BEIJING - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has met with representatives from various sectors, calling on them to give suggestions on the government work report and the development of education, cultural and medical sectors.

At a symposium on Feb. 7, Wen heard the voices of representatives from the education, cultural and medical sectors on the draft of the government work report to be delivered at the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, next month.

The government will encourage private investment in education and medical fields while supervising carefully, Wen said, responding to the views of Yang Fujia, former head of Shanghai-based Fudan University, that the government should encourage and guide social capital into higher education institutions.

Yang, current Chancellor and President of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, also expressed his dream of building a first-class private college in the country. It would be run under a student-oriented mechanism and lead the way for more similar private operations, he hoped.
Gong Ke, head of Nankai University in Tianjin, also called for a student-oriented system that focuses on nourishing talent instead of instilling knowledge related to various subjects.

While he welcomed booming private investment in education, Wen cautioned that there remains room for state funding of performance groups at a time when much of the entertainment sector is becoming privatized.

"Cultural reform doesn't necessarily mean all cultural groups must be turned into enterprises. Some national performance units, such as the National Ballet of China, symbolize the image of our country and will continue to receive financial support from the government regarding daily operations as well as performers' benefits," the premier said.

Moving away from debate about private and state funding, the symposium also included discussion of medical care. Wen said people in the whole of the society should expend more efforts on fostering a trusting and caring relationship between doctors and their patients.

"Medical reform touches on three major issues: government investment, the construction of a medical service network and systematic restructuring, and doctors are the main force in it. They need to have respect, and patients need care," Wen said.