China has so far built 1,026 helping centers for the homeless and beggars in urban districts across the country, benefiting 1.12 million people in need over the past year.

Nearly 16 percent of the beneficiaries, numbered 178,029, were children, according to a national meeting of the Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry on the management and protection of homeless children held in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province.

The recipients also included 196,000 senior people, which made up 17.58 percent of the total number, 15,805 people suffering from serious diseases, 1.4 percent, and 91,321 handicapped people, 8.19 percent.

The number of people getting aids from the helping centers in the first six months rose 60 percent year on year to reach 383,000.

Civil affairs departments at different levels are urged to build a comprehensive helping network with helping centers as the backbone, supplemented by sub-stations and consulting stations, and other specialized helping services catering to the needy including women and children.

The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs is to work out a compulsory state service standard on managing and helping homeless children and train workers at the helping centers in the latter half of the year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2005)