Chinese Social Policy Research Articles

Online Compulsive Buying and Psychological Distress : A Person-Centered Approach and Reflections on Chinese Social Policy

Online Compulsive Buying and Psychological Distress : A Person-Centered Approach and Reflections on Chinese Social Policy

An unsupervised policy relevance scoring method: Taking Chinese social security policies as the application case

AbstractOrganizing and managing policy documents (PDs) issued to the public in a good way can improve the efficiency of government employees and make it easier for the public to find the needed policy information. However, existing PDs are organized only by dates and manually defined categories; besides, PDs issued by different government branches are isolated from each other. These problems make it challenging and time‐consuming for the public to find the needed policy information. We argue that implicit links should be established between PDs based on their relevance, thus helping the public find the needed policy information efficiently. To this end, we propose an unsupervised relevance scoring method for PDs consist six modules, taking Chinese social security policies as the application case. The method combines the TextRank algorithm, TF‐IDF representation, mutual information and left–right information entropy algorithm, and BERT. The method can decrease the interference of noisy words in PDs to relevance scoring. In addition, the method can consider multiple features of PDs simultaneously so that the measure of relevance can be more comprehensive. The method is not driven by domain‐specific labelled data, hence can be easily generalized to PDs in various domains. We construct a dataset containing 5000 Chinese social security policies and then conduct experiments on it to evaluate our method. Experimental results show that our method is feasible and can bring convenience to government agencies and the public to a certain extent. Furthermore, our method achieves more than a 3% improvement in evaluation results on test tasks than the methods with a similar purpose in the legal AI community.

Central coordination, regional competition, and local protectionism: Social decentralisation in China's long‐term care reform

AbstractChanging central‐local relations shape social policymaking and implementation in China. We develop a social decentralisation perspective to explore various inter‐governmental dimensions in the formulation and implementation of social policy, based on experimentation in the provision of long‐term care insurance starting in 2016. As localities devised new programmes, they initiated innovations in the context of central‐local relations with Chinese characteristics. Three areas are duly examined: central coordination, regional competition, and regional protectionism. Intending to develop a national programme but reluctant to provide support through tax revenues, central government coordination reflects in both the central government's selection of cities across regions and allowing room for local diversity—some with deliberate experimental purposes—a feature which generated regional competition between pilot cities. Furthermore, as additional contributions for pilot programmes in some cities are waived, this process entails resource extraction from existing funding surpluses, unleashing local protectionism contrary to central government interests. Our analysis finds that the central government faces a dilemma: either meeting new social needs at the cost of increased regional inequality or balancing social policy developments across regions by enacting necessary programmatic reforms that sap central resources and weaken the central government's coordination capacity. These dynamics of social decentralisation will shape the future development and impact of Chinese social policy.

Social policy reform driven by crises: Promoting and reshaping social policy during the SARS and COVID-19 pandemics in China.

This article focuses on one particular and under‐investigated dimension in the study of social policy – crisis events and their special function in promoting and shaping social protection programs. Crises are usually regarded as negative social events that tempestuously challenge the pre‐existing socio‐economic order, triggering social conflicts and disruption, either temporarily or in a more enduring fashion. However, social crises may also foster new opportunities for social investment, public finance expansion and welfare state building after the outbreak of a crisis and even during the post‐crisis period. This article first examines the SARS pandemic and analyzes its developmental trajectory, reconstructing the national debates and discourses on the negative consequences and lessons learned in the SARS and post‐SARS period. I argue that this crisis event revealed many loopholes in the Chinese public health system, constituting a powerful driving force for rebuilding the medical insurance system and health governance in China, and strengthening public discourse on welfare state responsibility. Second, I explore how, during the COVID‐19 pandemic, scholars and experts have constructed the ‘short board’ of Chinese social policy, calling for further social policy reforms to narrow the gaps in health protection resources among social classes and to eliminate the fragmentation of health resource distribution.

Want a Horse to Run but not Eat? Conflict Objectives and Policy Dilemmas in China’s Medical Reform

Medical reform is not only closely related to the interests of the public, but it also reflects the interdependence of government, the market, and society. Within a country’s medical reform coexists the “big objective” of the government and the “small objective” of the governance object. Their interactions will affect the policy stream and the policy window. If the “big objective” is compatible with the “small objective”, then the “real policy window” will open. If the two are in conflict, they will grind together, enlarging the discretion of the governance object. The result will be the opening of an “illusory policy window” that will slow the policy reform or even hinder it. The multiple reforms of the Chinese medical industry are the result of the four competitive governance logics coexisting in public hospital governance. The first two-the country’s logic (public welfare dominant) and bureaucratic logic (executive order-led) -have shaped the “big objective” of public welfare. Enterprise logic (market-oriented) and the logic of professional organizations (led by experts) have shaped the “small objective” of effective operation. The conflict and balance between “big objective” and “small objective” have seriously affected the process of Chinese social policy reform.

Review of Jennifer Pan, Welfare for Autocrats: How Social Assistance in China Cares for its Rulers, Oxford University Press, 2020

In this important book, Jennifer Pan examines the Chinese social assistance (safety net) scheme (known as dibao) arguing that China has ‘reshaped its major social assistance program … turning an effort to alleviate poverty into a tool of surveillance and repression’. Her basic argument is that this ‘distortion’ of the original objective of the scheme arises from the Chinese government’s preoccupation with ‘quelling dissent in the name of political order, or stability’. Pan draws on a range of different approaches and uses some innovative methods in this study. It is an important book not only for those interested in Chinese social policy and/or public security but for anybody interested in how the Chinese state works and how policies flow down to the lowest level of governance. However, the author overstates her case and the evidence she presents – while very interesting in itself – does not uphold the sweeping claims advanced in the book.

Planejamento, inovação e consumo construindo a “Sociedade Harmoniosa” chinesa

Este trabalho busca trazer um panorama das políticas econômico-sociais chinesas responsáveis pelo aumento universal e contínuo de satisfação de seus cidadãos a partir de 2.000 e as movimentações no interior das dinâmicas de acumulação que as orientaram.

Social Policy Responses to the Covid-19 Crisis in China in 2020.

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.

The "Silent Reserves" of the Patriarchal Chinese Welfare System: Women as "Hidden" Contributors to Chinese Social Policy.

Scholars of social inequality in China have commonly concentrated on strata-related social welfare systems that divide the population into urban and rural dwellers, and additionally, into different welfare classes such as civil servants, employees, and migrant workers. Following Esping-Andersen, Siaroff, Sainsbury, and others, this paper brings the perspective of “gendering welfare” into the study of Chinese social policy. Focusing upon two major social policy branches in China—the old age pension insurance system and care services within the household—it discusses the role of Chinese women in these two fields. Through a gender-sensitive analysis, this paper elaborates the social phenomenon of “silent reserves” (namely, women) within the Chinese welfare regime. While women assume a crucial role in intrafamily care services, constituting the chief contributors of long-term care and childcare, their care contributions at home are not recognized as “social achievements” and are not monetarily compensated by the patriarchal Chinese welfare state. In addition, this paper argues that women are systematically disadvantaged by pension insurance arrangements. Furthermore, the individualization of care services in the intrafamily context weakens the pension entitlements of women, since their unpaid care constrains their ability to maintain full-time jobs in the labor market.

Exploring Factors for Achieving Successful Educational Attainment among Chinese Doctoral Students in the United States

This study aims to understand the pathways of successful educational attainment (SEA) among Chinese students who are pursuing doctorate degrees in the United States. An exploratory qualitative approach was used to identify the factors of SEA. Based on the in-depth interviews of nine participants, we found common factors of SEA at the micro level include individuals’ personalities, visions/dreams of achieving SEA, and interest about study/research; mezzo level factors include important peoples’ help, satisfaction with teachers, previous education experiences in China, and home environment; whereas at the macro level, not many participants mentioned that their SEA was due to Chinese social policy. Overall, most participants mentioned that being lucky was an important factor of SEA.

Reform and Stability – The Russian and the Chinese Welfare Systems Compared

Systematic theoretical work on Russian and Chinese social policy seems to be lacking. While previous research establishes how democratic systems produce welfare, it is unclear what kind of welfare such transitional systems provide. Our analysis adheres to structuration based theoretical explanations, taking into account both agency and structure as factors needed to explain these regimes’ welfare policy. Hybrid regimes are eager to adopt global liberally oriented welfare policies, which tend to ignore popular demands. Western analysis of Russian and Chinese social policy emphasizes the dualistic influence of liberal versus statist social policy. This dualistic conceptualization fails to take into account the contradictions between ideological frames and hybrid regimes’ vulnerability to popular pressures. Widespread corruption undermines formal procedures and underlies growth of informal practices. Both Russia and China have considerable welfare achievements and vast problems. In conditions of economic growth, both have experienced huge increases in inequality and individualization of risk.

Reinterpreting the Connotation of “Sustainability” and the Expansion of Social Policy in China

This article examines the interplay between welfare ideas and institutional development and then seeks to explore the ideational background for social policy expansion in China. It focuses on the welfare semantics and narratives that underpin the grand social policy transformation since the millennium. The primary research question concerns whether the approach of “sustainability” is related to social policy in China, and, if yes, how and to what extent. Through the analysis of academic literatures and government documents on social policy in China, we explore the new “sustainability approach” to Chinese social policy that is constructed by social experts and international agencies. While the old sustainability approach overwhelmingly links the “sustainable development” of social policy to the issue of financial affordability and the adequacy of benefit levels, the newly interpreted approach highlights the significant meaning of social policy for long-term and inclusive development over the upcoming decades. Against this backdrop, a holistic national plan for socio-economic modernization has incorporated social policy. Beyond economic and ecological objectives, social development with a focus on social policy has become a key pillar of sustainable development in China.

Ageing and intergenerational care in rural China: a qualitative study of policy development

ABSTRACTThe large-scale migration of younger workers from rural to urban China since the 1990s has separated many adult children from their ageing parents, thereby challenging traditional patterns of familial support in rural villages. Existing studies on ageing in rural China examining the familial support system show that families remain the main focus of support despite geographical separation. Less work has been done to capture the effects of recent changes in Chinese social policies for rural villages, including state pension provision and medical care, and the interaction between the familial support system and other sectors. Drawing on data from an ethnographic study of a rural village, this article adopts a ‘bottom-up’ approach to examine the implications of Chinese policy development for the provision of different types of old-age support. The findings suggest that current welfare provision in rural China is deeply embedded in a familial ideology with market, state and community sectors, indirectly or directly, relying on the family sector. Rather than being located in a dichotomised debate between familialisation and defamilialisation, this article reveals that villagers’ preferences are situated along a spectrum between familialisation and defamilialisation, shaped by local socio-cultural economic circumstances and different types of old-age support.

Intangible welfare? The new economy and social policy in China

ABSTRACTThis article explores the problems and challenges of the new economy for Chinese social policy. The rapid extension of a digital economy, an economy of artificial intelligence and e-shopping, may alter the configuration and basic functional pattern of social protection in China. Since the labour forces of various sectors are replaceable in the course of automation, traditional taxpayers and contributors to social insurance branches will decline in some highly automated sectors, causing sector-related dismissal and depleting the financial resources for social insurance in China. The phenomena of e-employment and e-commerce escape regulation by national tax and welfare regimes, leading to more employees being excluded from tangible social insurance benefits. Further, state revenues will keep decreasing in an epoch of thriving e-business since the tax evasion of e-employments is widely spread. Essentially, the legitimate basis of state-organized social policy will be shaken by the tide of the new economy. Against such backdrop, this article raises the new concept of ‘intangible welfare’, characterized by a high degree of fluidity and variability of investments, employment relationships, taxpayers and social insurance contributors. New forms of economy require new types of state regulation.

A Punctuated Equilibrium Framework for Long-term Nonlinear Policy Change: Taking Chinese Social Assistant Policy for Vagrants (1949-2014) as a Case

A Punctuated Equilibrium Framework for Long-term Nonlinear Policy Change: Taking Chinese Social Assistant Policy for Vagrants (1949-2014) as a Case

The Productivist Construction of Selective Welfare Pragmatism in China

AbstractThis article discusses whether Mainland China under the Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao leadership (2003–13) has developed a new welfare settlement, the emphasis of which is to shift away from a ‘productivist’ focus on education and healthcare investment towards a more ‘protective’ approach, characterized by investing into social protection and establishing a minimum living guarantee for both the urban and rural poor. In so doing, this article reviews the conceptual debate on Chinese social policy development and explores whether there is any evidence to substantiate a gradual decrease of fragmentation in social provision among the Chinese provinces. With regard to the former question, the article finds that the various social policy initiatives have yet to amount to a qualitative shift in the core foundation of the human capital‐focused welfare production logic in China. With regard to the latter question, we argue that considerable fragmentation of social provision at the Chinese provincial level continues to hamper attempts to define a coherent Chinese social model. Indeed, we find considerable diversity in terms of the co‐operative state‐local interactions within China leading to varying trajectories of social decentralization. Unlike much of the current research in comparative social policy analysis, which continues to treat Mainland China as a single case, this article provides a strong account of a productivist construction of selective welfare pragmatism, which reproduces social policy gaps for different groups of the Chinese population, and suggests that determining multiple ‘welfare types’ within China might be the most fruitful path for future academic inquiry.

Synthesizing disparate ideas: How a Chinese model of social assistance was forged

In 1993, the Shanghai government introduced a minimum income security program, causing contagious imitative behaviors in scores of local pilot projects in China. Invigorated by such local policy experiments, the central government in 1999 set up a Minimum Living Standard Scheme covering all urban regions and, from 2007, rural areas. In the process of designing this scheme, the Chinese epistemic social policy community translated foreign ideas into the national context to facilitate the social assistance reform through policy experimentation and reinterpretation of external ideas. This article argues that Chinese actors in the field of social assistance have synthesized disparate ideas from two world regions – the United States and Western Europe – and from Chinese traditions to forge a Chinese model of social assistance. It thus complements the existing literature on diffusion, which tends to assume that countries import or adapt a ready-made policy model from another country or from an international organization.

Urban Social Assistance in China: Transnational Diffusion and National Interpretation

In 1999 the State Council of the People's Republic of China (PRC) introduced the Regulation on the Minimum Living Standard Scheme (MLSS, [Formula: see text] or dibao) for urban residents in China. Policy learning from different parts of the world significantly shaped the formation and expansion of the MLSS, and Chinese social policy researchers have drawn conclusions about the experiences of these multiple regions. Through expert interviews, we discovered that the Chinese social assistance scheme has been influenced by the US ideas of “social investment” and “workfare.” Furthermore, the European values of “universal entitlement” and “social citizenship” have also been internalised by the Chinese actors behind the scheme. In addition, Hong Kong's social assistance scheme has inspired Chinese policymakers to explore a model consisting of various categories that target the country's enormous special welfare needs. Thus, scholars and policymakers from China have used values and ideas outside China to create a hybrid model of social assistance that is characterised by broad coverage, a low benefit level, and a highly provincial administrative structure.

Chinese Social Policy in a Time of Transition. Edited by Douglas J. Besharov and Karen Baehler. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. 314 pp. $74.00 (cloth). - Welfare Through Work: Conservative Ideas, Partisan Dynamics, and Social Protection in Japan. By Mari Miura. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012. 224 pp. $39.95 (cloth). - The Korean State and Social Policy: How

Chinese Social Policy in a Time of Transition. Edited by Douglas J. Besharov and Karen Baehler. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. 314 pp. $74.00 (cloth). - Welfare Through Work: Conservative Ideas, Partisan Dynamics, and Social Protection in Japan. By Mari Miura. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012. 224 pp. $39.95 (cloth). - The Korean State and Social Policy: How

A tale of two systems: comparing healthcare in the UK and China

This article aims to explore some of the issues in modern China and the impact they have on the health of the Chinese population. To understand the context, there will be a broad overview of the political structure of the country and its population. The areas to be discussed are: pollution; the infrastructure of the country; urbanisation/migration into towns and cities; and lifestyles. From the exploration of these four areas, some deductions can be made about the health needs of the Chinese people. An overview of Chinese social policies on healthcare—as detailed in the 12th Five Year Plan ( KPMG China, 2011 )—will be given to highlight the area of services that are being developed. Lastly, there will be a comparison of the delivery of healthcare services in China and the UK. Some of these insights are based on actual experiences of the Chinese healthcare system and its provisions by the author, who lived in China from August 2013 to the end of June 2014.