Press points finger at greedy and callous railways officials

There's little doubt that the past week was the worst of times for the Ministry of Railways, but it was a moment of glory for the nation's press.

At a press conference given by Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday at the site of the Wenzhou rail disaster on July 23 that claimed 40 lives, reporters from the mainland were asking as many pointed questions as their overseas colleagues.

And it was not just reporters on the ground. Editorials across the nation showed a deep commitment to humanist values, in contrast to railway officials' evasiveness and callousness.

An unprecedented choice of words appeared in an editorial of the People's Daily, regarded as the mouthpiece of the Communist Party. It was a phrase that had been widely used by many internet bloggers. But this time, it made its way into official language: 'blood-stained GDP', meaning 'chasing money at the cost of human lives' as People's Daily itself explained.

'China wants development. But it wants no blood-stained GDP,' it said. 'Let us all start work on a society-wide campaign to improve work safety.'

The Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News said the train crash served to remind the Chinese people that they were all moving about, whether by train or by air or by some other form of transport, in an era of increasing speed.