China's social security white paper (full text)
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-09-07 11:23

Generally Affordable and Functional Housing System

In 1998, the Chinese Government decided to build generally affordable and functional housing. Affordable and functional housing means housing for which the government provides preferential policies, and sets the construction standards, the selling price and the users' qualification criteria. It is policy-based, security-type commercial housing. Households meeting the following requirements can apply to buy or rent a suite of such housing: those having local registered permanent residence permits (including servicemen eligible under local resettlement standards) or those specified by the city or county government; those with serious housing problems -- without housing of their own or with their current housing space below the standards set by the city or county government; households whose family incomes meet the income standard set by the city or county government; and households meeting other conditions set by the city or county government. A low-profit principle is maintained for such housing when it is sold or rented. Only after a specified length of time following the purchase of such housing may the owner sell it at the market, and a portion of the earnings therefrom must be turned over to the government. The purchase of this kind of housing must be subject to application, examination and public announcement, thus emphasizing public transparency and strict supervision and administration. From 1998 to 2003, the construction of 477 million sq m of such housing space was completed.

The Low-Rent Housing System

Since 1998, the Chinese Government has made active efforts to promote the low-rent housing system and to continuously improve housing security policies. Temporary exemption of property tax and business tax is applied to publicly owned housing and low-rent housing lent out at prices prescribed by the government. Under the guidance of uniform state policies, the local governments have setup their own low-rent housing systems for urban minimum-income households in accordance with the level of local economic and social development. Such a housing security system, supported mainly by the government's financial budget while the low-rent funds are pooled from other channels, is practiced in many ways --with housing rent subsidy as the major form, supplemented by the supply of basic furniture and rent deduction. For households whose incomes and housing space are below the standards set by the local government, the latter should ensure that their basic housing needs are met by application, registration and waiting one's turn. In 2003, this low-rent housing system for minimum-income families was established in 35 large and medium-sized cities.

X. Social Security in Rural Areas

The majority of the Chinese people live in rural areas, where the economic development level is comparatively low. In the rural areas the land, as a means of both production and livelihood, is owned collectively where the contractual household output-related responsibility system is practiced. Under the influence of China's traditional culture, there is a time-honored tradition of provision by the family, security coming from self-reliance and help from the clan. In accordance with the characteristics of rural socio-economic development, the state's social security measures in rural areas are different from those practiced in cities.

Experimenting to Establish an Old-Age Insurance System in Rural Areas

The old-age security in China's rural areas is centered mostly on families. In the 1990s, China began to try out an old-age insurance system in some of the rural areas in accordance with the actual level of local socio-economic development. In light of the principle that "The premiums are paid mainly by individuals themselves, supplemented by collectively pooled subsidies and supported by government policies," an old-age insurance system with the accumulation of funds taking the form of personal accounts was established. By the end of 2003, the work of old-age social insurance had been carried out to various extents in the rural areas of 1,870 counties (cities, districts). Some 54.28 million people had underwritten the old-age insurance program, which had accumulated a fund running to 25.9 billion yuan, with 1.98 million farmers drawing old-age pension. In 2004, the Chinese Government began to experiment with a system that supports and rewards households that practice family planning by having only one child or two girls in some of the rural areas. Each person of such couple may receive a minimum of 600 yuan a year from the age of 60 till the end of his or her life. This reward will be provided jointly by the central and local governments.