Chinese people from both urban and rural areas will be able to enjoy more diversified community services in the following decades, xinhuanet.com reported on October 11, 2007.

According to Zhan Chengfu, director of the Local Authority and Community Building Department under the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA), healthcare centers and clubs have been renovated and volunteers have been trained to service needy families in urban communities.

"Community life has changed dramatically in recent years," said Zhang Sha, a resident in Beijing's Huilongguan Community. "The programs and outdoor activities have brought the neighborhoods closer together."

At the same time, educational and legal campaigns have been held in 251 rural communities in the provinces and cities, including Shandong, Jiangsu and Shanghai. Local governments are engaged in setting up irrigation facilities, medical centers and social security systems for suburban communities. The same services and projects will spread to other villages and towns in upcoming years.

Additionally, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) have visited suburban areas to seek ways to improve rural community livelihoods. Take the Hong Kong based Partnerships for Community Development for example; this NGO plans to launch a campaign around China's Sichuan Province to inform local people about the relationship between their eco-environment and personal health, said Gao Xuesong, a staff member from the organization's Sichuan office.

Both urban and rural residents will be able to manage their communities by 2020, according to Zhan. No detailed information about these plans has yet been released. According to the MCA, China has 10,213 urban communities, each accommodating over 3,000 families, or 12.6 percent of the country's total urban community population. To date no figures about rural communities have been released.

(China.org.cn by Wu Jin, October 14, 2007)