Ensuring that veterans are not forgotten
AS China prepares to mark 70th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression tomorrow, a Shanghai woman has told how she visits and helps veterans in rural areas.
Du Qing, 50, has been doing what her neighbors call “an alternative volunteer job” for five years.
“My neighbors think I’m insane making this effort, but I love veterans and want to try my best to help them,” Du, who has just retired from working as a real estate manager, told Shanghai Daily.
Registered war veterans who have limited means are entitled to monthly government subsidies.
Veterans of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) covered by the program, include some 50,000 who fought for the Communist Party of China and about 6,000 Kuomintang forces.
They receive at least 7,000 yuan (US$1,100) a year, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
But while government guidelines ask local authorities to ensure veterans have decent living standards, where veterans are not in the program or still face hardship, volunteers step in.
This can involve giving cash and gifts and helping register veterans who have slipped through the subsidy program.
Of her many trips to rural backwaters in recent years, Du recalled a trip to Weishan County in eastern China’s Shangdong Province in July last year.
There she met Yin Yanwei, a veteran in his 90s to whom Du, her daughter and nine other volunteers had each donated 50 yuan a month for two years.
“We helped him renovate his mud and brick house and he treated us to chicken and duck which he said was reserved for guests on the most special occasions,” Du said.
Du said these veterans who shed their blood for the country often need care and attention more than money.
She recalled visiting Huang Bolin, a disabled 56-year-old former serviceman who stays at No.1 Rongjun Hospital in Guangdong Province, in April last year.
“I tried to give him 500 yuan but he wouldn’t take it, so I cooked some Shanghai dishes for him,” Du said.
“I’d never seen somebody with such a happy smile on his face.”
Du, three members of whose family served in the army and whose uncle was a war reporter, said she will continue with her work.
But she stressed that the key player must remain the government.
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