IV. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
In 2004, China began to implement the scientific development concept of
putting people first, focusing on promoting the all-round, coordinated
development of the urban and rural areas, different regions, as well as economy
and society, promoting all people's equal participation in development and share
of development results, and continuously enhancing the level of people's
enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to the protection of
laborers' rights. The state has adopted many measures to promote employment and
reemployment, including reemployment aid, strengthened control of unemployment
and regulation over staff cuts by enterprises. In 2004, there were 9.8 million
new employees and 5.1 million reemployed laid-off workers in urban areas in
China; the registered unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in urban areas, 0.1
percentage point lower than in the previous year. By the end of 2004, the number
of workers laid off from state-owned enterprises shrank to 1.53 million, of whom
920,000 joined reemployment service centers, where they received subsistence
allowances, and which paid their social insurance premiums.
The labor security and social insurance systems have
been further strengthened. In 2004, the State Council promulgated and
implemented the "Rules of Supervision over Labor Security," thus providing a
legal basis in this aspect. The "Provisions on Collective Contracts" and the
"Provisions on Minimum Wages" were amended and promulgated. A minimum-wage
guarantee system has been established in all areas, and most areas have
readjusted the minimum-wage standards in a timely and appropriate way. The
"Corporate Annuity Trial Measures" and the "Management of Corporate Annuity
Funds Trial Measures" were enacted and promulgated to promote the establishment
of a multi-level system of old-age insurance. The management of hospitals and
pharmacies designated for medical insurance has been further improved. Guidance
has been given to employees of organizations of mixed ownership and
non-state-owned enterprises to participate in medical insurance, and the
catalogues of medicines covered by basic medical insurance and industrial injury
insurance have been amended to better cater to the demands of the insured for
reasonable use of medicine. Considering the constant flow of migrant workers
from rural areas, a special policy has been made and implemented for their
participation in industrial injury insurance and the payment of compensation for
industrial injuries. A comprehensive study has been launched of the situation of
employment and social security of migrant workers from rural areas and farmers
whose lands have been requisitioned. Energetic efforts have been made to promote
the participation of employees of high-risk enterprises in industrial insurance
in light of the high risks they are exposed to.
The coverage of social insurance has been continuously expanded, and various
insurance funds and social security funds have continued to increase
considerably. In 2004, the central treasury put 146.5 billion yuan into social
security, 18.1 percent more than in the previous year. The standards of basic
pensions for retirees from enterprises and the minimum living guarantee for
urban residents in some areas have been raised. In 2004, basic pensions were
duly and fully issued to all retirees from enterprises throughout China,
totaling 303.1 billion yuan, with 52.2 billion yuan of subsidies from the
central treasury. By the end of 2004, the numbers of people participating in
basic pension insurance, unemployment insurance, medical insurance and
industrial injury insurance in urban areas had reached 164 million, 106 million,
124 million and 68.45 million, respectively, 8.47 million, 2.11 million, 15.02
million and 22.70 million more than at the end of the previous year
respectively. In the rural areas, 55 million people had participated in social
old-age pension system. In 2004, 4.19 million people received unemployment
insurance benefits, 0.52 million people received compensation under the
industrial injury insurance scheme, about 2.20 million farmers received old-age
pensions, and 22.01 million urban residents were issued minimum living
allowances by the government.
The state has vigorously developed education, science, culture, health care
and sports, striving to guarantee citizens' rights to education, culture and
living in an all-round way. In 2004, the central treasury earmarked 98.7 billion
yuan and invested 14.7 billion yuan in treasury bonds for these purposes. In the
same year, the central treasury appropriated various special-purpose funds,
totaling over 10 billion yuan, for compulsory education in rural areas, an
increase of more than 70 percent from the 5.8 billion yuan of 2003. The central
treasury appropriated 6.8 billion yuan for education, including basic universal
nine-year compulsory education and basic elimination of illiteracy among young
and middle-aged people ("two basic's" for short), as well as construction of
public health care facilities in the western regions, 2.7 billion yuan more than
in the previous year. As a result, 2.0558 million illiterate people received
rudimentary education, 2,364 boarding schools in western rural areas are being
built, ramshackle buildings of 8,130 secondary and elementary schools in central
and western China were renovated, and 24 million students from impoverished
families within the compulsory education period in central and western rural
areas received free textbooks. At present, there are more than 70,000 private
schools (educational establishments) at all levels and of various kinds, with
over 17 million students, and more than 10,000 training institutes. In 2003, the
national treasury appropriated 109.4 billion yuan for compulsory education in
rural areas, more than twice the 53.3 billion yuan in 1999 and accounting for 80
percent of the total funds for the purpose in the same year.
In 2004, the enrolment of technical college students and
undergraduate students throughout the country was 4.473 million, 0.65 million
more than in 2003, and the enrolment of graduate students was 0.326 million,
0.057 million more than in 2003. At present, there are over 20 million students
in institutions of higher learning in China, and the gross enrolment ratio for
higher education has reached 19 percent. Enrolment in secondary vocational
education has reached 5.48 million, and there are now 13.68 million students in
such schools. There are 5.957 million undergraduate students and technical
college students in institutions of higher vocational education, 1 million more
than in the previous year.
Cultural undertakings continued to develop and the people's cultural life
continued to improve. By November 2004, the national cultural information
sharing project had 32 provincial sub-centers, nearly 3,000 grass-roots centers
and over 50,000 terminal users. By the end of 2004, the country had 2,599 art
troupes, 2,858 cultural centers, 2,710 public libraries, 1,509 museums, 282
radio stations, and 314 TV stations with 60 education channels. There were about
115 million cable TV users, and 30 cities with cable digital TV services for
1.22 million users. The overall population coverage rates of radio and TV
broadcasting were 94.1 percent and 95.3 percent, respectively. In 2004, 212
feature films and 44 films on science and education, documentaries and animated
cartoons were produced. In the same year, 25.77 billion copies of national and
provincial newspapers, 2.69 billion copies of periodicals of various kinds and
6.44 billion copies of books were published. A relatively complete public
cultural service system had taken initial shape, and the people's basic cultural
rights were protected.
The government has adopted measures to improve the farmers' cultural,
scientific and technological qualities, enhance their ability to increase their
incomes, and improve their production and living conditions. In 2004, the
government arranged 1,692 projects under the Spark Program, in which
agricultural produce processing projects accounted for 33.1 percent, projects
for the development of advantageous resources and characteristic industries in
rural areas accounted for 13.89 percent, and high-efficiency cultivation and
breeding projects accounted for 24.7 percent. Over 3.10 million were trained in
different skills for rural enterprises, 236 rural enterprises received support
to set up state-level centers for technological innovations, and over 1,500
state-level intermediary agencies of all kinds were established to provide
science and technology services in rural areas. So far, 143,400 Spark Program
demonstration projects have been implemented, involving nearly 90 percent of the
counties and cities throughout the country. In recent years, the state has
invested 10.3 billion yuan to solve the drinking water problem for over 60
million rural people. In 2004, 1.8 billion yuan was arranged in the form of
treasury bonds for investment in projects to make drinking water available to
people and domestic animals in rural areas, which helped solve the problem of
safe drinking water for 9.58 million people in the countryside. The "2005-2006
Emergency Plan for Drinking Water Projects in Rural Areas" was worked out, which
was expected to solve the drinking water problem for 21.20 million rural
residents. Meanwhile, 2 billion yuan-worth of treasury bonds was issued for
investment in the construction of marsh gas facilities, which would provide
marsh gas for 2.07 million rural households. A project for the construction of
pastoral steppes and settlement of nomads in Tibet was carried out continuously,
which received accumulatively 180 million yuan by 2004 and, when completed in
2006, it would settle 8,000 nomad families totaling 40,000 people. Some 6.4
billion yuan of work-for-food funds was appropriated to construct 1.85 million
mu (15 mu equals to 1 ha) of basic farmland, add and improve 9.70 million mu of
irrigated areas, build, renovate and extend 40,000 km of highways, and prevent
and control soil erosion in an area of 0.155 million sq km.
The government attaches great importance to the
protection of the farmers' legitimate rights and interests. In 2004, the
government examined compensation for and settlement of farmers whose
collectively-owned lands had been requisitioned, and paid defaulted compensation
for land requisition totaling 14.77 billion yuan. The government sorted out and
annulled discriminative regulations and unreasonable restrictions on farmers
seeking employment in urban areas, and continued to improve protection of the
legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers from rural areas, requiring
that their children should enjoy equal rights to compulsory education with local
children, forbidding arbitrary collection of fees from them, improving job
services for them, providing them with good consultation services, strengthening
their training for employment, further solving their problem of defaulted wages,
reinforcing the management of labor contracts as well as procuratorial work and
law enforcement concerning labor security, handling promptly labor dispute
cases, encouraging trade unions to protect their rights and interests according
to law, and providing them with industrial injury insurance. In 2004, the
"Provisional Measures for the Management of Payment of Wages to Migrant
Construction Workers from Rural Areas" was formulated, which provided for an
overall clear-up of defaults on payment of project fees as well as wages of
migrant workers from rural areas. By the end of 2004, migrant construction
workers from rural areas received wages totaling 33.2 billion yuan defaulted
accumulatively over the previous years.
The government protects women's legitimate rights and interests according to
law. By the end of 2004, 2,603 coordination teams or joint conferences for the
protection of women's and children's rights and interests above the county level
had been established, 22 provinces had formulated regulations, opinions or
measures against domestic violence, and 3,183 courts or jury panels had been set
up for the protection of women's rights. Meanwhile, the All-China Women's
Federation had conducted a sample survey in six provinces (autonomous regions
and municipalities directly under the central government) and 24 counties
(cities and prefectures) under their jurisdiction, to learn about the state of
women's legal knowledge and needs. It also held its fifth Rights Protection
Week, with the theme "Legal System Promotion and Education by Doing Practical
Work," combining legal system promotion and education with safeguarding women's
rights and interests, which benefited directly over 200,000 counts of people.
Women's equal rights and interests in political, economic and social spheres
are being gradually realized along with social development. From the Fourth
National People's Congress held in 1975 to the Tenth National People's Congress
held in 2003, women deputies accounted for over 20 percent of the total number
of deputies. The scale of employment, payment and education level of women are
roughly on the same level as those for men. The government actively provides
women with reproduction health services and has introduced informed choice in
contraception and birth control to protect women's rights to reproduction
health, information and choice. In 2004, the government launched "World AIDS
Day" activities which featured the theme "Show Concern for Women, Say No to
AIDS" to provide face-to-face dissemination and education for 34.83 percent of
China's female population. Meanwhile, the government severely punishes such
unlawful acts as unnecessary medical tests on the sex of fetuses, artificial
abortion because of the sex of a fetus, and drowning or abandoning girl babies.
The experimental campaign of "Caring for Girls" was launched in 11 counties in
11 provinces with excessively high male sex ratios in the newly born population,
and it was expanded to 24 counties in 24 provinces the same year. Moreover, the
governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly
under the central government launched the experimental campaign on their own
initiative in 638 places at or above the county level. As a result, all the
areas with excessively high male sex ratios among the newly born population are
now covered by the campaign, and the rights and interests of women and girls are
truly protected.
