BEIJING - A total of 318,000 disabled people were newly employed in cities and townships around China in 2011, according to a statement issued by the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF) on Friday.

It showed that 21,000 disabled people work in non-profit organizations and 125,000 in private firms or are employed in flexible ways. The number of professional training bases reached 5,254 last year.

In 2011, more than 4.4 million disabled people in cities and towns were employed and more than 17.4 million in rural areas. Some 13.7 million people with disabilities were engaged in agriculture, the statement said.

According to the CDPF, China had 14,067 blind masseurs and 3,736 blind medical workers trained by disabled person's federations in 2011, with 12,170 blind massage care institutions and 1,031 blind medical massage institutions.