Social Security and Vulnerable Group in China
Liu Cuixiao
Professor of Institute of Law, CASS
China is a Country with Humanitarianism Tradition
China is a country with a long history for helping the disadvantaged .During the
Spring and Autumn Period, famous words were given by Confucius about ‘Great
Harmony ’and“well-off” society . Although in ancient China, the ‘Great Harmony’
society was an ideal, in practices measures and actions for helping the disadvantaged
by the government and civil societies have been handed down from generation to
generation, which made China a country with a long history of humanitarianism
tradition. Feudal Ethical Code of Zhou Dynasty provides six policies for assuring the
individual lives. They are :(a) to take care of children; (b) to support the elderly; (c) to
provide relief to the widowhood; (d) to help the poor; (e) to care the disabled; (f)
average tax. Through these, the state aimed to care :“the children, the elderly , the
poor, people in poverty, the sicked and the rich ”in order to stabilize social orders and
develop the concepts of values such as caring children and supporting the elderly as
social morality. In 585,Empiror Sui Wen-ti set up “free grains warehouse”, which was
used as resources for distributing grains to victims of natural calamities meanwhile for
supporting the disadvantaged for a long time. During the Date Qing Dynasty, many
foreign missionaries came to China and they believed that an effective way to do
commissioner work was to develop charities. The charities of churches mainly include
medical treatment, relief to victims of natural calamities and taking care of orphans.
Taking care of orphans is a kind of major activities which inclued development of
foundlings, orphanages ,schools for the blind children and schools for deaf-and -dumb
children. In the period of the Republic of China, there were many philanthropists such
as famous philanthropists Zhang Jian and Xiong Xiling. Zhang Jian set up resthomes,
homes for the disabled, schools for the blind-and -dumb ,foundlings and relieved
victims of natural calamities. Under his influence, schools for the blind-and-dumb
were also developed in Shanghai, Nanjing, Tianjin and Guiyang, etc. Xiong Xiling
mainly contributed to relieving victims of natural calamities and establishment of
Xiangshan Orphanage. These measures taken by different regimes and civil
organizations in the history are manifestations of carrying out policies of benevolence
and humanitarianism. The spirit of humanitarianism has been carried on from the very
beginning of human beings and deeply rooted in highest civilized lives at the time.
Although success and failure of different economic and political systems in any
country and rise and decline of a state, nation and civilization, the humanitarianism is
unlikely out of date in despite of different manifestations in different historical period.
The relief provided by different regimes, charitable institutions, civil organizations
and philanthropists during different times are humanitarianism, and the enforcement
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of “policies of benevolence” by different regimes in the history aimed at promotion of
good social moralities and caring forward the practice of aiding the poor.
Historical Development of the Social Security Legal System for the
Disadvantaged in China
After the 1940’s, different countries tended to protect rights and interests of the
disadvantaged through making laws, which fully reflect humanitarianism. The
advanced counties may supply high cash treatment and good service treatment for the
disadvantaged by virtue of their advanced economic development, which assure the
disadvantaged lead dignified lives. Due to its financial constraints, China is unlikely
to supply abundant materials for the disadvantaged. Yet Chinese government and
competent authorities have developed social protections of rights and interests of the
disadvantaged by making laws suitable for Chinese situations. In addition, they
appealed the whole society to concern and support the protection of rights and
interests of the disadvantaged and make donation for its development. All these fully
reflect socialist humanitarianism.
In 1954,China adopted its first constitution in which articles 45,46,48 clearly
provide right to social security of the disadvantaged. The Article 45 provides
‘citizens of the People's Republic of China have the right to material assistance from
the state and society when they are old, ill
or disabled. The state develops social insurance, social relief and medical and health
services that are required for citizens to enjoy this right.
The state and society ensure the livelihood of disabled members of the armed
forces, provide pensions to the families of martyrs and give preferential treatment to
the families of military personnel. The state and society
help make arrangements for the work, livelihood and education of the blind,
deaf-mutes and other handicapped citizens.’ The Article 46 states ‘Citizens of the
People's Republic of China have the duty as well as the right to receive education.
The state promotes the all-round development of children and young people,
morally, intellectually and physically. The Article 48 states ‘women in the People's
Republic of China enjoy
equal rights with men in all spheres of life, in political, economic, cultu
ral, social and family life.
The state protects the rights and interests of women.’ China protects the right to
social security of the disadvantaged mainly by use of the social insurance principle
meanwhile apply the social relief principle. The social relief principle put dignity and
values of human beings in first place, which has been recognized by the whole
society.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Culture Rights of the United Nations is an
important document for international human rights protection. The Chinese
government signed the Covenant in October 1997and the Standing Committals of the
National People’s Congress ratified the Covenant in March 2000.This is a great
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achievement in developing Chinese human rights protection. After ratification of the
Covenant, the Chinese government abides by its commitments, seriously carries out
its obligations, which have greatly promoted economic, social and culture rights
development of Chinese citizens, especially social security development for the
disadvantaged in China.
This paper will focus on related issues on the right to social security for women,
children and the disabled.
Right to Social Security of Women
The social security of woman mainly include bearing insurance, labor protection,
pensions for members of the deceased’s families and five guarantees’ in rural areas.
1. The Bearing Insurance for Woman Employees
The labor Insurance Regulations adopted in 1951 provides clearly for bearing
insurance for Woman employees. The Notice for Delivery Leaves for Female Employees by
the State Council issued in April 1955 sets forth similar provision for bearing insurance
for female employees working in organizations. Main contents of the Regulations and
the Notice include: 3% of the total wage shall be retained as labor insurance pension,
which includes the bearing insurance pension; the delivery leaves 56 days, during the
period the bearing insurance pension is equivalent to her wage which is higher than
the figure of 67% of wage set by the International Labor Organization, cost for
physical examination of pregnant women and their deliveries shell be born by
enterprises.
The Trial Methods for Bearing Insurance for Enterprise Employees issued by Ministry of
Labor in December 1994 provides socialized bearing system. The Trial Methods state:
the enterprises in cities and in townships and the employees working in these
enterprises are obliged to join the bearing insurance; the enterprises shall raise 1% of
total salaries of employees as bearing insurance fund; the bearing pension and medical
cost related to the bearing and delivery of children and management fee shall be
included in the bearing insurance fund; the bearing pension is equivalent to average
monthly salary of last year of the enterprise.
2. Labor Protection for Female Employees
Since the Chinese economic system reform and the introduction of the socialist
marketing economy, the realization of social values of women as the disadvantaged
group will be greatly determined by the support of a reasonable and fair social
security system. Labor Protection Regulations for Female Employees issued by the State
Council in 1988 repealed the above-mentioned bearing insurance regulations with an
aim to protect legal rights and interests of female employees and to solve special
difficulties faced by the female employees during their work due to their
physiological features. It requested enterprises and organizations suitable for women
to work shall not refuse to employ women; basic salaries of female employees shall
not be decreased and their labor contracts shall not be terminated during their
pregnancy, delivery, and infant breast-feeding period; it is prohibited to arrange
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female employees to do unsuitable jobs; the maternity leave is 90 days (including
prenatal leave 15 days) which is slightly shorter the 14 weeks newly set forth by the
88th Informational Labor Organization Conference in 1999; female employees having
babies under one year old shall be provide breast-feeding time twice a day (half an
hour /per time ). The Chapter 7 of the Chinese Labor law set forth same provisions.
3. Pension for Members of the Deceased’s Family
Article 73 of the Chinese Labor Law issued in July 1994 provides: if the laborers dies,
his dependents shall be eligible to allowance which includes the funeral expenses, a
lump-sum relief and pension for supporting his relatives. The pension shall be
provided for the deceased’s spouse who is either unemployed or over 60 years old or
totally lost working ability, the deceased’s children under 16 years old, and the
deceased’s parents over 60 years old or totally losing working abilities. The amount
of the pension shall be enough for the deceased’s dependents to maintain local
ordinary living standings, which shall be decided by the local authorities. However,
The total amount of the pension shall not be higher than the deceased salary before his
death.
4. “Five Guarantees” in Rural Areas
The Model Rules for High-Level Agriculture Cooperative issued in 1956 provides: ‘the
agriculture producers’ cooperatives shall adequately arrange and take care of
production and life of the old, the widowhood and the disabled, guarantee their food,
clothing and fuel, guarantee their children to have access to education and their
parent’s funeral arrangement. ’ Later on, ‘guarantee of house’ and ‘guarantee of
availability of health care “ have been included in the “five guarantees” with the
development of the ‘five guarantees’. The concentrated guarantee system and the
separate guarantee system have been adopted for the targets of the “five-guarantees ’.
In1985, there were 150000 houses for the old in rural areas, where over 3 million old
people stayed, The ‘five guarantees’ will be stopped after the young targets of the
‘five guarantees’ reach 16 years old.
Right to Social Security of the Child
1. Prohibition of Child Labors
Rules of Prohibition of Child Labors issued by the State Council on October 1,2002
aimed at protecting physical and mental health of the child, improving
implementation of the compulsory education system and protecting legal rights and
interest of the child. The rules provide: national organs, civil societies, enterprises and
institutions, non-governmental organizations and privately-owned businesses are not
allowed to recruit minors under 16 years old (i.e. the child laborers). Any institution
or individual is not allowed to recommend minors under 16 years old for working
positions. The minors under 16 years old are not allowed to open and operate private
business. Parents and other guardians of the minors under 16 year olds shall assure
their access to the compulsory education. The Labor Protection Administration may
impose a fine of RMB 5000 Yuan per month for the employment of a child labor on
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the employer. The Labor Protection Administration may impose a fine of RMB 10000
Yuan per month on the employers for employment of a child laborer and the Industrial
and Commercial Administration may revoke their business licenses for their practice
of employment of child labors if they refuse to send back home within limited period.
2. Compulsory Education for the Child
Both the Chinese Compulsory Education Law and the Underage Protection Law provide
clearly for the compulsory education for the underage. The Chinese Compulsory
Education Law provides that Chinese government provides nine-years free education
for the underage and financial assistance for the poor students; children who are
receiving the compulsory education are not allowed to take jobs; parents and
guardians of the children are obliged to assure them to receive the compulsory
education.
3. Protection of Right to life and Health of the Child
The Chinese government has greatly developed MCH health care services and
improved health care and nursing level in nursery schools and kindergartens in order
to guarantee life and health of the child. The Chinese Government also made
commitment to eliminate poliomyelitis.
4.Right to Social Security of the Disabled
Up to now, the Chinese Government has made some special laws for the disabled,
which include ‘Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of the Disabled’
(enacted in 1990 and effectuated in 1991) and ‘Education Regulations for the
Disabled ’(enacted and effectuated in 1994). The Law of the People’s Republic of China on
the Protection of the Disabled makes detailed provisions for the right to
rehabilitation, the right to education, the right to employment, the right to culture and
the right to environment for the disabled.
Current Status of Guaranteeing Social Right of the Disadvantaged
in China and Problems
1.Current Status of Guaranteeing Social Right of Women and Problems
1.1 Current Status of Guaranteeing Social Right of Women China adopts the
socialist system, state-owned enterprises account for high parentage, and the Chinese
Government pays close attention to the labor protection of women employees and has
formulated related systems in compliance with the International Labor Organization
standards in 1950’s. In 1992, female employees in cities and townships increased to
56 million from 0.6 million in 1949,its percentage to the total employees raised to
38%from previous 7.8%, which is higher than the world average level 34.5%.
The amount of the bearing insurance of a female employee is equivalent to her
salary, which is higher than the International Labor Organization level 67% of the
salary. Labor Protection Regulations for Women Employees enacted in 1988 increases
maternal leaves to 90 days (including prenatal leaves 15days) from the previous 56
days, which is slightly shorter than the newly set 14 weeks by the 88th International
Labor Conference. From the adoption of the Trial Methods for Bearing Insurance for
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Enterprise Employees by the Ministry of Labor in 1994 to the end of 1999, there were
29.3 million employees participating the bearing insurance scheme in 27 provinces,
covering 28% of the total; the national bearing insurance income was RMB 1.075
billion Yuan and the expenditure was RMB 0.713 billion Yuan.
1.2 Problems and Strategies for Guaranteeing Social Rights of Women
The targets of the Chinese bearing insurance are mainly women employees in cities
and townships, yet some of them such as privately owned business operators,
housekeepers, daily help, casual laborer and part-timers are not covered by the
scheme since they are regarded as the group working in irregular organizations. There
fore, firstly, great efforts shall be made to include them into the scheme; secondly, the
coverage of the scheme shall be expanded due to its unbalanced development in
Eastern and Western areas; thirdly, the scheme shall be standardized due to the
different premium, treatment and maternal leaves in different provinces. The highest
premium is 4% in Tianjin and the lowest is 0.45% in Zhejiang. The highest cash
allowance is RMB 5847.46 Yuan per capita in Qinghai province and the lowest is
RMB 788.76 Yuan per capita in Jilin Province. The maternal leaves in Qinhai
province is 6 months, double of the legal period 3 months. These difference either
increases burden on enterprises or will not adequately provide assurance.
The reason for small coverage of the bearing insurance is that a great deal of non
–state-owned enterprises and township enterprises emerged after the economic reform
are reluctant participate the social insurance with an aim to increase competitive of
products without increasing cost for laborers. Therefore, mandatory measures shall be
taken to assure all enterprises to participate the bearing insurance, to pay for the
bearing insurance premiums, to raise the bearing insurance fund, and to provide
guarantees for bearing and delivery of women employees.
In relation to the labor protection of women employees, based on the surrey of
1847 enterprises by Women Department of All-China Federation of Trade Unions in
1996, 82.1%of the enterprises fully comply with the regulations in Labor Protection
Rules for Female Employees, 95.7 %of them abide by the provisions for women not
taking unsuitable jobs, 92.1% of them allow women employees to have 90 days
maternal leaves in minimum, 96.4% of them comply with the provision for
breast-feeding time, which show that Labor Protection Rules for Females Employees has
been basically carried out. However, there are many problems existed in the labor
protection for women employees. For example, labor protection of women employees
in foreign funded enterprises and state owned enterprises is better then that of private
enterprises. In accordance with a survey of 100 privately owned profitable enterprises
by the Women Department of Federation of Trade Unions in Hebei province, 78% of
them did not follow related provisions and 22% of them follow some of the
regulations. In order to assure healthy development of the economic reform, the state
related departments propose ‘to carry out standardized management for irregular
organizations. ’ The establishment and improvement of labor protection system for
women employees in non stated-owned enterprises and township enterprises shall be
a major content of the standardized management.
The major difficulty for women employment is that some organizations are
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reluctant to employ women, therefore the Chinese Government has taken necessary
measures to resolve the problem.
In rural areas, women laborers account for half of total laborers; values produced
by rural women accounted for 50—60% of total agriculture values. There are 40
million women employees out of 0.1 billion employees in rural areas. Since the social
securely system has not been developed in rural areas, household guarantee is still a
major guarantee for rural population, including life risk of rural women.
2.Current Status for Guaranteeing Social Rights of the Child and Problems
2. 1. Current Status for Guaranteeing Social Right of the Child In recent years,
the educational financing system has been developed with financial allocation as a main
source and other financial sources as supplements. The average education spending in
schools has been increased year by year. In accordance with a statistic, in 1994 the
finance expenditure for elementary schools was RMB 59.4 billion with average
spending RMB 89.47 per student; the finance expenditure for high schools was RMB
43.5 billion with average spending RMB 239.87 per student. From 1995 to 2000,the
Chinese Government spent RMB10 billion to improve elementary schools and high
schools in poverty areas. In 1995, enrollment rate of schooling age children of the
elementary schools was 98.5% and that of schooling age girls was 98.2%. The
government at different levels has taken different measures to help poor children to
return to schools. In 1989, China Teenagers Development Foundation claimed to
implement ‘hope projects’, which raised RMB 0.69 billion by end of 1995 and financed
1.25 million students and construction of over 2000 elementary schools.
In 2002, MCH stations increased to 3067,and clean delivery rate in rural areas
reached 97.2%. Health care services such as planning immunization, prevention and
treatment of pneumonia, diarrhea, rachitis, iron-deficiency anaemia, breast-feeding
promotion, nutrition guidance, children’s physical development surveillance, newborn
disease screening, early stage education for children have been provided.
In 2002,there were 178 charity houses, increasing by 52 than that in 2000;social
welfare institutions adopted 55000children, increasing by 10000 than that in 2000;there
were 51400 disabled children having access to rehabilitation training, increasing 10000
than that in 2000.
2. 2. Problems and Strategies for Guaranteeing Social Right of the Child
Since China is a developing country with majority rural populations and the per
capita income is lower than that of advanced countries, guaranteeing rights and
interests of the child still face many difficulties and problems. Main problems include
high disease incidences, poor nutrition, poor school conditions in poverty areas and
remote areas, drop-out of primary school and high school students; some privately
owned businesses still employ child laborers although sanction measures have been
taken to prevent this practice. For example, Regulations for Prohibition of Employment of
Child Laborers enacted in December 2002 by Guangdong Provincial Labor Department
increases a fine to RMB5000 form previous RMB3000 for employment of a child
laborer.
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3. Current Status of Guaranteeing Social Right of the Disabled and Problems
3.1 Current Status for Guaranteeing Social Rights of the Disabled
In April 1987, upon approval by the State Council, Ministry of Civil Affairs,
Ministry of Public Health, Welfare Fund Association for the Disabled, Association for
the Blind, the Deaf-and –Mutes conducted the first sample surrey for the disabled by
over 40000 investigators. The survey result showed that great achievements have been
made under leadership of governments and disabled organizations at different levels.
3. 1. 1 Rehabilitation Status of the Disabled
Five Year Working Outline for the Chinese Disabled (1988-1992) approved by the State
Council plans to complete 50000 cataracts operations, operations for 30000 sequelae
of polio children, listening training for 30000 deaf children. By the end of 1992,
904000 cataract operations, listening training for 38711 deaf and dumb children, and
operations for 328000 polio children have been completed. In 2003,a great deal of the
disabled had access to rehabilitation to different degrees, including 57000 cataract
operations, aid-sighting for 31000 poor sighted, language training for 18000 deaf
children, rehabilitation training for 77000 children, comprehensive prevention and
treatment of 2.43 insane persons, operations for 3800 lepra patients, 1.22 million
pieces of instruments for the disabled. In a word, over the recent 10 years the
rehabilitation of the disabled in China has made great progress.
3. 1. 2 Status of Special Education for the Disabled
In 1988,the first national conference for the disabled was held, which requested
that the education for the disabled shall be regarded as a part of national education
and shall be included into the compulsory education. This greatly developed basic
education, middle education, high education, adult education and vocational education
for the disabled. In 1987, China had 504 special primary schools and 578 special
classes set up in ordaining schools with 52000 students. In 1993, the special schools
increased to 1108 and special classes reached to 3568 with 370000studeats. At the
moment, there are 1655special schools, 3154 special classes with 577000 students. In
2003, over 3000 disabled students were admitted to colleges and universities, 49000
disabled persons received vocational education and training.
3. 1. 3Employment of the Disabled
In order to promote employment of the disabled, Notice for Tax Exemption of Private
Business Owned by the Disabled and Notice for Tax Exemption of Welfare Organizations issued
by the State Council provide that the welfare organizations employing 35% disabled
workers out of their respective total staff may be exempted from income tax, the
welfare organizations employing 50% disabled staff out of their respective total staff
may be exempted from income tax, product tax and value added tax. With support of
the national policy of tax exemption, in 1979 there were 48000 disabled workers in
1106 welfare enterprises with production value RMB 0.72. Billion; at the moment,
1.09 million disabled persons are employed in cities and townships, 1.236 million
disabled persons are employed in related social organizations and 1.7 million disabled
persons are employed in privately owned businesses and self-employed businesses. In
2003, 1.23 million poor disabled population in rural areas enjoyed adequate food and
clothing, 2.59 million disable population had access to the subsistence allowance for
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the urban poor, 0.44 million disabled persons lead guaranteed lives in rest-homes, by
the five guarantees or in their homes, 2.46 million disabled population had access to
temporary relief and subsidies, 1.03 million disable population were covered by social
insurance.
3.1.4 Culture Status of the Disabled
From 1982 to 1992, China sent 20 sport teams taking part in 18 major international
sports games of the disabled such as International Olympics for the Disabled, Special
Olympics for the Retarded, International Sports Games for the Deaf, winning 436
medals including 222 Golden medals. Now there are 1618 culture places for the
disabled, 131 entertainment associations of the disabled. In 2003, China successfully
held the Sixth National Sports Games for the Disabled. The disabled athletes won 177
golden medals in major international sports games.
3.1.5 Social Environment Status for the Disabled
In May 1990, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Civil Affairs, the State
Planning Commission and China Federation for the Disabled issued a notice for
carrying out Design Norms for Roads and Building Construction for Convenience of the
Disabled in Urban Areas. The notice required the responsible departments of local
governments at different levels shall formulate supplementary stipulations and
implementing rules in accordance local conditions.
Beijing pays close attention to unimpeded facilities construction for the disabled
persons starting from early stage. It worked out the implementing rules for the Design
Norms for Roads and Building Construction for Convenience of the Disabled in Urban Areas,
and issued the notice for improving the unimpeded facilities for the disabled,
constructed special road for the disabled over 180 kilometers along 26 major streets,
built trial unimpeded apartments in some communities. The unimpeded facilities in
Shanghai have well developed. From 1980’s, sloping roads have been constructed in
some of the major supermarkets, theatres and cinemas. Following this, sloping roads,
roads for the blind and special toilets for the disabled have been constructed in public
places such as New Railway Station, Purdon Airport and No.2 Subway, roads in new
developed districts, hospitals, cinemas and gymnasiums. The unimpeded public
facilities in other cities such as Shenyang and Shenzhen are also well developed.
With regard to elimination of discrimination and prejudice against the disabled
persons, Chinese Government and China Federation for the Disabled have taken
different measures to create a social environment for respect and help the disabled. By
2000, there were 54 special columns in newspapers, 45 special broadcasting programs
and 30 special TV programs on the rehabilitation and advocacy for the disabled at
provincial level; 493 special volumes in newspapers, 494 special broadcasting
programs and 392 special TV programs for the disabled at the city level.
3.1.6 Legal Aid for the Disabled
Both Article 41 of the Laws for Chinese Lawyers and Notice for Implementation of Legal
Aid by Ministry of Justice provide that citizens may apply for legal aid when he proves
with adequate evidence that he needs help for protecting his legal rights and interests
and he could not afford for the legal fees due to financial constraints. They further
provide blind, deaf, dumb and minor criminal defendants or criminal suspects shall
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have access to the legal aid if they do not entrust decedent lawyers. In April 1996,
China launched the legal aid program. By October 2001, the legal aid institutions had
been developed in all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly
under the central government, 84% of all cities and prefectures, 66% of all counties.
The full time staff working in these legal aid institutions amounted to over 7000 who
provided partial or full free legal services for the disadvantaged, among which the
disabled accounted for considerable portion with the highest rate 60% in some
regions.
3.2 Problems and Strategies for Guaranteeing Social Rights of the Disabled
From above, we can see that China has made great achievements in protection
rights and interests of the disabled, but there still exist difference between the general
conditions of the disabled and the average social level: 30 million disabled persons
have lower income, including 9.79 poverty disabled population do not have adequate
food and clothing; majority of the disabled population can not have access to basic
rehabilitation; lower enrollment rate of the disabled children (that of the blind children
only 55%); lower employment rate of the disabled; discrimination and prejudice
against the disabled; some violations of rights and interests of the disabled;
qualifications of the disabled can not meet social development, etc. These problems
are obvious and are urgent to be revolved in future economic and social development
in China.
3.2.1 Rehabilitation of the Disabled and Strategies
Majority of the disabled population in China can not have access to the
rehabilitation due to financial constraints, inadequate medical facilities and
professional heath workers, etc. For example, among 23000 cured lepers, 12000 are
deformed; new lepers in each year amount to 2000, including 25% of them are
deformed at different degree; they are isolated from the society and lead a poor life.
In order to further promote protection of rights and interests of the disabled in
China，the State Council approved to implement The Tenth Five Year Plan（2001-2005）
for Promotion of Protection of the Disabled in China prepared by the State Council
Working Coordinating Commission for the Disabled. The plan states that during the
Tenth Five Year period ， 5.1million disabled population will have access to
rehabilitation at different degrees, including 400,000 cataract operations，aid-sightings
for 100000 poor sighted，language training for 80000 deaf children，treatment and
rehabilitation for 2.4million insane population ， medical operations for 120000
deformed lepers. Furthermore，rehabilitation promotion in communities shall be
enhanced and necessary measures shall be taken to decrease and control
the occurrence of the deformity.
3.2.2 Access to Special Education by the Disable and Strategies
There are many problems existed in access to education by the
disabled in China. For example, illiterate disabled population makes up for
about 60% of the total disabled；the enrolment rate of the 6 million disabled
children ageing 6-14years old is lower than 20%；since subsidies was
earmarked for special education by the Central Government in 1989，
the special education schools have increased by 105.1%, number of the
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disabled students have increased by 436.9%，whereas subsidies for the
special education only has increased by 34.8% which could far more meet
the need for the special education development；among teachers
engaging the special education，less than 2% of them receive high
professional special education，less than 30% of them receive middle
professional special education.
In order to promote the education for the disable ，The Tenth
Five Year Plan for Promotion of the Protection of the Disabled in China prepares
to increase enrollment rate of disabled children to have access to the
compulsory education，to develop pre－schooling education，to reasonably arrange
the special schools， to promote vacationed education for the disabled，to soften
physical examination standards for enrolling disabled students by high
education school，to wipe out illiteracy.
3.2.3 Employment of the Disabled and Strategies
The employment of the disabled population in China lays backward of social and
economic development, this situation becomes even worse in the period of social
transition. Firstly, low employment rate: only one third of the 60million disabled
population can make a living by themselves，the remaining will have to
supported by their families and relatives；under fierce market competition，
many welfare enterprises got into difficult positions due to out-of-dated
technologies and equipment，inadequate human resources and finance；the
individual employment face certain difficulties；although the Chinese Government
requests that all enterprises shall employ certain number of the disabled
persons they till face many difficulties when looking for jobs due to
discrimination and prejudice against them ；majority of the disabled
population in rural areas lead a hard life since they do not have
necessary fund or materials for production due to failure of
effective supporting measures for them.
In order to further develop employment of the disabled persons, the Tenth Five
Year Plan for Promotion of the Protection of the Disabled in China plans to provide services
and training to promote employment of the disabled. ‘The Notice for Further Promotion of
Employment of the Disabled issued by Labor and Social Security Ministry Transmitted by the
General Office of the State Council’ formulated in 1999 plans to take active supporting
and protective measures and regulate employment service system for the disabled, to
strengthen vocational training to assure disabled on registration have access to
vocational guidance and training, to increase the employment rate to 85%
3.2.4 Social Environment of the Disabled and Strategies
Only minority of the disabled are beneficiaries of the unimpeded facilities since
these facilities are mainly located in some large and medium sized cities; though
preliminary unimpeded facilities reconstruction has been developed in some cities, the
disabled still can not have access to many public facilities; sound indicators for the
blind at intersections in some cities do not work; the road preserved for the blind
along main streets in some cities are occupied by venires, stalls and sundry goods ; in
addition majority of the disabled families do not have unimpeded facilities which lead
to a lot of inconvenience in their lives.
The Tenth Five Year Plan plans to actively develop unimpeded facilities. The
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practices also show that when developing the unimpeded facilities, the discrimination
from the society against disabled persons and sense of inferiority of the disabled
themselves shall firstly be eliminated to formulate an unimpeded channel in the
concept.
3.2.5 Protection of Social Rights and Interests of the Disabled in Rural Areas and
Strategies
In accordance with a survey in 1997 by China Federation for the Disabled, 48
million out of 60 million disabled population are in rural areas, accounting for 80% of
the total disabled; 12.05million out of 13.72million poverty disabled persons live in
rural areas, including 8.76 million may have access to basic subsistence with
supporting and development and 3.29 million may have access to adequate food and
clothing through governmental and social relief. In less developed areas such as
Yunnan, Guangxi, Hubei, Guizhou and Henan, normal population lead hard lives, we
can image what hard lives the disabled lead. Majority disabled population in rural
areas can not have access to rehabilitant and special education, and can not pay for
wheel chairs and walking sticks. Therefore, to help and support disabled persons in
rural areas is a priority in future. ‘Development Outline for Poverty Alleviation in Rural
Areas in China (2001-2010) ’clearly places the poverty alleviation of the disabled as a
major content of the poverty alleviation program in the 21st century, requires
governments, especially poverty alleviation offices at different levels ‘ to pay
attention to the poverty alleviation and to include the poverty alleviation of the
disabled into the general poverty alleviation scheme and to arrange integrated
implementation ’ which assure the disabled to have adequate food and clothing and
further create necessary conditions for them to lead better lives.
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