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This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here's the news.
China will increase financial aid to elderly citizens whose only child has died or become disabled.
China's National Health and Family Planning Commission says the policy is effective from the beginning of this year.
Parents in urban areas who have lost their only child will be provided with 340 yuan, or 56 U.S. dollars, each month while those families living in rural regions will receive 170 yuan per month.
Parents in urban and rural areas whose only children have become disabled will receive monthly allowances of 270 yuan and 150 yuan, respectively.
Many bereaved families in China have suffered from difficulties in livelihood, elder care and medical services, as well as mental suffering, after losing their only child.
The old-age support problem has surfaced since the 1980s since China's one-child policy began.
It is estimated that the one-child policy has so far prevented around 400 million people from being added to China's population, which stands at 1.34 billion today.
China has relaxed its family planning policy by allowing couples to have two children if one of the parents is an only child.
The eastern province of Zhejiang and a number of other provinces have taken the lead to implement the new law.
