The funds for legal aid in China surged by 32.8 percent to 1 billion yuan (152 million U.S. dollars) in 2010, according to the Ministry of Justice.

The central government and provincial governments have stepped up the support for legal aid in poverty-stricken areas last year, an official from the ministry said.

The central government allocated 100 million yuan last year to help with legal aid in localities, up from the 60 million yuan in the previous year, while another 50 million yuan have been raised via lotteries.

Currently, there are 3,374 legal aid organizations in China. Nearly 200,000 lawyers, 80,000 grassroots law workers as well as tens of thousands of volunteers have taken part in legal aid.

More than 700,000 cases were handled with legal aid last year, statistics from the ministry show.