After the reunification, with the support and under the coordination of the Red Cross Society of China, with the objective of carrying out the humanitarian mission and inheriting the idea of the Red Cross Movement, Macau Red Cross has over the years mobilized the civil society of Macau, growing from scratch, gradually gaining experience and the ability to develop, year after year, various humanitarian and emergency assistances (disaster relief) to the vulnerable in the natural disasters prone areas and poverty-stricken mountainous regions of the Mainland and engaged in post-disaster reconstruction works, such as the "Construction of Schools in Mainland China", "Fraternity Village" and "Health Village" programs, amongst others. 

As a veteran of the Red Cross Movement, over the past decade, I have the privilege having involved in the organization and participation in the relief works in Mainland China, having frequently and on countless occasions visited many reconstruction projects in the disaster-affected areas. This has allowed me to obtain  an emotional understanding and realization of the complex national situation. For  instance, at the present stage, substantial disparity exists between the rural and urban societies and there exists a development gap between the Eastern and Western parts of China. Thus, from the perspective of human rights, through personal experience, I concluded that, since the mid-80s of last century, the Central Government has started to implement across the country a planned, well-organized, large-scale poverty alleviation program. After 20 years of hard work, remarkable achievements have been made. However, we must bear in mind that China has a vast area, a huge inland, large population and uneven distribution of resources between the coastal area and the inland. At present, there is still a considerable number of poor people that needs to get rid of poverty (poor people are mostly located in the Central and Western regions).

Therefore, in order to eradicate poverty and hunger amongst the agricultural population, how to maintain the right of subsistence and development of these vulnerable groups is still one of the most basic contents of human rights in China. Therefore, "human rights requirements differ according to the condition of the each country". Although, logically speaking, the concept human rights should be universal, we should, however, also consider the particularity of each country, for one cannot a priori simply state, based on the experience of the Western mainstream society, that the concept of human rights, as interpreted by the Western countries, would "fit-all". 

II  A look at the subsistence and development rights in the poverty-stricken areas, from the experience of the "Red Cross Health Village Project".

1. Background on the Project