Over the past five years, Hohhot has made continuous efforts to increase investment in projects such as education, social insurance and medical care services, aiming to make local residents’ lives more colorful and comfortable. This includes the following measures:

Increasing investment in education

During the 13th Five Year Plan period (2016-20), Hohhot plans to build 49 new kindergartens and schools in order to make sure that every child has access to a nearby school. The city will build 23 new schools in 2016, with 22 of those projects already under construction.

In the same year, Hohhot allocated 218 million yuan ($32.5 million) to fund teaching. The quality of teaching in local schools has increased steadily in recent years, with more than 27% of high school students gaining a place at university this year, the highest number for three years.

Meanwhile, Hohhot has focused on aligning vocational training with the region’s industrial strategy, establishing 27 new majors and submitting 3 innovative majors to the Inner Mongolia autonomous region provincial government for approval.

In the annual skills competition for secondary vocational schools in Inner Mongolia, Hohhot has topped the gold medals table for nine consecutive years.

Improving senior care services

As of the end of 2015, there were a total of 462,500 people aged above 60 years old in Hohhot. Faced with an aging population, the city’s government has accelerated its efforts to expand social care services provision for the elderly.

In 2015, the Hohhot government launched a new information service platform to provide elderly residents with information about senior care services in the city and to coordinate service provision among the city’s senior care centers.

Just fewer than 8,000 senior residents have joined the platform so far, as well as more than 200 service providers, including bodies providing medical care, domestic services and consultations to help residents determine to what kind of government support they are entitled.

In addition, the Hohhot government has decided to subsidize further senior care projects provided by social institutions, including in-house care, spiritual solace and domestic services.

As of the end of 2015, Hohhot had 146 senior care institutions, some of which are under construction. There are 13,300 beds provided for old people in social welfare institutes, and urban and rural nursing homes.

Every group enjoys social welfare benefits
As of June 30, the finance department of Hohhot has allocated 256 million yuan to increase minimum guaranteed allowances for 28,000 urban and 89,000 rural citizens who claim the minimum living guarantee, a social security payment for unemployed residents with low household incomes. A total of 6.76 million yuan of subsidies has also been allocated to improve the lives of 696 orphans in the city.

For people aged over 70 years old that do not have insurance coverage, the government allocates 100 yuan to each person per month as a living subsidy.

Moreover, to ensure low-income households in Hohhot enjoy certain living standards, the city’s finance department has allocated 7.51 million yuan to subsidize the heating bills of households entitled to the minimum living guarantee.