Beijing Morning Post
December 27, 2007

Sixty-four-year-old Li Wencai beams on the cover of today's Beijing Morning Post. Li and thirty-four other families received the keys (real ones, not just the oversized memento in the photo) to their low-rent apartments in Fengtai District yesterday. Li first made the papers after last week's contract-signing ceremony, where he broke down in tears at the realization that he would finally be moving into his own home after decades living with his in-laws.

The top headline reads "Annual health subsidy raised to 80 yuan." The adjustment to the subsidy, intended to assist rural residents with health care costs, doubles the current 40 yuan per year that the central government provides in cooperation with local government agencies.

According to plan, all citizens should be covered by 2010. The government will also gradually ease hospitals' reliance on drug sales for their income by reducing drug prices and increasing the price of other medical services.

Other headlines:

• 9365 old homes in Beijing will be renovated. These homes are located the downtown Beijing districts of Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chongwen, and Xuanwu;
• Some Shanghai residents who wish to obtain a home loan must sign a document guaranteeing that they are unmarried. Foreign banks have previously made this a requirement because they cannot easily tap into the central bank's credit system to determine whether an applicant's spouse is already carrying a loan. This report reveals that a state-owned bank has taken up the practice (link);
• The All China Federation of Trade Unions is paying close attention to Carrefour's new employment contract. The retailer is asking 40,000 employees, regardless of length of service, to sign a new two-year contract. Carrefour says that it is bringing its contracts in line with the new Labor Law that goes into effect in 2008; critics suspect the same sort of dirty dealing that Huawei was accused of earlier this year.