Community services make life easier in Chongqing

Residential communities are the cornerstone of the nation's governance and improved public services available to them have brought greater happiness to residents, said a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on Thursday.

"I met with a couple in their 80s in a residential community in Chongqing who said they felt exhausted doing the housework or buying groceries or cooking due to their old age. The public dining services that have been put in place for the elderly in their residential community has eliminated their worries," said Deng Lin, a CPPCC National Committee member and vice-director of the civil affairs bureau in Chongqing.

She said that almost every residential community in the city offers services for the elderly and those with disabilities, as well as child care.

"I also recently met a woman surnamed Wang with a limb disability and who uses a wheelchair. She said that she had not left her home in 36 years and had locked herself away from the outside world. But now she has the courage to go out thanks to assistance from social workers, and she has also become a volunteer in the community to help other people," Deng said.

"Home is the smallest unit of a country, and a country consists of millions of homes. The nation has put increasing efforts into optimizing the public services in residential communities in recent years, which will bring more benefits to ordinary people in the future," she added.