The playground covered with evergreen grass at my daughter's former primary school is truly impressive, but few parents and visitors know that students rarely get a chance to play on the lawn because they are told it's the grass-growing season. Interestingly, this growing season never seems to end.

　　To the school authorities, keeping the playground as picturesque as possible to impress parents and visitors with a good image of the school is more important than giving the children a place in which to sport and frolic.

　　The same fate also befalls the beautiful lawns in local residential areas and parks. "Keep off the grass!" has been the warning every day and every year for decades.

　　Lawns are created to provide a place of relaxation for urbanites living in a crowded concrete jungle, but now they are for your eyes only.

　　A similar phenomenon also exists in many small and poor counties and cities where building fancy squares and landmark edifices with their limited financial resources, regardless of the many other more urgent priorities in the society, has become a trend for many officials anxious to gloss their work records.

　　For years, leaders have been promoted for their efforts in "beautifying" their cities and counties, despite the fact that a large proportion of its people are living below the poverty line.

　　The central government has made efforts in the past year to reverse the trend, including a pledge by former Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng to tighten controls over the funding for these projects.

　　But many leaders still favour investing their limited financial resources only in projects that will bring them immediate credit from their superiors. To these officials, ensuring a bright future career is more important than being responsible for the well-being of the general public.

　　In the legislature sector, we have also seen that congresses at various levels formulating laws and regulations to improve the legal framework. And there is certainly no doubt that China badly needs to improve its legal framework and system insgroupsto become a society ruled by law, not by whimsical personal likes or dislikes.

　　The problem is that many laws and regulations are drafted without knowing that they will be actually implemented, and implemented seriously and thoroughly, or that there is someone who is going to carry them out.

　　Congress sometimes seems to be only interested in the year-end tally of how many laws and regulations they have made in the past year. But some laws are for your eyes only.

　　We all know that passing a law that cannot or won't be seriously implemented is worse than making no law.

　　The flawed official rating system seems to be an incentive for officials fervently engaging in those flamboyant projects that are not the priority of the people.

　　Therefore, we should give the people more power in rating officials, so they won't act only to please their superiors and benefit their personal careers.