General Secretary Xi Jinping attends a Spring Festival gathering with representatives of non-Communist parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and those without party affiliation, in Beijing on Tuesday. DING LIN / XINHUA Non-Communist parties should step up work on the nation's poverty relief efforts, says general secretary Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has called for multiparty cooperation to better meet the needs of the new era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. Xi, who is also president and the chairman of the Central Military Commission, expressed the hope when he attended a gathering in Beijing on Tuesday and extended Spring Festival greetings to representatives of non-Communist parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and those without party affiliation. Non-Communist parties and their members have conducted in-depth research and made more than 150 policy suggestions in 2017, said Xi. Leaders of the non-Communist parties introduced the latest successful elections of their party leaderships. They also briefed on how they are studying the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Xi said studying and fulfilling the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress is the top political priority of non-Communist parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and those without party affiliation. Multiparty cooperation should focus on research, study, new insights and policy advice on preventing and eliminating major risks, targeted poverty relief and the fight against pollution, Xi said. The non-Communist parties and their members should further advance their supervision of the nation's poverty relief efforts, and help create ideal conditions for a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society, Xi said. He called on non-Communist parties to promote their capability in policy advice. The history and tradition of multiparty cooperation in China will be commemorated this year with an education campaign to renew commitment to multiparty cooperation and take it forward, according to Xi. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the CPC Central Committee's statement of May 1, 1948, which has been viewed as a milestone in multiparty cooperation. Non-Communist parties warmly welcomed the call made by the CPC in the statement for convening a political consultative conference at an early date. Xi said a series of commemorative events would be held to mark the anniversary. custom mantra braceletssilicone wristbands made in canadarubber bracelets cheapwhere can i buy silicone braceletsevent wristbands vancouver
People attend a memorial meeting organized to resemble a gathering of old classmates. [Photo provided to China Daily] A growing number of people are organizing their own funerals, as Cao Chen reports from Shanghai. Despite the Chinese tradition that topics related to death are taboo, Zhu Shanchang has already arranged his funeral service and cemetery allocation. I've ordered multiple services, including burial caskets, urns, flowers and other cremation receptacles and memorial items, by signing a preneed funeral and burial contract with a funeral service company last year, the 82-year-old Shanghai resident said. Zhu made the decision after he caught a bad cold a few years ago, and coughed heavily and constantly for a long time. It took more than two weeks for him to recover properly, despite taking medication regularly. After that, I started to wonder where my body would lie after death, he said. I would not go back to my hometown in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, because no family members are there. Equally, I don't want to trouble my son and daughter-in-law in Shanghai when my time comes. Knowing their father's concern, last year, Zhu's son and daughter-in-law found the preneed funeral and burial service, which is provided by Fu Shou Yuan, a well-known funeral company. I feel at ease after ordering all the personalized services by myself, I deliberately chose a cemetery near my children's home to make it convenient if they want to visit. For Zhu, it's not taboo to manage his funeral and burial service ahead of time, but a part of one's life-planning for the future. Certainly, he is not the only person in China who has accepted this concept of post-death care via a preneed funeral and burial contract. According to statistics supplied by Fu Shou Yuan, more than 1,600 people in China have signed similar contracts with the company since it introduced the service in 2015. Moreover, 1,174 of those contracts were signed after the company completed its pilot program in Hefei, capital of Anhui province, last year. It officially launched the service in 16 locations, including Chongqing and the provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu. More than 500 of those who have signed up are from Shanghai. The service provides elderly people with the opportunity to design every detail of the funeral and burial process themselves, such as the shape or material of urns or styles of clothing, said Zhao Xiaohu, manager of the Shanghai branch of Fu Shou Yuan. It's a combination of tradition and new service experiences. According to Zhao, there is no time limit to the contract. Customers can choose different packages at the price of 6,800, 12,800 or 21,800 yuan ($1,100/$2,000/$3,470), based on their financial situation, he said. No extra money will be charged, regardless of any objective reasons in the future, including inflation and currency devaluation, once the contract has been signed. He Kaili, a Shanghai resident, has just bought the service for her 68-year-old father. Having overseen her mother's funeral a few weeks ago, the 38-year-old decided to sign the contract for her father to ease his burden. It was a tiring process, like mental and physical torture, to manage my mother's funeral and burial, while enduring the pain of losing her, she said. The contract (for her father) is such a relief, especially for an only child like me. It's like insurance for the elderly, the same as other financial products, except one only receives the benefits after death.
