Government Supports

The Chinese Government earmarked 87.5 billion yuan ($14 billion) in subsistence allowances for the needy in cities and the countryside in 2012, up 16.8 percent year on year, said the Ministry of Finance.

Around 44.6 billion yuan ($7.15 billion) was allocated to help 5.6 million rural families renovate dilapidated homes last year, 163.7 percent higher than that in 2011.

The Chinese Government also spent 2 billion yuan ($320 million) in aiding vagrants and beggars, doubling the amount of 2011.

Meanwhile, 11.6 billion yuan ($1.86 billion) was granted in relief funds for 75 million people affected by natural disasters and 2.4 billion yuan ($385 million) was allocated to provide support for more than 600,000 orphans, according to the ministry.

Green Buildings

China will demand that new buildings in cities achieve mandatory energy-saving standards and renovate existing buildings to make them greener by 2015, the country's top economic planner has said.

The standard for green buildings, which are resource- and energy-saving and environmentally friendly, will be adopted for all government-invested buildings from 2014, reported Xinhua News Agency, citing sources with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

As of 2014, the standard will also be applied to affordable housing projects in major Chinese cities as well as to public constructions with an area of more than 20,000 square meters in a single building, said the NDRC.

It takes an extra cost of only 50 yuan ($8) per square meter to meet the minimum requirements for green buildings, according to the NDRC.

Renovations will be carried out on urban buildings to improve the efficiency of their heating systems.

China aims to construct 1 billion square meters of green buildings during the 2011-15 period and increase the number of green buildings to 20 percent of all new buildings in the country's cities in 2015, according to a government plan.

Income Equality

China has unveiled reform guidelines on income distribution amid growing public concerns over a widening wealth gap.

The guidelines encourage further work to improve the initial distribution system and enhanced efforts to build a redistribution adjustment mechanism, said a statement from the State Council, which declared approval and transfer of the guidelines on February 5.

The guidelines call for a more transparent, fairer and reasonable income distribution order, the statement said. They stress the need to build and upgrade a sustainable mechanism to promote farmers' incomes.

China is aiming to double its 2010 gross domestic output and per-capita income for both urban and rural residents by 2020, according to a report released at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held last November.