The "Military Service Law of the People's Republic of China," "Regulations on
Placement for Demobilized Conscripts," and similar laws and regulations provide
for the placement and resettlement of demobilized servicemen. The government
provides employment for demobilized soldiers in urban areas, and grants a
lump-sum subsidy as well as preferential policy support for those who seek their
own employment. Demobilized conscripts from rural areas have their difficulties
in production, livelihood and medicare settled according to their different
situations. Government and non-government organizations, enterprises and public
institutions provide preferential recruitment for ex-servicemen from both urban
and rural areas. Secondary schools and schools of higher learning provide
preferential admission to ex-servicemen. Appropriate care is given to wounded
and disabled ex-servicemen in terms of employment and livelihood. Arrangements
for placement and resettlement are made for demobilized, transferred and retired
military officers (including non-commissioned officers). Now, relevant services
have been established by governments at all levels.
Proceeding from protecting the immediate interests of the people eligible for
special care and preferential treatment, as well as ex-servicemen, the Chinese
Government is determined to mobilize all sectors of the society to continuously
improve the special care and placement system, increase the level of protection
for people of this category, promote legal and institutional guarantees for the
placement and resettlement of ex-servicemen, and protect the legal rights and
interests of the people eligible for special care and preferential treatment.
VIII. Social Relief
Proceeding from the situation of national development, the Chinese Government
has made the greatest efforts to provide the minimum standard of living for the
urban and rural poor, to provide relief to natural disaster victims and to urban
vagrants and beggars, while promoting and encouraging all kinds of social mutual
help activities.
Guarantee of the Minimum Standard of Living for Urban Residents
In 1999, the Chinese Government promulgated the "Regulations on Guaranteeing
Urban Residents' Minimum Standard of Living," which stipulates that urban
residents with non-agricultural permanent residence permits whose family's per
capita income is lower than the local urban residents' minimum standard of
living can receive basic subsistence assistance from the local government; those
with neither source of income nor working capability, nor legal guardian,
supporter or fosterer can receive in full the minimum living allowance according
to the minimum living standard of local urban residents. The minimum living
standard is decided primarily on the basis of urban residents' average income
and consumption level per capita, the price level of the previous year, the
consumption price index, the local cost necessary for maintaining the basic
livelihood, other connected social security standards, the materials for the
basic needs of food, clothing and housing, and the expenditure on under-age
children's compulsory education. Meanwhile, consideration must also be given to
the level of local socio-economic development, the number of people eligible for
receiving the minimum living allowance and the local government's fiscal
capacity. Funds for this purpose are included in the fiscal budgets of the local
governments. For local governments that have very tight budgets, the Central
Government will provide financial support. By the end of 2003, there were 22.47
million urbanites nationwide drawing the minimum living allowance, which was an
average of 58 yuan per person per month. A total of 15.6 billion yuan for the
minimum living allowance was allocated from government budgets at central and
local levels in 2003, which included the 9.2 billion yuan of the Central
Government's subsidies to the disadvantaged central and western regions.
Natural Disaster Relief
The state has set up an emergency system and a social relief system to deal
with abrupt natural disasters. Taking people's lives as the most important
thing, the government has made timely efforts to save and evacuate
disaster-stricken people, and to lead them to engage in self-relief production
and mutual help. In this connection, it has also mobilized all social sectors to
render help, so as to minimize as much as possible the casualties and property
losses brought about by natural disasters, and to ensure that disaster victims
can have adequate food, clothing and lodging, and access to medical treatment.
Governments at all levels have enlisted expenditure in their budgets for the
storage of disaster-relief materials and for evacuating victims. In 2003, the
expenditure for such purposes from governments at various levels reached 5.31
billion yuan, of which 4.05 billion yuan came from the Central Government.
