Residents of Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, have benefited from local community services but expect more help from them in future.
They expect the most when it comes to medical and health care and sanitation services, according to a survey conducted recently by Guangzhou Statistics Bureau.
The survey involved interviews with 5,000 adults over their satisfaction with community service centers.
It indicated that leisure activities for the elderly, career counseling and training, housekeeping services and financial aid topped the list of the services they wanted most.
According to the survey, Guangzhou's community service program has become increasingly popular with local residents.
About four-fifths of residents interviewed have approached nearby community centers and two-thirds are satisfied with their services. Both figures are up on responses in 1999.
The survey findings suggest more than two-thirds (67.8 percent) of residents go to community service centers to obtain certificates of various kinds and a quarter do so to register for unemployment and social insurance.
Other people approach the centers to lodge complaints, to look for new jobs, to seek housekeeping services or over the management of rented apartments. And they consider the community service program efficient.
But Ni Jing and Zheng Jijun, analysts with Guangzhou Statistics Bureau, said the city's community service system still needs improvement given the new demand for services.
About 46.5 percent of families with disabled members receive no outside help and 48.9 percent find it difficult to manage alone.
(China Daily April 21, 2003)
