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The Main Social Policies Under Xi Jinping

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Religion and China's Welfare Regimes

Part of the book series: Religion and Society in Asia Pacific ((RSAP))

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Abstract

In this chapter I present the four main social policies implemented by the government under Xi Jinping. I outline policies for emergency and disaster relief; healthcare and education; the “five insurances,” which include pensions/old-age insurance (yanglao baoxian 养老保险), employment insurance (shiye baoxian 失业保险), compensation for workplace injury (gongshang baoxian工伤保险), healthcare security (yiliao baozhang 医疗保障), and a maternity leave allowance (shengyuzhang 生育障)—to which the Xi administration has added the Housing fund; and social assistance. I then draw attention to a mounting problem that had started before the Xi administration: the ageing of the population, which threatens to overwhelm the state capacity to deliver social services.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Since 1977, each Party Congress has presented a five-year plan at its Fifth Plenum.

  2. 2.

    Zhao (2016: 93).

  3. 3.

    Kai and Ortman (2018).

  4. 4.

    Stein and Ngok (2017: 222).

  5. 5.

    Zhao (2016: 95).

  6. 6.

    Zhao (2009: 421).

  7. 7.

    This ministry resulted from the merging of many agencies, following years of discussion about China’s emergency management system. See Yi et al. (2016).

  8. 8.

    Zeng and Hesketh (2016).

  9. 9.

    Leng (2019).

  10. 10.

    Tang (2018).

  11. 11.

    Huang (2015).

  12. 12.

    Palmer (2005).

  13. 13.

    Zhang et al. (2011).

  14. 14.

    Huang (2016).

  15. 15.

    Taber (2018).

  16. 16.

    See Brown and Bērziņa-Čerenkova (2018: 337).

  17. 17.

    Cook and Dong (2017).

  18. 18.

    See China Labor Watch (2019).

  19. 19.

    Ringen and Ngok (2017: 222).

  20. 20.

    China Labor Watch (2019).

  21. 21.

    Ringen and Ngok (2017: 225).

  22. 22.

    Ibid.

  23. 23.

    Ibid.: 224.

  24. 24.

    These numbers must be put in the context of a labor force of 778 million people, of which women represented 43%—i.e., more 334 million women in the labor market—according to data from the ILO 2020.

  25. 25.

    China Labor Watch (2019).

  26. 26.

    Ibid.

  27. 27.

    Ibid.

  28. 28.

    Cook and Dong (2017).

  29. 29.

    Yang (2018: 4).

  30. 30.

    The three nos are no ability to work, no income, and no assistance from the family. See Yang (2018: 2).

  31. 31.

    Ringen and Ngok (2017: 221). The five guarantees are: eating (chi 吃), clothing (chuan 穿), housing (zhu 住), health (yi 医), and burial (zang 葬).

  32. 32.

    Yang (2018: 5–6).

  33. 33.

    Ibid.: 6.

  34. 34.

    Ibid.: 5.

  35. 35.

    Jiaqiang kunjing ertong baozhang gongzuo de yijian 加强困境儿童保障工作的意见. In Yang (2018: 6–7).

  36. 36.

    Jiaqiang he gaijin liulang weicheng nianrenjiuzhu baohu gongzuo de yijian 加强和改进流浪未成年人救助保护工作的意见. In Yang (2018: 7).

  37. 37.

    Guanyu qianmian jianli kunnan canjiren shenghuo butie he zhongdu canjiren huli butie zhidu de yijian 关于全面建立困难残疾人生活补贴和重度残疾人护理补贴制度的意见. In Yang (2018: 7).

  38. 38.

    Ringen and Ngok (2017: 226).

  39. 39.

    Regional inequalities declined in the early to mid-1950s, during the Cultural Revolution, and most dramatically during the first five years of the reform and opening policy. See Fan et al. (2011: 50). More recent studies point to a stabilization of these inequalities, which remain high. See Wroblowský and Yin (2016: 62).

  40. 40.

    Li and Xu discovered that disparities between prefectures within provinces are greater than those between provinces. See Li and Xu (2006: 23).

  41. 41.

    Woo et al. (2002).

  42. 42.

    Gu and Vlosky (2008); Wu et al. (2005).

  43. 43.

    Du and Wang (2010).

  44. 44.

    Frazier (2010).

  45. 45.

    Wong and Leung (2012: 584).

  46. 46.

    Zurlo et al. (2014).

  47. 47.

    Cai and Du (2015).

  48. 48.

    Lin and Tussing (2017).

  49. 49.

    Liu and Sun (2016: 25).

  50. 50.

    Liu et al. (2017).

  51. 51.

    Li and Zhang (2017: 271).

  52. 52.

    Shum et al. (2015: 787).

  53. 53.

    Zhang (2017).

  54. 54.

    Shea and Zhang (2017).

  55. 55.

    Zhan et al. (2011).

  56. 56.

    Wu et al. (2005).

  57. 57.

    Yi et al. (2016: 244–245).

  58. 58.

    Cook and Dong (2017: 266).

  59. 59.

    Yu and Chen (2016).

  60. 60.

    Li et al. (2013).

  61. 61.

    Wang (2014); Huang et al. (2015).

  62. 62.

    Li (2015).

  63. 63.

    Wu (2014).

  64. 64.

    Qi (2015: 157).

  65. 65.

    Park (2015).

  66. 66.

    Billioud and Thoraval (2015).

  67. 67.

    Callahan (2015).

  68. 68.

    Zhu (2017).

  69. 69.

    Chen et al. (2017).

  70. 70.

    On average, the communes numbered around 4500 households, with some having as many as 20,000.

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  1. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    André Laliberté

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Laliberté, A. (2022). The Main Social Policies Under Xi Jinping. In: Religion and China's Welfare Regimes. Religion and Society in Asia Pacific. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7270-5_2

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