BEIJING - Compared with the delegates to the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), more CPC members from frontline production and women have been elected as delegates to the 19th congress. According to a statement by the CPC Central Committee's organization department Saturday, a total of 771 delegates, or 33.7 percent of the total, are from frontline production and manufacturing, an increase of 3.2 percentage points compared with the 18th congress five years ago. Among them, 198 are workers or migrant workers, 86 are farmers and 283 are professional technical personnel, it said. The representation of female CPC members and members from ethnic minority groups are also rising, reaching 24.1 percent and 11.5 percent of the total respectively, the statement said, noting that ethnic minority members come from 43 out of the country's 55 ethnic minority groups. The statement also noted that the election of the delegates was conducted in adherence to strict standards regarding political integrity and clean work styles and that 27 people, including Sun Zhengcai, former Chongqing Party chief, and Mo Jiancheng, a former senior official with the Ministry of Finance, have been disqualified during the process. A total of 2,287 delegates have been elected to attend the congress, to be held in Beijing from Oct. 18. The delegates, who were elected from across the country when local CPC committees held their congresses this year, will need to pass a further check to get final approval to attend the congress. The delegates were elected in accordance with the Party constitution and CPC Central Committee requirements, the statement said. The average age of the delegates is 51.8, about 0.2 year younger compared with the 18th congress, and about 70.6 percent of them are under the age of 55, according to Saturday's statement. The statement said 2009 delegates, or 87.8 percent of the total, joined the CPC after December 1978 and 416 of them joined the Party after January 2000, a fact indicating that the Party spirit is passing on to younger generations. Strict procedures were observed all through the process, from the nomination and candidate selection to the organizational review and election. Grassroots CPC members have shown enthusiasm and fully expressed their will in the election and the delegates elected are outstanding representatives of CPC members from various sectors and social spectra. Various measures were also taken to ensure Party members in remote areas and those engaged in field work participated in the election, the statement said, noting that the average participation rate has reached 99.2 percent. It also stressed that the election was a competitive one, and more than 15 percent of the preliminary nominees had been eliminated during the process. According to convention, some retired CPC members will also attend the 19th CPC National Congress as specially invited delegates, the statement said. event wristbandspersonalized silicone braceletsmake rubber braceletscustom rubber wristbandsmake your own rubber bracelet
Young cancer patients undergo infusions at Beijing Children's Hospital. The number of children with cancer in China had reached 220,000 by 2014. [Ren Fangyan/For China Daily] Imported drugs are no longer subject to tariffs and VAT has been slashed in efforts to make medication more affordable, as Wang Xiaodong reports. The cost of imported cancer drugs is expected to fall dramatically as a result of recent government measures, according to the National Health Commission. On May 1, import tariffs were lifted on 103 of the 138 antineoplastic drugs - which can prevent or slow the growth of tumors - available on the Chinese market, and the value added tax levied on them was also reduced significantly. Authorities will also adopt measures to lower costs, such as price negotiations with manufacturers, greater use of centralized government procurement and the inclusion of a wider range of antineoplastic drugs in the national healthcare insurance program, Zeng Yixin, vice-minister in charge of the commission, told a media briefing last month. The moves are aimed at reducing the heavy financial burden that inadequate medical insurance cover can impose on some cancer patients, especially as the disease is a major cause of poverty in rural areas, the commission said. A report published last month by the Cancer Hospital at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences showed that more than 3.8 million new cases are reported in China every year. Cancer has become the leading threat to people's lives and health because of a number of causes - including the aging population, industrialization and unhealthy lifestyles - and the incidence of the disease is rising, Zeng said. Although new, effective antineoplastic drugs are available, some patented drugs are extremely expensive, and that places a heavy financial burden on patients.
