Aid projects including rebuilding schools and a township hospital, aimed at improving education and medical care for local people, have been finished at Jianshan Township in Xinmi, a poor mountain area in central China's Henan Province. The projects are supported by the Jinan Military Area Command.

Jianshan, located to the northwest of Xinmi, is an old revolutionary base area established by an Anti-Japanese general as well as a key area targeted for poverty alleviation. The township has an average altitude of 1,100 meters above sea level and an annual per capita income of approximately 820 yuan (US$111). The difficulty of receiving an education and getting medical treatment in the area has not been settled due to adverse environmental conditions, weak economic foundations and a sparsely scattered population.

The work group sent in by the Jinan Military Area Command conducted three field surveys and held many discussions with the local government concerning relief projects, which were launched in June 2006. A total of 500,000 yuan (US$67,606) were invested in constructing a new teaching building and canteen, rebuilding schoolhouses and buying teaching equipment within the Jianshan Middle School, elevating the school into a standardized boarding school with more than 500 boarders.

The military area command also invested 210,000 yuan (US$28,394) in improving infrastructure facilities inside the township hospital. Additionally, the command's hospital contributed medical instruments, desks and chairs, worth some 200,000 yuan (US$27,042). The township hospital now has 20 beds, 14 basic examination departments and comparatively complete medical instruments. The villagers may now get timely medical treatment at their local hospital.

(China.org.cn by Yang Xi, December 11, 2007)