Peng Huimei, who is paralyzed, went with her husband to a charity shopping market on Monday, but the rice and edible oil they needed were out of stock.

"Staff told us that we would have to wait for almost a month to get rice because of the growing demand among people like us," Peng said.

Indeed, the Yuancun Street Charity Market, which Peng visited on Monday, has experienced shortfalls of rice and edible oil for almost two months, the market's director, Xian Rongwang, said.

Such markets accept government-subsidized charity tickets in exchange for food.

To deal with the situation, local residents are being encouraged to donate money and other necessities to help people who rely on government subsidies to survive.

The call for help came after most of the charity shopping markets in Guangzhou, the capital of South China's Guangdong Province, experienced shortfalls of necessity goods.

"As the lunar Chinese new year approaches, many citizens who receive financial aid from the government have been doing more shopping," said Xian.

On Monday morning, people representing more than 20 households that receive government subsidies did their shopping at the market, he added.

"Because demand for food among this special group of people has been increasing, we have almost run out of goods in the market," Xian said.

The government has given charity tickets to about 100 households with financial difficulties and more than 200 individual people in the Yuancun Street area.

Editor: Yan