IV. Guarantee of the Rights and Interests of Ethnic Minorities, Women, Children, Elderly People and the Disabled

Over the past two years, China has taken further measures to protect the rights and interests of ethnic minorities, women, children, elderly people and the disabled, and achieved the goals set by the Action Plan.

(1) The rights of ethnic minorities

The lawful rights and interests of ethnic minorities are protected in accordance with the law. At present, all 55 ethnic-minority groups in China have representatives in the National People's Congress. Of all the deputies to the 11th NPC, 411 are from ethnic minorities, accounting for 13.76 percent of the total; on the 11th NPC Standing Committee, 25 members are from ethnic minorities, accounting for 15.53 percent of the total. Both figures exceed the proportion of minority population in the total population of China, i.e. 8.49 percent. All the 18 ethnic-minority groups with a population of more than one million have members on the NPC Standing Committee. At the end of 2010, in each of the 155 ethnic autonomous areas, among the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the standing committee of the people's congresses there was one or more citizens of the ethnic group or groups exercising regional autonomy in the area concerned, and the head of any autonomous region, autonomous prefecture or autonomous county (banner) has to be a citizen of the ethnic group exercising regional autonomy in the area concerned, in accordance with the law. There are now over 2.9 million ethnic minority cadres in China.

Education among ethnic minorities is developing rapidly, as 100 percent of the populations of ethnic autonomous areas now has access to nine-year compulsory education. At present, there are 18 universities and colleges for ethnic minorities, with over 200,000 full-time students. There are 83,000 schools of all levels and all types in the minority areas, and the number of students from ethnic minorities studying in schools of all levels and all types across the country amounts to 23.0985 million. More than 300 general institutions of higher learning have organized preparatory classes for ethnic minorities, with the annual enrolment of 30,000 students and accumulative enrolment of over 200,000 students. The state has allocated more than two billion yuan to promote boarding-school education in Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Qinghai. Tibetan secondary schools and Xinjiang senior high classes established outside Tibet and Xinjiang have recruited over 40,000 ethnic minority students.

Ethnic minorities' right to learn, use and develop their own spoken and written languages is guaranteed. A bilingual teaching mode has taken shape, adapting to the language environment and educational conditions of each ethnic group. By the end of 2010 there were more than 10,000 schools carrying out bilingual teaching in the country, with close to five million students attending these schools. Radio programs are broadcast in 14 minority languages, and TV programs in eight minority languages. At the same time, 11 film dubbing centers had been set up in ten provinces and autonomous regions, including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet, using 34 minority languages or dialects. Since 2009 they had finished the dubbing of 466 digital films and the production of 361 digital films dubbed in minority languages. Seven languages of ethnic minorities can be used on computers. With the allocation of 120 million yuan from the state, 36 publishing houses catering to ethnic minorities are publishing books of all kinds in 23 minority languages. Nearly 100 newspapers and 192 periodicals in ethnic minority languages are subsidized by the state.

The cultures of ethnic minorities are protected and promoted. A four-level intangible cultural heritage list and one of inheritors of cultural traditions have been set up to strengthen the protection of minority cultures. In addition, the state has established experimental zones to protect the cultures of the Regong, Qiang, Tujia, Miao and other ethnic groups. By the end of 2010 the government's funding of cultural undertakings of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang totaled 300 million yuan. Over the past two years China has produced a series of influential films and TV programs with ethnic minorities as the subject matter, and organized events including "Intangible Cultural Heritage Show - Special Performances of Traditional Music and Dances of Ethnic Minorities" and "Select Performances of Intangible Cultural Heritage Projects of Ethnic Minorities."

The economy is developing rapidly in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, and their standard of living is rising correspondingly. Over the past two years, the state has appropriated 2.779 billion yuan as a development fund for ethnic minorities. It has allocated 1.184 billion yuan to support the economic and social development of border areas and solve difficulties in people's livelihood in those areas, of which 153 million yuan was invested in Tibet and 240 million yuan in Xinjiang. By the end of 2010 the per capita net annual income of farmers and herdsmen in regions where ethnic minorities with relatively small populations live in compact communities was 2,344 yuan, an increase of 2.6 times over that of 2005. In 2010 Xinjiang and Tibet saw their GDP reach 541.88 billion yuan and 50.75 billion yuan, respectively, 10.6 percent and 12.3 percent higher than in 2009. By the end of 2010 most of the 640 impoverished villages inhabited by ethnic minorities with relatively small populations had access to roads, power supply, telephones, and radio and TV coverage. They also had schools, clinics, safe drinking water for both people and livestock, safe housing, and basic farmland or pastureland for the supply of adequate food and clothing.