This chapter provides a schematic historical background, relevant for the present purposes, and presents an overview of social security in China. It discusses the details of the social-security programmes and the relevant features of the economy with reference to rural areas and urban areas. The chapter notes that when analysing the Chinese social-security system, it is important to bear in mind that the Chinese economy has undergone a series of revolutionary transformations since 1949. It emphasizes that, in China, the pervasive State control of industry and fundamental changes in the land...

This chapter provides a schematic historical background, relevant for the present purposes, and presents an overview of social security in China. It discusses the details of the social-security programmes and the relevant features of the economy with reference to rural areas and urban areas. The chapter notes that when analysing the Chinese social-security system, it is important to bear in mind that the Chinese economy has undergone a series of revolutionary transformations since 1949. It emphasizes that, in China, the pervasive State control of industry and fundamental changes in the land tenure have made it possible for measures for preventing and alleviating deprivation to be built into the fabric of the economy to a degree that simply would not be feasible in an evolutionary framework.