month and still isn’t fully resolved.

Here’s what happened:

1. March 24: I purchased a Citizen Blue Angels watch from lePerfect, a highly-rated seller on eBay with a 99.3% positive feedback. I paid $249.99 through PayPal using my Visa card.
2. March 24: PayPal sent me an email titled “Important Notice: We’ve detected unusual activity in your PayPal account,” stating that there were security issues with my account and asking me to verify my personal information.
3. March 24: I quickly uploaded my ID and credit card information as requested by PayPal and waited for their response.
4. March 25: I received an email from *@leperfect.com with the subject “Jomashop Order EW109738 Cancellation Confirmation,” notifying me that my order had been canceled. I was frustrated—this was my first time buying on eBay, and my order got canceled, and it was done under the name of “Jomashop” (another reputable seller on eBay). I was baffled. So, I messaged the seller on eBay, “This is my first time using eBay. What went wrong? Why did you cancel my order? The watch looks great, why won’t you sell it to me?”
5. March 25: While feeling down, I wondered if there was an issue with PayPal. I called PayPal’s customer service, and the representative was very polite. She said there were no major issues with my account, and once I verified my personal information and confirmed that the transaction was made by me, everything would be fine. She then verified my identity and cleared the “unusual activity” flag.
6. March 26: In the afternoon, I finally received a reply from the seller: “PayPal notified us that they canceled the order for some reason. So we had to issue the refund through the PayPal claim. We apologize for any inconvenience.” I was annoyed by the slow response—this kind of delay would never happen on Taobao. The message essentially said, “PayPal told us to cancel the order, so we refunded you directly.”
7. March 26: I checked my PayPal account, but the balance was still $0, and there was no sign of a refund. However, I did see an unresolved dispute case. It seemed that PayPal had flagged my account for security reasons and temporarily frozen the transaction amount.
8. March 26: I called PayPal again, and the representative patiently explained the dispute process. She assured me that the transaction was fine, the money had already been transferred to the seller, and I should continue communicating with the seller to complete the transaction.
9. March 26: I replied to the seller, “Hey, I just spoke with PayPal, and they said the money has already been transferred to your account. Since that’s the case, can you just go ahead and ship the item?”
10. March 27: The seller replied, “Sorry, but this item is out of stock. We should have more in about 2-3 weeks if you would like to check back then.” The item was out of stock, and it would take at least two to three weeks to restock.
11. March 27: Since the item was out of stock and I’d have to wait so long, I thought it would be better to just get a refund and reorder later. So, I replied, “PayPal said the money has already been transferred to you. Since you canceled the order, please refund me as soon as possible!”
12. March 31: The efficiency in the US is incredibly slow, especially since they don’t work on weekends. Three days later, I received a slow-paced reply: “It looks like your order was already canceled and refunded through PayPal on the 25th because of a claim opened with them. You will not be charged for this order.” They claimed that the order had been canceled and refunded on the 25th, and I shouldn’t worry about it anymore. I was furious, but when I checked my PayPal account, there was still no refund. I held back my anger and called PayPal again, “Am I being scammed by this US seller? They keep saying they’ve refunded me, but I haven’t seen any money.” The PayPal representative calmly explained that this kind of situation is normal, “The money has already been transferred to the seller, so don’t worry. If they don’t ship the item, you have a 180-day window to file a claim and get your money back.” She even comforted me by sending a $10 goodwill credit to my account and advised me to continue negotiating with the seller, and if that didn’t work, to contact them again.
13. March 31: I continued communicating with the “reputable” US seller: “This is my first time using eBay. Please don’t scam me. I really haven’t received the refund. Please refund me as soon as possible.” Meanwhile, I opened a dispute case on PayPal, stating that I hadn’t received the item and requested a refund.
14. April 1: The “reputable” US seller sent their final reply: “PayPal canceled the transaction for some reason, and the case number they opened is PP-003-804-456-XXX. You can call them and provide that number for more information. We had to refund the order on the 25th because of the claim, otherwise we would have shipped. Please speak with PayPal because unfortunately, there is not much more we can do once they cancel an order.” They insisted that the refund had been issued on the 25th, “PayPal canceled our order, and there’s nothing we can do. You should contact PayPal.”
15. April 1: I had no choice but to call eBay’s customer service in Shanghai and ask, “Is this seller a scammer?” They replied, “The transaction was successful. The money has been transferred to the seller’s account, and they promised to deliver the item by March 31. Since the item hasn’t arrived, you can apply for a refund.”
16. April 1: I called PayPal again to discuss the refund. They escalated the dispute I had filed the previous day to a “compensation dispute,” stating that “if the seller cannot provide proof of shipment by April 11, the refund will be automatically processed.”
17. April 12: I called PayPal again, “Didn’t you say the issue would be resolved by April 11? It’s been 10 days (even in the US, it’s already April 12), and the seller still hasn’t provided any proof. Shouldn’t I get my refund now?” The representative checked the dates and said, “Don’t get too excited, there are still 3 hours left before the 12-day period is up.” WTF?
18. April 12, 10 PM: Finally, I received an email from PayPal: “We have completed our investigation of your case and have decided in your favor. We have recovered $249.99 USD and have credited this amount to your account. This credit will take up to five business days to process.” Seriously, it takes five days just to transfer the money?
19. Additional Note: On April 4, I bought a similar model from another reputable US eBay seller, “jomashop.” The watch has probably arrived at the forwarding company’s warehouse by now. The only thing that puzzles me is the relationship between lePerfect and Jomashop. When I made the purchase from lePerfect, the seller was listed as “Star Five Group, LLC,” but when I bought from Jomashop, the seller was still “Jomashop.” Why did lePerfect use “Jomashop Order” in the subject line of their first email notifying me of the cancellation?

This is a response on Zhihu. Personally, I believe that the current civil service examination can objectively reflect the true level of some arts and science students.

Several characteristics of the civil service exam: 1. Fairness. 2. Competition occurs within the same major. 3. The questions are the same, allowing for horizontal comparison.

Written Exam: Administrative Aptitude Test + Essay. The aptitude test includes a large number of mathematical calculations and logical reasoning questions, while the essay focuses on current political analysis and writing. Interview: In Guangdong Province, the civil service interview is conducted in a different location. For example, candidates from Guangzhou go to Qingyuan for the interview, and candidates from Shaoguan go to Guangzhou. Additionally, interviewers are randomly assigned to examination rooms before each session, making cheating almost impossible.

I extracted the monthly monitoring data for Foshan City for the entire year of 2014 from the website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and conducted a rough statistical analysis. In 2014, Foshan had excellent air quality on 36% of the days and good air quality on 52% of the days, totaling 88%. There were 33 days with light pollution and 13 days with moderate pollution.

Additionally, from the website http://air.epmap.org/, I downloaded all the monitoring data from various environmental monitoring stations in Foshan from April 11, 2014, to March 5, 2015, and performed a simple statistical analysis as follows:

Recently, the central government has issued three consecutive documents targeting pension reform, salary adjustment, and rank reform for civil servants. These documents are: “Decision on the Reform of the Pension System for Employees of Government Agencies and Public Institutions” (State Council Document [2015] No. 2), “Notice from the General Office of the State Council Forwarding the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance on Adjusting the Basic Salary Standards for Employees of Government Agencies and Public Institutions” (State Council Office Document [2015] No. 3), and “Opinions on Establishing a Parallel System of Positions and Ranks for Civil Servants Below the County Level” (Central Office Document [2015] No. 4). The issuing units of these three documents are different, being the State Council, the General Office of the State Council, and the Central Office of the State Council, respectively, but they all address the same issue—civil service reform.

At present, the local government is investigating work reforms in the field of comprehensive law enforcement, but there are still many questions in various aspects. I searched for practices in other places along the way, and briefly formed a brief introduction.

In terms of comprehensive administrative law enforcement reform, local experience is mainly limited to comprehensive law enforcement in areas such as urban management, cultural markets, agricultural resources, and transportation. So far, no experience has been found to unify all or most of the administrative law enforcement powers to establish “unified administrative law enforcement.” Jiaozhou City, Qingdao is piloting the reform of the comprehensive administrative law enforcement system, but it is currently limited to the exercise of all administrative law enforcement powers at the township level, and no specific practice has been promoted at the county level or above.