Shanghai invested a total of 245.9 billion yuan in residential buildings during the 1990s, probably 21 percent of the city's total fixed asset investment, Mao Jialiang in charge of the residence development bureau in Shanghai said during a seminar.

Mass construction of residential buildings has improved dramatically the living condition in Shanghai, which used to be notoriously famous for its very limited housing.

A total of 101 million square meters of residence was completed while dilapidated houses covering 26 million square meters were dismantled during the period.

The number of population that moved into new homes totaled 3.8 million, one-third of the city's population.

The per capital living area, as a result, rose from an average of 6.6 square meters in 1990 to 10.2 square meters in 1999.

A living guarantee system in Shanghai also helped 104,000 households, who are in particularly difficult living conditions, move into new houses.

(People's Daily 11/20/2000)