Chinese women have been more and more involved in the administration of State and social affairs. There are 650 women deputies to the Ninth National People's Congress, accounting for 21.82 per cent of the total, up 0.82 percentage points over the Eighth NPC.

There are 341 female members of the Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, accounting for 15.5 per cent of the total, up 1.54 percentage points over the Eighth National Committee of the CPPCC.

Currently, there are four female State leaders, 18 female ministers and vice-ministers in China. There are women among the provincial-level Party and government officials in all of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and the total number of female provincial-level Party and government officials stands at 43, an increase of 46.47 per cent compared with five years ago.

By the end of 1997, the number of female cadres in government departments, enterprises and institutions had climbed to 13.838 million, making up 34.3 per cent of the total number of cadres in China. The number is 8 per cent higher than the figure of 1995.

The number of female employees in China has increased and the proportion of women employed is larger than before. According to a survey of employment conducted by the International Labour Organization in 26 countries including the United States, Russia and India in 1998, the employment rate of Chinese women reached 56 per cent, raking first on the list.

In 1997, female workers accounted for 46.5 per cent of the total number of employed people, up 1.5 percentage points from 1990. And the total number of female employees has increased by more than 36 million compared with the figure of 1990.

There were 5.13 million women employees in non-public businesses in 1997, more than six times the figure for 1990, and female employees in such businesses accounted for 47 per cent of the total number, compared with 36 per cent in 1990. The overall employment rate of female workers is augmenting in spite of the increasing number of female laid-off workers, a result of the structural readjustment of the industries and the change in the enterprises' operating mechanism.

Women's educational level has been greatly improved. It is estimated that in 1997, the average education received by the female population above 15 years stood at 6.41 years, an increase of nearly one year over 1990. And the increase in education has a more rapid growth than that of the male population.

The illiteracy rate among female adults dropped from 31.93 per cent in 1990 to 23.20 percent in 1997.

The discrepancy between the enrollment rate of boys and girls decreased from the 2.91 percentage points in 1990 to 0.21 percentage points in 1997.

By the end of 1997, there were more than 1.18 million female undergraduate students and more than 50,000 female graduate students, which accounted for 36 per cent and 30 per cent of the total, respectively.

The proportions of female students in primary and middle schools have increased from 41.5 per cent and 44.9 per cent respectively in 1978 to 45.5 per cent and 47.6 per cent respectively in 1997.

By the end of 1998, among the more than 1,000 academicians at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, there were 62 female academicians, or 6 per cent of the total number, higher than that in any other country.

The health of Chinese women has continuously improved. In 1998, there were 3,207 hospitals for women and children, with 42,002 beds.

Health organizations at all levels have gradually built up a health care network for women and children, and a complete series of health services, which include recording the health condition of women in early pregnancy, ante-natal examinations, medical care for pregnant women with critical cases, hospital deli veries and visits after delivery, have been set up to guarantee safe births.

In 1997, 63.5 per cent of all pregnant women delivered children at hospitals, and the mortality rate of pregnant women and women in labor was 63.6 per 100,000, a one - third decrease from the figure of 1990.

The average life expectancy of women has risen from 36.7 years before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to 73.2 years in 1997, 4.5 years longer than that of male Chinese, and eight years longer than the average of female population in the world by the year 2000 predicted by the United Nations.
The rights of children are protected are protected in accordance with the law. In 1997, there were 183, 000 kindergartens in China, with 25.19 million children. The total enrollment rate of kindergarten children is above 40 per cent, and the enrollment rate of school-age children reached 98.9 per cent, up 1.1 percentage points from the figure of 1990.

In 1998, Project Hope helped 251, 800 school dropouts and built 1,855 primary schools, while aiding 53, 907 children form poor families.

During the nine year since it was initiated, Project Hope has received domestic and overseas donations totalling 1.611 billion yuan (US $ 194 million), and has aided over 2 million school dropouts, and helped build 7, 111 primary schools.

To settle the problem of the school enrollment of children among the transient population, the then State Education Commission and the Ministry of Public Security issued Temporary Provisions on Transient Children's Schooling in 1998, and asked the government departments responsible for the management of the transient population to provide more school opportunities to children, and guarantee a certain period of compulsory education.

In 1997, there were 1,440 special schools for handicapped children across the country, nearly doubling the figure of 1990. The school enrollment of blind, deaf and mentally retarded children have increased from 6 per cent to 64.3 per cent. The number of children in special education schools has increased from 31,000 in 1978 to 341,000 in 1997. The number of handicapped children who study at ordinary schools totaled 340,600, almost five times the figure of 1990.

The level of children's health in China has been remarkably improved. At present, there are 4,730 infant - friendly hospitals across the country.

Statistics indicate that by the end of 1997, China had achieved or was going to realize 14 out of the 24 goals for the development of children in the world by the year 2000.

The infant mortality rate and the mortality rate of children under five years old stood at 33.1 and 42.3 per thousand respectively. The infant mortality rate has dropped 40.9 percentage from the 74 per thousand 20 years ago, and the mortality rate of children under five years has also dropped by about one-third.

In 1997, the mortality rate of children suffering from diarrhea was 141.7 per 100,000, down 67.8 per cent from 1991.

Some 3,271 rehabilitation centres have been built across the country, with 4.16 million handicapped people recovering to various degrees within 10 years. Among them, 90,000 deaf children have been able to speak, 600, 000 children suffering from polio have improved their body function through orthopedics.

About 140,000 mentally retarded children have improved their learning ability and ability to take care of themselves through rehabilitation.

The State has funded the building of 91 children's homes in urban areas, which have received more than 20, 000 orphans.

China has eliminated the incidence of polio through a planned immunization program.

The project of putting iodine in salt and providing iodine pills to more than 90 million pregnant women and infants under two years old has reduced the incidence of people being handicapped by iodine-deficiency.