1. Xinminnet: I’m from Xinminnet. I’ve two questions. Several people embroiled in the city’s social security fund scandal were sentenced recently or will be sentenced, and the Hengshan Moller Villa reopened after two years’renovation work. Does it mean an end to the investigation of the scandal? The second question, word came today that Chiang Pin-kung, vice chairman of Kuomintang party, is scheduled to visit the Chinese mainland. Does his itinerary include stopovers in Shanghai? I also heard that Kuomintang vice chairman Kuan Chung is scheduled to visit Fudan University, could you confirm the news?

Chen Qiwei: About your two questions, I’ve responded on many occasions over the social security fund scandal. As it is in the legal procedures, it shouldn’t be covered by the city government press conference. The second question about whether the trip of Mr Jiang Bing-kun’s to the Chinese mainland includes stopovers in Shanghai or Mr Kuan Chong’s visit to Fudan, I don’t have any details.

2. Xinmin Evening News: I’m from Xinmin Evening News and I’ve two questions. The first question is for the city government spokesman. What was the city’s original subsidy for rice farmers? And how much has the city raised the subsidy? What measures will the city take to further ensure stable production of grains and vegetables in Shanghai? The second question is for Ms Gao. Considering the ageing trend in Shanghai’s population, there is a great potential for the development of seniors rest homes. I’d like to know what measures the city will take to help private fund flow into the seniors rest home and boost these institutes.

Chen Qiwei: First question first. I’d say that the policies the city recently adopted to help farmers intend to give concrete benefits to farmers in the suburbs. On March 27, the State Council convened a national teleconference on agriculture and grain production work. On March 29, the city called a meeting to study how to implement the spirit of the State Council teleconference. On March 31, Mayor Han Zheng briefed heads of all the major departments on the issue at a meeting. On April 3, the city government completed drafting the Decisions on Further Strengthening the City’s Agriculture and Grain Production, a process that showcased high efficiency considering all the green lights throughout.
The CPC Shanghai Committee and the city government have attached great importance to the favorable farming policies on agriculture and grain production in the suburbs. Over the past few years, they have worked out a series of policies and measures to stabilize production of grain, mainly rice, by referring to the central govenrment policies and local situation. In 2007, the subsidies for grain production, including grain farming subsidy, subsidy for quality rice seeds, subsidy for farming materials, chemicals subsidy and insurance subsidy, totaled about 320 million yuan, or 172 yuan per mu of rice paddy, which is higher than the national subsidy standard.
The basic principle for implementing the national conference spirit this time is to take another step to enhance the city’s policy support to production of grain and vegetables, based on the current help-farming policies and current measures to implement the State Council’s 10 new policies. According to initial estimate, the city will allocate another 160 million yuan of city treasury fund to subsidize farmers this year, in addition to the current budget.
The further steps for stabilize grain production include: one, increasing direct subsidies for farming materials. For each mu of rice paddy, the subsidy will be increased by 20 yuan, which will amount to 37.64 million yuan in subsidies across the city; two, increasing subsidies for quality rice and wheat seeds; two, starting this year, quality rice and wheat seeds will be given away to farmers, involving 25.30 million yuan as subsidies, including 18.59 million yuan from the city treasury; three, increasing the area of large-scale grain production by 200,000 mu starting from this year. That means an increase of the city’s investment into the program by 30 million yuan this year.
The further steps to stabilize the vegetable production are mainly to increase the subsidies for farming materials to vegetable farmers. An additional 60 yuan per mu will be offered as subsidy to farmers who grow above 10 mu of vegetables each, involving a total of 227,000 mu and 13.62 million yuan of subsidies from city treasury.
In addition, the minimum purchase prices of grain are raised, construction of the system of prevention and control of major animal diseases has sped up,“green passage”for grain production streamlined, the number of vehicles for the“vegetable basket”projects increased, pledge fund for small-sum rural credits raised and support polices are completed to enhance regulation of the agricultural resources markets and farming produce markets.

Gao Julan: The CPC Shanghai Committee and the city government have attached great importance to the local seniors care programs over the past few years. Since 2005, the city government has set it as its annual“do-good-deeds”task to increase 10,000 beds at rest homes. It has pledged to ensure a 5,000-yuan subsidy for each bed at the rest homes. Efforts in the past few years have triggered the interest of social funds to set up seniors homes, with the number of seniors homes rising to 560, including 260 set up with social funds. The 2007 statistics show that the beds at seniors homes invested by social funds account for 69.9 percent of the total in Shanghai. The number of rest homes invested with social funds is set to grow each year, which is attributed to the encouragement of government policies over the past few years.

3. China Business News: I’m from China Business News. I’ve two questions. The first question is for the government spokesman. The other day a news report said Shanghai’s social security fund will be put under real-time online supervision. Could you specify on that? Does the supervision cover all the social security fund? Who will qualify for the supervision, and will the public be able to check it online? What is the process of collecting and using the funds like? The second question is for Ms Gao. How is the city getting along with its program to support the seniors care program with housing?

Chen Qiwei: First question first. I’ve also noticed the news reports on the online supervision of the social security fund. The fund is the lifeline of the social security and backbone of the social security system. The central government, CPC Shanghai committee and city government have attached great importance to the supervision of social security fund and set a series of requirements for the work.
In the second half of 2006 following the social security fund scandal, the city set up a long-term supervision system as instructed by the CCP Central Committee, the Party’s local committee and the city government. The supervision system features the improvement of the policies and the combination of management in line with law, strict supervision and transparent operation. The news reports only covered the online supervision, but actually the intensified supervision of the fund involves four aspects.
One, authorities worked out the Measures on the Management of Shanghai Social Security Fund, set up a special treasury account for the fund, decided on the principle of managing the fund by separating the income and spending channels, and established a“buffer zone”and a“firewall”for the fund to ensure the safety of the fund. Two, the city social security fund supervision committee was set up to enhance supervision work. The agency is made up of administrative and supervisory departments of the government, delegates to the city congress, members of the political advisory body and relevant experts. Three, work is speeding up to build an online real-time supervision network for the fund. The network will be able to show the direction of the fund flow as well as the sum of fund involved, to make sure the fund is put under intense, effective and real-time supervision and in full control. Four, the annual fund paid by local enterprises were transferred in full sum into a special market management mechanism for enterprise fund. Based on this, the city government will work out policies to regulate the enterprise annual payment and set up a multi-channel pension security system to further improve the pension security benefits for retirees.

Gao Julan: The public is concerned about the program to support the senior care with housing, and so are we. Recently, the city construction commission organized authorities to research into the program. About the research results and potential policy, (it is hard to say) as it is still in the research stage. Thank you!

4. Youth Daily: I’m from Youth Daily. My first question is for Ms Gao. The community services for home-based seniors care is a very good channel for senior care and is very popular with citizens. However, many people don’t know how to apply for the service, and could you elaborate on that? The second question is for the government spokesman. The locally grown vegetables have been a must for the citizens’vegetable baskets, but their prices have fluctuated in the past few days. Could you tell us something about the city’s vegetable production and the price trend?
Gao Julan: Shanghai’s seniors care network is based on household, supported by the community and supplemented by the rest homes, and to put it another way, the main development direction in the future is the home-based seniors care service. The home-based seniors care service is geared toward the following two groups of people: one, those locally registered senior citizens who are entitled to government allowances, namely, those who aged above 60 years and included in the minimum-pension system, have a low income and are unable to take care of themselves. This includes, as stipulated in the policy adopted this year, those locally registered urban citizens who are 80 years old and above, live alone or have only senior members in the family. If their monthly pension is below the city’s average at the urban enterprises, they will get a subsidy equivalent to 50 percent of the seniors care service subsidy and the special subsidy for seniors care, after assessment confirms that they need daily care (which is classified into minor, medium and intensive levels). Qualified applicants can go to the community (township) service centers to consult and apply for the subsidy. In case no such service centers are available, go to community seniors care service centers and remember to bring the valid ID document, income certificate and health certificate for application. The other group is those who not entitled to government allowances. If they need the home-based seniors care service, they can apply to the community seniors care service centers in their community. After they pass our assessment, they can enjoy the service.

Chen Qiwei: Since the Spring Festival, down-to-earth efforts have been made in the vegetable-growing suburbs to fight the (snow) disaster. The past three years has also seen steady progress in building secured vegetable farms, totaling more than 40,000 mu now. All these have ensured disaster fight and vegetable production. To guarantee the market supply in spring, seedlings and seeds of green vegetables were planted on more than 40,000 mu of vegetable farms in the suburbs in February and included in the market price insurance system. Meanwhile, care of the growing vegetables has intensified to increase the output per unit area. Now the 40,000 mu of green vegetables have been put on the market gradually.
The 470,000 mu of vegetables are growing healthilys. We have enough market supply at present, more than 9,500 tons a day from the suburbs, including 5,300 tons of greens. The supply of greens is especially sufficient, with their prices declining.

According to official statistics, the average per-100-kilogram prices for four common greens at the city’s designed sample wholesale markets from March 15 to April 1 dropped 20.2%, 25.6%, 28.6% and 6.5%, respectively over the same period in 2007. The prices for greens at these markets averaged 81.6 yuan per 100 kilograms on April 7, down 25.8% year on year.

4. Shanghai Television Station: I’m from Shanghai Television Station. I’ve two questions. The first question is or Ms Gao. For those senior citizens who need the care service, how should they apply for the subsidy for the seniors care service and the subsidy for the special care? The other question is for the government spokesman. It’s said that the safety of farm produce must be monitored starting from the farm itself. Has the government adopted any policy to ensure the safety from the point of seed sowing and crop production? Thank you.

Gao Julan: As I said just now, we’ve established home-based seniors care service centers in every district and township, including the community-level aid-seniors service centers. The seniors can apply at the seniors care centers or the community affairs centers. We’ll evaluate the applicants in terms of the health condition and family condition and grade them as minor, medium and serious levels. The different levels mean different service standards, namely, one, the subsidy paid out of the treasury, and two, the average of 300 yuan in subsidy, which varies from 200 yuan to 300 yuan to 400 yuan depending on the health condition of the applicants. The subsidy will be increased by another 100 yuan or 200 yuan for those graded as medium and serious levels. The maximum subsidy for a serious-level applicant is 500 yuan, if his or her income condition meets our requirements.

Chen Qiwei: The public is concerned about the safety supervision of farm produce. Over the recent years, city authorities have performed their supervision duties in a conscientious way and enhanced supervision of farm produce from the very beginning of the production process. The quality safety of the farm produce in the city has been put under well-coordinated and well-controlled supervision, which includes the following measures:
One, source control. The city has pushed forward construction of the quality monitoring network for the farmlands, which has forced 220 mu of heavily polluted farmlands in six districts out of production of edible farm produce.
Two, supervision of products used in farming. During the four-month special program targeting quality safety of farm produce in late 2007, the city checked 843 chemicals retailers and didn’t find the five types of highly poisonous chemicals. Nor did checks at the city’s 106 vegetable farms, 533 poultry farms and 220,000 mu of aquatic production centers uncover banned animal medications and feeds and poisonous substance.
Three, efforts at promoting agricultural standards and building farm produce brands also paid off. By the end of 2007, the city had certified 453 quality farm products, and six products had been named as China’s brand products, 27 named as Shanghai’s brand products and 27 as Shanghai’s well-known brands.
Four, efforts intensified to test safety of farm produce. Over the past few years, the city has increasingly stepped up its efforts to check the safety of farm produce. The city checked 5,018 vegetables in 2007, and 97.0 percent passed the chemical residue test, up from 96.1 percent in 2006. Tests of 73,454 batches of products for banned medications all showed the negative indicator. The city also checked 281 samples of aquatic products for chemical residue, covering 1,024 indicators, and 97.9 percent passed the examination, compared to 92.5 percent in 2006.
Five, a retracing system for farm produce safety has been established. The city launched a citywide agricultural production management system in the second half of 2001. Since then, it has designed and put into use six management systems including those for pig farms and gardening farms, greatly improving feasibility in retracing and controlling the agricultural production safety. Work is under way to promote the data search system for animal medicine makers and retrieval system for animal identification and epidemics.

6. China Labor and Social Security News: I’m from China Labor and Social Security News, one question for Ms Gao. Shanghai has set up 218 elderly day-care centers and 100 service stations, and how many seniors can these facilities accommodate? What’s the estimated number of seniors that need the service? And how many centenarians are there in the city?
Gao Julan: I’d like to say something about the city’s“11th Five-year”plan for the seniors affairs development. That is, we plan to set up 100,000 beds at the seniors homes by 2010, the number is 3 percent of the city’s aged population. The home-based seniors care service will cover 250,000 people, or about 7 percent of the local elderly population by that time. The whole plan can be code named“9073,”by which we mean that 90 percent of the seniors will take care of themselves at home with help from their children; 7 percent will be home-based but have access to home care by community-based service centers; and the rest 3 percent will be accommodated at seniors homes.
The services for the 7 percent of the seniors fall into two types. One, workers go to their homes to take care of them, and the service is charged or subsidized by the government. Two, they go to the day-care centers, which have been developed in recent years to meet the demand. The seniors go to the day-care centers as if going to work every day, and their children can pick them up after work. In the previous years, the city listed it as one of the government do-good deeds to add an annual 20 day-care centers. Starting from 2008, we’ll add 100 such centers each year. The day-care centers can hold dozens or more than 10, depending on the real situation in each district, but the program is geared toward the 7 percent of the aged population.
About the centenarians, the released number at the end of 2006 was 680. I don’t give you the number for 2007 because we’re going to hold a press conference on the city’s aged population next week when we’ll offer an accurate figure.
Chen Qiwei: You’re welcome to director Gao’s press conference next week. Now the last question.

7. SMG Radio News Center: Thank you. I’m from SMG Radio News Center. A question for Director Gao. It’s said that some communities are piloting a program to offer subsidies to the children of those seniors covered by the home-based seniors care services. How is the program going? Thank you.

Gao Julan: The service workers are mainly those laid-off workers and migrant workers from rural areas. We’re studying the program to offer subsidies to those who take care of their elderly parents. The city government is conducting research into the program which calls for some breakthroughs. I can only say that the program is being piloted in some districts, and the progress has yet to be studied and summarized, and I hope there will be some breakthroughs in the next stage.

Chen Qiwei: Thank you all for today’s press conference.