Dalian's Extraordinary Decade: Pursuing Perfectism for A Stronger Sense of Gain of People

As time passes, Dalian's great efforts begin to pay off with tremendous changes in people's life. In the past ten years, the Dalian Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have always kept in mind the earnest instructions of General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping. Departments at all levels attach great importance to the difficulties and urgent needs of people, focus on employment, social assistance, medical services, education, and other aspects of people's lives, and spare no effort to improve the level of public services and people's livelihood. The government helps achieve people's dreams and aspirations for a brighter future and depicts a colorful and reliable picture of a better livelihood so that they can have a stronger sense of gain and live happier and safer lives.

During graduation season in June 2022, Zhang Kai, a graduate majoring in measurement and control technology and instrumentation at the School of Optoelectronic Engineering and Instrumentation Science of the Dalian University of Technology returned to his hometown, a village under Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province after exchanging farewells with classmates. The first thing he did upon returning was to share with his parents his happiness at finding a job in Dalian. Zhang had planned to take postgraduate entrance examinations and so hadn't prepared for job-seeking in March, the best period for graduates to find a job. However, he decided to give up the examinations later in April on account of an unforeseen matter related to his family. After the busy mid-May days for graduation design, he was worried about his future as the graduation season approached and he still had no job.

On May 22, his life took a favorable turn. The Ten Thousand-Post Program, an innovative measure taken by Dalian to promote employment among university graduates, sent him information related to various vacancies. The employment information from Wafangdian Bearing Group Co., Ltd., a time-honored state-owned enterprise in Dalian attracted his attention because his skill set happened to match the job requirements perfectly. Zhang ended up signing an employment agreement with the enterprise on May 28 after a series of interviews and negotiations. After spending four years studying and living here, Zhang came to love Dalian. His parents and he are delighted knowing he can work in Dalian after graduation.

According to statistics, urban employment in Dalian has expanded over the past decade. The average annual increase of newly employed persons in urban areas exceeds 100,000. In particular, the number of university graduates has increased steadily, and employment has remained stable. The rate of graduates choosing to stay in Dalian has remained above 40 percent in the last three years. Zhang's smooth experience getting a job reflects the fact that the Dalian Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government attach great importance to employment and also take practical measures to provide support.

Jinxia community in Lijia Street of Dalian cares for the person with a disability.

Dalian ensures a stable livelihood for people by facilitating employment. Moreover, it keeps improving livelihood security to further ensure that people can live a happy life. In the past ten years, more than CNY 5.2 billion has been utilized to improve basic livelihood security standards year by year. The efficiency of standards related to subsistence allowances and extremely impoverished groups leads Northeast China, with an average annual growth rate of 5.88 percent in urban subsistence allowances and 10.16 percent in rural subsistence allowances. Moreover, assistance and support standards for extremely impoverished groups as well as the temporary assistance standards have also improved. The increasing typifies the Dalian Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government's earnest response to people's demands and expectations.

The past decade has also witnessed great progress in the healthcare sector in Dalian, where residents have better access to healthcare services. The city has thoroughly implemented the crucial thoughts of General Secretary Xi Jinping on hygiene and healthcare and put people and their lives first. Dalian strives to achieve the goal of keeping people healthy, providing them with access to medical resources, and ensuring easy access to necessary treatments. It shifts its focus from merely providing medical resources to helping people stay healthy. It seeks to resolve ensuing difficulties in the search for medical treatment and helps reduce the high cost of healthcare. The hygiene and health service system has been improved and teams of talent in the healthcare sector have also been optimized and expanded, helping raise residents' major health indicators.

Dalian never stops its educational reform and it concentrates on promoting educational equality. All primary and middle school students are enrolled in nearby schools based on school districts. Migrant children who come with their parents and left-behind children who stay in rural areas are given the same access to education as students in urban areas. The number of dropouts is to be reduced to zero. Children of school age, if with disabilities, can attend schools like everyone else. Moreover, students with special educational needs can go to special education schools for free, which also provide door-to-door teaching in Dalian. Moreover, the gross enrollment rate of high schools has increased from 98 percent to 100 percent and 35 ordinary high schools have been selected as provincial demonstration high schools. In the past ten years, education expenditures in Dalian have reached CNY 105.36 billion.