Gree pursues beauty, with a difference of 100 billion in half a year.

  In terms of scale, Gree Electric lags behind Midea Group in air conditioning, small household appliances and diversified businesses, with a total revenue difference of 98 billion yuan in the first half of 2023. However, judging from many data, Gree still has its own advantages, such as abundant cash on the account and high gross profit margin of air-conditioning business.

  author |Lin Xia Xi

  source | City boundary

  Revenue reached a new high in the first half of the year, and net profit did not return to a high point.

  If one sentence is used to describe the semi-annual report of 2023 released by Gree Electric on the last day of August, it is that "all aspects are recovering, but many data are hidden".

  Let’s look at the overall revenue and net profit performance-99.79 billion yuan and 12.35 billion yuan in the first half of the year, respectively. The former hit a record high, but the year-on-year growth rate was small, only 4.16%, while the latter maintained a growth rate of 14%, but it still did not reach the level of 2018 and 2019.

  Such growth has not kept pace with the market.

  Under the influence of El Ni? o phenomenon, there was a rare high temperature in the first half of 2023. Stimulated by this, although the real estate industry remained sluggish, the sales and retail sales of domestic household air conditioners increased by 12.72% and 16% respectively, which was much higher than Gree’s overall income and air conditioning income.

  On a larger scale, Gree Electric, which lags behind the market, is also gradually falling behind in the world. According to the latest data, the threshold for entering the Fortune 500 in 2023 is 225.165 billion yuan, while Gree’s annual income in 2022 is 190.151 billion yuan, and there is still a certain gap. From 2019 to 2022, Gree Electric’s ranking in the Fortune 500 has also dropped from 414 to 487.

  In terms of revenue composition, Gree Electric’s revenue of 99.79 billion yuan in the first half of this year accounted for more than 1% of the business, including air-conditioning business that contributed 70% of the revenue, eco-agriculture and green energy services that contributed 2.92% of the revenue (mainly including buses and energy storage equipment under Gree Titanium), and small household appliances that contributed 2.18%.

  In addition, industrial products and other businesses contribute a total of 23.6% of revenue, which is actually quite eye-catching.

  A small number of industrial products mainly include compressors, motors, molds, etc., which belong to To B business, while other businesses mainly focus on purchasing upstream raw materials, mainly to play the role of bulk purchasing and lowering prices. After purchasing, they are sold to upstream processing enterprises, with a gross profit margin of only about 2%, which mainly plays a role in expanding income scale from a financial point of view.

  It is worth noting that although the overall income of Gree Electric reached a new high in the first half of 2023, if the "other businesses" that hardly make money are deducted, the total remaining income has not actually returned to the level of the first half of 2019, and the income from air conditioning business alone is even worse than that in 2018 and 2019.

  In addition to self-comparison, we can better understand what such data means by horizontally comparing Gree Electric with its old rival Midea Group. In the first half of 2023, Gree lost 98.006 billion yuan compared with Midea Group’s total revenue of 197.796 billion yuan.

  Fairer, if the "other income" of the two companies is deducted, Gree has fallen behind the United States by 100.969 billion yuan, which is the biggest gap in the main income of the two companies in history.

  So where is the difference between the 100 billion yuan?

  In terms of air-conditioning business, Gree has been at a disadvantage since 2020, and the gap has been widening in the past three years. The gap in the semi-annual report has expanded to 22 billion yuan; In the field of small household appliances, in the first half of 2023, Gree Electric’s income was only 2.177 billion yuan, while Midea Group’s income was 30 times higher than that of 68.136 billion yuan.

  In addition to home appliances, Gree Electric’s industrial products, green energy and smart equipment businesses generated a total revenue of 8.7 billion yuan in the first half of 2023, which is about half of the revenue of Midea Group’s robots and automation systems.

  It is worth noting that both companies are making efforts in the automation and intelligent production of To B, but the paths are different.

  Judging from the semi-annual report, Gree Electric emphasized the technology and quality of core components such as compressors (core devices of air conditioners) and motors (power sources of electrical appliances), but Midea Group emphasized the complete solutions for different scenarios in the fields of medical care, entertainment and consumption.

  If we distinguish between domestic and foreign income, after deducting "other business", Gree Electric’s domestic income actually lagged behind that of the United States 10 years ago, but the gap was small. Until 2023, the gap in the semi-annual report has expanded to 47.5 billion yuan, the highest in the past years, equivalent to 59% of Gree’s only beauty.

  The bigger gap is overseas income. The gap between the two has expanded from 18.5 billion yuan in the first half of 2014 to 67.7 billion yuan in the first half of 2023. Gree’s current overseas income is only equivalent to 16% of Midea Group.

  At least in terms of scale, Gree Electric has indeed fallen behind Midea Group in terms of air conditioning, small household appliances and diversified businesses, and the gap has also reached a new height.

  "Sequela" of Dealer’s Rebellion

  In addition to the overall performance, a series of subtle changes can be seen in the semi-annual report in 2023, which may be related to the "rebellion" of some dealers in Gree Electric last year.

  In the first half of 2023, the sales expenses in Gree Electric increased by 71.01% year-on-year. The semi-annual report showed that it was mainly due to the increase in product installation and maintenance fees, but the air-conditioning revenue in the current period only increased by 1.82% year-on-year, which was in sharp contrast.

  Although in absolute terms, the sales expenses of 8.41 billion yuan in the first half of the year are not the highest in the semi-annual reports over the years, it is the first time to look through the financial reports over the years, like in the first half of 2023, because of the installation and maintenance costs, the sales expenses have risen sharply.

  As a leader in the field of air conditioning, the probability of a sudden surge in maintenance costs due to quality problems in the first half of the year is not great, so it is more likely that the installation costs have increased substantially. But why did the air conditioner sell less than 2% more, and the sales cost rose by 71% because of the installation cost?

  In fact, the after-sales business of air conditioners has always been the responsibility of distributors all over the country. They also manage the air conditioner sales business and after-sales business including installation and maintenance in the corresponding areas. When installation services occur, the distributors will charge certain fees from the air conditioner manufacturers, and they will also charge customers aerial work fees, material fees and so on according to the situation.

  In September, 2022, Gree fell out with dealers in Hebei, who published a Notice, describing a series of inside information that Zhuhai Gree headquarters shut down the after-sales service management authority of Hebei Gree Company, and after Gree Zhuhai Hengge took over the after-sales service in this area, it proposed sales performance tasks for maintenance points, changed the preferential policies that Hebei Gree used to provide such as free overhead fees and free punching fees, and so on.

  After the two parties parted ways, the new distributor that Gree Electric was looking for in Hebei surfaced-Eye-searching showed that Gree Zhuhai Hengge Digital Technology Co., Ltd. mentioned in the Notice was previously owned by Zhuhai Hengge Trading and Jiangsu Saifu Green Food Development Co., Ltd., but the latter withdrew in May this year and Xiamen Saifu Trading Co., Ltd. became the new shareholder.

  It is noteworthy that Liu Qiangdong and ZhangZetian once appeared among the shareholders of Jiangsu Saif Green Food, but they withdrew from the shareholders in 2020. The legal representative of Xiamen Saif Trade, the new shareholder, is Zuo Yujie, just like Jiangsu Saif Green Food.

  According to the public information, Zuo Yujie has a close relationship with JD.COM. He used to work in JD.COM and still serves as the chairman of Runjing Information Technology Co., Ltd., which is the operator of JD.COM Wine World, and JD.COM Wine World is an omni-channel wine retail enterprise invested by JD.COM.

  In addition to the 71% increase in sales expenses, the contractual liabilities of Gree Electric (that is, the advance payment paid by dealers) rose by 79.7% to 28.972 billion yuan at the end of June 2023, while the operating cash inflow increased by 40% to 127.9 billion yuan year-on-year. It can be considered that the changes in important distribution channels have brought a series of effects, that is, new dealers have large-scale purchase demand, which brings considerable cash flow and contractual liabilities, and at the same time corresponds to the regional after-sales service system.

  In addition, considering the above indicators comprehensively, there is another possibility, that is, delaying the recognition of income and recognizing expenses in advance.

  In this case, a considerable part of the goods have been sent to the dealers, and the payment has been received, and the installation has been completed after the sales by the dealers. However, Gree Electric did not settle this part of the payment with the dealers for some reason, which led to the fact that it is still reflected in the books as contract liabilities rather than income. However, the installation expenses that have occurred have already been reflected in the sales expenses because they need to be included in the corresponding period, which leads to a huge difference between the increase of income and sales expenses.

  In either case, the high probability is related to the change of dealers, and it can also be regarded as the sequela of the "rebellion" of important dealers in Gree Electric in 2022.

  Gree still has its own advantages.

  Even if the overall performance lags behind Midea Group, many indicators in the 2023 semi-annual report are affected by changes in dealers, but from many data, Gree still has its own advantages.

  The first is ample cash in the account.

  At the end of June, 2023, Gree’s book cash and wealth management reached about 200 billion yuan, more than all the cash and wealth management on the books of Midea and Haier combined, but it should also be noted that 64.219 billion yuan of them were restricted funds.

  At the same time, the gross profit margin of Gree Electric’s air-conditioning business returned to a high level of 35.69% in the first half of 2023. In the same period, Midea Group’s air-conditioning gross profit margin was only 23.29%, while Haier Zhijia’s was 28.62%, which was related to Gree’s greater focus on air-conditioning, which led to higher overall asset operation efficiency, as well as a certain cost advantage gained by centralized procurement of raw materials, which was of course a direct manifestation of its brand premium.

  If we compare the per capita income and per capita profit, Gree Electric will be the highest in 2022. Because of this, although the total revenue of Gree Electric and Midea Group in the first half of the year is nearly 100 billion yuan, the difference in net profit is only about 6 billion yuan. Haier Zhijia, whose income is 32% higher than that of Gree Electric, has a net profit of only 73% of that of Gree Electric.

  These all point to one of Gree Electric’s greatest advantages-that is, it can earn more money with higher efficiency in the established field of air-conditioning business.

  However, the capital market of "voting with your feet" only gives Gree Electric about half of the current market value of Midea Group, which shows that it is not enough to have a strong ability to make money in one field, and the scale of revenue is also very important.

  In contrast, Midea Group seems to have chosen another path.

  Ten years ago, Midea Group began to lay out multi-category household appliances and overseas business. Although at a certain stage, the product lines were messy and redundant, it could be improved through necessary simplification and transformation. The longer-term significance lies in broadening the possibilities and having a greater first-Mover advantage in related tracks. Especially when the external environment changes, such advantages may bring subversive development.

  It’s not that Gree Electric doesn’t want to embrace diversity and look for the second or even third curve, but the exploration in these years has not been smooth. Compared with the traditional thinking, the early smart phone project was flooded, but the unreliable Yinlong was chosen for the new energy grand track, and the small household appliances business was slow to progress because it entered too late, not to mention the overseas market that could not open the situation by adopting conservative strategies.

  Interestingly, just like Midea Group, which has developed a number of business segments as the driving force for subsequent growth, He Xiangjian also retired early and chose Fang Hongbo as his successor. On the other hand, in Gree Electric, the issue of successor has been unresolved, and 69-year-old Dong Mingzhu is still closely bound with brand IP and active in front of the stage.

  The difference between the two can also be seen from the age of management. The average age of 16 Dong Jiangao in Gree Electric (one of whom has no information) is 57 years old, and only one of them, Dong Mingzhu, has an annual salary of more than 5 million yuan, with a salary of 11.42 million yuan in 2022.

  In contrast, the average age of the 22 directors of Midea Group is 50 years old, and 8 of them earn more than 5 million yuan a year. Among them, the chairman Fang Hongbo earned 11.3 million yuan in 2022, while the average age of the 21 directors of Haier Zhijia is 52 years old, and no one earns more than 5 million yuan a year.

  Even if we only consider the air-conditioning business, it is not difficult for Gree Electric to maintain single-digit growth, and it is understandable to describe it as a relatively stable and solid manufacturing industry. However, in order to break through the existing situation and catch up with the rhythm of the times again, Gree obviously has to continue to look for its own possibilities.


(Disclaimer: This article only represents the author’s point of view and does not represent the position of Sina. com. )

Fundus screening of premature infants

Original songlei Shanghai children’s medical center ophthalmology

Why do you want to do fundus screening?

Premature babies are prone to retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which will develop into serious blinding eye diseases if not treated in time. Premature infants leave their mothers when their organs are not fully developed. At this time, the development of retinal blood vessels is not mature. After birth, due to the change of blood oxygen concentration, abnormal vascular proliferation is prone to occur. Abnormal vascular rupture will lead to retinal hemorrhage, fibrous proliferation and contraction, retinal detachment, etc., and even blindness and eyeball atrophy in severe cases. ROP must be found and treated early. If treated in time, the effect is quite good.

Which children need screening and when?

For premature infants and low birth weight infants with birth weight less than 2000g, the first screening should be conducted at 4-6 weeks after birth or at 32 weeks after gestational age correction. The screening scope of premature infants with serious diseases can be appropriately expanded. The frequency of follow-up is generally determined according to the fundus lesions: once every 2 weeks without ROP, once every 1~2 weeks when ROP is diagnosed, and the interval of ROP follow-up before the threshold should be less than 1 week. Complete vascularization of retina, static lesion, scarring, or having received treatment are the termination time of screening and follow-up for retinopathy of prematurity.

What do you think of ROP inspection results?

Diagnostic criteria divide the retina into three areas:

Zone ⅰ: the central area of the retina in the circle with the optic disc as the center and the radius of twice the distance from the optic disc to the fovea maculata.

Zone II: that annular area of retina with the optic disc as the cent and the distance from the optic disc to the serrated edge of nose as the radiu.

Zone ⅲ: the temporal semilunar retinal region.

The zoning indicates the location of the lesion,

The lesion in area ⅰ is the most serious, and the lesion in area ⅲ is mild.

According to the severity of ROP lesions, it is divided into five stages, and the general lesions develop from stage 1 to stage 5 (as shown below). When the disease reaches stage 4, there is little hope of recovery through surgery.

There is a dividing line between the vascular area and the avascular area around the temporal side of ROP in stage 1.

Stage 3 ROP PLUS(+) not only has crista-like protuberance, but also has additional pathological changes: tortuous dilatation of blood vessels, which is more serious than that in Figure 3.

The boundary of ROP in Phase 2 is widened and uplifted.

Normal fundus

Partial retinal detachment caused by contraction and traction of ROP fibroproliferative membrane in stage 4

Stage 3 ROP cristae, accompanied by hyperplasia and hemorrhage.

Stage 5 ROP total retinal detachment

According to the above classification criteria, the baby with ROP will be recorded in the medical record: ROP in several districts and periods, PLUS(+or-). (Note: PLUS is an additional lesion, showing tortuous dilation of retinal vessels, which is a manifestation of rapid progress of ROP)

Screening process

During hospitalization, the baby’s fundus examination will be arranged by the ward; You can go to the outpatient clinic for examination after discharge.

Outpatient service process:

1. After the attending doctor determines the need for fundus screening, he will prescribe medicine for examination.

2. After the parents pay for the medicine, they start to give the baby some mydriatic liquid medicine. Generally, it takes one hour from the beginning of the medicine to the examination of mydriasis.

3. 1~2 drops of surface anesthetic water will be given before the examination, so that the baby can be examined in a painless state.

4. During the examination, the baby was lying on the bed, and the doctor opened the eyelids with a special eyelid opener for the baby. The retina was examined with binocular indirect ophthalmoscope and wide-angle children’s fundus photography system, and recorded according to the lesion area and lesion degree.

5. The doctor will inform whether treatment is needed and/or the time for the next review according to the examination results.

6. After the baby receives the examination, it needs to use anti-inflammatory eye drops for 3 days.

friendly reminder

Please try to arrive at 13: 00 ~ 14: 00 because you need some eye drops and wait for mydriasis before the examination, otherwise your waiting time will be affected.

In order to avoid aspiration pneumonia or even suffocation caused by excessive milk during examination, parents are requested to estimate the time and stop feeding after starting to order medicine.

You need to hold your baby’s head tightly and fix it during the examination. Please ask parents to understand and cooperate. Generally, the examination time only takes 5~10 minutes. Don’t interrupt or give up the examination because of the crying of children and the distress of adults. If the blindness caused by this happens, you will regret it for life.

ROP emphasizes early detection and early treatment. Early intervention and treatment can achieve normal children’s vision. If found late, it may lead to irreversible blindness. Since 2009, our team has carried out fundus screening for premature babies, with more than 2,500 screenings every year, which has accumulated rich experience, and we will give timely and standardized treatment according to the screening results.

The ophthalmology department of Children’s Center has opened a specialized clinic for newborns and children with basic diseases. Please rest assured that our team will take care of your baby’s bright eyes with you.

Read the original text

Follow-up Survey of Urban Blind Road Changing into Parking Lot: The construction of barrier-free facilities in Harbin is mixed.

  Northeast Network August 22nd (intern reporter Liu Jingyao reporter john young Sun Yingxin) Blind roads and ramps on pedestrian roads, love seats on buses, elevators and handrails in stairwells, voice signal lights at intersections … The barrier-free facilities that can be seen everywhere in the city are always in the nuances, providing help for some specific groups. During the investigation and interview, the reporter found that there are still some problems in the barrier-free facilities in public places in Harbin, some facilities can not serve the purpose of facilitating others, and some places even have no barrier-free facilities.

  At the stairs at the entrance of Nangang Bus Terminal in Harbin, a ramp is only an iron plate erected on the stairs. The steep slope is a great "challenge" for people who need to travel in wheelchairs. Inside the passenger station, the reporter found that the ticket window was set on the second floor, while the security check and pit stop needed to be carried out on the first floor. There was no straight ladder in the passenger station, nor was there a special barrier-free ticket window and security check channel.

Slow platform at the entrance of Nangang passenger station. Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

  On the sidewalks near the Lin Qiu business district in Harbin, but only 200 meters away, many blind roads are damaged, or horse gourd appears on the blind road. In the direction of Hongjun Street near Postal Street, the blind brick on the ground has already become blurred. How can a "flat" blind brick guide the blind?

"Ladder" ramp at the intersection of Hongjun Street and Bank Street. Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

The "disappearing" blind road near Hongjun Street and Postal Street (the entrance of Milan wedding photography). Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

Barrier-free help sign at the gate of China Construction Bank in Hongjun Street. Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

Barrier-free ramps and signs at the entrance of China Construction Bank in Hongjun Street. Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

A blind road cut off by a horse gourd near the business circle in Lin Qiu, Harbin. Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

  When the reporter visited nangang district Library, he found that colorful blind bricks were stuck on the ground of the lobby on the first floor, and there was a reading room for hearing-impaired people on the first floor, which greatly facilitated the reading of special groups. However, there are still some problems. Although the first floor of the library is equipped with a bathroom dedicated to barrier-free people, when the door is opened, it is found that the toilet is full of sundries, and the words "No use" are stuck on the water tank. The bathroom on the third floor is not dedicated to barrier-free people. In the elevator room on the first floor of the library, there is a barrier-free passage on the right side of the three steps in front of the elevator, but two chains are tied above it.

Toilet on the third floor of nangang district Library. Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

The barrier-free restroom in nangang district Library has become a utility room. Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

Barrier-free access on the first floor of nangang district Library. Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

  Compared with the chaotic situation of Nangang Passenger Station, the barrier-free facilities of the newly built North Station of Harbin Station are relatively perfect. The neat and straight blind road at the entrance of the North Square leads directly to the ticket hall, the lower button position inside and outside the barrier-free elevator and the lower window design at the barrier-free ticket window can fully meet the needs of children and groups who need to travel in wheelchairs.

Accessible elevator in Harbin station. Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

Barrier-free ticketing window in Harbin Station. Northeast Network Intern reporter Liu Jingyao photo

  It is understood that China has strict standards for the design and specification of barrier-free facilities in urban roads and public places. However, recently, it was found through a reporter’s visit that there are many problems in barrier-free facilities in public places in Harbin, and "barrier-free facilities" will even cause greater obstacles.

  In the work report made by the Seventh Congress of the Provincial Disabled Persons’ Federation, it is pointed out that the province will implement the Regulations on the Construction of Barrier-free Environment and persist in comprehensively promoting the construction of barrier-free environment in urban and rural areas according to law. In particular, we will strengthen the construction of barrier-free facilities in new and rebuilt public infrastructure and residential areas, accelerate the barrier-free transformation of public facilities such as government agencies, public services, public transportation, social welfare and communities, strengthen the construction of information barrier-free, set up barrier-free parking spaces in public parking areas according to regulations, and strengthen the daily maintenance, management and supervision of the use of barrier-free facilities.

  Zhao Fenghe, president of the Heilongjiang Association for the Blind, said that barrier-free environment construction is not only related to the disabled, but also to the elderly and children. It can be said that it is related to every corner of every family life. I hope the relevant responsible departments will not regard barrier-free construction as a "weak job". He looks forward to a more humane and warmer barrier-free environment.

Exposing the false "new mortgage policy" rumors have received millions of forwarding readings.

  In late August, rumors about "Shanghai will implement a new housing credit policy from September" and "the credit policy will be tightened greatly" were circulated on the Internet. During this period, the Shanghai real estate market shook a lot, and the number of first-hand housing contracts increased all the way. Some media recorded the data of Shanghai Real Estate Trading Center. As of 16: 15 on August 30, 1,470 new houses were sold in Shanghai that day, exceeding about 400 sets at the same time as the previous day, and surpassing 1,000 sets for four consecutive days.

  Because of the rumor that the "New Deal on Mortgage in September" stipulated that "after September, buyers who have been divorced for less than one year, the purchase restriction and loan policy should be handled according to the family situation before divorce", and even there was a wave of divorce in Shanghai, and the civil affairs department had to "limit the number".

  On August 29th, the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development responded to the "rumor of the new housing credit policy" through the "Shanghai Release", saying that "no such policy has been studied", but the market has not cooled down, and the rumor is still being forwarded and spread at a geometric speed.

  After the rumors appeared, the Shanghai police set up a task force to carry out investigations. On the evening of September 8, Shanghai police said that they had arrested seven people suspected of maliciously fabricating and spreading relevant rumors. At the same time, the Shanghai Netcom Office closed five WeChat WeChat official account according to law.

  On September 10, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said that such rumors mislead consumers, disrupt market order and have a bad social impact. Many departments in Shanghai have seriously investigated and dealt with it, which is worthy of praise.

  Rumors get millions of forwarding readings.

  According to the police investigation, at 11 o’clock on August 22nd, Shen, the sales manager of Shanghai Jinfeng Yiju Real Estate Consulting Co., Ltd., posted a message in the employee WeChat exchange group of the company for three consecutive times: "It has been notified that due to the recent high land auction price, the municipal party committee will hold a meeting of various departments next week, and it is planned to adjust the bank loan policy from September. Please urge to handle the loan contract that has not been completed as soon as possible. This time, the credit policy will be tightened greatly." The rumor was spread to the well-known forum "Fence Network" in Shanghai, which caused widespread concern.

  On August 24th, Zhao, the district manager of "I love my family" real estate agency, and Zhang, a real estate salesman, also fabricated rumors in the WeChat group: "Urgent notice: I received a notice from the headquarters, and a new purchase restriction policy will be implemented in Shanghai from September 1st. The down payment for the first suite with loan records in China will be raised to 50%, and that for the second suite will be raised to 70%, regardless of local area, commercial and residential buildings, whether the loan is paid off or not, as long as there is loan records in China. Based on the online signing time, buying a house before September 1 is not affected by this policy. Customers who need to buy a house, please tell each other that time is limited. "

  On August 24th, Ni Mou, an employee of an IT company in Shanghai, deliberately fabricated a similar rumor to "attract attention" and posted it on the well-known forum "Fence Network" in Shanghai, which was quickly forwarded by a large number of netizens.

  These rumors quickly reached millions of readings and quickly fermented in the real estate market.

  The rumour maker admitted to fabricating policies for promotion.

  Why do these criminal suspects fabricate this information?

  It is understood that Shen’s company mainly acts as a primary agent for real estate. According to Shen’s own memory, the annual business volume reached more than 2 billion yuan. Among the projects represented by Shen’s company, there are 145 houses that have paid the deposit or the down payment, but they have not made loans for a long time. Shen said, "You have to sign a loan contract to complete the sales task, otherwise you won’t get a commission." In order to "stimulate" customers to go through the formalities as soon as possible, Shen compiled a "notice of new mortgage policy". After the employee WeChat group released the so-called "notice", Shen asked his 18 salesmen to inform their customers and speed up the signing process.

  On August 25th, Shen’s superior — — Yao, the regional director of Shanghai Jinfeng Yiju Real Estate Consulting Co., Ltd., made up the so-called "core content of the New Deal" after learning the above related rumors, and "the first set of houses and loans; Less than one year after the divorce, the content of "implementing the purchase restriction policy according to the family housing situation before the divorce" was "interpreted" and published in many WeChat groups such as the sales group of the real estate company, requiring its salesmen to contact customers quickly, speed up the signing progress and avoid the so-called "New Deal".

  As soon as the news came out, it caused buyers to pay close attention. According to the police, before August 31, almost all the 145 houses that had paid the deposit but did not apply for loans had completed the loan contract.

  Zhao and Zhang compiled the so-called "new mortgage policy" in the group to "stimulate" customers and "tighten the policy with loans and push hesitant customers".

  Real estate agents will be severely punished for rumors

  According to the police, after the rumors of the above three versions were distributed in large numbers, they were forwarded by netizens who were concerned about the property market and spread rapidly. After August 25th, a group of WeChat WeChat official account, such as "Directly Attacking Shanghai Property Market" and "Magic Watching the Property Market", spread the above rumors in large quantities, which directly led to consumers’ irrational seizure of houses and disrupted the stable and healthy development of Shanghai real estate market.

  Yang Hongxu, deputy dean of Shanghai Yiju Real Estate Research Institute, believes that the spread of rumors in the real estate market mainly comes from two aspects. "On the one hand, it comes from real estate agents. Intermediary companies want to sell houses and force orders. Some people try to force customers to place orders through negative or positive policies; On the other hand, it is related to the irregular release of network information. Some websites or public accounts are eye-catching and exaggerate news, providing channels and platforms for the dissemination of false information. "

  In response to this incident, people from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said that the information of government departments will be released through official channels such as official website, official media or holding press conferences. I hope citizens will pay attention to official sources and not listen to online rumors. Shanghai police said that cyberspace is not an extra-legal place, and the police will further unite with the network management department to resolutely crack down on rumors and rumors.

  The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said that since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has deployed special rectification activities for real estate agents. Once verified, all real estate agents who fabricate and spread rumors will be blacklisted according to law to clear out the real estate intermediary market; For real estate intermediaries who fabricate and spread rumors and have serious circumstances, once verified, they will all suspend business for rectification according to law. In the next step, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development should supervise the typical cases that have been strongly reflected by the masses and have outstanding problems, effectively maintain market order and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

Early screening of digestive tract cancer mainly depends on it. Gastrointestinal endoscopy should be standard for physical examination.

  Among the top 10 malignant tumors in China, the proportion of digestive tract malignant tumors is far ahead. Source: China Cancer Registration Annual Report 2017.

  The incidence of digestive tract malignant tumor ranks in the forefront of the incidence of malignant tumor. But many early digestive tract tumors have no symptoms, and the best way to diagnose them is gastrointestinal endoscopy. Experts believe that only the physical examination including gastrointestinal endoscopy is a comprehensive and scientific physical examination.

  Our reporter Ma Aiping Intern reporter Yu Ziyue

  There is a saying circulating on the Internet: "A physical examination without a gastrointestinal mirror is not called a physical examination!" But when it comes to colonoscopy and gastroscopy, many people will think of unpleasant words such as "nausea" and "pain".

  In recent years, many doctors are calling on people to have a regular physical examination of their stomachs and intestines and keep an annual gastrointestinal endoscopy. Recently, Weibo, the official of Beijing Municipal Health and Health Commission, announced the list of 128 medical institutions for gastrointestinal endoscopy in Beijing, and once again stressed that gastrointestinal endoscopy is the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of many gastrointestinal diseases. In addition, in order to reduce the discomfort of inspectors, the inspection mode is constantly upgrading.

  Good stomach and intestines can’t be numb.

  "Gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer and other digestive tract malignant tumors occupy cancer ‘ Half the country ’ The incidence rate is increasing. Early digestive tract malignant tumors are often asymptomatic, and the main diagnostic method is gastrointestinal endoscopy. " Jia Shujuan, director of the Department of Gastroenterology, Peking University Shougang Hospital, said in an interview with the Science and Technology Daily reporter.

  "Many people feel that they usually have a good gastrointestinal tract and do not need to be examined. But it is very easy to be careless, and it is too late to wait until the digestive tract has symptoms. For tumors, early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment are the main strategies to reduce cancer mortality and improve survival rate. " Ling Huenqiang, chairman of the Digestive Endoscopy Branch of the Chinese Medical Association and director of the Department of Gastroenterology of the General Hospital of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, said.

  Ling Huenqiang introduced that the significance of gastrointestinal endoscopy lies not only in "discovery" and "observation", but also in "resection" and "rooting". Gastrointestinal endoscopy can not only find early gastrointestinal cancer and make patients get timely and effective treatment, but also minimally invasive treatment of adenomatous polyp and other precancerous lesions under endoscope, so as to eliminate intestinal cancer before it sprouts. "Most digestive tract cancers originate from precancerous lesions, and canceration can often take a long time, some of which can last for more than 10 years, which gives us the opportunity to intervene."

  Gastrointestinal endoscopy can usually be divided into two types: ordinary and painless. What scares people in life is generally ordinary examinations. Jia Shujuan told reporters that gastroscopy will be anesthetized, but there is a difference between local anesthesia and general anesthesia. Ordinary gastroscope is a gastroscopy after taking local anesthetic, and the patient is awake during the whole process. When the gastroscope enters the esophagus through the pharynx, locally sensitive people may feel nausea and discomfort. General anesthesia is through intravenous injection of anesthetic, which makes people fall asleep. When they wake up, the examination has been completed, and there is no pain or discomfort during the examination.

  General colonoscopy generally does not require anesthesia, and there may be some abdominal distension and abdominal pain during the examination. Painless colonoscopy is similar to painless gastroscopy, so "sleep" is enough.

  If the examiner is sensitive to the pharynx, has poor tolerance for pain, or pursues a comfortable examination process, he can choose painless examination, but the cost will increase. Among the 128 medical institutions announced in Beijing, 110 medical institutions can simultaneously carry out general gastrointestinal endoscopy and painless gastrointestinal endoscopy.

  Ling Huenqiang said that in addition to the traditional intubation gastroscope mentioned above, people have been exploring more comfortable examination modes in recent years. Take the capsule gastroscope as an example. "The patient swallows a capsule with a built-in camera and signal transmission device with water, and the doctor can complete the stomach examination in 15 minutes by accurately controlling the trajectory of the capsule in the stomach."

  Routine physical examination of absent ordinary people

  Although gastrointestinal endoscopy is very necessary, and there is a breakthrough in the form of examination, at present, the routine physical examination of ordinary people generally does not have this examination item, and only high-end physical examination or some people with requirements will do these examinations.

  Why is gastrointestinal endoscopy absent from general physical examination?

  Ling Huenqiang pointed out that this kind of inspection operation is complicated, which requires intestinal preparation and disinfection of instruments, and requires related technology and supporting equipment. In addition, invasive endoscopy has certain risks, unlike non-invasive examinations such as B-ultrasound, which are simple, do not need special preparation and have less risk of physical injury. Therefore, there are obstacles from patients, hospitals, physical examination concepts and other aspects, and it has not become a routine physical examination item.

  However, in developed countries in Europe and America, Japan and other countries, gastrointestinal endoscopy is a routine physical examination for people over 50 years old. "For example, in Japan, there are very few patients with advanced gastric cancer. The reason is that Japanese national medical examinations generally include gastroscopes as compulsory items. The government has included the gastroscope physical examination project in the protection of relevant laws and regulations, provided it to the public free of charge as a social welfare, and urged it to be completed. Patients with symptoms over 40 years old and asymptomatic people over 50 years old in Japan have regular gastroscopy every year. Gastroscopy has greatly improved the early diagnosis and treatment rate of gastric cancer, so the detection rate of early gastric cancer in Japan is very high, but the mortality rate is very low. " Ling Hu enqiang said.

  On the other hand, in China, although many hospitals have advanced endoscopy technology in the world, few citizens can take the initiative to do gastroscopy screening. "In addition to patients who have immediate family members who have had digestive tract cancers such as gastric cancer, in the outpatient clinic, they encounter more ‘ Fear ’ Patients who do gastroscopy. " Ling Hu enqiang said.

  "The public’s attention to gastrointestinal endoscopy and reasonable cognition need to be improved, and popular science propaganda is very important." Jia Shujuan added.

  Both experts stressed that it is urgent to incorporate digestive endoscopy into physical examination, so that early detection and treatment under endoscope can minimize the physical, mental and economic losses caused by diseases.

  High-risk groups should be examined at the age of 40.

  Who needs gastrointestinal endoscopy?

  "For people with gastrointestinal discomfort, it is recommended to consider gastrointestinal endoscopy under the guidance of a doctor. Symptoms such as stomach discomfort, upper abdominal pain, lower abdominal pain, acid regurgitation, belching, fullness, etc. It also includes symptoms such as intestinal discomfort, changes in bowel habits, and changes in stool characteristics. " Jia Shujuan said that these symptoms are common in life, and many people think that it is ordinary gastroenteritis and do not pay attention to it. In fact, early gastric cancer may also show similar symptoms, so we must not delay treatment. Patients with "alarm" symptoms such as loss of appetite, anemia and emaciation, and bloody stool, or those who are found to be positive for occult blood in stool by physical examination, should complete gastrointestinal endoscopy as soon as possible, so that the lesions can be found and treated in time.

  Although gastrointestinal discomfort makes people feel pain and listlessness, it also reminds and urges people to have corresponding examinations in disguise and find the symptoms as early as possible. Every coin has two sides, and some people, because their bodies have no relevant symptoms of illness, will not send out an "alarm" signal, so it is easy to fall into the whirlpool of "being ill and not knowing it". Such people should also be vigilant and have gastrointestinal endoscopy.

  As advocated by Japan and other countries, "people over 50 years old should have a gastrointestinal examination even if they have no symptoms." Jia Shujuan pointed out that if the test results are positive, such as polyps and gastric ulcers, they should be treated in time and reviewed regularly.

  Although the causes of most cancers have not been proved, they are usually related to heredity. Therefore, people with a family history of digestive tract tumors should pay special attention. Some experts pointed out that this group of people can advance the age of initial examination to 40 or even 35 years old.

  Initial examination is very important, however, it is also essential to review and monitor regularly after the symptoms are found and treated. Jia Shujuan pointed out that once the patient is found to have some precancerous lesions, such as dysplasia under endoscope, it is recommended that the patient be reexamined within one year after treatment, and then the next examination time will be decided according to the reexamination. For patients with relatively complicated or serious illness, the review time can be shortened to 3-mdash; Six months. For another example, especially severe atrophic gastritis should be reviewed once a year.

  Experts agree that gastrointestinal endoscopy can’t be avoided, and there is no need to hide. After all, there are many options to choose from in clinic. After the examination, you can feel at ease without illness, and you can find and treat problems early. No matter what the result is, it is the optimal solution of health management.

Don’t compare with young people. Old people should avoid "five years"

  As soon as people get old, all the functions of the body are declining, but the old people’s health care methods are special, so they should never keep up with the young people. Wang Changjiang, deputy chief physician of the Department of Orthopaedics, Rocket Army Characteristic Medical Center, reminded that the elderly should pay attention to avoiding "five periods" in their daily life, that is, not walking for a long time, standing for a long time, sitting for a long time, lying down for a long time, and looking for a long time, so as to lay a good foundation for health preservation.

  Don’t walk for a long time: it is advisable to walk three or four thousand steps every day.

  Many elderly people think that walking more is good for their health, and some people walk tens of thousands of steps a day, which is unscientific. In the long run, there will be serious injuries to the knee joint, hip joint and ankle joint, which will lead to joint swelling, difficulty in walking and difficulty in going up and down stairs.

  For the elderly, exercise for 40 minutes with light load every day, such as walking 3000-4000 steps every day, and don’t walk too fast. If you feel sore and tired after walking for a while, you should stop and have a rest immediately. The initial exercise can start with 1000 steps a day, and then gradually increase the number of steps. When walking, you need to choose a flat road, wear cloth shoes or sports shoes with good anti-slip performance, and you can also wear knee pads to avoid bone and joint injuries caused by falling.

  Don’t stand for a long time: don’t stand for more than 20 minutes

  Standing for too long in the elderly is not conducive to blood circulation in the legs, which may lead to diseases such as varicose veins. Especially for the "three highs" elderly, standing for a long time will also lead to insufficient blood supply to the brain, and it is easy to fall and induce a stroke. Some elderly people will have symptoms such as leg weakness and dizziness after standing for a long time. The reasons are leg muscle strain, heart disease, qi and blood deficiency, degenerative arthritis, and lack of nutrition in local tissues. Those with obvious symptoms should go to the hospital for orthopedic treatment in time.

  We advise the elderly not to stand for more than 20 minutes. If you stand for a long time during the day, you can soak your feet with warm water before going to bed at night. When you sleep, you can raise your heels so that your legs are higher than the horizontal line of your heart, which will help alleviate the poor blood return caused by long standing.

  Don’t sit for a long time: easy to cause osteoporosis.

  Some elderly people sit for a long time because they like watching TV, playing chess and drinking tea. Sedentary will greatly reduce the intensity and frequency of bone activity and accelerate the process of osteoporosis in the elderly. Moreover, sedentary will make the neck muscles and cervical vertebrae in a fixed position for a long time, leading to poor local blood circulation, muscle strain, headache and cervical spondylosis, which is even worse for the elderly with cervical spondylosis or insufficient blood supply to the brain.

  Therefore, the elderly should stand up and walk for 3-5 minutes every hour, stretch their legs and move their waist, move their knees or massage their knees with their hands, thus reducing the adhesion of tissues inside and outside the joints.

  Don’t stay in bed for a long time: don’t stay in bed all the time unless you sleep.

  Some elderly people don’t like to communicate with others and don’t like sports. They always like to rest on the sofa or bed. Long-term lying will cause muscle atrophy and muscle weakness, and even cause joint contracture and deformation; Reduce gastrointestinal peristalsis and easily cause constipation; Slow blood flow and high blood viscosity in the elderly may cause venous thrombosis and vascular obstruction.

  Therefore, the elderly should try not to stay in bed for more than one hour during non-sleep time, and get up every hour to exercise their bones and muscles, and it is best to go outdoors.

  If some elderly people need to stay in bed for a long time due to physical illness, they should pay special attention to avoid bedsores. You can choose an air cushion mattress, which has a good bedsore prevention effect, and the cotton mattress has poor air permeability. In addition, turning over every two hours and patting the back can promote the blood circulation of the body.

  Don’t look too long: excessive use of eyes can cause eye diseases.

  For the elderly, excessive use of eyes will lead to blurred vision, dry eyes, turbid lenses, optic nerve damage, macular degeneration, etc., thus inducing eye diseases such as cataract, glaucoma and senile macular degeneration.

  Old people should pay attention to the habit of using their eyes. When reading books and newspapers, the reading materials should be at least 30 cm away from their eyes, and don’t lean forward too much. Look away from TV and mobile phone every 20 minutes, or close your eyes and have a rest. In daily life, you can often blink your eyes, or turn your eyes up, down, left and right, which can exercise your eye muscles and delay aging.

  (Author: Rocket Army Medical Center Mo Peng)

Deep reading | Trade in the old for the new, looking forward to changing the "new world" of consumption

Not long ago, the State Council issued the Action Plan for Promoting Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade-in (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), proposing key tasks such as carrying out trade-in of automobiles and household appliances and promoting trade-in of home-improvement consumer goods. According to the National Development and Reform Commission, this measure can not only promote technological upgrading of enterprises, improve production efficiency, but also guide residents to upgrade their consumption, realize energy saving and carbon reduction, and reduce potential safety hazards.

To implement a new round of trade-in of consumer goods, major manufacturers and platform enterprises have responded to this trillion-dollar huge market and launched promotional subsidies. What is the feedback from this wave of "more fashionable" markets? Where is the "new" in this round of trade-in? How can production and marketing enterprises and consumers seize the opportunity to achieve a win-win situation of high-quality development and high-quality life?

The home appliance market is moving from "is there" to "is it good"

On March 20th, in the store of Xinjiekou store in Suning.cn, Gao Rongping, a promoter, introduced in detail to Uncle Sun who was interested in buying air conditioners: "The first-class energy efficiency ratio of this Hisense bright air conditioner is as high as 5.28, which is fresh and silent, with a thickness of only 13.4 cm. The paint panel will not turn yellow and discolor after being used for a long time." Gao Rongping said that this air conditioner is currently heavily discounted. She calculated an account. "The market price of air conditioners is 5,099 yuan, which will go straight to 800 yuan during the event. The replacement of old machines at home can subsidize 600 yuan at the highest level, and the actual payment may be as low as 3,699 yuan."

"At present, upgraded products with large size, large capacity and multifunction are particularly popular. Since the launch of the trade-in activity, the sales growth rate of new energy-efficient air conditioners, large-capacity refrigerators and large-screen color TVs over 80 inches has exceeded 120%; Dishwasher sales increased by 103% year-on-year, and dryer sales doubled. " Wang Yisheng, the general manager of Suning.cn Xinjiekou Store, said that the 10 billion-yuan subsidy for trade-in will provide users with a large subsidy of up to 30%, which can be participated online and offline, and also provide services such as free door-to-door, disassembly and handling.

In Wuxi, the ongoing "Revitalization of Quality Life" activity of the 2024 Taihu Shopping Festival has launched a number of preferential policies to boost the release of large-scale consumer demand for household appliances. The maximum subsidy for replacing household appliances is 15%, and the maximum subsidy for a single household is 4,500 yuan. Consumers who purchase new green and energy-saving home appliances and new smart home appliances (the unit price is more than 500 yuan) in the event merchants can use China Unionpay Quick Pass APP payment code to reduce the turnover by 10%, and the maximum single subsidy is 1000 yuan. If the household appliances are trade-in, and the paid-in amount of each piece reaches 4,000 yuan, 6,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan, Wuxi Municipal Bureau of Commerce will give consumers 200 yuan, 300 yuan and 500 yuan extra incentives for trade-in.

The promotion of car companies is also in full swing. BYD launched the activity of "Old Friends Rejuvenating the New Season". During the activity, car owners can get a replacement subsidy of up to 8,000 yuan when they replace BYD’s new energy vehicles in the store, and a new car gift package worth 3,888 yuan. Dongfeng Motor’s trade-in action covers more than 50 models, and the replacement subsidy is expected to exceed 10 billion yuan; FAW-Volkswagen introduced the old car replacement down payment policy …

"In fact," trade-in "is nothing new. As early as 2009, the state launched a combination of" home appliances going to the countryside "and" trade-in ",and enterprises cooperated with the government to implement subsidy policies to recycle and sell services, initially forming an operation mode of trade-in; Since 2016, home appliance sales companies have joined hands with manufacturers to organize their own trade-in activities, subsidize consumers, and develop their own trade-in sales system. " Qian Zhengming, secretary of the Party branch of the Provincial Household Electrical Appliances Association, said.

With the comprehensive popularization of durable consumer goods in China, the demand for upgrading the stock of consumer goods is constantly increasing, and the consumer market is changing from "whether there is" to "whether it is good". According to reports, the home appliance market in Jiangsu Province has accounted for about 10% of the national market over the years, among which it is estimated that there are more than 30 million home appliances in extended service, which has great demand and potential for upgrading. Qian Zhengming believes that the trade-in action will not only enable consumers to enjoy more convenient services and more favorable prices, but also promote the high-end, intelligent and green development of the manufacturing industry. For the society, it will also help to eliminate old household appliances and eliminate security risks.

Let "unwilling to change" and "afraid to change" become "comfortable to change"

I don’t know who to look for to disassemble the toilet, and I want to buy a dishwasher, but there is no reserved position in the kitchen, and the discarded old mattress waste station is not needed … As the real estate industry enters the era of stock, the renovation of old houses has gradually become the main force in the home industry. However, as a kind of low-frequency consumer goods, consumers will not only think twice when buying furniture, but also the disposal of waste furniture often makes people feel quite tricky.

"The biggest problem in this industry is the long consumption decision-making cycle and low conversion efficiency." Bai Yang, the head of Shilin Home Furnishing Division, said that unlike home appliances, automobiles and other industries, the replacement of furniture faces the problems of "difficult handling, difficult handling and low added value of recycling", which makes it difficult for customers to make choices and make decisions.

How to shorten the consumer decision-making cycle? "In addition to providing sufficient discounts in shopping malls, providing convenience services in residential quarters has become an important means to capture service information and increase user stickiness. For example, free recycling of used mattresses, provision of toilet disassembly services, design and local reform of cabinets and balconies … The core is to let consumers see how the service is done and feel the changes in consumption concepts, thus solving the pain points that customers are afraid to change, unwilling to change, and do not know how to change. " Bai Yang said that by integrating merchants to build solutions, the company has now settled in 25 communities and served nearly 1,000 families.

From 2021 to 2023, about 220,000 pieces of household appliances were recycled in Suning.cn, and a total of 19.9 million yuan of old machine residual value subsidies and new machine subsidies were distributed. The proportion of old-for-new appliances was about 3.1%, and there was still much room. In the same period, JD.COM Wuxing recycled 8573 old household appliances, showing a trend of small total and high growth rate. According to statistics, from 2021 to 2023, the household appliance recycling enterprises in Nanjing recycled 3.164 million sets of "four machines and one brain" (TV sets, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and microcomputers).

"At present, the trade-in of home appliances is independently carried out by manufacturers, and the government’s blessing is needed in terms of subsidies and credibility. At the same time, it is necessary to increase publicity, change consumers’ awareness of "home appliances are not broken and not replaced", and help consumers realize the harm of home appliances that are over-aged. In addition, the original definition of trade-in commodities is less, and there are not many participating enterprises. It is necessary to expand the categories and expand the scope of trade-in participating enterprises. " Qian Zhengming suggested.

At present, the automobile consumption demand in the whole province and even the whole country has entered a period of steady development, and the activities of car subsidies are carried out separately in various places, which are more to attract the consumption power of cities with low policy activities and cannot drive new demand.

In this regard, Zhao Qiang, director of the Wuxi Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said that in addition to subsidizing individual consumers who scrap or transfer non-operating passenger cars under their personal names and buy new cars, they will also explore ways to promote the upgrading and expansion of the automobile aftermarket and promote the integrated development of automobile maintenance, cultural experience, professional competitions, vehicle modification and consumer finance. In addition, encourage the transformation from "brokerage" to "distribution", improve the comprehensive management and supporting service functions of the used car market, and encourage qualified enterprises to make full use of various trade promotion platforms to broaden overseas market channels.

Recycle and make good use of misplaced resources.

The "Program" requires the implementation of recycling actions. Improve the recycling network of waste products and equipment, support the circulation and trading of second-hand goods, promote remanufacturing and step-by-step utilization in an orderly manner, and promote the high-level recycling of resources.

On the disassembly assembly line of Nanjing Kaiyan Electronics Co., Ltd., an average ordinary refrigerator produces about 0.4 kg of copper, 0.8 kg of aluminum, 17 kg of iron and 7 kg of plastic after disassembly procedures. Song Guoping, the company’s administrative director, said that the company’s refrigerator line disassembly processing capacity can reach 1,000 units per day, and the annual processing capacity of "four machines and one brain" reaches 1.93 million units. "These renewable resources after resource and harmless treatment have greatly reduced the mining of copper mines and iron mines, reducing carbon emissions and turning waste into treasure."

"Scrapped motor vehicles are a collection of steel, aluminum, rubber, plastics, glass and various non-ferrous metals. If they are dismantled by themselves or by illegal and irregular enterprises, a large number of rubber, plastics and glass will be abandoned and burned, which will seriously pollute the ecological environment. In addition, illegal dismantling of scrapped motor vehicles, vehicle transactions and cross-regional transfer will pose great security risks to road traffic. " Li Zheng, general manager of Nanjing Coson Ning Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. said that scrapped motor vehicles must be disposed of in accordance with the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes, and it is suggested that they be scrapped in the vehicle registration area and managed locally.

"At present, China is at the peak of household appliances scrapping. However, at present, enterprises are carrying out the" trade-in "activity, and most of the recycled waste household appliances, except air conditioners, have nowhere to be accepted and piled up in the open air, causing environmental pollution. Some of them flow to the second-hand market and illegal dismantling channels. Even if they enter the formal dismantling enterprises, they have gone through many links, and the expenses are high, so the enterprises lack enthusiasm for operating at a loss. In addition, the’ illegal dismantling’ of used household appliances has no environmental protection disposal facilities, and there is no actual tax payment at the recycling end and the sales end, and the operating cost is low, which directly leads to the lack of competitive advantage in the price of formal dismantling enterprises, resulting in bad money expelling good money. " Qian Zhengming said.

Sun Bo, Secretary-General of Nanjing Renewable Resources Association, said that the recycled waste materials should not just be scrapped, but must enter the formal recycling and dismantling enterprises, and then enter the remanufacturing process, so as to realize the goal of turning old materials into new ones and turning waste into treasure.

The reporter learned from the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Commerce that this year, we will speed up the cultivation of home appliance recycling and dismantling industries, standardize and rectify the circulation order of second-hand home appliances, and strictly prohibit the illegal renovation and disassembly of three-no products from entering the consumer market. Accelerate the development of "replacement+recycling" logistics system and new model, support household appliance production and sales enterprises to build reverse logistics system through distribution, installation, maintenance and other channels, or cooperate with professional recycling enterprises to recycle waste household appliances at home. Explore the formulation of local standards or industry standards for the service life and scrapping conditions of different types of household appliances, and relax the qualification control of household appliance production and sales enterprises applying for electronic and electrical products processing. At the same time, encourage capable dismantling enterprises to expand home appliance recycling business to the front end, and encourage the construction of recycling network system.

Xinhua Daily Meeting Point reporter Lin Shantian Mochi/Wen Hua Su Jie/photo

Country Garden Service released its financial report in 2023, and its business development maintained a steady growth momentum!

  On March 27th, Country Garden Service released the performance announcement for 2023. According to the announcement, in 2023, the service income of Country Garden increased from about 41.367 billion yuan in the same period of 2022 to about 42.612 billion yuan, an increase of about 3%.

 

  The core net profit attributable to shareholders of the company is RMB 3.94 billion; The administrative expenditure rate was 9.1%, 1.2 percentage points lower than the same period last year.

  By December 31, 2023, except for the "three supplies and one industry" business, the contract management area of Country Garden service was about 1.633 billion square meters, and the fee management area was about 957 million square meters; In addition, the contract management area and charge management area of property services in the "three supplies and one industry" business are 93.4 million square meters and 88.6 million square meters respectively.

  Business development maintained a steady momentum and adhered to the "1+N+X" development strategy.

  In 2023, Country Garden services maintained a steady growth trend in revenue, with annual revenue reaching about RMB 42.61 billion. In terms of business development, the company not only maintained a steady degree of marketization, but also further increased the proportion of third-party revenue, reaching a new high of about 96.9%.

  In terms of income structure, Country Garden services continue to be optimized, and property management services continue to play a cornerstone role. Compared with the same period of last year, the income from property management services increased by about 8.1% year-on-year, reaching about RMB 24.70 billion, accounting for about 58.0% of the total income. At the same time, the proportion of non-owner value-added service income further decreased to 3.6%.

  In recent years, Country Garden Service has performed well in financial management, continuously strengthened financial security, ensured a stable cash inflow, and provided a solid financial guarantee for the company’s business development. Its financial statements have been continuously optimized, its liquidity has remained good for a long time, its asset-liability ratio has gradually decreased, its interest coverage ratio has continued to increase, and its credit capacity has been further improved.

  In terms of financial cash flow, as of December 31, 2023, the net cash from Country Garden Services’ operating activities in the past 12 months was about RMB 4.615 billion, a year-on-year increase of about 38.9%. At the same time, the company’s total bank deposits and cash amounted to about RMB 12.939 billion, up about 13.7% year-on-year, showing a sound financial position and good development momentum.

  On the basis of maintaining a stable cash flow, Country Garden Services always attaches great importance to shareholder returns and is committed to protecting the interests of investors. Since listing, the total amount of dividends paid by the company has reached about HK$ 4.25 billion, and the total amount of shares repurchased by the company has reached about HK$ 1.10 billion. In addition, the Board of Directors proposed to declare 23-year final dividend and special dividend totaling 29.46 cents per share.

  Looking back on 2023, Country Garden Services adhered to the "1+N+X" community value-added development strategy, and further focused on strategic business to strengthen capacity building.

  Community value-added services have become a new engine to promote the sustained and healthy growth of Country Garden services. By building a professional talent team, expanding the ability of resource integration, combining with high-quality partners in various industries, and relying on the natural advantages of the property near the community scene, it is promoting the competitiveness of the core business of community value-added services in key cities across the country.

  In 2023, Country Garden’s community value-added service revenue was about RMB 3.753 billion, accounting for about 8.8% of the Group’s total revenue.

  Country Garden Service adheres to the "1+N+X" community value-added development strategy, further focuses on strategic business and strengthens capacity building. Country Garden service upgrades community media to integrated marketing, and builds a complete marketing link of "communication-experience-purchase-sharing" based on community scenes to create differentiated products with core competitiveness. The Group reached an integrated marketing cooperation with the cutting-edge intelligent cleaning appliance brand "within INXNI" and held over 800 experience activities in the community.

  Country Garden Service cooperates with Guotai Liquor Group to create an immersive experience scene of liquor sales based on customer demand, and is committed to providing excellent products and services to consumers. Country Garden Service actively uses its site resources and service expertise in the field of property management to promote the innovative business model of clothes washing and maintenance stores, and plans to open 100 franchised stores this year to meet the growing market demand.

  Driven by customer satisfaction, we will actively improve the service quality.

  Customer satisfaction is an important foundation for the Group’s sustainable development. Country Garden services are driven by customer satisfaction and actively improve the service quality. Focusing on the service pain points, the Group has targeted to enhance the customer experience.

  In 2023, Country Garden Service completed 24,000 potential risk source rectifications in the park; In terms of facilities and equipment safety, 2.433 million inspection and maintenance orders were completed, and 5.319 million repair orders were reported; Completed 13,000 large-scale fire drills and 11,000 elevator safety drills.

  Country Garden Service has been committed to promoting community renovation projects to enhance customers’ life experience. Up to now, it has invested about RMB 400 million, covering 1,594 community projects. These projects include the overall renewal and improvement of community infrastructure, the upgrading of health and sports facilities, and the intelligent transformation of the community.

  At the same time, Country Garden service has also increased its investment in scientific and technological intelligence. This includes AIoT services such as cleaning robots, equipment and IoT modules, IoT platforms and charging pile platforms, as well as self-developed IoT solutions such as man-machine collaborative operation and smart parking. These investments are aimed at improving service quality and management efficiency through digital and intelligent services.

  With the residential business as the core, Country Garden pursues the high-quality development of the whole business, and the market expansion maintains a strong momentum. This year, the Group signed 1,556 new brand expansion projects, with an annualized saturated income of about RMB 3.726 billion. The Group makes full use of the geographical coverage advantages of the projects under management to expand its business globally. Among the newly-added outreach projects, 45% are located in first-and second-tier cities, while the new expansion projects in third-and fourth-tier cities account for 55%.

  Looking forward to 2024, Country Garden services will continue to focus on community quality improvement and environmental transformation. The old facilities will be completely updated, and the ecological environment of the project will be rectified, so as to further improve the living experience of the owners and make the community glow with new colors. By optimizing basic property services and combining scientific and technological management and operation, Country Garden Service is committed to continuously improving customer service experience, striving to build a safe, green, intelligent, humanistic and convenient community environment, and turning owners’ yearning for a better life into reality.

(Editor: Golden Sea)

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the prevalence rate of men over 70 years old is nearly 50%

Recent studies have found that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the significant factors that affect the death of patients in COVID-19. Among the dead people in COVID-19, the proportion of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is 6%, but only 1% among the surviving people. In addition, although patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may not be more likely to be infected with Covid-19, they are more likely to die when they are infected.

What is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease? Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema characterized by airflow obstruction, which can further develop into chronic diseases of cor pulmonale and respiratory failure. Different from common chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is often not well known.

1. The prevalence rate of COPD in men over 70 years old is nearly 50%, and the difference between male and female is nearly 1 time.

According to the latest China Lung Health Survey (CPH2018), among 50,991 people surveyed from June 2012 to May 2015, the prevalence rate of COPD was 8.6%. Based on this, it is estimated that about 99,900 million people in Chinese suffer from COPD. The prevalence rate of COPD increases with age. The prevalence rate of people over 40 years old is significantly higher than that of people aged 20-39. The prevalence rate of COPD in men over 70 years old is nearly 50%. At the same time, the prevalence rate of men in all age groups is higher than that of women, and the prevalence rate of men over 30 years old is more than twice that of women.

 

                                Figure 1: Prevalence of COPD in different gender and age groups.

2. Smoking is the main risk factor, and air pollution is the main risk factor for non-smokers to get sick.

CPH2018 also made a statistical analysis of possible risk factors of COPD, including smoking, air quality, BMI, family history, education, etc. The results showed that smoking, air pollution, low BMI and parents’ history of respiratory diseases were all risk factors of COPD, among which smoking and air pollution were the main risk factors.

 

                         Figure 2: odds ratio (OR) of 2:COPD risk factors

Note: odds ratio (OR, Odds ratio) is the ratio of the exposed and unexposed people in the case group divided by the ratio of the exposed and unexposed people in the control group. Greater than 1 indicates that this factor is a risk factor, less than 1 indicates that this factor is a protective factor, and equal to 1 indicates that this factor does not work.

The analysis also shows that smoking history has a significant impact on the overall prevalence of COPD, and the prevalence of COPD increases with the increase of smoking years. Air pollution has no significant effect on the prevalence of COPD in the whole population, but it has a significant effect on non-smoking groups. The more serious air pollution is, the higher the prevalence of COPD is.

            Figure 3: Smoking history and COPD prevalence Figure 4: Smoking years and COPD prevalence.

 

                                 Figure 5: Air quality and COPD prevalence rate

The Prospective Research Project of Chronic Diseases in China also published a survey of 280,000 non-smoking adults in China in 2019. The results show that using solid fuel is an important risk factor for major respiratory diseases, and switching to clean fuel such as natural gas can reduce the risk. Because chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is related to the concentration of sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, people who are engaged in jobs with dust environment, such as teachers and coal miners, are also prone to COPD.

3. The prevalence rate of people over 40 years old is different in different regions, with the highest in southwest China (20.2%) and the lowest in central China (10.2%).

The research conducted by China Center for Disease Control and Prevention on 66,752 people in 2014-2015 found that the prevalence rate of COPD over 40 years old also showed obvious differences in different regions, with the highest prevalence rate in southwest China (20.2%) and the lowest in central China (10.2%).

 

                        Figure 6: Prevalence rate of COPD among people over 40 years old in different regions.

4. Up to 56% of COPD patients may have cognitive impairment.

A large number of neuropsychological tests suggest that up to 56% patients may have cognitive impairment. The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (GOLD)2021 also pointed out that cognitive impairment is common in COPD patients, and the prevalence and severity vary according to the evaluation type, with an average prevalence of about 32%. Moreover, cognitive impairment will aggravate the health problems of COPD patients. Compared with patients with single disease, patients with cognitive impairment and COPD have a higher respiratory-related hospitalization rate of 48% and a higher mortality rate of 3 times. Therefore, it is particularly necessary to help patients with complications to carry out effective self-management.

In addition, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, depression/anxiety are also common and important complications of COPD.

5. The mortality rate of COPD has decreased obviously year by year, but it is still high compared with other developed countries.

The mortality rate of COPD in China decreased from 99/100,000 in 1990 to 68/100,000 in 2017, and the mortality rate of standardized age decreased by 68.6%. Although the mortality rate in China is decreasing year by year, it is still at a high level compared with other developed countries (see the figure below).

                       Figure 7: Mortality rate of male COPD patients aged 50-74 in countries around the world.

 

6. The diagnosis rate is lower than 30%, and the proportion of hospitalization is lower than that of outpatient treatment.

The diagnostic rate of COPD in China is between 23.61% and 30.00%, which shows that the diagnostic rate of COPD in China is low and the missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis are serious. On the one hand, COPD is asymptomatic in the early stage. In epidemiological screening, more than 70% of patients (I~II stage) have little or no symptoms, and even if they have symptoms, they just cough and expectoration, which has not attracted the attention of patients. On the other hand, due to the cost of examination and technical operation, lung function examination, as a gold standard for the diagnosis of COPD, has not been popularized in many hospitals (especially in primary hospitals), resulting in many patients not being diagnosed with COPD in time and delaying treatment.

             Table 1: COPD pulmonary function staging (GOLD staging) [After inhaling bronchodilator]

In addition, the diagnosis and treatment of COPD in China is also more severe. The conventional treatment rate of COPD patients is only 7.9%, and 84% of patients with stage ⅱ and above have not received treatment. The proportion of COPD patients receiving outpatient treatment is about 50%, while the proportion receiving hospitalization is only between 8.78% and 35.60%.

7. The average medical expenses of COPD ranged from 5,000 yuan to 16,000 yuan.

At present, no scholars have studied the medical expenses of COPD patients nationwide, and most of the research on COPD expenses is limited to local or regional areas.

A study on the medical expenses of COPD patients in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province found that from October 2012 to October 2013, the hospitalization expenses of male patients and female patients are shown in the following table. Among them, the average total hospitalization expense for men is 16,000 yuan, while that for women is 14,500 yuan, and only about 30% is borne by individuals.

 

 

                            Table 2: Hospitalization expenses of COPD patients in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province

In recent years, because the prevalence rate in southwest China is higher than that in other regions, many scholars have begun to choose southwest China to study the treatment cost of COPD patients. The following table is part of the research results, from which we can find that the overall cost of the western region is low, and the average hospitalization cost does not exceed 10 thousand yuan. In addition, according to the survey data of Sichuan province, the cost of western medicine accounts for the highest proportion, accounting for 38.32%, followed by the cost of diagnosis, accounting for 24.41%.

 

                               Table 3: Hospitalization expenses of COPD patients in western China 

8. About 58% of commonly used drugs for COPD have been included in the medical insurance catalogue.

COPD can be divided into stable stage and acute exacerbation stage according to the progress of the disease course. In the stable stage, the symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath are stable or mild, while in the acute exacerbation stage, the respiratory symptoms that lead to additional treatment are seriously aggravated, and the patients’ cough and wheezing are aggravated, or may be accompanied by fever and other inflammatory manifestations. Drug therapy is a common treatment for COPD. GOLD2021 edition points out that drug therapy can alleviate COPD symptoms and reduce the frequency and severity of acute exacerbation. At present, there are data showing that drug therapy can reduce mortality. It is worth noting that COPD patients need to take drugs for a long time, mainly inhaled drugs, supplemented by oral drugs. With the progress of COPD, the therapeutic drugs and management methods used have been adjusted.

References:

 [1] China Pulmonary Health Study Group. Prevalence and risk factors of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in China (the China Pulmonary Health [CPH] study): a national cross-sectional study. Lancet. 2018 Apr 28; 391(10131):1706-1717. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30841-9. Epub 2018 Apr 9. PMID: 29650248.

[2] Li G, Liu Y, Jing X, et al. Mortality risk of COVID-19 in elderly males with comorbidities: a multi-country study. Aging (Albany NY). 2020 Dec 31; 13(1):27-60. doi: 10.18632/aging.202456. Epub 2020 Dec 31. PMID: 33472167.

[3] Zhu B, Wang Y, Ming J, et al. Disease burden of COPD in China: a systematic review. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2018 Apr 27;13:1353-1364. doi: 10.2147/COPD.S161555. PMID: 29731623; PMCID: PMC5927339.

[4] GBD 2016 Causes of Death Collaborators Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. 2017;390:1151–1210.

[5] Zhou M, Wang H, Zeng X, et al. Mortality, morbidity, and risk factors in China and its provinces, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2019 Sep 28; 394(10204):1145-1158. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30427-1. Epub 2019 Jun 24. Erratum in: Lancet. 2020 Jul 4; 396(10243):26. PMID: 31248666; PMCID: PMC6891889.

[6] Chan K H , Kurmi O P , Bennett D A , et al. Solid Fuel Use and Risks of Respiratory Diseases: A Cohort Study of 280, 000 Chinese Never-Smokers[J]. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2019, 199.

[7] Lowe KE, Regan EA, Crapo JD, et al. COPDGene? 2019: Redefining the Diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Chronic Obstr Pulm Dis. 2019 Nov; 6(5):384-399. doi: 10.15326/jcopdf.6.5.2019.0149. PMID: 31710793; PMCID: PMC7020846.

Shi Bijun, Zhang Tao, Cui Jun, Wang Yong, AARON Li. Analysis of direct economic burden of 803 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Ningbo community, Zhejiang province [J]. Disease surveillance, 2015,30(4):300-304.

Zhao Hanqing, Li Xinyi, Tank Tan, et al. Analysis of hospitalization expenses of patients with chronic obstructive pneumonia in Sichuan Province [J]. Health Soft Science, 2020, v.34; No.292(05):57-62.

[10] Wang Lianhong, Luo Qian, Zhang Li. Analysis of disease cost of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Zunyi area in 2014 [J]. Guizhou Medicine, 2015, 000(011):1048-1049.

[11] Yu Juan. Analysis of hospitalization expenses and influencing factors of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Lanzhou urban hospital [D]. Lanzhou: Lanzhou University, 2018.

[12] Zhong Nanshan. Research progress on prevention and treatment of chronic airway diseases in 2017 [J]. West China Medicine, 2018,33(01):1-7.

China Consumers Association sorts out the five "pit avoidance" guides to remind consumers to look more and ask more questions before buying a house.

  According to the statistics of complaints received by the National Consumers Association, in the third quarter of 2021, the National Consumers Association accepted a total of 258,232 consumer complaints, up 17.43% year-on-year, and solved 199,611 complaints, with a complaint resolution rate of 77.30%, saving consumers 335.14 million yuan. Among them, there were 2,929 complaints of double compensation due to fraudulent behavior of operators, and the amount of double compensation was 1.66 million yuan. Received 130,000 visits and consultations from consumers.

  First, the basic situation of complaints

  (A) the nature of the complaint analysis

  According to the nature of the complaint (as shown in Figure 1), after-sales service problems account for 30.80%, contract problems account for 25.37%, quality problems account for 20.68%, false propaganda problems account for 5.31%, price problems account for 4.24%, safety problems account for 3.53%, counterfeiting problems account for 1.82%, personal dignity problems account for 0.92% and measurement problems account for 0.76%.

Figure 1 Proportion Chart of Complaint Nature (%)

  Figure 1 Proportion Chart of Complaint Nature (%)

Table 1 Classification of Complaints by Nature

  Table 1 Classification of Complaints by Nature

  (B) Category analysis of goods and services

  Among all the complaints, there were 112,684 complaints about commodities, accounting for 43.64% of the total complaints, 136,665 complaints about services, accounting for 52.92% of the total complaints, and 8,883 complaints about other types, accounting for 3.44% of the total complaints.

  According to the complaint data of commodity categories in the third quarter of 2021 (as shown in Figure 2 and Table 2), the complaints of household electronic appliances, daily commodities, food, clothing, shoes and hats and transportation are in the top five.

Fig. 2 Complaint volume chart of commodity categories (unit: pieces)

  Fig. 2 Complaint volume chart of commodity categories (unit: pieces)

Table 2 Table 2 Changes of Complaints in Commodity Categories

  Table 2 Table 2 Changes of Complaints in Commodity Categories

  According to the complaint data of service categories in the third quarter of 2021 (as shown in Figure 3 and Table 3), life and social services, Internet services, education and training services, cultural entertainment and sports services and public facilities services rank among the top five in service complaints.

Fig. 3 Complaint Volume of Service Category (unit: pieces)

  Fig. 3 Complaint Volume of Service Category (unit: pieces)

Table 3 Table 3 Changes of Service Complaints

  Table 3 Table 3 Changes of Service Complaints

  (C) Analysis of changes in complaints about goods and services

  Among specific commodity complaints, the top five complaints are (as shown in Figure 4): food, automobiles and parts, clothing, communication products and shoes.

Figure 4 Top Ten Complaints in Commodity Segmentation (Unit: Pieces)

  Figure 4 Top Ten Complaints in Commodity Segmentation (Unit: Pieces)

  Among the specific service complaints, the top five complaints are (as shown in Figure 5) training service, commercial Internet service, network access service, catering service and fitness service. Due to the broken capital chain of some training institutions, the misappropriation of training fees and the inability to guarantee teachers, related complaints have increased, and many of them are group complaints, which are difficult to solve.

Figure 5 Top Ten Complaints in Service Subdivision (Unit: Pieces)

  Figure 5 Top Ten Complaints in Service Subdivision (Unit: Pieces)

  II. Special Report on Commercial Housing Complaints

  Housing demand is one of the most important consumption needs of ordinary people, and it is usually the biggest consumption in a single expenditure. Ordinary consumers are less frequent in commercial housing transactions, lack of relevant knowledge, and real estate transactions are related to many industries such as finance, which complicates the transaction of commercial housing. Consumers often have consumption disputes while realizing their housing needs through buying and selling commercial housing.

  (A) the quality of housing, hidden mystery hard to prevent.

  In terms of housing quality,The main problems complained by consumers are: first, the poor quality of the house, cracks in the wall and ceiling, sinking of the foundation, water leakage from the roof, and blocked pipeline leakage; Second, there are hidden mysteries in finely decorated rooms, such as false materials, high-end publicity, low-standard configuration, rough technology and poor quality; The third is to cut corners in concealed works and use inferior materials; Fourth, the layout of hydropower pipelines is not standardized, and unqualified and inferior materials are used.The quality of projects in the same residential area is similar, and it is easy to cause group complaints when there are quality problems; Fifth, the house has quality problems and is not maintained in time or the maintenance quality is poor.

  For example, in 2020, Ms. Zhang purchased a commercial house in Huangdao District, Qingdao, Shandong Province, and the developer promised to deliver the house in July 2021 at the latest. In June, 2021, the developer notified the delivery of the house. However, during the house inspection, Ms. Zhang found that the steel bar at the top of the kitchen of the house was leaking, the waterproof layer of the bathroom was not laid, and the height of the house did not meet the contract. She asked the developer to make rectification, but the developer always ignored it. After receiving the complaint, Qingdao Consumer Rights Protection Committee contacted the person in charge of the developer for investigation and verification. The person in charge said that the problem reflected by Ms. Zhang was true, and she would actively negotiate with Ms. Zhang in the later stage to properly handle the rectification plan proposed by Ms. Zhang.

  For another example, in August 2021, Mr. Jiang complained to the Committee of Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Committee, and he bought a finely decorated house, which was accepted at the end of October 2020. Shortly after check-in, it was found that the walls of many rooms were moldy and seeping, the wallpaper fell off in a large area, and the ceiling was cracked, which was reported to the developer many times. The other party sent a construction team to repair them at home. Because of the use of inferior and smelly wallpaper, the problem of wall seepage and mildew was never solved, which brought great troubles to consumers’ normal life. Mr. Jiang believes that the developer’s construction quality is poor and requires a thorough solution to the problem. Developers insist that these are normal phenomena, not construction quality problems. Experts from Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee and Jiezhuang Office visited the site. After testing, it was found that the wall fell off to varying degrees and water seepage was caused by improper handling at the grassroots level. The developer should bear the maintenance responsibility and compensate the consumers for the losses caused by the construction quality. On September 8, 2021, after on-site mediation, the two parties reached a settlement, and the developer compensated the consumer for 20,000 yuan in cash at one time, which was repaired by the consumer.

  For another example, on September 6, 2020, more than 60 owners of a Hong Kong-branded building in Guangzhou collectively reported to the Guangzhou Consumer Council that there was a serious rust problem in the water pipes of the newly acquired building in the community. Corrosion of water pipes will affect the safety of water use and greatly shorten the normal service life of water pipes, which will pose a hidden danger to the quality of houses. Some owners hired people to replace the indoor water pipes themselves, but found that they failed to dig the main water pipes according to the indoor water supply and drainage layout diagram provided by the developer. Owners have repeatedly negotiated with developers through the property, questioning the quality of the project, demanding to provide household acceptance forms, water pipe material inspection reports and concealed engineering acceptance and other relevant documents, and replacing rusty water pipes. Developers have not responded positively, but only authorized property companies to explain that water pipe rust is a normal physical phenomenon. After the Guangzhou Consumer Council intervened in the mediation, it adopted the methods of enterprise interviews and media exposure to promote it layer by layer, and urged the developers to respond and deal with it. On March 26, 2021, the two sides reached a settlement.

  [Opinions of Consumers Association]

  Article 10 of the Supreme People’s Court’s Interpretation on Applicable Legal Issues in the Trial of Disputes over Commercial Housing Sales Contracts stipulates: "If the buyer requests to terminate the contract and compensate for the losses due to the serious impact of housing quality problems, it shall be supported. The house delivered for use has quality problems, and within the warranty period, the seller shall bear the responsibility for repair; If the seller refuses to repair or delays the repair within a reasonable period, the buyer may repair it by himself or by entrusting others. The repair costs and other losses caused during the repair period shall be borne by the seller. " Therefore, when the quality of the main structure of the house is unqualified and there are serious quality problems, which affect the living of consumers, consumers can ask for the termination of the contract and claim the developer to compensate for the losses. When there are non-serious quality problems such as water seepage and hollowing in the house, the developer shall undertake the warranty obligation and be liable for compensation for other losses caused during the warranty period.

  (two) the price increase, disguised to raise the selling price

  In terms of housing prices, the main problems complained by consumers are as follows: First, buying a house is required to buy renovation packages, upgrade packages and other expenses, thus raising housing prices in disguise. Some property consultants who sell real estate with lottery numbers implicitly tell buyers that they can’t sign a house purchase contract without buying a "decoration upgrade package"; The second isFree to collect fees other than the house price, such as group purchase fee, numbering fee, renovation fee, account opening fee, etc.;The third is to confuse the down payment, down payment, intention payment, etc. Some developers collect sincerity money when selling, and turn sincerity money into a deposit and issue a special receipt when choosing a house without the consent of consumers. Refund the refund on the grounds that the deposit is not refundable in case of dispute.

  For example, in May 2019, Mr. Jiang bought a house in a real estate in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. When paying by credit card, Mr. Jiang was required to pay by two brushes, one was 2.76 million yuan and the other was 500,000 yuan. The unit names of the two receipts were different, of which 500,000 yuan was the renovation fee, and the receipt unit was a building decoration engineering company. At that time, the renovation project and standard were not given, and the content of 500,000 yuan renovation was not reflected in the contract. Later, it was learned that other owners of the same apartment with Mr. Jiang did not receive the renovation fee of 500 thousand yuan. On June 30, 2021, Mr. Jiang reported the relevant problems to Nanjing Consumers Association and asked for a refund of 500,000 yuan. After mediation by the staff of Nanjing Consumers Association Real Estate Consumer Rights Protection Committee, the company finally refunded 500,000 yuan to Mr. Jiang.

  For another example, on August 17, 2021, the Committee for the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests of Huidong County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province received a group complaint from several owners’ representatives in a certain district about a real estate development company illegally charging 841 owners’ natural gas account opening fees. After investigation, the real estate company recently asked the owners of the community to pay a natural gas account opening fee of 3,500 yuan per household, but the purchase contract stated that the water, electricity and gas links in the community should be delivered. After many unsuccessful negotiations with the company, the owners collectively complained to the Huidong County Consumer Council. County Consumer Council has organized both parties to conduct on-site mediation for many times. The real estate company said that the energy company wanted to charge this fee, but they just collected it, but failed to show any basis for charging the initial installation fee of natural gas. The Guiding Opinions on Standardizing the Installation Fees of Urban Gas Projects jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the General Administration of Market Supervision (NDRC Price [2019] No.1131) clearly stipulates that "the installation fees of gas projects within the red line of the supporting construction planning of new commercial housing shall be uniformly included in the development and construction costs of commercial housing, and real estate development enterprises and gas enterprises shall not separately charge the buyer." The staff of the Consumer Council explained the relevant contents to the real estate company in detail. After mediation, the real estate company made a promise to the owner that it would no longer charge the initial installation fee of natural gas, and it was not allowed to charge the fee in any name.

  For another example, on September 6, 2021, the Consumer Protection Committee of Lingbi County, Suzhou City, Anhui Province received a complaint from Ms. Chen, a consumer, saying that she went to a real estate project in Lingbi County to look at the house. The salesperson verbally publicized that the middle school of the community was the school district of No.6 Middle School. After repeated confirmation by the consumer, she decided to buy and pay a subscription fund of 20,000 yuan, and then changed to subscription under the guidance of the salesperson. On July 22, the Education Bureau issued a school district division document, and the junior middle school of the property was another school, which did not meet the original promise. On July 30th, the consumer asked the salesman to check out. The salesman insisted that it was the Sixth Middle School District. The consumer asked that the Sixth Middle School District be included in the contract, but the salesman disagreed. The consumer asked the real estate company to check out and refund the deposit. After receiving the complaint, after mediation by the staff, the operator refunded the consumer a house purchase deposit of 20,000 yuan.

  [Opinions of Consumers Association]

  Article 13 of the Price Law stipulates that business operators shall clearly mark the price when selling goods and providing services, and shall not sell at a higher price than the marked price, and shall not charge any unspecified fees. Article 4 of the Supreme People’s Court’s Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Disputes over Commercial Housing Sales Contracts stipulates: "If the seller accepts a deposit from the buyer as a guarantee for concluding a commercial housing sales contract through subscription, ordering, reservation, etc., if the commercial housing sales contract cannot be concluded due to one of the parties, it shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of the law on deposit." Article 587 of the Civil Code stipulates: "If the debtor performs the debt, the deposit shall be used as the price or recovered. If the party paying the deposit fails to perform the debt or the performance of the debt does not conform to the agreement, so that the purpose of the contract cannot be achieved, it has no right to request the return of the deposit; If the party receiving the deposit fails to perform the debt or the performance of the debt does not conform to the agreement, so that the purpose of the contract cannot be achieved, the deposit shall be returned twice. " In the sale of commercial housing, developers often collect consumer fees in advance in various names, such as subscription fund, sincerity fund and queuing fee, and then convert them into deposit through contracts, which limits consumers’ right to terminate contracts and damages consumers’ rights and interests. Consumers should pay attention to the contents of relevant bills and contracts to prevent the name of payment from changing.

  (3) Concealing exaggeration and inducing buyers in violation of regulations.

  In terms of sales promotion, the main problems of consumer complaints are: first, concealing the nature of the house, inducing consumers to trade in violation of regulations, such as concealing the situation of limited sales (no transfer during the restricted sales period) and the property rights of the apartment (mostly 40 years), which harms consumers’ rights and interests; The second is to make false propaganda and false promises through pictures and words, on-site display, oral promises and other forms; The third is to induce unqualified consumers to buy houses in the name of assisting in handling loans; The fourth is to conceal important unfavorable factors and not fully fulfill the obligation of informing, such as the surrounding facilities; The fifth is to exaggerate the favorable conditions of promoting houses and induce transactions, such asSchool district room,Traffic conditions, etc.

  For example, on July 23, 2021, Ms. Consumer Gong came to the Consumer Protection Committee of pinghu city, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province to complain that she and her husband came to Pinghu two months ago and ordered a commercial house in a certain building in Danghu Street on June 13. At that time, she paid a earnest money of 200,000 yuan, and only had the subscription book and the receipt. She complained that the developer did not inform that the commercial house was located next to the crematorium when she bought it, and concealed important information, and asked the developer to return the house. The developer delayed and refused to return it. After the staff of pinghu city Consumer Protection Committee received the complaint, after many times of communication, the developer agreed to refund, and the consumer expressed satisfaction.

  For another example, on July 5, 2021, consumer Mr. Dong complained to Xiamen Consumer Rights Protection Committee, saying that he signed a commercial housing sales contract with a real estate development enterprise in Xiamen on May 15, 2018, and when he was ready to take over the house in September 2020, he found that it was impossible to clarify the nature and scope of the use of the garden and basement promised by the real estate development enterprise at the time of sale. Consumers have repeatedly asked real estate development enterprises to give relevant explanations and solutions, but after ten months, the other party still has no clear reply and sincerity to solve the problem. Xiamen Consumer Protection Committee immediately launched an investigation after receiving the complaint. The person in charge of the real estate development enterprise said that the nature of the garden before and after the original promise was shared by the owners and could not be given a clear property right. Finally, after many mediations, the real estate development enterprise compensated the consumer Mr. Dong for half a year’s property fee, and the consumer agreed.

  Another example is that in early May 2021, Mr. Zhong, a consumer, took a fancy to a 79-square-meter commercial house in a real estate sales department in Weiyuan County, Neijiang City, Sichuan Province, with a total house price of more than 330,000 yuan. Mr. Zhong told the sales staff that he might not be able to apply for a loan because of the credit problem, and the sales staff said that they had channels to help consumers successfully apply for a loan from the bank. Subsequently, the two sides signed an order contract, and the consumer paid 30% of the down payment by mortgage, totaling more than 100,000 yuan. The two sides agreed that the remaining 236,000 yuan would be assisted by the sales department to apply for a loan from the bank. As the loan was not approved, consumers could not afford the remaining house payment. In early June, consumers demanded to cancel the purchase contract and refund the house payment. The developer said that if the house purchase contract is terminated, it should pay 15% of the total house price as stipulated in the contract, totaling more than 50,000 yuan as liquidated damages. Repeated negotiations between the two sides failed, and consumers complained to Weiyuan County Consumer Protection Committee on July 1. After four times of on-site mediation organized by the staff, the developer finally agreed to refund the down payment of the consumer and terminate the contract.

  [Opinions of Consumers Association]

  Consumers have the right to know the real situation of the purchased house, including the house itself, supporting facilities and surrounding planning. Article 3 of the Supreme People’s Court’s Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Disputes over Commercial Housing Sales Contracts stipulates: "The sales advertisements and publicity materials of commercial housing are invitations to offer, but the explanations and promises made by the seller on the housing and related facilities within the scope of commercial housing development planning are specific and have a significant impact on the conclusion of commercial housing sales contracts and the determination of housing prices, which constitute an offer. Even if the explanation and promise are not included in the commercial housing sales contract, they should be the contents of the contract. If the parties violate it, they should bear the liability for breach of contract. " Article 15 of the Measures for the Administration of Commercial Housing Sales stipulates: "The parties concerned shall agree on the matters clearly stated in the advertisements and publicity materials for commercial housing sales issued by real estate development enterprises and real estate intermediary services." In addition, the Regulations on the Publication of Real Estate Advertisements stipulates that the contents of real estate advertisements shall not contain the promise of appreciation or return on investment, shall not indicate the location of the project by the time it takes for the project to reach a specific reference, shall not violate the relevant state regulations on price management, and shall not mislead and publicize the municipal conditions under planning or construction. For housing transactions, consumers should make reasonable arrangements based on their own credit conditions. If they do not meet the credit conditions, do not trust the promise of developers or intermediaries to help successfully handle loans.

  (4) Fancy breach of contract, refusing to take responsibility for various reasons.

  In terms of contract performance, the main problems of consumer complaints are as follows: First, the delivered house is inconsistent with the model house and loushu publicity. For example, the height of the building becomes lower and there are more beams; Second, the housing area has shrunk, which is inconsistent with the area agreed in the contract; Third, the developer delayed the delivery of the house and refused to bear the liability for breach of contract; Fourth, after the delivery of the house, it is impossible to assist the owner in handling the transfer in time; Fifth, green belts, fitness areas, etc. have not been delivered with the room or changed to other uses, such as changing swimming pools into parking spaces; Sixth, use supplementary agreements and special agreements to promote unfair format clauses.

  For example, in November 2019, Mr. Pan, a consumer in Tianchang City, Chuzhou, Anhui Province, ordered a house from a real estate company in Tianchang City. At the same time, he signed an agreement to return the house without reason. The agreement stipulated that the buyer had the right to return the house without reason at any time from the date of signing the Commercial House Sales Contract and the Agreement to the date of handling the check-in formalities. Since Mr. Pan signed the contract in November 2019, the real estate company has been unable to formally sign online, so it applied for no reason to check out on November 9, 2020. However, the real estate company did not give a refund for various reasons. In June 2021, Mr. Pan complained to the Tianchang Consumer Protection Committee. The Municipal Consumer Protection Committee immediately arranged a special investigation after receiving the complaint, and the consumer complaint was true. After communication and mediation by the staff of the Consumer Protection Committee, an agreement was finally reached: the accused real estate company arranged a special person to handle the refund, and the consumer received a check-out payment of more than 640,000 yuan in late July.

  Another example is that Ms. Zhang complained to the Xiamen Consumer Rights Protection Committee that she bought a property with an area of 84.08 square meters through a real estate development company in Xiamen on July 2, 2019. When the house was delivered on June 18, 2021, the acceptance materials submitted by the real estate company showed that the actual measured area was 83.28 square meters (the area difference was 0.8 square meters, and the price difference was 31,439.2 yuan), and the real estate company indicated that the price difference would not be refunded if the area difference was less than 1% as agreed in the contract. Paragraph 1 of Article 13, Chapter 5 of the Contract stipulates that the absolute value of the error ratio of the interior construction area is less than 3% (including 3%), and the house price shall be settled according to the facts. The supplementary agreement stipulates that when the absolute value of the error ratio of the construction area is greater than 1% and less than 3%, the house price shall be settled according to the contract unit price. Consumers think that the main contract is clear and there is no need to sign a supplementary agreement. The relevant content of the supplementary agreement is a complete deviation from the main contract. There is a dispute between buyers and sellers. After investigation, Xiamen Consumer Protection Committee organized both parties to conduct on-site mediation, and Ms. Zhang proposed a plan to exempt property fees for 1-2 years, but both parties failed to reach an agreement. Later, after telephone contact, the real estate company agreed to give a broken wall machine as compensation.

  For another example, on September 9, 2021, Mr. Wu complained to the Consumers Association of Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province that when signing the formal house purchase contract, Mr. Wu found that there were unequal clauses in the contract, and his liability for breach of contract was not equal to that of the developer. If Mr. Wu breached the contract, he would have to pay the developer three ten thousandths of the penalty for overdue payment, while the developer would only have to pay the consumer one thousandth of the penalty for overdue delivery. Mr. Wu objected to this clause. The developer said that the contract was a model contract provided by the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau. If you have any questions, you should consult the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau. The consumer consulted the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau and replied that the model contract was provided by the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, but the specific content was negotiated between the developer and the consumer. If there were obviously unequal terms in the contract, it was definitely not acceptable. However, the developer insisted on changing the terms of the contract and asked Mr. Wu to continue to perform the contract. After mediation by the staff of Zhenjiang Consumers Association, the person in charge of the developer agreed to refund Mr. Wu’s deposit, and stated that all the legal responsibilities in the four real estate contracts for sale in Zhenjiang would be changed to reciprocal responsibilities. Mr. Wu expressed satisfaction with the result.

  [Opinions of Consumers Association]

  It is the duty of the operator to perform the contract according to law and deliver it qualified. According to the provisions of the Civil Code, business operators should fully perform their obligations in accordance with the agreement. If the performance does not meet the agreement, they should bear the liability for breach of contract in accordance with the contract. Article 30 of the Measures for the Administration of Commercial Housing Sales stipulates: "The real estate development enterprise shall deliver the commercial housing that meets the delivery conditions to the buyer on schedule in accordance with the contract. If it fails to deliver on time, the real estate development enterprise shall bear the liability for breach of contract. " Compared with consumers, developers belong to a strong side. Some developers use deposits to fix consumers first, and then "bypass" model contracts such as supplementary agreements to force consumers to accept unfair format clauses drawn up by them unilaterally, exclude and restrict consumers’ rights, increase consumers’ responsibilities, and reduce or exempt operators’ responsibilities. Consumers either accept unfair clauses or lose deposits, which is in a dilemma.This should be severely punished.

  (5) Housing agencies, be careful when they are mixed.

  In terms of housing agencies, the main problems of consumer complaints are: First, some housing agencies resort to deceit, such as publishing false housing information, opaque housing prices, concealing the real situation of housing, etc. Second, there are some phenomena of arbitrary charges, such as collecting agency fees and bank loan fees without telling or without the consent of consumers; Third, some housing agencies violate the rules, such as revealing personal information of buyers and sellers, promising to apply for bank loans, supervising funds for buyers instead of banks, and taking the purchase money for themselves or using it for other purposes; Fourth, some intermediary companies and staff confuse the concepts of online signing for filing, online signing for intermediary, mortgage, etc., misleading buyers, so that they can not realize online signing transfer after paying down payment and intermediary fees; Fifth, some use standard clauses to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of consumers or fail to perform in accordance with the contents of the contract.

  For example, in May 2021, Mr. Jiang from Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province purchased a second-hand house through Huangyan Kaihong Real Estate Agency. Later, when Mr. Jiang went through the transfer formalities, he had to pay 5.6% value-added tax and additional taxes in full because the property was less than two years old. Mr. Jiang thinks that the intermediary clearly introduced the property right of the property for more than two years, but now it is less than two years, which is inconsistent with the reality, so he complained to Taizhou huangyan district Consumer Rights Protection Committee. After receiving the complaint, the staff contacted both parties to mediate. Because the gap between the two parties’ demands for fee reduction was too large, the mediation was unsuccessful. Mr. Jiang said that it would be resolved through legal channels.

  Another example is that in July 2021, Ms. Wang bought a house through a real estate agent in Jiyuan City, Henan Province. On the day of signing the contract, Party A claimed that the real estate license was lost, and repeatedly guaranteed that the real estate area was 116 square meters. The consumer paid 50,000 yuan in advance to the real estate agent. Later, when consumers went to the bank to handle the loan procedures, they learned that the actual registered area of the property was 113.22 square meters, which was 2.78 square meters less than that in the contract. The consumer immediately reported the problem of area discrepancy with the real estate agent. After the intermediary learned it, it proposed to negotiate with Party A to reduce the original transaction price by 30,000 yuan, but Party A did not agree. The consumer asked for a refund of 50,000 yuan, and the person in charge of the real estate agent said that he could only refund 30,000 yuan. On September 3, consumers complained to Jiyuan Consumer Rights Protection Committee. After mediation, the three parties finally reduced the transaction price of the original contract by 20,000 yuan and reached a settlement agreement.

  [Opinions of Consumers Association]

  Article 22 of the Measures for the Administration of Real Estate Brokers stipulates: "When a real estate brokerage institution signs a house sale or lease brokerage service contract with a client, it shall check the house entrusted for sale or lease, the certificate of ownership of the house, the identity certificate of the client and other relevant materials, and shall prepare a housing condition statement. After the written consent of the client, the corresponding listing information can be released to the public. " Before signing the real estate brokerage service contract, the real estate brokerage agency and broker shall truthfully explain the relevant contents of the real estate brokerage service contract and the house sales contract to the client, and truthfully inform the rights and obligations of all parties.Real estate brokerage institutions and brokers who fail to fulfill their due obligations and cause losses to consumers shall be liable for compensation.

  III. Opinions of China Consumers Association on the commercial housing industry

  (a) adhere to the "housing", safeguard the healthy development of the real estate market and the legitimate rights and interests of housing consumers.With the continuous implementation of real estate control policies, the real estate industry has gradually entered an adjustment period. However, some real estate operators have not got rid of the seller’s market thinking, and are still using their strong position to "squeeze" consumers through various means to make profits. In the face of policy adjustment and market changes, relevant operators should change their business philosophy, strive for development by quality, seek benefits from service, base on long-term development, abandon short-sighted behavior, strictly implement relevant laws, regulations and policy documents such as the Civil Code, the Law on the Protection of Consumers’ Rights and Interests, the Urban Real Estate Management Law, the Measures for the Administration of Commercial Housing Sales, and the Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Disputes over Commercial Housing Sales Contracts, so as to earnestly undertake due obligations and responsibilities and protect the legitimate rights and interests of buyers.

  (two) real estate enterprises should operate in good faith according to law, quality and quantity of qualified delivery.Real estate enterprises should ensure the quality of houses in strict accordance with building quality standards, deliver qualified houses and documents such as Residential Quality Guarantee and Residential Instruction Manual to consumers, and put an end to shoddy construction, Jerry-building, false propaganda, improper induction, unauthorized changes, arbitrary breach of contract, bundled price increases, arbitrary charges, overlord clauses, prevarication and other issues, and give back to the trust of consumers with good quality and sincere service. The project supervision unit shall give full play to its role, supervise the construction quality and strictly control it in accordance with laws, regulations and relevant technical standards, design documents and construction project contracts.

  (three) the housing intermediary institutions should strengthen management, effectively restrain employees, and earnestly fulfill their due obligations.We should strictly abide by the Measures for the Administration of Real Estate Brokers and other regulations, abide by professional norms and ethics, mark the service items, service contents, charging standards and related real estate prices and information in a prominent position in the business premises, carefully check the houses and house ownership certificates entrusted for sale or lease, the identity certificates of the clients and other relevant materials, and explain to consumers in detail the relevant contents of real estate brokerage service contracts, house sales contracts or house lease contracts, especially the real situation of houses and important contents related to consumers’ interests. Housing agencies should eliminate the information gap, provide convenience for all parties to the transaction, effectively enhance the service value, and put an end to publishing false information, concealing the real situation, using unfair format terms and other violations of consumers’ legitimate rights and interests.

  (4) Consumers should pay attention to seeing more and asking more questions when buying a house, and strengthen self-protection.It is necessary to carefully check the qualifications and credibility of real estate development enterprises and housing intermediaries. When buying a new house, pay attention to the State-owned Land Use Right Certificate, Construction Land Planning Permit, Construction Project Planning Permit, Construction Project Construction Permit, Commercial Housing Pre-sale Permit or Commercial Housing Sales Permit. For the location, environment and supporting facilities of the house, don’t trust verbal promises, and important contents must be written into the contract. Pay attention to the understanding of housing property rights, purchase restriction policies, loan conditions and other related content. If you don’t meet the conditions for buying a house, don’t take chances and hope that the operators will make false promises. Before signing the contract, you should carefully read and fully understand the terms of the contract, supplementary agreements and contract annexes, such as housing area, floor, housing number, housing price, delivery time, delivery standards, conditions for terminating the contract, and liabilities for breach of contract. We should pay attention to the preservation of the publicity materials, purchase contracts, payment bills, model housing materials and other evidence of real estate and intermediary, so as to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. When accepting the house, the quality of the house project and supporting facilities should be checked and accepted one by one according to the standards agreed in the purchase contract, and records should be made. If conditions permit, relevant supervision institutions and professional house inspectors can be hired to check and accept together, and pay attention to checking and keeping the Residential Quality Guarantee and the Residential Instruction Manual. In case of disputes, safeguard rights in time according to law.

  Statistics of Complaints Accepted in the Third Quarter of 2021

  Completed by: China Consumers Association Unit: pieces