Seeking Happiness for People: 70 Years of Progress on Human Rights in China
As of March 2019, the average subsistence allowance for urban residents was RMB591 per month, and that for rural residents was RMB4,953 per annum. All rural subsistence allowance standards at county (city) level reached or exceeded the national poverty line. People living in extreme difficulty received RMB6,693 per person per annum in rural areas, and RMB9,096 per person per annum in urban areas. From the 18th CPC National Congress to August 15, 2019 China launched 157 national emergency responses in the wake of major natural disasters, issuing a total of RMB60.27 billion as living subsidies for disaster relief from central funds. Between 2013 and 2018, on a yearly basis the government temporarily relocated more than 9 million people affected by disasters, provided relief to more than 70 million people, and restored and rebuilt more than 500,000 damaged houses. In 2018, the government offered subsidies for 76.74 million poor people on subscribing to the basic medical insurance system, medical assistance to 53.61 million inpatients and outpatients, and assistance to 1.55 million homeless persons and beggars.
Improved postal and telecommunications services. At the beginning of the PRC, China had only 706,000 km of postal routes, with 146,000 km of parallel, long-distance open-wire lines. Over the past 70 years, postal and telecommunications services have kept expanding, with quick progress in telecommunications infrastructure. IT applications and the internet have been developing rapidly, and people's right to communication has been fully guaranteed.
As of 2018, China had 275,000 postal and courier outlets, a 9.6-fold increase over 1949. The total length of postal routes and courier service networks reached 39.45 million km, about a 55-fold increase over 1949. Some 829 million people accessed the internet, 59.6 percent of citizens used the internet, and 98.6 percent went online via mobile phone. As of June 2019, the total length of fiber optic cable lines reached 45.45 million km, and 90 percent of internet users were fiber broadband subscribers. With 4.45 million 4G base stations, China has established the world's largest fixed broadband network and 4G network. Of the 1,586 million mobile phone users (3G and 4G users), 1,230 million were 4G users. Fixed broadband networks connected 91.8 percent of all households, and 97.1 percent of the population was using mobile broadband services. More than 98 percent of administrative villages had access to fiber optic cables and 4G services, taking the lead in the world in this regard. On June 6, 2019, with the issuing of the 5G commercial license by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 5G services entered the market.
