Other types of social security benefits have developed on the basis of this basic living guarantee system. That is to say, families eligible for basic living allowance can receive extra subsidies for housing, education, medical treatment, heating and help to find employment. Full coverage of the rural population under the subsistence allowance system by the end of this year will also improve farmers' access to these security benefits.

Still not enough

While the Central Government's subsidies toward the urban basic living guarantee system reached 13.6 billion yuan in 2006, an increase of 21 percent over the previous year, the central treasury did not inject money into farmers' minimum living allowances until the second half of 2007.

On July 31, Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo announced that the first batch of funding totaling 3 billion yuan would soon be distributed to provincial governments, mainly to those in central and western regions with less advanced economies. He predicted that local governments would invest over 7 billion yuan in rural subsistence aid. Added to by 3 billion yuan from the Central Government, the total figure would almost double last year's financing of 5.55 billion yuan.

Yet the allowance is still at a low level. According to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the average subsistence expenses in rural areas in June stood at 71.4 yuan and 20.68 million beneficiaries each received only 28 yuan on average in that month. When Civil Affairs Minister Li Xueju was asked whether this amount of money was enough to guarantee a basic standard of living for farmers' at an August press conference, he said, "Although it is a low standard, 28 yuan has different value to different people. While 100 yuan is only a packet of cigarettes or a plate of food to wealthy people, it could sustain a poor person's life for one month."

But he then added that with economic development and increased funding from governments at all levels, the levels for rural subsistence subsidy are bound to rise. He also said the Central Government will contribute more money in the future.

Sociologists have suggested that the Central Government should invest more in this cause. Tang Jun, a senior research staff member with the China Academy of Social Sciences, who has studied extensively rural social security systems, said that a study by the Ministry of Civil Affairs calculated that the completion of the basic living guarantee system in rural areas requires an investment of 20 billion yuan; while local governments had already injected 10 billion yuan over the years, another 8-10 billion yuan investment from the Central Government will put the final touch to the system.

In 2006, the per capita net income of rural residents was 3,587 yuan, which was about one third of the per-capita disposable income of urban residents. Many experts believe that differentiated social security benefits enjoyed by urban citizens and farmers could further increase the income gap to five or even six times.

In Wen's work report in March, he increased subsidies from the Central Government to improve the infrastructure in rural areas. Farmers' life and agricultural production in 2007 will be 15.3 percent more than in 2006, he said. In the first six months of 2007, central treasury revenue rose 32.3 percent year on year to 1.45 trillion yuan. This will surely put the government in a good position to enlarge funding for the rural security network next year.