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Tibet Will Further Improve the Lives of Its People

Tibet Autonomous Region plans to allocate more funds to further improve infrastructure and peoples livelihoods in border areas in 2019， according to the annual work report of the Tibet regional government.

Last year， 2，534 kilometers of roads were built in the border areas of Tibet， providing links to Myanmar and India. Efforts have been made to connect border areas that lack electricity supply to the power grid and to ensure villages and key thoroughfares in those areas are covered by telecommunications networks.

Tibet will also raise annual subsidies for people living in border areas to between RMB 4，500 （US $665） and RMB 4，700 this year depending on the distance they live from neighboring countries. This is the third consecutive year that the regional government hiked subsidies.

This year， the regional government also plans to renovate 18，900 homes， and some 20，000 new apartments will be built as public housing to improve the quality of life. Some 7，300 households of 10，800 financially underprivileged individuals will receive government rental subsidies in 2019. In rural areas， sewage and waste disposal projects will be prioritized this year in order to improve the lives of locals.

Population to Peak in a Decade

Recently the Institute of Population and Labor Economics and Social Sciences Academic Press， both under the umbrella of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences， released a green paper on the Chinese population. It predicts that the Chinese population will peak at 1.442 billion in 2029， and start to decline thereafter， falling to 1.364 billion by 2050 and on to 1.248 billion by 2065. If Chinas total fertility rate（TFR） is to stay at 1.6， the population decline will start around 2027， and the number of Chinese people will dwindle to 1.172 billion by 2065， the level of 1990.

The relaxation in Chinas birth policy over recent years is beginning to show effects to some degree. In 2017， 51.2 percent of newborns， numbering 8.83 million， were the second child of their parents， increasing by 11 percent and 1.62 million respectively over 2016.

According to the estimate of the World Bank， Chinas TFR stayed below 1.6 between 1996 and 2012. It edged up to 1.62 in 2016. The green paper believes that if this trend continues， Chinas birth rate will stay at a safe level.

Building Zero-Waste Cities

The State Council has published an ambitious “zero-waste city” pilot plan that aims to minimize solid waste generation and maximize recycling in urban areas. After the 10-city pilot program ends in 2021， its results will be used to guide expansion of the initiative.

The pilot plan aims for the minimum generation， maximum utilization， and safe disposal of solid waste. Use of landfills will be minimized to reduce the environmental impact of waste.

The initiative will establish an index system for “no-waste cities” and an institutional and technical system for the management of such cities by 2020. By that time， its estimated that the pilot cities will have made marked progress， with almost zero growth of industrial waste storage and full use of agricultural waste.

With a decrease in waste generation and an increase in its utilization， hazardous waste will be well controlled in pilot cities and no more waste will be dumped illegally. There will also be a group of supporting waste recycling enterprises established by 2020， according to the plan.

More and Better Rural Teachers

China has made significant progress in building up its ranks of teachers in rural areas， according to a report by the research institute on rural education at the Northeast Normal University. Its study was based on statistics from 19 provinces and national data.

The report showed that 95.26 percent of primary school teachers had junior college degrees or above nationwide in 2017， while that for rural areas stood at 93.8 percent； 84.63 percent of junior high school teachers nationwide had a bachelors degree or above in 2017， while that for rural areas was 81.1 percent. The figures showed a narrowing gap between urban and rural areas.

Subsidies specifically for rural teachers covered all of Chinas poverty-stricken areas for the first time ever in 2017， according to the report.

The report showed that in 2017， a total of 77，000 teachers were recruited from among graduates under a national program which was designed to recruit teachers for rural schools in the countrys impoverished areas. The report also featured a survey which showed that 83.46 percent of rural teachers were willing to continue teaching at rural schools.