"An increasingly efficient military will not necessarily be a more aggressive one. China has made its peaceful stand clear."

ZHAO XIAOZHOU, deputy director of the center on China-US defense relations at the PLA Academy of Military Science, said last week that the time had come for China to improve its combat ability following the announcement that the Chinese military will establish a joint operational command system "in due course".

"This is mostly aimed at foreign executives who need to travel often in China or internationally to do business."

LI FENG, spokesman for the Shanghai Exit-Entry Administration Bureau, commenting on the new, quicker visa procedures for foreigners in Shanghai, due to take effect on Thursday.

"We were (in 2003) quite unprepared and simply stopped all the teaching activities for more than two weeks. We want to get ourselves prepared this time."

Vice-principal of Beijing Jingshan School QIU YUE on the school's long-distance computer-based system for students affected by the closure of the school during periods of heavy air pollution.

"I usually don't eat dumplings, but I finished all of them just as President Xi did."

SUN ZHENGCAI, a customer at the Qing Feng Steamed Dumpling Shop in Beijing's Xicheng district, where China's President Xi Jinping dropped in unexpectedly for lunch on Dec 28.

"The government has made a great endeavor this year to cut red tape and financial reform is likely to be the next big thing."

PEI CHANGHONG, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in response to Premier Li Keqiang's declaration that a prudent fiscal policy will help push ahead reforms and the opening up of the market.

"On seriously smoggy days, we suggest that patients, particularly those with depression, stay indoors and turn on the lights, even in the daytime."

PU CHENGCHENG is among a number of clinical psychiatrists calling for closer studies on the negative impact of smoggy days on mental health.

(China Daily 01/05/2014 page1)