I. People's Rights to Subsistence and Development

    In 2004, China's economy developed steadily and relatively rapidly, and people's rights to subsistence and development were improved considerably. China's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 13,650 billion yuan, an increase of 9.5 percent over the previous year. Total grain output in 2004 reached 469.5 billion kg,an increase of 9 percent over the previous year.

    The people's overall living standard and quality of life were improved considerably, and the consumption pattern of the society continued its shift from one of basic living to one of modern living. In 2004, the per-capita net income for rural residents was2,936 yuan, an increase of 6.8 percent in real terms and the biggest increase since 1997. The per-capita disposable income of urban residents was 9,422 yuan, an increase of 7.7 percent in realterms. Retail sales of consumer goods totaled 5,400 billion yuan, an increase of 13.3 percent. The Engel coefficient (i.e., the proportion of food expenditure in the total consumption spending) per rural and urban household was 47.2 and 37.7 percent, respectively. The number of private cars kept increasing, reaching6 million at the year's end, making China a market with the quickest increase in the number of private cars in the world. Overthe past four years, China has witnessed an addition of 90 milliontelephone users annually, and in 2004 some 14.5 million new Internet users were recorded in China. At present, there are more than 650 million telephone users and over 94 million Internet users in China.

¡¡  The state adopts effective measures to increase input into agriculture and spares no pains to increase farmers' incomes and improve their lives. In February 2004, the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council jointly promulgated document No. 1, known as "Opinions on Several Policies to Promote Increase of Farmers' Incomes," which explicitly stated that China must adhere to the strategy of comprehensive development of urban and rural areas and the principle of "giving more, taking less, and being flexible," and that it is a basic task to realize, safeguard and develop farmers' material interests and protect their rights and interests. Within a year, the state formulated a series of policies that were well endorsed by the farmers, directly contributing to the increase of their incomes. At the beginning of2005, the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council againpromulgated, in the form of document No. 1, "Opinions on Several Policies on Further Strengthening Agricultural Work and Enhancing the Comprehensive Agricultural Productive Capability," deciding tofurther intensify efforts in implementing the policies of cancellation of special agricultural product tax, reduction or exemption of agricultural tax, providing direct subsidies to graingrowing farmers, for quality seeds for four grain crops, and for those who buy large or medium-sized agricultural vehicles or equipment (abbreviated as "two reductions and exemptions" and "three subsidies") so as to further guarantee the rights and interests of the farmers. The state greatly increased its input into agriculture, rural construction and other undertakings that would help increase farmers' incomes In 2004, the central government appropriated funds worth 262.6 billion yuan for these purposes, an increase of 22.5 percent over the previous year. Statistics show that 11.6 billion yuan was used as direct subsidies for grain growing farmers in major grain-producing areas;2.8 billion yuan was used as subsidies for quality rice, corn, soybean and wheat seeds; 500 million yuan was allocated as specialsubsidies to appropriately assist farmers who bought large agricultural vehicles or equipment. Meanwhile, greater efforts were made to reduce or exempt agricultural taxes. In 2004, the amount of agricultural taxes that were reduced or exempted came to23.3 billion yuan, and 6.8 billion yuan in special agricultural product tax was canceled. The farmers were relieved of tax burdens,which totaled 30.1 billion yuan. Throughout the country, 150 million farmers no longer pay agricultural tax, the rate of agricultural tax for 540 million farmers was reduced by three percentage points, and the agricultural tax rate was reduced by one percentage point for the rest of the farmers.