X. Education, Culture, Public Health and Sports

Educational modernization was steadily advanced. By end of 2015, the city had a total number of 691 schools with 793,200 registered students and 57,000 faculties. Modernization of schools was vigorously advanced. For instance, 108 school construction projects were implemented with a total investment of 1.6 billion RMB. In 2014, Changzhou scored 87.4 points in terms of educational modernization, ranking the third place in Jiangsu. Education quality continued to improve. For instance, 77.46% of national college entrance exam takers in the city reached the second-tier college admission line in 2015. The higher technical education admission rate of the city’s vocational school graduates remained the highest in Jiangsu for 16 years in a row. In addition, the city’s vocational schools won 8 first prizes and 3 second prizes in the 2015 National Vocational School Skill Competition and 51 first prizes and 120 second prizes in the 2015 Jiangsu Provincial Vocational School Skill Competition, achieving a high position in Jiangsu. Moreover, students from Changzhou won 335 provincial first prizes and 547 provincial second prizes in five major national competitions (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and information technology). Local schools also made great progress in 2015. For example, 16 senior high schools established 17 provincial curriculum programs. 10 vocational education school groups and 37 compulsory education school groups were set up. And 70% of popular senior high school’s annual student recruitment numbers were allocated through the unified municipal senior high school entrance exam. Plus, 90.2% of migrant worker’s children were admitted to local public schools. Changhzou also took a leading position in vocational education in China. The year 2015 witnessed the city’s successful completion of the “Model School of National Secondary Vocational Education Reform and Development� project. By end of 2015, the city had 45 provincial brand and featured disciplines, and 5 provincial high-level model training bases were completed and became operational.

The local cultural service prospered. By end of 2015, there were 11 arts performance associations, 8 arts&cultural galleries and 24 museums. There were also 4 public libraries, which received 2.172 million persons in 2015. The city also had 7 local radio programs and 7 local TV programs, with subscribers to cable TV programs and digital TV programs hitting 1.176 million and 1.166 million respectively. Furthermore, preservation and inheritance work on history and culture was enhanced in 2015. For example, the preservation and utilization work on the Qingquo Alley Historical and Cultural Block progressed smoothly. And the memorial hall of the famous martyr of Communist Party of China, Yun Daiying, was established and opened to the public. In 2015, the State Council officially designated Changzhou as a famous national historic and cultural city. In addition, several exquisite art works were produced throughout the year. For instance, the original Xi opera drama the Sunset of Qingguo Alley was successfully staged in the second Jiangsu Art Show Month and received the Jiangsu Wenhua Outstanding Drama Award. It was also selected as a key provincial drama to be performed in Beijing next year. Besides, dramas like Love in the Dragon City, Happy Carrot, Great Poetry Emperor and Last Night of Empire also won great recognition. Cultural campaigns to entertain the public were also carried out, with over 10 private museums, over 100 cultural societies and almost 2000 artists and cultural workers participating in them. As a result, millions of citizens enjoyed tangible benefits. Moreover, the cultural industry sustained a rapid growth in 2015. The first-phase Dragon City Creativity Industry Base was selected as a cultural-financial cooperation project by the Culture Ministry. The base also received the title of National E-commerce Demonstration Zone. Meanwhile, the Taihu Lake Art Town, the Oriental Salt Lake Resort and the Baosheng Park were all constructed at a faster pace. In 2014, the value added of the local cultural industry accounted for 5.63% of the GDP.

The local public health service enjoyed a healthy development. By end of 2015, there were 1,196 medical institutions and 24,263 hospital beds across the city. The city’s medical staff totaled 29,600, among which were 12,009 licensed/assistant doctors and 12,531 registered nurses. On average, every one thousand citizens had 2.55 licensed/assistant doctors. Comprehensive medical reforms were also deepened. For example, 11 municipal public hospitals and 7 county-level ones took a coordinated step to implement the comprehensive drug price reforms and abolish the traditional drug-profit-based hospital funding practice. The categorized diagnosis and treatment system was established. And 8 first and second class hospitals teamed up with grass-root level medical institutions to set up 380 hospital beds and 21 featured medical departments. In addition, private capital was attracted to the public health undertakings. For instance, 72 private medical institutions were newly established with 1,200 beds in 2015. Furthermore, the fundamentals of the health care system were consolidated. The participation rate of the new rural cooperative medical system (NCMS) continued to be at 100% with the per capita premium reaching 603 RMB. Meanwhile, the actual reimbursement rate for inpatient treatments climbed to 56.03%. Throughout the year, grass-root level medical institutions were upgraded, 11 of which were newly built, renovated or expanded. In addition, public health services were delivered in a standard manner. The per capita subsidy for basic public health services reached 50 RMB and service types were expanded to 12 categories of 45 items. The city’s infectious disease morbidity rate was also below the provincial average. By end of 2015, 72.2% of the city’s vaccination outpatient services were digitalized and 80.7% of citizens had e-medical records. Premium medical services were improved as well. Key medical facility projects - the new headquarters of the Changzhou Maternal and Child Care Hospital, the Zhonglou District compound of the Changhzhou First People’s Hospital, and the clinical center of the Changzhou Third People’s Hospital, etc. - were advanced. With the readjustment of the city’s administrative districts, 3 new first-aid substations were set up in 2015. Moreover, family-planning services were continuously improved. With the full implementation of the two-child policy, 2,114 local couples filed applications for a second child throughout 2015.

The local sports service boomed. By end of 2015, Changzhou boasted 12,340 playgrounds, among which were 26 stadiums and 29 gymnasiums. New achievements were made in the public sports service system. Both the city and all its districts &county-level cities were selected among the first batch of Jiangsu Municipal Public Sports Service Demonstration Zones. Construction work of sports facilities was advanced in an orderly manner. In 2015, the construction work of one district-level sports center started and 4 township-level sports centers and 32 sports demonstration projects were completed. 637 community fitness lanes were built or upgraded. Besides, free physical fitness tests were provided to 30,000 persons. Efforts were made to improve sports facilities and ensure the availability of fitness facilities within 10-minute walk in townships and rural areas. 5 international sports games were held throughout 2015 ( China Badminton Masters, West Taihu Lake International Half-marathon Race, Tour de Taihu Lake International Road Cycling Race (Wujin section), 7th U21 Female Hockey Asian Championship, 2015 China-Serbia Men’s International Basketball Challenge ). And 26 national sports games (including tournaments of national sports associations) and 14 provincial sports games were also hosted in Changzhou in 2015. Also in 2015, 13 athletes from the city made it to the top 3 in international sports games and 63 made it to the top 3 in national sports games. For instance, in the 2015 World Swimming Championships in Russia, athletes Shi Qianlin and Shen Duo from Changzhou won the gold medal for the women’s 4*100 medley relay together with their teammates. And this made the total number of Changzhou gold medalists to 20. Plus, 47 elementary and high school sports competitions in 20 categories ( track and field, swimming, basketball, volleyball, football, table tennis, badminton, tennis, chess games, shooting, weight lifting, etc. ) were organized in 2015.