The central government has vowed to get rid of all 'tin-and-timber houses' - common in slums - in three years in an effort to clean up mainland cities.
Vice-minister of Construction Qi Ji told a meeting last week in Liaoning that Beijing would step up efforts to rehabilitate all such houses and relocate their impoverished occupants.
Xinhua said the houses were a product of the planned economy, when government-run firms made production a priority rather than raising the living standards of their employees. Instead of building proper quarters, small dwellings made from tin sheets, canvas and bamboo sticks were built for workers and their families. Groups of the houses turned into slums, especially on the outskirts of cities and around factories.
Slum residents usually had no running water or electricity and their homes were far from hospitals, schools and shops, Xinhua said.
Wang Wenzhang , a miner and a former slum dweller in Fushun , Liaoning, told Xinhua that six members of his family had lived in a 20 square metre tin-and-timber house for more than five decades. The house was dark, wet and could not keep out the wind.
Mr Qi was quoted by China Construction News as saying: 'Reforming the slums is necessary for building a well-off society and is an important step in building the relationship between the central government and the public.'