CHINA / National

Glass of milk a day, makes Premier happy
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-04-26 09:06

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said that he wished every Chinese person could afford to drink "1 jin," or 500 grams of milk every day, China News Service reported yesterday. Wen disclosed his dream as he inspected a cow farm on Sunday in Chongqing Municipality, as part of his four-day tour of the southwestern city.

Starting last Friday, Wen visited Chang'an Auto Group's research institute, a local telecom company, Chongqing Jiaotong University, some local residential areas and a construction company.

While at the farm, which raises 1,200 milch cows, Wen said, "I have a dream, a dream to provide every Chinese person, especially our children, '1 jin' of nourishing milk a day." He encouraged the farm owner to help him realize his dream.

During his visit to a few local villages, Wen said that the establishment of socialist rural areas should focus on the development of rural economics, especially on farming incomes.

Wen was quite happy to hear while visiting a community hospital, after talking with one of its doctors, that the medical services provided by them cost less than those of larger hospitals. He also said that the government should offer preferential policies to community hospitals and provide their medical staff better pay and more fitting training programs.

At the dormitory of a local construction company, Wen was given a safety helmet with 20 migrant workers signatures, and "people's premier" written on it.

Wen stated that the "migrant worker" is one of the issues of most concern to him. Even though the State Council has published 40 new policies designed to improve migrant workers' situations, there is a long way to go before the problem is fixed, he said.