ArticleBizTime: Better Living
The annual sessions of the Shanghai People's Congress and People's Political Consultative Conference have ended. And for the first time in the history of the local congress, residents were able to make their voices heard by legislators during the discussions. Bridging the gap was a group of 34 resident representatives. We followed one of them throughout the week and learned that transportation, housing prices and medical care are the major concerns of residents for a better livelihood.
In addition to city legislators and political advisors, this year the two annual sessions saw a group of ordinary residents take on a special role, in offering suggestions and passing on the demands and complaints of the general public. They are called resident representatives. They may not have the same power as official delegates, but their work is no less important.
Li Huilin is one of 34 resident representatives. Unlike the delegates, his role at the annual sessions began four days before the meeting actually started. He made his cell phone number public, so the public could send him all kinds of requests through text messages and calls. . He categorized the comments and gave them to the appropriate delegates, bridging the gap between the people and the government.He says he wasn't surprised to find that while many residents, are proud to be hosting the World Expo, they also see it as a bit of a headache.
Li Huilin, Resident Representative
For instance, new metro lines like line 8 are ALREADY overcrowded. People wonder whether the line will be too packed to ride as the Expo gets closer. They are asking about solutions..
City legislators and political advisers echoed his concerns. . They said they fully understand the complaints, because overcrowding on public transportation is a big concern for governments here and in almost every metropolis in the world. But they also asked the public to be patient. They said the expansion of the Shanghai subway system would not have been as rapid, if the World Expo were not being held in the city. All the public transportation projects are meant to benefit residents. But they do take time. As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day".Take a quick look at the the city's mass transit blueprint. By the time the Expo opens, there will be 11 metro lines operating throughout Shanghai, covering 420 kilometers... and able to carry five and a half million people a day. Five of the lines will take visitors to the Expo venues. Authorities expect 90 percent of Expo visitors will use public transport.But overcrowding on lines 6 and 8 during rush hours is already a major concern. Even the introduction of bus routes linking neighborhoods and stations has had little effect. One city legislator has given the problem a lot of thought. Zhu Ru'an, who works for an association for disabled people in Luwan District, pointed out that during rush hours, the two lines are already handling double their design capacity.. He says that indicates a design flaw, and that similar problems MUST be avoided in the future.
The rapidly expanding metro network can only be effective if it runs smoothly. So I think planners should do more research to ensure newly built lines are equipped with enough trains, and they must guarantee maintenance to avoid breakdowns.
Zhu Ru'an points out the root of the problem. But, one political advisor, Fudan University professor Chen Jian'an, has come up with some solutions too.
I've studied and worked in Japan for years, where they also have densely populated urban areas. They've applied some solutions that I think we could copy...that is, to remove the seats in subway cars or replace them with folding ones. And each train could have a designated car for elderly people, pregnant women and the disabled. I've calculated that each seat occupies about 0.3 square meters of space. If the seat is removed, two or three standing people can occupy the same space. That could significantly increase capacity during rush hours..
Although such alterations may take a while to carry out, the city government is at least speeding up its construction of the new metro lines and expanding the current lines to cover more areas. Meanwhile, Mayor Han Zzheng is calling for residents' understanding. After all, it's the first time that Shanghai has held such a huge event and there will undoubtedly be challenges.
Dai Qian,Reporter
More than a decade ago, Shanghai saw the establishment of its first viaduct. Now, the city is full of highways, tunnels, and subways, linking almost every corner. The City government promises that building transport infrastructure will remain a top priority...as transport is key to life in the city.
Besides transportation, resident representative Li Huilin said sizzling house prices have raised big concerns as without good living conditions, there is no way to talk about "better living". At the two sessions, legislators and political advisors offered various solutions.
Every day during the Shanghai sessions, resident representative, Li Huilin was getting calls from people concerned about house prices. He said perhaps the most vocal group was people in their late 20s and early 30s. They worry they may never be able to buy homes of their own, which means they may lose out on getting married and having families. It's a depressing situation.
One caller was a white collar worker. He earns more than most of his peers. But he's disappointed that it's still not enough to buy a home. His pay is rising much more slowly than housing prices. He wants to get married but he cannot get a decent apartment with the savings he has. He's very frustrated.
That young man is a typical example of the so called filling class...the middle of the sandwich. They are not entitled to apply for budget housing, because they have too much disposable income. But they can't afford the homes they want. And it's a big group. A Shanghai resident's average annual disposable income is around 30 thousand yuan. Even someone who earns three times that amount would have to save for more than 10 years --- without ever spending a single PENNY --- just to buy a 50 square meter flat. And that's at the current average price of 20 thousand yuan per square meter for an apartment near the middle ring road. The deep-seated cultural belief - that you must buy a house before getting married - is weighing heavily on the minds of the young, especially young men. City legislators and political advisors are discussing all sorts of solutions, trying to lift their burden.
Xie Rongxing, Political
Advisor
We started out by renting and the previous generation started that way too.. The popular thinking that you shouldn't rent, only buy,is a mistake. It's only possible when there's enough accumulation of wealth. Property is a big asset, not pocket money.
For many people, that traditional mindset is hard to change. Legislators came up with another proposal, calling on both state-owned and private enterprises to build apartments for their employees. This is popular in South Korea. Giant companies like Samsung and Hyundai have built blocks of apartments for their employees. While the flats aren't overly spacious, the prices are relatively cheap. Some legislators suggest local enterprises that have solid financial foundations could try this.
Recently I heard... Shanghai's railway authority is building more than 3,000 apartments for its employees. By doing so... it makes employees stay... and saves government spending and resources. The government can therefore spend more on other parts of society such as the elderly and children.
Meanwhile, delegates are suggesting the government build simple, small low-rent apartments for young white collar workers. Tenants would have to live with simple toilet facilities, and communal kitchens. But, those eligible to live in these apartments would be a totally different demographic from those who qualify for the budget housing. By building them near business centers instead of in the suburbs, it is hoped they would attract the young working class.
They could be like dormitory style apartments with small rooms of 12, 15 or 18 square meters. Each could accommodate 2 to 4 people making the rent very cheap and ideal for single college graduates.
The government IS taking action. ...Mayor Han Zheng said during group discussions that the government is already selecting locations in commercial centers such as Xujiahui to build such apartments.
These proposals offer some hope for solving the housing dilemma. But as more communities are built on the city's outskirts, many residents are finding it difficult to find the services they need... such as medical care. This again stirred some brainstorming among the delegates.
Zhuo Ya is a legislator from suburban Feng Xian district. She's proposing having better trained medical staff in SUBURBAN hospitals....She says medical FACILITIES have been upgraded to the point that they are about the same as in the big downtown hospitals. But the problem lies in what she calls the software, after her own experience with improper medical treatment.
Usually we prefer to go to nearby district hospitals. Once I was sick and I went to see a doctor at one.. But the prescription didn't work. So I had no choice but to travel a long way to a top hospital downtown. The doctor there said my earlier prescription was wrong and wrote me another. He also said that the disease was quite common, so I only had to take one dose of medicine, and it worked. I recovered in just a couple of days.
Zhuo Ya is not alone. Many political advisors with similar concerns find an obvious problem now is that excellent medical resources are centralized in top-ranking hospitals downtown .
We often see a strange phenomenon where people would rather travel a long way and line up for hours to register, see a doctor for a few minutes and then stand in line for several more hours to pay for the prescription... instead of just visiting the doctor nearest them.
In recent years the city has invested a lot in improving medical facilities in suburban areas. So far, Shanghai has renovated nearly 3,000 community health centers to ensure there is one for every 100 thousand people. There is always a health center within 15 minutes walk. But, political advisor Xu Jianguang , who also heads the municipal health bureau, admits that human resources are still a major problem..
Whether these hospitals can become excellent medical centers depends not on machines, but on the medical staff there. That means training and retaining talent is a top priority.
In order to encourage more medical professionals to work outside the city center, Su Weidong, a legislator from Chongming island, says it's now common for doctors in his district to use traditional Chinese medicine. But he says many don't have modern skills to treat new diseases. So there's a need for young and more capable doctors who are educated in the latest medical technologies.. But he says there is also a need for a new government policy, and more importantly, motivation, so that elite physicians will make their careers in less central areas...
The benefits at suburban hospitals need to be better that those downtown..say, bonuses, promotions, and overseas training opportunities. You should let people see hope in their career path if they choose a smaller hospital over a bigger one. And the government should finance these progams.
Some action is at least underway..The city is moving someallocating medical resources to suburban districts from downtown areas.. Top downtown hospitals such as Renji, Ruijin and Huashan are setting up joint branches with district hospitals, giving them medical equipment and training their staff. By 2012, each suburban district will have at least one top-ranking hospital. If the city can encourage medical school graduates to start their careers in the suburbs, before long, there could be a bank of qualified medical professionals all across Shanghai. And hopefully by then, residents will enjoy identical medical treatment wherever they live. . The week of discussions passed in a flash... and Li Huilin says his mind is now filled with answers to the questions he brought to the meetings. It is only his first year attending the Shanghai People's Congress, and to him, it ended up being well beyond his expectations.
I thought meetings like this would just be boring. But I was proved wrong. Actually legislators have heated discussions and I can feel that they are always ready to hear from the public, and, really eager to find flaws in the current policies and then think of ways to improve them.
As Li Huilin said, we heard heated arguments among legislators and political advisors on the pressing issues at this year's two sessions. And more than 1,000 proposals have been handed in. Some ideas may be sketchy at the moment. But at least, through this brain storming process, the government can form policies to ensure residents get the "better living" they want.