A 'caring' supermarket is now open in the city of Ruzhou, Henan province, where poverty-stricken workers can buy daily necessities with special subsidized 'caring' cards.

During the launching ceremony, officials from the general union of Ruzhou issued caring cards to 10 poverty-stricken worker representatives.

Jia Yazhou, a laid-off worker of a Ruzhou hospitality services company, has been diagnosed with cirrhosis for years and has spent all his savings on medical treatment. The medicine and his daughter's university tuition have made life even harder. Once his story was known, the general union issued caring cards to him monthly to provide instant help.

The general union soon realized that for poverty-stricken workers like Jia, one-off assistance is far from enough. After surveys and discussions, the union decided to set up a caring supermarket in a bid to provide consistent support to poverty-stricken workers.

The first 50 names on the support list will get caring cards with 100 yuan ($16.34) monthly - 90 yuan funded by the general union and 10 yuan funded by the caring supermarket. In addition, they will be guaranteed special discounts on goods.

By Huang Pei

Edited by Michael Thai