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In 2003 China's economy observed a rapid
and healthy growth, and the people's rights to subsistence and development
were further improved. Over the past year the country's gross domestic
product (GDP) reached 11,669.4 billion yuan, an increase of 9.1 percent
over the previous year. Calculated at the current rate of exchange, the
GDP per capita surpassed US$1,000 for the first time, a major step up.
The general living standard of the people continued to rise. In 2003 the
per-capita disposable income of urban residents was 8,472 yuan, an increase,
in real terms, of 9 percent over the previous year after deduction for
inflation. The net per-capita income for rural residents was 2,622 yuan,
an increase of 4.3 percent in real terms.
The consumption pattern of the society showed that it was gradually changing
from one of basic living to one of modern living. In 2003 China's retail
sales of consumer goods totaled 4,584.2 billion yuan-worth, an increase
of 9.1 percent over the previous year. The proportion of urban and rural
residents' expenditure on clothing, food and other daily necessities kept
declining, while the proportion of their expenditure on high-grade daily-use
articles, cars, housing, medical care and entertainments was increasing.
In 2003 the Engel coefficient (i.e. the proportion of food expenditure
in the total consumption spending) per urban and rural household decreased
by 0.6 percentage point from the previous year. In urban areas, the figure
dropped to 37.1 percent from 57.5 percent in 1978, and in rural areas
it dropped to 45.6 percent from 67.7 percent in 1978.
In 2003 China produced 2.02 million cars, an increase of 85 percent over
the previous year. By the end of 2003 private cars owned by individuals
had reached 4.89 million, an increase of 1.46 million cars over the previous
year.
In 2003 an additional 49.08 million households had telephones installed
in their residences, bringing the total number of households with telephones
to 263.3 million at the year's end. Also in 2003, new mobile phone users
increased by 62.69 million, bringing the total number to 268.69 million
at the year's end. The number of fixed and mobile phone users combined
reached 532 million at the end of 2003. There are now 42 telephones for
every 100 people, putting China among the top countries in terms of the
pace and scale of development.
By the end of 2003 there were 30.89 million computers throughout the country
connected to the Internet, and the number of households logging on came
to 79.5 million, ranking China second in the world.
The housing conditions and living environment for urban and rural residents
steadily improved over the past year. Housing construction has increased
at an annual rate of 20 percent in the past few years. The per-capita
housing area was 22.8 square meters by the end of 2002, and in rural areas
it increased to 26.5 square meters. In urban areas privately owned housing
makes up at least 72 percent. Ninety-four percent of the newly constructed
houses in urban areas were purchased by individuals. The standards for
house decoration, decoration quality, indoor air quality and housing environment
are rising steadily.
In the meantime, China made continuous efforts to solve the food and clothing
problem of the impoverished population. The state input for development-oriented
poverty reduction programs in rural areas increased from 24.8 billion
yuan in 2000 to 29.9 billion yuan in 2003. This input was used to improve
the production conditions for agriculture and animal husbandry in impoverished
areas, to build roads, to spread compulsory education and eliminate illiteracy,
to train farmers in practical technology, to prevent and cure endemic
diseases, to construct farm fields, to build water conservancy projects
and to provide drinking water for both people and animals.
The per-capita income of farmers in the major poor counties that the government
aims to help increased from 1,277 yuan at the end of 2001 to 1,305 yuan
in 2003, and the size of the impoverished population without adequate
food and clothing in rural China decreased from 250 million at the beginning
of China's reform and opening-up program in 1978 to 29 million in 2003.
China attaches great importance to protecting the health and safety of
its citizens. In 2003, faced with the sudden outbreak of the SARS epidemic,
the Chinese government made the people's health and safety its top priority.
It adopted a series of resolute and effective measures, including the
promulgation of the Emergency Regulations on Public Health Contingencies
and Measures for the Prevention and Treatment of the Infectious Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome, timely release of information on SARS cases,
and improvement of the SARS case reporting system and measures for prevention
and control of the epidemic.
State leaders went to SARS-affected regions many times to investigate
the epidemic conditions and console SARS patients as well as doctors and
nurses, and mobilized the whole nation to join in the fight against SARS.
The central and local governments earmarked more than 10 billion yuan
to purchase medical equipment, medication and protective gear, and to
reconstruct hospitals.
SARS patients, both farmers and townspeople who had financial difficulties,
were treated free of charge, making sure that all SARS patients were given
hospital treatment. These measures effectively reduced the death rate
of confirmed SARS patients on the Chinese mainland to 6.5 percent, lower
than the world's average of nine percent.
In tackling the outbreak of the highly infectious bird flu (avian flu)
early this year, the Chinese government adopted many effective measures,
such as the killing and compulsory vaccination of fowls. As a result,
the disease was confined to the infected areas before it could spread
to other areas and infect human beings. By March 16, 2004, the 49 cases
of highly infectious bird flu incidents across China had been eliminated,
and people's life and health had been effectively protected.
Meanwhile, the state adopted policies to give reasonable compensation
to poultry farmers who had suffered financially during the epidemic. It
also provided support to the poultry industry and poultry enterprises
with respect to loans, bank interest discount and taxation, effectively
protecting the interests of the farmers.
China has strengthened the prevention and treatment of AIDS. It has established
the State Council coordination meeting system for the prevention and treatment
of AIDS and venereal diseases. It has also worked out China's Medium-
and Long-Term Plan for the Prevention and Control of AIDS (1998-2010)
and China's Action Plan for the Control, Prevention and Treatment of AIDS
(2001-2005).
In the four years starting 2003, the Chinese government will invest 1.75
billion yuan on the prevention and treatment of AIDS. The state provides
free anti-AIDS medicine to patients among farmers and to other patients
in straitened circumstances. In AIDS-prevalent areas people can receive
anonymous examinations free of charge, and pregnant women with the AIDS
virus can receive free medical screening to prevent them from spreading
the virus to the baby. Orphans of AIDS patients are exempted from paying
any fees required to attend school. Financial support is given to needy
AIDS patients.
On World AIDS Day, i.e., December 1, 2003, China's Ministry of Health
and a UN AIDS team jointly issued the Joint Evaluation Report on AIDS
in China, describing the spread of AIDS and efforts for its control in
China. On the same day, Premier Wen Jiabao visited AIDS patients in hospitals,
shook hands with them and talked to them. This was designed to guide the
public to correctly understand and control AIDS, and eliminate prejudice
against AIDS patients.
At the same time, the state worked out and implemented the Plan for the
Establishment of a National Public Health Monitoring and Information System
and the Plan for the Establishment of a Medical Treatment System in Case
of Public Health Contingencies. These plans helped establish a sound early
warning and emergency mechanism concerning public health contingencies,
a disease prevention and control system and a health care law enforcement
supervision system, thus further improving the basic health care conditions
for urban and rural residents.
According to statistics, by the end of 2003 China had 305,000 health care
institutions, 2.902 million hospital and clinic beds, 4.24 million medical
professionals, and 3,600 disease prevention and control centers (anti-epidemic
stations) with 159,000 medical personnel. Moreover, there were 755 health
care supervision and examination institutions with 15,000 medical personnel,
and 45,000 township clinics with 668,000 beds and a 907,000-strong professional
staff.
As health care conditions improved, people's health has also improved
greatly. The average life expectancy of the Chinese people has increased
from 35 years before the birth of New China in 1949 to the present 71.4
years. The maternal mortality rate dropped from 1,500 out of 100,000 in
the early 1950s to 43.2 out of 100,000 in 2002, and the infant mortality
rate from 200‰ before the birth of New China to 28.4‰. At
the same time, the incidence and death rates of infectious, local and
parasitic diseases have dropped drastically.
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