Guangzhou raises awards for city’s heroes

GUANGZHOU—A Guangzhou charity has raised the maximum amount of money it can award to families of people who lose their lives while trying to save others to 300,000 yuan from 50,000 yuan.
The Foundation of Social Heroes in Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province, also upped the highest sum given to those who incur disabilities while performing “heroic deeds” to 150,000 yuan.
Research by the China Foundation of Society’s Heroes found that families of those who die risking their lives to rescue others lack financial support, particularly if the family loses its main bread earner.
Some compensation mounts are relatively low but can go a long way to paying expensive medical bills. Chen Shaoming received 8,000 yuan from the foundation a year after he saved his neighbors from a coal gas explosion in 2006, incurring second degree burns in the process.
Since 1990, 2,600 people have been given the title of “hero” in Guangzhou and received awards from the foundation.
By the end of August, the foundation had raised 57 million yuan from the public, and 105 million yuan through charity activities and government funding. The city government has also exempted the heroes from income tax.
Nationwide, the level of compensation is still low. Beijing’s highest award ran up to 200,000 yuan recently but in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province, legislators have only ruled that the award should be no less than 5,000 yuan. (One U.S. dollar equals to 7.5 yuan)—Xinhua