For centuries "Have you eaten yet?" has been used by the Chinese as a way of saying "How are you?" However, this phrase is starting to lose its meaning, as food fades in importance in people's daily lives.

If food is not the major concern, then what is? What are the things that the Chinese, 22 percent of the global population, demand most?

A recent nationwide survey on people's aspirations for social development may have some of the answers.

A fairly-priced healthcare system, a sound social insurance network and a trusting society were the top three desires from the 150,000 respondents to the survey, which was conducted by the Beijing-based International Institute for Urban Development over the past month.

The outcome was made public yesterday at the 2005 China City Forum Beijing Summit. More freedom of movement, more transparent government, environmental protection and energy conservation also ranked highly on the list.

Lian Yuming, president of the institute, said that as Engel's coefficient proportion of income that goes into food keeps dropping in China, people now pay more attention to the quality of life, which includes a number of indices ranging from education and healthcare to employment and entertainment.

Lian said the outcome that medical security ranked first means China's healthcare system has many improvements to make.

Health Minister Gao Qiang said last month that the country's medical reform was basically unsuccessful, as it failed to provide adequate healthcare to most of the people. Ministry of Health statistics show that nearly half of the people who need medical treatment do not visit a doctor, and that 30 per cent of those who should stay in hospital remain at home because of cost concerns.

Inadequate social programmes are another major problem among respondents, Lian said.

Statistics from Lian's institution show that the current social insurance network covers only 10 per cent of the country's population.

The institution also released a report on the quality of life in 100 major Chinese cities.

According to a public appraisal carried out on the Internet over the past month, Shenzhen, Dongguan both in Guangdong Province and Shanghai rank as the three cities with the highest living quality. Beijing ranks fourth, followed by Hangzhou, Zhuhai, Ningbo, Suzhou, Guangzhou and Xiamen.

Around 700,000 netizens took part in the appraisal.

Gao Shangquan, chairman of China Economic Reform Studies, said the quality of life, rather than an economic index such as gross domestic product, is the sole criterion for judging a city's value.

Gao said public products including education, healthcare, social insurance and environmental protection are insufficient in China.

(China Daily September 14, 2005)