To help the world toward a more comprehensive
understanding of the situation of Chinese children, of how the Chinese
Government and the whole society protect children's survival and
development, and of the difficulties and problems on the development of
children that remain to be resolved in a developing country like China, we
now reveal to the public a range of relevant information about the
condition of children in China.
I. Guarantee of Children's Rights and Interests
Children are the future and hope of mankind.
Today's children will be masters of the 21st century. Children's survival,
protection and development, which are the basis for improving the quality
of the population and the prerequisite conditions for the advance of
mankind, directly concern a country and a nation's future and destiny. The
Chinese nation has long cultivated the traditional virtues of ``bringing
along the young'' and ``loving the young.'' An old saying, ``Love our own
and others' children,'' is still very popular. The Chinese Government,
with an earnest and responsible attitude, always shows great concern for
children's survival, protection and development. It regards ``the
education of children to improve the quality of the whole people'' as a
fundamental policy for its socialist modernization program. The government
educates society at large to ``protect and educate children, and set an
example and do practical things for children.'' It spares no effort to
create favorable social conditions for the progress of children's
programs. Since the initiation of reform and opening to the outside world,
children's programs in China have moved into social, scientific and legal
tracks; and children's programs have become an important component part of
the nation's construction and the duties of the whole society.
Children's Programs for the 21st Century
On February 16, 1992, the Chinese Government formally promulgated the
Outline of the Program for Chinese Children's Development in the 1990s.
The formulation of this program fully displays the Chinese Government's
earnest and responsible attitude toward, and its concern for, the work
impacting children. In accordance with the tasks and general objectives
proposed by the Ten-Year Program for China's National Economic and Social
Development and the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1991-95), the spirit of the two
documents adopted by the Summit Conference on the Issue of World Children,
as well as China's actual children's programs, the Outline, having the
world, the future and China's modernization program in view, puts forward
ten main objectives and tactics and measures for realizing these
objectives. It states that the mortality rate of infants and that of
children under five in 1990 will both be reduced by one third, and that
disease occurrence in children under five caused by moderate and severe
malnutrition will drop by 50 percent in 2000. All of the 30 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central
government in China have worked out development programs for children in
light of the Outline and their respective local conditions. The measures
and work for implementing the Outline are carried out in a down-to-earth
and effective way throughout the country.
Protection Through Legislation
For many years, China has striven to protect children's legitimate
rights and interests through legislation, endeavoring to place such
protection on a legal and normal footing. In accordance with the actual
conditions in China and by reference to relative legislation in other
countries, especially to the laws and international documents on the
protection of children's rights and interests, China has worked out a
series of laws concerning children's survival, protection and development.
With the Constitution of the People's Republic of China as the core, these
provisions include the Criminal Law, the General Principles of Civil Law,
the Marriage Law, the Education Law, the Compulsory Education Law, the Law
on the Protection of Disabled Persons, the Law on the Protection of
Juveniles, the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, the
Law on Health Protection of Mothers and Infants, the Law on the Prevention
and Control of Infectious Diseases, and the Law on Adoption, in addition
to a great number of other relevant regulations and measures. Hence a
fairly complete legal system for the protection of children's rights and
interests has been formed.
The Constitution of China clearly specifies: ``The state promotes the
all-round moral, intellectual and physical development of children and
young people,'' ``... child are protected by the state,'' and
``maltreatment of ... children is prohibited.'' Formulated according to
the Constitution, China's relevant laws include comprehensive and
systematic provisions on children's right to life, survival and
development, as well as basic health and health care. Provisions also
address children's family environment and substitutional care, education,
free time and cultural activities and the special protection of disabled
children. It is specified that criminal acts, such as maltreating,
abandoning and deliberately killing children, as well as stealing,
abducting and trafficking, kidnaping, selling and buying in children,
should be severely punished. In addition, China's Constitution, laws and
relevant administrative legislation also include comparatively complete
provisions on the government's functions, the society's participation,
work principles and corresponding legal responsibilities in the protection
of children's rights and interests. From these it can be clearly seen that
China's legal framework for the protection of children's rights and
interests and its social guarantee mechanisms are effective in practice.
Judicial Protection
China's judicial procedure attaches great importance to the protection
of juveniles' legal rights and interests, on which there are many
important laws containing special provisions. To the juveniles who break
the law and commit crimes, China adopts the policy of education, help and
reform and adheres to the principle of relying mainly on education while
making punishment subsidiary. While handling criminal cases concerning
juve"iniles, public security organs, people's procuratorates and people's
courts take full consideration of juveniles' physical and mental
characteristics, respect their personality and dignity, and safeguard
their legal rights and interests. Before criminals are tried, public
security organs, people's procuratorates, people's courts and judicial
administrative organs detain juveniles separately from adults; and
juveniles who serve a sentence decided by the people's court are
separately imprisoned from adult criminals and are treated differently.
All criminal cases of persons aged 14 and 15 are not tried publicly by the
people's court; and in general, criminal cases of persons aged 16 and 17
are not tried publicly. Before a criminal case of a teenager is judged, it
is stipulated that the press, films, TV programs and public publications
should not reveal the teenager's name, home address, photo and other
identifying data.
Organizational Guarantee
To truly protect children's rights and interests, China's legislation,
judicial and government departments concerned as well as mass
organizations have set up corresponding mechanisms to supervise, effect
and propel the healthy development of the work impacting children's
protection.
As the highest organ of state power in China, the National People's
Congress (NPC) has a Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs
responsible for legislation for the protection of women and children's
rights and interests and for the supervision and check-up of law
enforcement. This committee has a special group for women and children
staed with full-time working personnel. The Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC) has a Subcommittee on Social and
Legislative Aairs, one of whose responsibilities is to supervise and
promote the implementation of the state's laws and regulations on women,
youth and children and raise proposals on work in this regard to the
state's legislation and administrative departments.
The State Council of China has set up the Work Committee for Women and
Children, which consists of responsible persons from the concerned
government departments and mass organizations, and a state councilor who
serves as chairperson. This committee has as its tasks to coordinate and
promote the governmental departments concerned with implementing the
Outline of the Program for Chinese Children's Development in the 1990s;
and harmonize and propel these departments to do practical things for
women and children. Both the central and local government departments
involving education, pub"ilic health, culture, public security, physical
culture and civil administration have set up functional organs to take
charge of the work for children. The provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities have set up committees on women and children's aairs or
juvenile protection committees to organize and guide the work of
protecting local children's rights and interests. Some mass organizations
also perform many tasks to guarantee the development of the work
concerning children in China.
International Cooperation
To promote international cooperation in the protection of children, the
Chinese Government and society at large have taken an active part in
global and regional international cooperation and exchanges regarding
children's survival, protection and development while devoting themselves
to this cause in a down-to-earth and effective manner. In recent years,
China has achieved great success through cooperating with the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in its work
to protect children. In this regard, China has been highly praised by
international organizations and authoritative persons in the child
protection field.
Chinese Premier Li Peng, on behalf of the Chinese Government, signed
the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of
Children and the Plan of Action for Implementing the World Declaration on
the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s (both
adopted by the World Summit for Children in 1990), which represent a
solemn promise made to several hundred million Chinese children as well as
to the international community. China actively participated in working out
the UN Convention on the Rights of Children. When the convention was
examined and approved at the 44th Session of the UN General Assembly in
1989, China was one of the co-sponsor countries that raised the draft
resolution for the approval of the convention. On December 29, 1990, China
formally signed the convention. The following year, the NPC approved the
convention, which formally became effective in China as of April 1, 1992.
The convention is a universally applicable standard worked out by the
international community for the protection of children's rights. The
Chinese Government has undertaken and conscientiously fullled the
obligations specied in the convention.
II. Children's Health and Care
The Chinese Government and various circles in
Chinese society have paid great attention to the health and care of its
children. Much painstaking work has been done in protecting children's
lives and health. As a result of these efforts, remarkable success has
been achieved.
Birth and Death
In 1995, China's birthrate was 17.12 per thousand and 20.63 million
children were born, the natural growth rate being 10.55 per thousand.
The mortality of children under five years old is an important
indication of the situation of children in a country. According to a
national maternity and child-care monitoring report in 1994, the infant
mortality of China decreased to 37.79 per thousand from 200 per thousand
in the early 1950s and the mortality rate for children under five years
old to 46.74 per thousand. From 1950 to 1980, the annual decrease rate of
China's infant mortality was above five percent, higher than the annual
decrease rate (2.5 percent) of the average infant mortality of developing
countries in the same period and also higher than that (4.6 percent) of
developed countries. In the 1990s, the annual rate of decrease of infant
mortality in China is 6.50 percent and that of children under five years
old is 5.85 percent. So far, no other country in the world enjoying an
annual per capita income approximate to China has reached such a high
level.
Medical Care
In order to realize the global strategic target whereby everybody would
enjoy health care by the year 2000, a maternity and child hygiene service
system commensurate with its national conditions has been established in
China and a three-level network of medical treatment, prevention and
health care has been developed in its rural and urban areas, providing
health care and planned immunity services for children.
Using vaccines for children is an economical and effective way for
preventing epidemic diseases and reducing children's deathrate. From the
1950s, China began to popularize the bovine vaccine and in the early
1960s, smallpox, an infectious disease seriously endangering children's
health, was eliminated. After the 1960s, China began to inoculate BCG,
pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, measles and poliomyelitis vaccines. In the
1970s, activities for immunity from diseases were carried out during
winters and springs; and in 1978 work on planned immunity for children was
started on a nationwide scale. All this has led to a great drop in the
incidence of the relevant infectious diseases and the mortality from such
diseases.
In the 1980s, readily responding to the proposal of the WHO to expand
the country's immunity program, China unified children's immunity
procedures, initiated the system of issuing inoculation certificates,
established the Specialists Committee for Planned Immunity and
strengthened technical guidance for planned immunity work. At the same
time, China cooperated with the UNICEF in the cold chain development,
carrying work in this respect further.
In 1985, the Chinese Government announced officially that its target
for immunizing children would be realized in two steps, i.e. the
inoculation rate of children would be 85 percent by 1988, counted at the
provincial level, and again 85 percent by 1990, counted at the county
level. In 1989 and 1991, the UNICEF, the WHO and the Ministry of Public
Health of China jointly carried out two evaluations of China's work of
planned immunity. The results showed that China had fulfilled, on
schedule, its target on children's immunity and the inoculation rate of
various vaccines was over 90 percent, counted at the county level.
In order to eliminate poliomyelitis, while strengthening regular work
on immunity and the monitoring of poliomyelitis, China performed
nationwide six rounds of reinforced inoculations on children under four
years old, on December 5 and January 5 separately in each of the three
years 1993-96, each round involving about 80 million children. In this way
the timetable for eliminating poliomyelitis has been shortened.
Since the implementation of China's immunization program, great
achievements have been made and the incidence of infectious diseases has
sharply declined. A national report on the country's epidemic situation
reveals that the number of cases of measles, diphtheria, pertussis and
poliomyelitis in 1994 dropped by 96.4, 99.4, 99.3 and 97.5 percent
respectively compared with 1978; the death rate decreased by 97.4, 99.3,
96.5 and 97.7 percent respectively. In 1994, the number of incidences of
the above-mentioned four epidemic diseases fell by about 3.517 million and
the number of deaths by about 13,000 as compared with 1978. In 1995, only
one strain of a wild virus was found in the stool of a child suffering
from poliomyelitis who came from abroad to Yunnan for medical treatment.
No other poliomyelitis wild viruses were found in Acute Flaccid Paralysis
cases.
China's immunization achievements have been highly praised by the
international community. On October 16, 1989, a silver medal was awarded
to the Chinese Health and Antiepidemic Department of the Ministry of
Public Health by the then UNICEF executive director, James P.Grant, to
commend China's achievements made in children's immunity work. On November
24, 1994 and August 8, 1995, Dr Hiroshi Nakajima, Director General of the
WHO, and Dr S.T.Han, Director of Western Pacific Regional Office of the
WHO, successively wrote letters to Li Peng, Premier of the State Council
of the People's Republic of China, and Qiao Shi, Chairman of the Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress, in which they spoke highly of
these achievements and, on behalf of the WHO, expressed their great
satisfaction with China's work in eliminating poliomyelitis. They held
that China had played an important role in the world public health field.
China considers reducing children's mortality caused by pneumonia and
diarrhoea as an important and urgent task of its medical and health work
for children. For this purpose the Chinese Ministry of Public Health has
formulated the National Plan on Controlling Infection Children's
Respiratory Tract (1992-95) and the Plan on Controlling Diarrhoea
(1990-94) and implemented a series of measures, such as popularizing
proper techniques, personnel training, health education and monitoring
systems. These have all served to reduce infant mortality, especially
rural infant mortality. Management projects on standard AIR cases had been
expanded to 53 counties in 24 provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities and diarrhoea control projects had covered 17 provinces,
autonomous regions and municipalities by 1994. And at the same time,
360,000 township and village doctors from 300 poor counties have been
trained on managing standard AIR cases and controlling diarrhoea.
Before 1949, tetanus was one of the main causes of death in China's
newborn babies. Health centers for women and children were set up
throughout China from the 1950s to the 1960s and new methods for child
delivery as a major measure for controlling puerperal fever and tetanus
neonatorum have been crowned with remarkable success. In 1993, the
Ministry of Public Health of China put forward a new task to further
reduce infant mortality caused by tetanus, so as to meet the 2000
international standard for eliminating tetanus. In 1995, the Ministry of
Public Health promulgated the National Action Plan on Eliminating Tetanus
Neonatorum. Basing on data gathered from investigation and monitoring, it
designated areas highly susceptible to tetanus neonatorum attacks and,
while continuing to popularize the new methods of child delivery and
encourage hospital childbirths, strove to rapidly develop immunization
work among women of childbearing age.
Nutritional Status
China has paid great attention to improving children's nutritional
status and various medical and health measures have been adopted. In the
early period after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the
government handed out infant foodstuffs in some areas. From the 1960s to
the 1970s, a scientific diet for children was popularized in China. The
nutritional status of Chinese children has gradually improved since the
supplementary food was developed in the 1980s and since breastfeeding was
advocated and dietary scheme was optimized in the 1990s. Now it is rare to
find cases of serious malnutrition caused by shortage of food or cases of
serious vitamin-A deficiency.
Since the 1980s, a chart has been used in some areas of China to
monitor children's natural growth and a community nutrition monitoring
program introduced. If something abnormal is detected by such monitorings,
timely guidance and treatment are given. Experience has proved that this
is a proper method to maintain the health of children.
In response to the proposals of the WHO and UNICEF, various activities
to promote breastfeeding and build "baby friendly hospitals" have been
developed. China planned to bring the breastfeeding rate on the provincial
level up to 80 percent by the year 2000 as a major target for the Outline
of the Program for Chinese Children's Development in the 1990s and it also
promised to build 1,000 "baby friendly hospitals" by 1995. To this end,
the Ministry of Public Health issued the Notice on Strengthening the Work
on Breastfeeding in May management of the sale of mother's milk
substitutes, so as to impose restrictions on the sale of such substitutes.
Under the leadership of governments at various levels, a "baby friendly
program" with the establishment of baby friendly hospitals as the main
part was carried out in a big way. By the end of 1995, 2,957 baby friendly
hospitals had been constructed, ranking first in number in the world-a
significant contribution to the world baby friendly program. These efforts
have won for China the high opinion of the UNICEF and WHO.
At the same time, in order to improve the level of medical treatment
and health care and the nutritional status of children in rural areas,
measures for promoting the building of township clinics, county
antiepidemic stations and county health centers for women and children
have been adopted by the state. Since 1991, 300 million yuan from central
finance has been allocated and 8.65 billion yuan from local financial
administrations, collective economy and peasants had been pooled for input
that direction. By the end of 1994, the conditions at 36 percent of the
township clinics, 29.8 percent of the county antiepidemic stations and
27.7 percent of the county health centers for women and children have been
improved by various degrees.
Investigations show that childer's nutritional status in China has
improved considerably. Compared with 1990, the rate of malnutrition in
children under five years old dropped by 23.82 percent in 1995,
fulfilling, ahead of the time, the medium-term target envisaged in the
Outline of the Program for Chinese Children's Development in the 1990s.
III. Education for
Children
The Chinese Government always gives
pride of place to children's education in the promotion of education in
general. Thanks to the mutual efforts made by the government and society,
children's education in China has seen great progress in the past few
years, with many indexes higher than those of other developing countries
and some indexes close to those of developed countries.
Vigorously Increase Input in Education
In recent years, China has established an educational fund-raising
system, whereby financial allocations are the predominant source, with
funds collected through other channels as a supplement. It is stipulated
that the increase of allocations for education by the central and local
governments should be higher than the increase of regular revenue, thus
ensuring a year-by-year increase of average educational appropriations for
every student.
According to statistics, in 1994 China spent 59.4 billion yuan on
primary education, with operating expenses for public use averaging 89.47
yuan per student; 43.5 billion yuan was spent on ordinary middle schools,
with operating expenses for public use averaging 239.89 yuan per student.
The Chinese Government pays great attention to educational development
in remote and poor areas, as well as areas inhabited by national
minorities. Since the 1980s, the state has appropriated school aid for the
popularization of primary education, and subsidies for developing
vocational education, normal education and education for national
minorities. The State Education Commission and the Ministry of Finance
have decided that in 1995-2000, the special funds allocated by the central
government for the popularization of compulsory education, plus the
supporting money provided by the local governments, should be used to
implement the National Compulsory Education Project in Poor Areas. It is
estimated that over 10 billion yuan will be put into the project. The
money will be used mainly to improve conditions in primary schools and
junior middle schools in poor areas.
China has been making great efforts in raising educational funds
through various channels. According to incomplete statistics, during
1991-94, it collected a total of 33.8 billion yuan for primary and middle
schools to buy more and better quality teaching aids, books and reference
materials, sports requisites and campus facilities.
Develop Preschool Education
Mobilizing the whole society to develop preschool education in
vari"ious forms and channels and encouraging not only government
institutions and enterprises but also mass organizations and individuals
to open kindergartens in light of relevant regulations--this is one of the
principles adopted by China in developing preschool education. In recent
years, due to the vigorous support and active participation of governments
at all levels and society at large, China's preschool education has been
developing steadily. A new era has dawned in which kindergartens are run
by the state, the collectives and the individuals together. By 1995 China
had 180,000 kindergartens, with an enrollment of 27.1123 million children.
In all, 42.2 percent of children aged 3-5 years old go to kindergartens.
In urban areas, full-time kindergarten is the dominant form of preschool
education, with the boarding system and preschool classes as a supplement;
in rural areas where the local economy is better-developed, central
kindergartens can be found in every township and preschool classes in
every village. In backward countryside, mountain and pastoral areas, which
are remote and sparsely populated, while endeavoring to create conditions
for running preschool classes, people are opening children's activities
stations, games groups, mobile groups giving children guidance, and other
nonregular forms of preschool education.
Higher Enrollment Ratio for Children of School Age
Popularization of compulsory nine-year schooling is the key goal of
China's elementary education program. Thanks to the government's effort
and powerful support from society, in 1995 the number of children
attending primary school reached 131.95 million, with an enrollment rate
of 98.5 percent for children of school age. In addition, only 1.49 percent
of the students discontinued their studies and 90.8 percent of the primary
school graduates entered a higher school. According to China's present
standard on popularization of compulsory primary schooling, elementary
education has been basically popularized in areas covering 91 percent of
the country's population. UNESCO statistics show that the enrollment ratio
of school-age children in China is much higher than in other countries of
the same economic development level.
Education for girls is a key problem which faces developing countries
in the field of children's education. When New China was firstly founded,
the country's enrollment rate of girls was only 15 percent. The Chinese
Government later took many measures so that great progress was made in
education for girls and the gap between enrollment rates of boys and girls
was reduced year by year. China therefore has solved a problem which
remains unsolved in many other developing countries. According to
statistics, in 1995 the enrollment ratio of school-age girls in primary
schools was 98.2 percent, only 0.7 percentage point lower than that of
boys; girl students accounted for 47.3 percent of total primary school
enrollment.
Help for Children Unable to Go to School
In China's poor areas there are children unable to go on to school
because of poverty. Governments at all levels have incorporated help for
children from poor families to enter school in their help-the-poor
programs and, at the same time, have taken various measures to help them
return to school. In the mean time, thanks to the concern of and vigorous
promotion by the government, people from all walks of life have been
helping these children, enabling them to enjoy the fundamental right to
education.
In October 1989, the China Youth Development Foundation initiated the
Hope Project in Beijing. It provides grants-in-aid as long-term financial
assistance to children in poor areas who dropped out of school because of
straitened family circumstances, thus enabling them to return to school.
In some poor rural areas, it also helps build or repair schoolhouses and
buy teaching aids, stationery and books. It has sponsored the ``One
Million People's Love Movement'' and the ``1 (family) + 1 (dropout) Help
Movement,'' mobilizing the entire society to help dropouts return to
school. By the end of 1995, the Hope Project had raised 690 million yuan,
given financial assistance to 1.25 million children for continuing primary
education and subsidized construction of over 2,000 Hope Project primary
schools.
The China Children's Foundation began to carry out the Spring Buds
Program in 1989. It established a special fund to help girls enter school,
enabling girls in poor areas to receive charge-free compulsory primary
education. In total, the Spring Buds Program helped 100,000 girls return
to school in 1994 and 1995.
IV. Protection of Disabled Children
China has all along attached great importance
to protecting disabled children, making great efforts to create favorable
conditions for their survival and development.
Protection of Disabled Children's Rights and
Interests
The Chinese Government has devoted much attention to guaranteeing the
rights and interests of disabled children. Among children aged 14 and
under, there are over 9 million disabled, accounting for 2.66 percent of
children of the same age group in China. The Chinese Constitution and
relevant laws contain clear statements regarding the rights and interests
of the disabled, including disabled children. The Law on the Protection of
Disabled Persons contains all-inclusive, systematic provisions
guaranteeing the legitimate rights and interests of the disabled. It
states clearly that the disabled enjoy equal rights with other citizens in
all spheres: political, economic, cultural, social and family life; that
discrimination, insult and harassment against the disabled are prohibited;
that the state should develop disability prevention programs; and that the
rights of the disabled to rehabilitation, education, labor, entertainment
and welfare should be protected. While all these provisions also apply to
disabled children, the law includes specific statements on special
protection of disabled children.
In order to protect rights and interests of the disabled and promote
their cause, the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF), an
organization that represents the disabled, serves their interests and
administrates the work concerning the disabled, has been established with
the approval of the Chinese Government. One of its principal tasks is to
protect the lawful rights and interests of disabled children. Also, local
disabled persons' federations at the provincial (autonomous regional and
municipal), prefectural and county levels have been established to serve
the disabled, including disabled children in the region, and administrate
their affairs.
Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation
Following the policy of putting prevention rst, the Chinese Government
has adopted a series of measures to prevent children's congenital
disability.
China has expended great eorts in strengthening the immunization
program and in planned, large-scale replenishment of iodine for children.
In order to further control endemic diseases and curb environmental
pollution, it has taken effective measures such as replenishing iodine,
improving soil and purifying water in regions where goiter, cretinism and
Kaschin-Beck disease are rampant. The Marriage Law, the Law on Health
Protection of Mothers and Infants and relevant regulations for preventing
congenital disability have been strictly implemented by governments and
medical and health institutions at all levels. In order to curb harmful
heredity and improve prenatal, birthing and postnatal education and
administration, services like premarital check-ups and education, prenatal
examinations, heredity consultancy, birthing-process care, mother-baby
care and early education have been strengthened.
The Chinese Government has expended great efforts and attained
remarkable achievements in helping disabled children recover maximum
health and in enhancing their abilities to participate in social life.
China has actively developed the ``Three Recoveries'' program
(rectifying polio sequelae, training deaf children in hearing and speech
and performing cataract operations). By the end of 1995, China had
rectified 360,000 children of polio sequelae (a success rate of 98
percent), helped more than 60,000 deaf children recover their hearing and
speech abilities (10 percent of which had entered regular kindergartens
and elementary schools to receive regular education), had provided 30,000
poor-sighted children with sight aids and helped 100,000 mentally retarded
children enhance their cognitive capacity and self-suciency. At present,
China has established the National Rehabilitation Research Center for Deaf
Children, in addition to 26 provincial-level rehabilitation centers for
deaf children and over 1,000 rehabilitation stations, kindergartens and
training classes for disabled children.
Community rehabilitation service systems for disabled children also
have been set up. China has fully used the urban-rural three-level network
of health services to develop community rehabilitation, helping most
disabled children in grassroots areas enjoy basic rehabilitation services.
Moreover, under the leadership of local governments at different levels,
community rehabilitation leading groups have been founded, consisting of
public health departments, civil administration departments, disabled
persons' federations and other relevant departments, which coordinate and
cooperate with each other to mutually formulate community rehabilitation
plans and manage their implementation.
In 1982, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs started to cooperate
with the UNICEF in the Community Rehabilitation for Disabled Children
project. By the end of 1994, the rehabilitation network for disabled
children covered 32 cities and counties in 23 provinces of the country and
systematically trained disabled children's parents and rehabilitation
instructors. These efforts were successful in effectively improving the
management of the rehabilitation work for disabled children.
Education for Disabled Children
Regarding disabled children's education, the Education Law, the
Compulsory Education Law, the Law on the Protection of Disabled Persons
and the Regulations for Disabled Persons' Education clearly and completely
state the duties, characteristics, guiding principles of development,
channels for running schools and methods of instruction, etc. According to
relevant laws and regulations, the education of disabled children is
compulsory.
After years of efforts, China has formed a compulsory education set-up
for disabled children, which takes special-education schools as the
backbone and special-education classes attached to, and attendance of
individual disabled students in, ordinary schools as the main body. By the
end of 1995, China had set up 1,379 special-education schools for the
disabled, an increase of 400 percent over 1980; there were also 6,510
special-education classes attached to ordinary schools with 296,000
disabled students (including those attending regular schools), an increase
of 800 percent over 1980. In 1995 the national average school enrollment
rate of blind, deaf and mentally retarded children reached 60 percent; in
the economically developed areas enrollment reached 80 percent.
Social Environment
The Chinese Government has done a great deal of work to mobilize
various circles in society to care for, in various manners, the
development of disabled children, to greatly encourage the spirit of
unceasing self-improvement among disabled children and to advocate the
social virtues of unity, friendship and mutual aid. The Chinese media
actively reports on the life conditions of disabled children and the work
concerning the disabled. Virtually all radio and TV stations offer
specific programs for disabled children, compounded with sign language and
captions. To create a favorable social environment for disabled children's
survival and development, China has worked out and gradually implemented
Standards for the Design of Urban Roads and Buildings for the Disabled's
Convenience, which require obstacle-free structures when municipal works
and various buildings are constructed.
Since 1991, the Chinese Government has legally established National
Helping-the-Disabled Day on the third Sunday in May every year. Children
actively take part in Young Pioneers Helping the Disabled activities while
young people enthusiastically participate in Volunteers Helping the
Disabled activities. Meantime, the broad masses of people all over the
country also widely participate in various activities to help the
disabled. Closely looked after by the government, disabled children have
also been receiving many types of help and services from various circles
in society.
V. China's
Welfare Homes for Children
China's welfare
homes for children play a special role in the country's efforts to care
for children. The welfare homes and some social welfare institutions that
also accept orphans oer guardianship and rearing mainly to children who
have lost their parents during natural disasters or accidents, and also to
those abandoned by their parents because they are seriously or almost
irremediably disabled mentally or physically, or because they have
contracted a serious illness. Currently, there are about 20,000 such
children under the guardianship and rearing of welfare institutions,
accounting for five per one hundred thousand of the total number of
juveniles in China.
Rearing Under Guardianship
In China, such rearing and emplacement of orphans or children abandoned
for physical disability are under the charge of civil administration
departments.
These are the ways that orphans are reared under guardianship in China:
social welfare institutions set up by the government or collectives oer
guardianship and rearing to some of the orphans till their adult age and
give life support to idiotic and seriously disabled orphans under their
care; some orphans are brought up in citizens' homes under the
guardianship of welfare institutions; some orphans are adopted by domestic
citizens and a small number by foreign citizens according to relevant
laws.
By the end of 1995, there were a total of 73 welfare homes for children
set up by local governments, oering guardianship and rearing to 8,900
orphans and abandoned ill or disabled children. More than 1,200 social
welfare institutions in urban areas and some homes for the aged in rural
areas have also oered guardianship and rearing to orphans and abandoned
ill or disabled children. Some orphans and abandoned ill or disabled
children are under the care of or legally adopted by common people.
Moreover, there are a total of nearly ten thousand organizations serving
orphans and disabled persons in communities throughout China, such as
schools for orphans, rehabilitation centers, training classes for mentally
retarded children, rehabilitation stations for disabled children and
community rehabilitation stations, as well as about a hundred social
welfare institutions established by individuals or organizations.
Apart from welfare institutions set up by the government and the
society to take care of orphans and abandoned children, China encourages
citizens to adopt these children so that they can enjoy a normal family
life and grow up sound of body and mind. In order to protect legal
adoption and the legal rights of the persons concerned, and to benefit the
care and growth of adopted juveniles, the NPC Standing Committee of China
stipulated the Adoption Law. According to this law, the Ministry of
Justice and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, with the approval of the State
Council, published for implementation the Procedures for the Adoption of
Children by Foreigners in the People's Republic of China. The adoption of
orphans in China has laws to go by and is in full accord with the
principles put forward by the United Nations in the Convention on the
Rights of Children.
All adoption procedures are done strictly according to law. Both
Chinese citizens and foreigners shall meet the conditions required by law
and go through all necessary procedures. While handling the adoption
procedures for the person concerned, the related departments of the
Chinese Government charge the fees strictly according to law. As required
by law, the adoptor shall pay to the welfare home the cost for upbringing
of the adoptee, which will then be used to improve living conditions for
other children in the institution. This cost is determined mainly through
negotiations between the two parties.
Funds
Most of the funds for China's welfare homes for children come from
appropriations by state and local financial departments (the funds being
budgeted as full operating expenses for welfare homes in the financial
report of each year), supplemented by other means, such as collective fund
raising, welfare lotteries and donations. From 1990 to 1994, local
financial departments had appropriated a total of 515 million yuan
directly to urban welfare homes for children (of this total, 40 percent
being used directly for the livelihood of the children), at an annual
increase rate of 25.5 percent, thus guaranteeing the basic needs of the
children. During this period, the state appropriated 740 million yuan
specially for the improvement of welfare homes for children, including 240
million yuan raised from welfare lotteries published by central and local
governments, 150 million yuan from local financial departments and 350
million yuan from donations.
The funds received by each welfare home around the country are
different due to the various levels of economic development in each area.
In economically developed areas, the average expense per child per month
is 400 to 500 yuan while in the less developed areas, the amount is 200 to
300 yuan. Living expense of the children in the welfare homes is usually
no lower than that of local citizens, in view of the fact that prices are
comparatively low in China.
Administrative System
China's welfare homes for children have adopted a fairly complete,
systematic administrative system. The system requires that the children
shall be under a two to three month observation period before they are
accepted. During the observation period the related departments search for
the child's parents or confirm his or her identification while at the same
time the child is given a comprehensive physical examination and isolation
is practiced on children suffering from infectious diseases. The system
also requires that there shall be a certain number of specialized
personnel in each welfare home -- the specialized personnel in first-level
state welfare homes shall account for above 70 percent, and in
second-level, above 65 percent, of the total welfare home staff. Each
welfare home for children has drawn up strict rules and regulations
concerning every aspect of internal management and of the children's lives
-- upbringing, nursing, medical care, rehabilitation, scientific research,
community rehabilitation, training, and supporting service.
To supervise the implementation of these administrative procedures, the
civil affairs departments have carried out regular inspections. Units that
perform well are commended and those units or individuals who seriously
violate regulations are penalized.
The Principle of Combining Upbringing,Treatment
and Education
The welfare homes for children in China practice the principle of
combining upbringing, treatment and education.
Due to the special care given to China's helpless orphans and abandoned
ill or disabled children, many of them have grown up and found jobs. With
help from the government and people from all circles, the more than 4,200
orphans left in the 1976 Tangshan earthquake -- from a few months to 16
years old, except for those adopted by their relatives -- were all settled
in the Xingtai Welfare Home for Children and at orphans' schools in
Tangshan and Shijiazhuang. Most of their living and study expenses were
borne by the state. In October 1995, Wang An, the last ``Tangshan
earthquake orphan,'' left the welfare home that had oered him guardianship
and rearing to work in a hospital. The Jilin Provincial Welfare Home for
Children in Changchun has brought up 2,478 orphans since its establishment
38 years ago.
When they come to welfare homes, most children are suffering from
serious illness or inherent disabilities. Welfare homes have paid much
attention to treating these children to the most degree. Ill or disabled
children in serious condition are sent to local hospitals for better
treatment. In 1995, the number of the children nursed back to health
exceeded 200. Welfare homes for children boast doctors, rehabilitators,
nutritionists, as well as clinics, rehabilitation rooms, emergency
treatment rooms, laboratories and pharmacies, giving timely treatment to
ailing children. With help from the government and from people in all
walks of life, many welfare homes own fairly advanced medical equipment to
meet the basic needs of their children. At present, China has a
professional staff who are devoted to the well-being of orphans and
disabled children; medical personnel account for 32 percent of the total
welfare home staff.
Since 1995, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Pub"ilic
Health have jointly launched health projects for disabled orphans
throughout the country. Under the project, large hospitals give free
hospitalization to orphans who need to undergo operations, and charge half
of the normal surgical operation and treatment fees. Disabled children in
welfare homes take part in various rehabilitation training programs, and
some of them have recovered or basically recovered from disability.
At welfare homes, children with normal intelligence, no matter if they
are physically handicapped or not, receive compulsory education like other
children. Blind, deaf and mentally retarded children are sent to special
education schools. In addition, the state has set up over 30 schools
especially for orphans. These schools educate children according to their
physical and mental abilities and characteristics; some schools even
combine compulsory education with vocational education to enhance the
students' career opportunities. For seriously disabled children, every
welfare home has set up a special education class that teaches
self-sufficiency. In 1989, the government established a separate fund for
special education. In 1995, the fund totalled 23 million yuan, of which
1.1 million yuan was appropriated to special education classes at welfare
homes.
Mass Movements to Help Orphans
The Chinese Government encourages activities to help orphans and has
called upon the whole society to show concern for orphans. In recent
years, mass movements to help orphans have blossomed.
-- A mass campaign encouraging kindness to orphans is now wide"ispread
and volunteers are numerous. In Shanghai and Beijing, campaigns such as
``Let kind-hearted people give orphans a big hug,'' ``Offer your
affections to orphans and disabled children and bring health to them,''
``Help orphans in every way'' and ``Link your hearts to orphans' hearts''
are enthusiastically responded to by people from all walks of life. In
these campaigns, many urban families take children from children's welfare
institutions and let them stay in their homes during holidays or at
ordinary times so that these children can enjoy the warmth and affection
of a family.
-- The China Charity Federation was established to promote charities
and extensively collect donations. By the end of 1995, the China Charity
Federation had recruited 44 local organizations throughout China as group
members and it had collected donations of over 100 million yuan. A
considerable amount of the money was used to support orphans in vocational
trainings and perform corrective surgical operations on disabled children.
-- People from all walks of life show much concern for children's
welfare institutions. They donate money and materials to help the
institutions improve their conditions. This allows the institutions to
improve the quality of their care and education. Welfare funds for orphans
have been established in Qingdao, Shandong Province, Cele County in
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and other places. In 1994 and 1995 the
Shanghai Municipal Welfare Home for Children received 4.4 million yuan in
donations. At present, 8,000 orphans throughout China are financially
supported in their school education.
-- Individuals are becoming ever more enthusiastic about running
children's welfare homes and non-governmental welfare homes are on the
increase. In Guangzhou the number of beds in social welfare institutions
run by individuals now account for 10 percent of all social welfare
institution beds.
China has made great efforts to support the survival, protection and
development of children. The UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO and other international
organizations and public figures all made positive comments on China's
achievements in this connection. Of course, the Chinese Government is
sober about the fact that since China is a developing country with a large
population and since its economic foundation is still comparatively weak,
its per capita income is in a rather rear position in the world per capita
income listings and its development level is unbalanced between city and
countryside and between different areas, there is much difficulty in the
work for children and therefore much room for improvement. Take medical
care for children, for example. The incidence of disease among children in
the countryside is high and in some poor areas children's nutrition is
below the normal level. As for children's education, the teaching
conditions in some outlying and poor areas are not up to par and the
phenonmenon of primary and middle school children discontinuing their
studies still exists. As for the protection of disabled children, the
state is not able to amass in a short period enough money to fully satisfy
the actual needs in the protection of these children. Since the level of
economic development varies from area to area, some welfare homes are
better run than others with economic diculties. Therefore, as China
develops economically and socially, an important task facing the Chinese
Government is to constantly improve children's conditions and promote
activities and programs to help children. The Chinese Government will
continue to work persistently toward this end, as it has done in the past,
and the cause of children will surely develop further as a result.
Appendix
The Description and Accusations About China's
Children's Welfare Institutions by
Britain's Channel Four and the Human
Rights Watch/Asia Do Not Hold Water
I
The British commercial television station Channel Four
broadcast ``Secret Asia, the Dying Rooms'' on June 14, 1995, and ``Return
to the Dying Rooms'' (a refurbished version of the former) on January 9,
1996. Using clumsy tricks, the programs stated that in China's children's
welfare homes there were dying rooms where children were abused to death.
An investigation proved that the so-called dying rooms in the program
``Secret Asia, the Dying Rooms'' refer actually to a warehouse in the
Huangshi City Social Welfare Home in Hubei Province and that the major
part of the program is fabricated.
Kate Blewett, producer of the program, and others visited the Huangshi
welfare home, disguising themselves as staff members of the American
Children's Fund. After Blewett, et al arrived, recalled Liu Qiuliang,
nurse of the welfare home, she found one of the foreigners, a man, filming
in a warehouse at the back of the courtyard. At that time, there were some
old beds in that warehouse and some other articles were lying around. The
cameraman untied the articles, spread them on the bed and began to shoot.
Liu came to the warehouse and asked him what he was doing. He just grunted
and came out. This is the warehouse which was later labeled as the ``dying
rooms'' in the television program. The ``Dying Rooms'' claimed that in
1994 more than 80 children died in that house. This is sheer fabrication.
The welfare home's statistics record and the list of children taken in or
identified and adopted shows that there were 161 children in the
institution in 1994 and 128 were adopted later in the year. How come more
than 80 children died? Claiming that the empty beds formerly used by
children who were later adopted or identified and so left the welfare home
were the beds of dead children and further referring to the warehouse as
the ``dying rooms'' is deliberate distortion of facts.
The ``Dying Rooms'' recounted a story about a ``nameless,'' seriously
ill child who was left unattended without any medical treatment, waiting
for death. The shots were taken by Blewett and others at Duanzhou District
Welfare Home, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province. As far as we know, the
sick child was found on February 20, 1995 on the street by someone from a
local police station; the child was then sent to the welfare home. The
child was seriously ill when admitted to the welfare home, and the welfare
home immediately gave the child medical treatment. Yang Jinying, the nurse
who was responsible for looking after the ``nameless'' child, said that
after Blewett and others entered the sick child's room, they told Yang to
stay outside. Contrary to fact, the television program claimed that nurses
hardly ever went into that room. It was winter and after Blewett and
company entered the room, they removed the sick child's warm
cotton-batting quilt and unbuttoned the latter's clothes. Yang tried to
stop them. She said that it was cold and the child was sick. But Blewett
said it did not matter. Wearing a fur coat, Blewett had the sick child
stripped to the waist and shot for 15 to 20 minutes. After they finished
shooting, they left the child undressed and didn't even cover the latter
with the quilt. The sick child later died despite medical treatment. By
playing up the condition of the sick child, Blewett and others intended to
say that girls were systematically abused to death in the welfare homes.
Using wanton fabrication to cheat and mislead viewers cannot but arouse
indignation among the people.
The ``Dying Rooms'' made up another ``miserable story'' about a woman's
forced abortion. It said that when the police were informed that a certain
woman was pregnant with her second child (without having obtained prior
permission), she was forced to have an abortion and a sterilization
operation. The facts are as follows: The woman, named Xie Lianfeng, lives
in Jinyang Village, Yangshuo, Guangxi. Blewett and company followed Xie's
mother-in-law to Xie's home and asked Xie how many children she had. When
Xie told them she had a boy and a girl, Blewett and others asked if she
could have any more children. Xie answered, ``I had a ligation of the
oviduct. I cannot bear children now.'' Xie said that she had never had an
abortion, nor had her two sisters-in-law who lived with her. When the
kind-hearted and honest Xie was told how Blewett, et al distorted her
story, she said furiously, ``They are talking rubbish!''
Jiang Zhenghua, council member of the IUSSP, pointed out, ``As far as
what we have seen is concerned, of the many things described in the
telefilm some are sheerly concocted out of thin air and some are
distortions. I felt strange when I saw the film. How could an institution
which parades professional ethics for news coverage have produced such a
film. Many of my scholar friends are also furious about the film.''
Britt-Marie Nygren, chief executive of the Family Association for
Intercountry Adoption, Sweden, said, ``We were furious after we watched
this film. There are 130 families in our association that have visited
China and adopted children there. Many of them think that this film is an
unjust report on China's welfare homes....I have visited many countries
and seen their institutions responsible for adoption, so I can compare the
conditions at institutions in different countries. That's why I reacted
that way to this film's unjust reporting of the situation in China's
welfare homes.''
Blewett and others may fabricate lies to cheat some people for
sometime, but not for a long time. China, which has opened its door to the
outside world, now receives millions of foreign visitors every year. They
have opportunities to see the true situation, one which is completely
contrary to what's described in the ``Dying Rooms.''
II
The Human Rights Watch/Asia made a gratuitous accusation in its report,
published on January 7, 1996, on the situation of children's welfare homes
in China. Many parts of the report are cooked up based on distorted and
exaggerated matters.
The censure of the report on the ``maltreatment'' of disabled children
by the Shanghai Municipal Welfare Home for Children is not based on facts.
The Shanghai children's welfare home is a social welfare charity
institution directed by the Shanghai Municipal Government. The institution
now oers guardianship and rearing to more than 500 children, most of whom
are disabled, including over 100 disabled children entrusted to its care
by the society. It has a staff of 320 members, including 42 medical
personnel, 23 teachers and 220 nurses. The orphans in the welfare home
receive food, medical treatment and education. Regarding the food supply
for the orphans, the emphasis is placed on nutrition and nursing; the food
menu, designed to meet the needs of growing children, is worked out by a
nutritionist according to the physical conditions and ages of the orphans.
As a result, the nutritional status of the children is good overall. With
regard to medical care and rehabilitation, the welfare home has set up an
in-patient department and a children's rehabilitation center. Sick
children are taken care of in the welfare home or sent to larger hospitals
in the city for treatment, and physical check-ups are conducted for those
recovered from illness twice a year. Those who are suitable for
rectification are sent to the city's major hospitals to receive the
operation. In the last two years 87 disabled children have received
surgical operations. Rehabilitative training has been practiced on
children suffering from impaired or abnormal motion, with the recovery
rate reaching 90 percent.
In education, school-age children with physical deformities but normal
mental conditions are sent, at the welfare home's expense, to study in
ordinary primary or middle schools, while the blind and deaf-mutes are
sent to special schools. There are 32 children who study outside the
welfare home. In order to strengthen their education, two teachers are
designated to instruct and take care of them after class. In addition,
funded by the public, the welfare home has set up a school with 2,500
square meters of floor space and a sportsground of 1,200 square meters to
provide the orphaned and disabled children who can not go out to study in
ordinary schools with an excellent education environment. Judging from the
above, the legal rights of the disabled in the Shanghai children's welfare
home are well protected.
The Human Rights Watch/Asia said many parts of its report were written
according to data provided by a woman named Zhang Shuyun. It was learned,
after investigation, that Zhang Shuyun came to the Shanghai Municipal
Welfare Home for Children in September 1988 to work as a laboratory
tech"inician for testing liver functions; she left the job in June 1993.
During her time there she was criticized a great deal by her leaders for
not setting her mind to her work and for disobedience regarding her work
arrangement. For this, she harbored resentment and, while she was still an
employee of the institution, resorted to fabricating a story about the
``problems'' that existed in the welfare home. After a careful
investigation, the allegations present in her report were refuted by the
relevant department in Shanghai, but she still quibbled over it,
continuing to make up and spread rumors about the leaders of the welfare
home and launching personal attacks against them. Dozens of staff members
expressed their indignation and jointly criticized her several times. When
the party concerned in the matter brought a lawsuit to the court, Zhang
Shuyun resigned her post and left for the United States via Hong Kong. In
the United States, Zhang continued her prevaricating, spewing stories
slandering the work in the Shanghai children's welfare home. Obviously,
she did all this with ulterior motives. How can people give credence to
the materials provided by such a person for the purpose of slandering
China's welfare institutions?
The Human Rights Watch/Asia in its report plays up the photograph of a
sick child, claiming the death of the child was caused by his being
maltreated in the welfare home. It was learned, after investigation, that
the child, given the name of Jianxun by the welfare home, suffered a
serious illness caused by mental retardation; after he entered the welfare
home, on February 24, 1988, he put on weight under meticulous care and
medical treatment. Later, his illness deteriorated and affected the
vomiting center, which caused frequent vomiting after feeding. As a
result, the patient grew thinner and thinner, but the doctors still
persevered in their efforts, feeding him milk and giving intravenous
injections. However, because of the serious handicap in his assimilating
function, the treatment ended in failure and he died on July 17, 1992. The
patient's medical treatment and care can be documented by the medical
records kept. Han Weicheng, who was the principal of the children's
welfare home at that time and himself a physician with 11 years standing,
states that Jianxun's malnutrition was caused by malabsorption resultant
from diseases of the central nervous system, certainly not by starvation.
That the death of Jianxun was due to deliberate starvation, as claimed by
the Human Rights Watch/Asia and Zhang Shuyun, is just a story made up by
them to cheat and fool the public.
As for the scene in the photograph where Jianxun's hands are tied up
and his chest exposed: Zhou Zhuqing, the present principal, and Han
Weicheng, the former principal, of the welfare home deny this ever
occurred, pointing out that it would have been utterly illogical to treat
Jianxun like that, as there was no need to take any protective,
restraining measures on this patient, who was very weak; and there were no
signs that he would take any actions to injure himself. Even if there was
a case in which a patient needed to be restrained, it would be handled
strictly by regular medical means. There has never been a case at the
Shanghai children's welfare home in which a patient was tied up with
ropes. This photograph was obviously arranged. An investigation into Zhang
Shuyun's history shows that she was criticized by her leaders and
colleagues at the Shanghai children's welfare home due to her work
quality. Later it was found that she often directed one of the young
orphans at the welfare home, Ai Ming, to take photographs for her in
secret. Before taking pictures Ai Ming put sick children in special poses
and asked two bigger children Zhan and Zhai to help him. Zhan later
reported that the camera had been supplied by Zhang Shuyun and that Zhai
had been told to help to unfasten the clothes of the sick children.
Therefore, it is Zhang Shuyun who knows most clearly how the photograph
published by the Human Rights Watch/Asia was produced. Would any upright
and decent person adopt such despicable means and create such spurious
stories and rumors?
The Human Rights Watch/Asia report also alleges that the Shanghai
Municipal Welfare Home for Children maltreated their children by
transferring dozens of the seriously sick orphans to the Shanghai Second
Social Welfare Home on Chongming Island. The fact is that this occurred
when the old houses of the children's welfare home needed large-scale
renovation. As a result, some of the orphans were sent to the social
welfare home temporarily, which was only normal. In fact, the same thing
had happened before. Once, for instance, when the houses of a social
welfare home for the aged in Shanghai needed major repair, some of the
seniors there were transferred to the Shanghai Municipal Welfare Home for
Children. Is this the maltreatment of children? The children in the
Shanghai children's welfare home are transferred when they grow up at the
age of 16. Some are sent out to take up jobs, while some, whose mental
retardation prevents them from taking up jobs, are sent to four other
welfare institutions in the city or on Chongming Island, the one on
Chongming taking in more than those in Shanghai. Obviously, the claim that
children with serious illnesses were sent to the social welfare home on
Chongming Island, which is alleged in the Human Rights Watch/Asia report,
is sheer nonsense.
The report also says that most of the funds slated for China's welfare
homes for children are used as sta salaries and bonuses -- and only a
small part is used for buying food, clothing and other daily necessities
of the children. In fact, the sum for bringing up children in urban
welfare institutions of various kinds in China allocated by China's
financial departments at different levels in 1994, for instance, totalled
169 million yuan, of which about 40 percent was used for the living
expenses of the orphans and disabled children; about 20 percent was spent
on equipment maintenance, staff training and daily operating expenses;
finally, about 40 percent was used for staff salaries and bonuses and for
retirement pensions. From the above figures it can be clearly seen that
the claim that most of the funds were used for salaries and bonuses is
inaccurate. Moreover, the average monthly living expenses for each child
in urban welfare institutions in 1994 was 281.7 yuan, while that for each
urban citizen was 264.9 yuan. This shows that the average daily expense
for each child in the welfare institutions for buying daily necessities
was higher than that of each urban citizen. The accusation of the Human
Rights Watch/Asia, therefore, has no ground to stand on.
On January 8, 1996, nearly 30 reporters from 20 news agencies from the
United States, Britain, Germany and other countries went to visit the
Shanghai Municipal Welfare Home for Children. There they were shown around
and talked with some of its staff members for four hours. On January 25,
officials from the consulates general in Shanghai of ten countries,
including the United States, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands,
Austria, Denmark and Japan, visited the Shanghai Second Social Welfare
Home. Afterward, American reporters visited it too. What they saw and
understood is completely different from that described in the report
published by the Human Rights Watch/Asia. When faced with the facts, a lie
is always nothing but a lie. Therefore, the description of China's welfare
institutions and the accusations hurled at them in the Human Rights
Watch/Asia report and the ``Dying Rooms'' telefilm shown by the British
commercial TV station Channel Four inevitably have met with criticism and
condemnation from people in the United States, Britain and many other
countries.
China's children's welfare homes accept visitors and welcome the
exchange of experiences as well as cooperation with other countries.
Nearly every day people go to visit these institutions; some work as
volunteers. It is neither reasonable nor responsible that governments and
political figures in some countries should denounce the Chinese Government
merely on the basis of the report cooked up and dished out by the Human
Rights Watch/Asia.
