Happy town in Sun Yat-sen's hometown
- By Zhang Xu
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CRI, September 23, 2011
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Doctors work at Xiaolan's tertiary class A hospital in Zhongshan city, south China's Guangdong Province, on Thursday, September 22, 2011. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com/Zhang Xu] |
Zhongshan city in south China's Guangdong province has been named in honor of its famous resident Sun Yat-sen who led the Xinhai Revolution which overthrew China's last imperial dynasty.
Xiaolan is only a small town in Zhongshan city, but its GDP reached 17.9 billion yuan (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2010. Among all of its 40,000 households, 28,000 have owned business enterprises, some of which have given birth to famous Chinese brands such as Vantage and Avlight. Moreover, the city boasts China's only town-located "tertiary class A hospital", or the highest level under China's hospital grading system.
Peng Zhihui, the township party secretary, told CRI that happiness is not just a town slogan, but comes from the town's emphasis on social welfare issues, including employment, medical care and old-age support.
"In Xiaolan, anyone who wants to work can get a job," Peng said. "Among more than 160,000 local people, we have 93,000 workers. Every year, we help members of the labor force to find a job, and now only 2,000 people are unemployed. To encourage employment, the town provides subsidies to low-income families. In any family with a monthly per capita income of less that 800 yuan, each family member can receive a 100-yuan government subsidy."
As for medical insurance, all residents have at least one policy. More than 90 percent of Xiaolan residents are covered by two medical insurance policies. They pay only 290 yuan annually for the two health insurance policies, and more than 90 percent of their medical fees can be refunded.
Male residents over 60 and women over 55 can receive monthly pensions of more than 1,103 yuan. Peng also stressed that people in urban and rural areas can enjoy the same welfare policies in Xiaolan.
Moreover, Xiaolan attaches importance to migrant workers who make up half the town's population.
"They can buy medical and old-age insurance here," Peng says. "We encourage migrant workers to obtain our hukou, or household registration certificate, through hard work. The government often asks enterprises to treat migrant workers kindly and organize cultural and sports activities for them."
Peng said that with Xiaolan's rapid economic development and welfare policies, he believes the town has entered a period of sound development.
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