EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As society enters the 21st century, China stands at a new historical starting point. After a great 30-year journey of reform and opening up, China has made tremendous achievements in its economic and social development and entered the middle stage of industrialization. In addition, its social structure has undergone a profound change toward modernization. In general, however, due to a lack of coordination between its economic and social development, the social structure is still in the early stages of industrialization. This has caused many social problems and become characteristic of China’s new development stage. A new perspective is needed to understand and analyze the new affairs and qualities of China’s development. Historical experiences of industrialization and modernization prove that the middle stage of industrialization is often accompanied by significant social conflicts and problems, mainly because social restructuring lags behind economic growth, revealing that economic and social development are not coordinated. Therefore, suitably adjusting the social structure, coordinating economic and social development, and solving social conflicts and problems are major tasks for a country or region during the crucial period of entering modern society. Thus, the current research report will explore changes in the structure of contemporary Chinese society, analyze the current social structure during the critical development stage, study the problems in and trends of the social structure, and propose theories and countermeasures to adjust the social structure and promote coordinated economic and social development.