From our archives

Feb 27, 1984

Household help far more common

More than 30,000 people are now working in Beijing as housekeepers, three times more than in 1966. But this is still not enough, because of the increasing number of old and middle-aged people, one-child families, and the families in which both husbands and wives work.

Sixty percent of Beijing's household helpers come from rural areas in southeast China. About half of them are aged 16 to 20, and many have received secondary education.

Almost 30 percent of the employers of the household helpers are ordinary workers, a big change from when only senior cadres and intellectuals employed housekeepers.

Hebei's village schools reformed

Rural communities have set up education committees to take over management of all primary and junior secondary schools from the county education bureau, since local collectives raised funds for the schools, including salaries of teachers, who used to be paid by the state.

Teachers continue to have the status of state employees and to receive the same welfare benefits. It is guaranteed that their earnings will not be reduced.

(China Daily 02/26/2009 page9)