The central government will grant 36 million yuan to Liaoning’s Dandong as part of the state fund ‘Program to Revitalize Border Areas and Enrich Residents’ Lives this year, a net increase of 12 million yuan, or 50 percent over the previous year, said an official from Dandong municipal Ethnic Affairs Commission on August 1.

In 2006, only two border counties of the city were included in the program. Each was allocated 3 million yuan annually. In 2009, the number increased to five.

In 2010, the state started to run the ‘Competitive Industry Pilot Scheme’ in ‘Program to Revitalize Border Areas and Enrich Residents’ Lives’ with financial support in 136 border countries and 58 frontier corps farms included in the program. Kuandian county in Dandong was among the first 12 pilot counties. This year, the state raised funds standard for key border counties (cities) to six million yuan, and at the same time continued to expand the range of pilot scheme by newly adding 18 pilot counties. Two counties in Dandong have managed to appear on that list, thus increasing the number of pilot country in the city to three, out of 30 of its kind nation-wide in the pilot scheme. Each country is supposed to receive an additional two million yuan in support funds annually.