Guangxi prioritizes health resources

Projects to be carried out will cover areas such as healthcare and eldercare, healthy food and traditional Chinese medicine, and industries that integrate healthcare and tourism, Han said.

Of the 388 projects, 91 will involve healthcare and eldercare, he said, adding that the regional government will carry out preferential tax policies and provide financial subsidies for investors.

Zeng Fanming, a social welfare official with the civil affairs department of the region, said the government has made significant progress in developing healthcare and eldercare in the past few years. He said that Guangxi had become China's first region to implement pilot plans for reforming eldercare services.

A key measure of the reform is to encourage the development of "migrant eldercare" services in the region, he said.

With a rapidly aging population, China has been focusing on the development of the healthcare and eldercare industries.

More than 90 percent of Chinese will be covered by eldercare insurance by the end of 2020, and more than 95 percent of all Chinese will be covered by basic medical insurance by 2020, according to a national plan released by the central government earlier this month.

The number of people above the age of 60 in China reached 222 million by the end of 2015, accounting for more than 16 percent of the total population. According to a report by the Social Sciences Academic Press in December 2016, the figure will reach its peak over 400 million by the middle of this century.