And it sends a positive signal that educators are concerned, she added.

However, some applicants complained that they have not had quick access to the fund.

"I submitted my application forms to the authority one month ago, but haven't got the subsidy," Wang Huanqiang, 23, who graduated from a junior college last year, told the Global Times, adding that authorities told him he needs to wait three more months.

The tuition for his two-year college study is 240,000 yuan (US$35,121), he said.

"Though the subsidy is only 8,000 yuan, I still appreciate it," he said.

The township government said the program is part of its long-term plan.

The township, covering an area of 56 square kilometers and with a population of 42,000, is the corporate home of 400 private companies and 500 foreign-owned companies, according to its official website.

With annual disposable fiscal revenue of around 500 million yuan (US$73 million), the township couldn't be considered as wealthy as other communities in the Pearl River Delta region, some of them with annual revenue of a billion yuan (US$146 million) according to the report.

"It's part of an effort to transform the current post-industrial economy into a future knowledge-based economy as urbanization advances," said Zhai Chongbi, the Party secretary of the township.

The official said the township government aims to build its reputation as a community offering higher social welfare benefits, prosperous cultural undertakings, and a humanistic atmosphere rather than just tall buildings of steel and concrete.