国内英语新闻:Doubt, clarification and reflection behind an apparently rosy story

BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese laid-off cleaner never dreamed of being visited by President Hu Jintao, nor did she think the visit would be followed by a public humiliation of her.

"Now half the population of China think of me as a liar," complained 47-year-old Guo Chunping, with tears in her eyes. Guo became famous overnight after President Hu visited her in her low-rent apartment on the Fifth East Ring Road in Beijing just before New Year.

In footage aired by China Central Television (CCTV) on December 30, 2010, she was asked how much rent she paid. "Seventy-seven yuan (about 11.6 U.S. dollars)," she replied in front of the camera.

Netizens soon posted 172 photos of a woman, appearing like Guo, posing with luggage at a long-distance bus station or sitting in a luxurious restaurant.

Guo was described as a "civil servant" by Chaoyang District police, who was too rich to be qualified to have a low-rent house.

Also, with China's skyrocketing house prices and with rent in Beijing generally above 1,000 yuan, paying 77 yuan in rent sounded unbelievable to many.

To prove Guo right or to refute her, media workers flooded her 50-square-meter apartment.

"The telephone rang endlessly, and some journalists even climbed onto the building opposite my apartment with cameras," Guo said.

What troubled her most happened after a reporter asked her to pose with her unemployment certificate for a photo to prove her "innocence."

The next day, the photo was everywhere online, with her detailed information.

"I am not a murderer," she protested angrily, "why should I pose like that and let the entire of China know that I was laid off and divorced?"

According to people close to her, Guo has become hysteric lately. Xinhua reporters had difficulty persuading her to meet with them, and she would only do so on the condition that the interview be conducted far away from her apartment.

Liu Tao, vice director with the Housing Administration Bureau of the Chaoyang District, has done a calculation.

The monthly rent of low-rent houses in the district was 33.6 yuan per square meter. The figure was multiplied by the size of her apartment to get the rent, 1,545 yuan. According to local policies, the government pays 95 percent of the rent.

Therefore, Guo herself should turn in only 5 percent, 77 yuan in total.

"In the Lijingyuan Community 487 low-income households signed leases for low-rent houses," Liu said.

Despite the clarification of local officials and Guo herself, doubt still lingers.

Sun Yingchun, a professor with the School of Foreign Studies of the Communication University of China, believed that people's doubt over Guo' s identity and truth of the news showed their lack of understanding to the low-rent house policy.

"The TV report didn't make it clear to the people," he said.

The report, without specifying calculation to the rent, just told audiences of the result, 77 yuan, which was too low to be true.

Besides, Sun noted that the incident gave people an outlet to vent their anger about high housing prices.

Despite a series of policies to cool down the housing market, the average price of housing sold by 30 major real estate companies in China stood at 10,286.42 yuan per square meter last year, up 23.98 percent year on year.

Housing was just one of many problems concerning people's livelihood which Sun believed that "for a long time the government didn't address properly."

As a result, "people would distrust what the mainstream media reported," he said. These reports, like the "77-yuan tenant" story, seemed to many as too rosy to be true, he added.

However, Sun said the doubt showed democratic progress. "The voice of the netizens was not interfered with by the government, and people were free to find the truth by themselves," he said.

The government also endeavored to improve people's livelihood.

To make houses affordable for the people, about 3.7 million affordable houses were built nationwide in 2010 and 2011, and 10 million more apartments will be built for the low-income group this year.

Beijing has now 240,000 households living in low-rent houses. The government has pledged to make low-income housing projects take up 60 percent of the housing supply in five year.

Before moving to her apartment in Lijingyuan Community, Guo said she could only afford to rent houses from farmers of some six to eight square meters in size.

"This is the only place I feel like I want to live," she said.

"People are eager to have houses, but the government has to do its job step by step," Liu Tao said. "Helping the most impoverished is our priority." Enditem