The "Greening" of China?

I'm sure this (Why is a Barren Chinese Mountain Being Painted Green?") is going to make the rounds of the China blogsphere, but its too good to pass up, so I'm going to post it. The artilcle is titled, " It also includes this great nugget:

Others speculated that it was an unusual attempt at "greening" the area in keeping with calls for more attention to environmental protection.

Hmm...I wonder if this is strategy is going to be implemented by Beijing in their quest to host a "Green" Olympics?

In other news, I saw this article ("China Regulates to Help Disabled Find Jobs") and found it interesting, but its sort of a "I'll believe it when I see it" situation. My skepticism is focused on two main parts, first:

The regulation also requires government departments to create more job opportunities to the disabled and better protect their legal rights.

The other being:

The regulation also encourages non-government organizations and individuals to offer assistance to the handicapped.

China's laws are wonderfully liberal in theory, but in practice, they leave a lot to be desired and this is definitely the case when it comes to protecting the "legal rights" of the disabled. The reality is that with so many people currently unemployed, the government isn't ready to stringently protect the rights of the disabled to work and so those who make something of themselves do so entirely on the basis of a bit of luck, their own skill, and sheer will in the face of horrible odds. As to the second part, while it sounds good to let NGO's and individuals get involved, the reality is that the government keeps them in check and prevents them from being able to do very much. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think this will change very much...