Unusual step

Wang Zhenyao's upright and outspoken manner may have irritated some, but the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) where he worked for 22 years will surely feel his absence.

Wang, as the head of the Department for the Advancement of Social Welfare and Philanthropic Undertakings under the MCA, played a key role in initiating subsistence guarantees for urban residents, developing the four-level national disaster relief response mechanism, initiating a government allowance program for senior citizens and basic guarantees for orphans, as well as coming up with the idea of "civilian charities."

Wang will now head a non-governmental charity research institute.