People's Livelihood in Contemporary China

The following sections are included:

• Contents
• Editorial Committee Page
• List of Tables
• List of Figures

The year 2009 marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China. According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, 60 years marks the beginning of a new cycle, or Samsara. Since being established in 1949 — and especially since the reform and opening up 30 years ago — China has experienced the most drastic changes ever in its 5,000-year history. During this time, China has transformed from an agricultural society into an emerging, dynamic, and industrialized nation and has undergone rapid urbanization. Chinese people's standard of living continues to rise and is taking rapid strides forward to a higher level of comprehensive well-being. The population structure has had a historic transformation with a low birth rate, low mortality rate, and low growth rate. The average life expectancy has reached the level of many developed countries, and China has changed from a poor and overpopulated nation to great nation rich in human resources. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people have been freed from poverty, which has made a significant contribution to lowering global poverty levels. The social security system covering urban and rural residents is taking shape, which will greatly improve the situation of Chinese farmers — a still large proportion of the Chinese population…

The Report to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made important decisions and stressed the necessity to “speed up social construction based on the improvement of the people's livelihood”. In recent years, in the domains of employment, income distribution, social security, education, medical service, housing, and environmental protection, safeguarding and improving people's livelihood has assumed importance. A series of related social policies has been put into practice, and people have obtained actual benefits, which has played an influential role in improving the people's livelihood and in promoting social stability…

More than a decade ago, it was a status symbol for a family to have a house, a car, a mobile phone, and a computer; however, by the mid-2000s, these goods had become common people's “durable goods in daily life”. Since then, televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines have entered most households. China's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) entered the rank of medium low-income countries, urban and rural residents' Engel's coefficient fell to about 34%, and housing and cars became widely available. This transformation symbolized China's entry to an economy of mass consumption…

In recent years, because of rapid economic growth, China's employment situation has been relatively steady. However, since the second half of 2008, the obvious influence of the global financial crisis on China has resulted in worsening of the employment situation, with many small- and medium-sized enterprises conducting massive lay-offs. This situation has triggered a mass return of laborers to their native villages. Therefore, employment has become the current focal point in people's lives, and recent graduates are finding it difficult to obtain employment.

The Chinese economy has experienced high levels of fluctuation as a result of the global financial crisis. It is crucial to accelerate the establishment of a social security system covering urban and rural areas and to perfect various systems for social security in such a way that the social security system can play the role of a “shock absorber” in the economy and act as a “stabilizer” of society by safeguarding basic living standards and consumption of residents and maintaining social harmony and stability.

Along with the advancement of globalization, industrialization, and marketing, various social risks are also substantially increasing; these risks include not only traditional social risks, such as aging, disease, disability, death, as well as various natural disasters, but also unemployment, poverty, injury on the job, and safety violations in industry. New social risks, such as financial crises, stock market crashes, environmental pollution, food safety, and extreme urbanization, have also become a problem (Li Peilin, 2006). These risks have gone beyond individual and family resistance in many situations and, therefore, exterior support and policy assistance are required. This exterior support and assistance comes in three forms: system security provided by the government; diverse paid services provided by the market; and “social support” other than the national safeguards and market services. This generalized “social support” may include family support, support from relatives and friends, social cooperation, community support, and support from social organizations, all of which are important to construct an effective social support network and to help individuals and families avoid the aforementioned social risks…

Domestic and foreign academic circles have heavily researched China's income disparity; generally, all research conclusions show that since the reform and opening up, the income differentials have presented a tendency of unceasing expansion. The difference has been mainly concentrated on the method to judge the social and economic significance of this differential; for example, whether the existing differential has been overstated, whether to present the polarization, whether China displays a Kuznets' inverted U curve, how will the income differentials evolve in the future, and other questions of this nature.

Since the reform and opening up, the Chinese society has experienced huge changes; people's modes of conduct, lifestyle, and values have undergone profound modifications. These changes have had left an indelible influence on the Chinese youth's growth and development; this new generation and their modes of conduct and value orientation will surely affect the future of China.

The following sections are included:

• Main Research Findings
• Issues Discussed Further

The following sections are included:

• Bibliography
• Index