Chinanews, Beijing, October 18 – According to Dou Yupei, Vice Minister of Civil Affairs, China has released 242.3-billion-yuan worth of charity lotteries, with 80.9 billion yuan of public welfare funds having been collected.Currently, 29.7 billion yuan of such funds have been handed in to the central finance as social security funds, and the rest spent on helping or supporting the homeless, the orphaned, the handicapped or the aged.The issuing of charity lotteries marks a great step forward to building a complete social insurance system in China, Dou pointed out.Most of public welfare funds have been spent in central and western regions, which are less-developed than eastern region. In the future, more money will be put in rural areas, especially on old-age care there.