Debra Denzer, Director of Center for International Education, is pictured above at the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang.
Debra wrote, “Sunday morning we were on our way to visit the Longmen Grottoes but on the way we were traveling through Luoyang and getting a short lecture from our guide, Donny who talked to us about the three being challenges facing the Chinese people today: Health care, education, and real estate.
Health care is very expensive and people in the city may be able to afford insurance but people in the village are often too poor to afford medical care for illnesses and diseases. As an attempt to help resolve this problem currently there is a system of “family public account” into which family members can make deposits to cover the medical costs of someone in the family when they become ill.
Education is a challenge. Education is not free but is mandated. 9 years of school. Punishment for truancy doesn’t help if they can’t afford it. Furthermore not every village has a school and children may have to travel as much as 2-3 hours. Currently China tries to fix this problem by offering free education in the villages and by developing “boarding schools” where students can live and go to school, the cost of which is covered by a combination of family/government/school.
Real estate is the third problem. House prices are very expensive. People sometimes work 20-30 years to pay for their home. Even then the land still belongs to the government. In village and countryside, people are assigned by government to particular land for an agreement of 100-150 years.
So it seems that people in China face the same difficulties that Americans do—concern over healthcare access and cost, education access, and home ownership.”
Debra wrote, “Sunday morning we were on our way to visit the Longmen Grottoes but on the way we were traveling through Luoyang and getting a short lecture from our guide, Donny who talked to us about the three being challenges facing the Chinese people today: Health care, education, and real estate.
Health care is very expensive and people in the city may be able to afford insurance but people in the village are often too poor to afford medical care for illnesses and diseases. As an attempt to help resolve this problem currently there is a system of “family public account” into which family members can make deposits to cover the medical costs of someone in the family when they become ill.
Education is a challenge. Education is not free but is mandated. 9 years of school. Punishment for truancy doesn’t help if they can’t afford it. Furthermore not every village has a school and children may have to travel as much as 2-3 hours. Currently China tries to fix this problem by offering free education in the villages and by developing “boarding schools” where students can live and go to school, the cost of which is covered by a combination of family/government/school.
Real estate is the third problem. House prices are very expensive. People sometimes work 20-30 years to pay for their home. Even then the land still belongs to the government. In village and countryside, people are assigned by government to particular land for an agreement of 100-150 years.
So it seems that people in China face the same difficulties that Americans do—concern over healthcare access and cost, education access, and home ownership.”
