ICE FISHING: An organizer hoists fish caught in Changling Lake during the run-up to an ice fishing celebration in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, on December 24, 2012 (WANG SONG)

Medical White Paper

The Chinese Government issued a white paper on December 26, 2012, saying that the country's medical and healthcare systems covering both urban and rural residents have taken shape.

The white paper, Medical and Health Services in China, was released by the State Council Information Office. It said that China has kept advancing the reform of its healthcare system to ensure that every resident has access to safe, effective, convenient and affordable services.

The white paper revealed that the health of the Chinese people is among the top in developing countries with an overall life expectancy of 74.8 years in 2010, 72.4 years for males and 77.4 years for females. China currently has about 260 million people who have been diagnosed with chronic diseases, which cause 85 percent of total deaths in the country.

The mortality rate of children under 5 has kept dropping from 34.9 per thousand in 2002 to 15.6 per thousand in 2011, ahead of the UN Millennium Development Goal schedule, the white paper said.

The infant mortality rate had dropped from 29.2 per thousand in 2002 to 12.1 per thousand in 2011, it said.

Helping the Needy

China's Ministry of Civil Affairs is looking for more non-governmental support to aid the homeless and beggars as it looks to adopt a more proactive and efficient approach to helping the needy.

In a document released on December 26, 2012, the ministry said that it encourages charitable donations, health care and education services for the homeless and beggars.

The ministry requires local civil affairs authorities to offer training to non-governmental sectors in a bid to help them better understand policies, regulations and other specifications.

Pension Insurance

China will nearly double its pension insurance coverage by the end of 2015 to address the problem of a rapidly aging population, a senior official said on December 26, 2012.

As many as 348 million more people will be covered by the program over the next three years, bringing the total participants to 807 million, or about 60 percent of China's population, said Hu Xiaoyi, Vice Minister of Human Resources and Social Security.

The State Council, China's cabinet, decided to adopt the program in all counties nationwide in the first half of 2012 after earlier pilot studies.

By 2015, some 95 percent of the population will be covered by medical insurance, and insurance for work-related injury, unemployment and maternity will benefit 210 million, 160 million and 150 million people, respectively, Hu added.

Mainland Longevity

A total of 47,773 centenarians were living on the Chinese mainland as of October 16, 2012, with women comprising 80.1 percent, according to a report issued on December 26, 2012.

Zhao Baohua, Executive Vice President of the China Gerontological Society, said that there were 9,505 men and 38,268 women at or over the age of 100 as of October 16.

The number of centenarians in cities stood at 12,457, and another 35,316, or 73.92 percent, were residing in rural regions.

According to the report, Luo Meizhen, a 127-year-old woman of Yao ethnic group in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is the oldest person living on the Chinese mainland, and possibly the world.

With a combined age of 214, Zhang Wanjing and Wang Yuxiu, a married couple from south China's Hainan Province, are the oldest living couple on the mainland.