Home>News Center>Life
             
     

    children getting bigger but losing out on free bus rides
    (Agencies)
    Updated: 2004-02-17 15:05

    China has given children free bus fares, amusement park admission and other services since 1949 so long as they are below age 7 and under 1.1 meters (3 foot 7 inches)tall.

    But many under 7 are now excluded because, with better nutrition and health care, even the average children getting bigger but losing out on free bus rides age 5-year-old is 1.2 meters (4 feet)tall, the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday.

    Some local governments have raised the height limit. But most haven't, causing a lot of complaints by parents.

    ``My son is just 5 years old, but I am often asked to buy a ticket for him when we take buses,'' one aggrieved mother in Beijing was quoted as saying.

    Today's average 5-year-old is 10 centimeters (four inches) taller than in 1949, according to Xinhua.

    Chinese children are growing at a faster rate because they are eating more these days, almost a quarter of children in Shanghai, China's most prosperous city, are reported to be malnourished because they eat too much junk food and not enough fruits and vegetables.

     
      Today's Top News     Top Life News
     

    Zoellick: US can't close door to Chinese goods

     

       
     

    US, N. Korea bilateral contact lasts one hour

     

       
     

    Capital, Hebei in row over river water use

     

       
     

    Referendum provokes rise in tension

     

       
     

    Import of two Isuzu autos suspended

     

       
     

    Farmers to get direct subsidies from the state

     

       
      From hutong to who's who
       
      China's transsexual eyes Miss World crown
       
      Does Lee Ao's daughter complain too much?
       
      Chinese students' sexual evolution
       
      When literature falls across Internet
       
      Michael Jackson and ex-wife hired retired judge
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
      Feature  
      Chang Hsiao-yen  
    Advertisement