Abstract
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic has catapulted China into a serious social and political crisis. This article focuses upon how Chinese social policy has responded to the Covid-19 crisis. It reveals that the Chinese welfare state has woven a comprehensive social safety net to mitigate the social suffering of Chinese society in the mid- and post-crisis periods. Different types of social policy programs have been combined and synthesized, including social insurance, social assistance, and social welfare arrangements. Facing the challenges of the new risks caused by the pandemic, the collaboration of the Chinese state and intermediary social welfare organizations has played a crucial role in providing both cash benefits and social services (benefits in kind). For the first time, social policy in China has acted as a major player for coping with the negative outcomes of a pandemic. This article concludes that the pandemic-related crisis has justified an interventionist approach and logic, driven by the state’s welfare system, which favors a model of “big government”. However, this model also requires justification and legitimation.
Highlights
The Covid-19 pandemic represents the most serious public health crisis in China since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), with the fastest spread and the widest infection range, challenging the country’s socioeconomic development and people’s daily life
The central government has played a proactive role by issuing a number of key policies in the field of social security, effectively relieving the anxiety of patients infected with Covid-19 and their families from the financial burden of medical treatment, and fully mobilizing social resources to effectively support the resumption of work and production
As with various historical examples, the crisis derived from the coronavirus has stimulated public expenditures and a model of “big government”
Summary
The Covid-19 pandemic represents the most serious public health crisis in China since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), with the fastest spread and the widest infection range, challenging the country’s socioeconomic development and people’s daily life. Facing these challenges, Chinese governments have established strong command-and-control mechanisms, reminiscent of war times, to respond to this crisis and control the virus [1]. Chinese governments have established strong command-and-control mechanisms, reminiscent of war times, to respond to this crisis and control the virus [1] These measures appear to have worked sufficiently, and the pandemic in China seems to have been brought under control. The central government has played a proactive role by issuing a number of key policies in the field of social security, effectively relieving the anxiety of patients infected with Covid-19 and their families from the financial burden of medical treatment, and fully mobilizing social resources to effectively support the resumption of work and production.
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