＂The Chinese Dream＂ and its ideational precursors in official discourse touch upon issues of social policymaking. More specifically, official China has stated the goal of achieving a ＂moderate＂ or ＂appropriate＂ ...＂The Chinese Dream＂ and its ideational precursors in official discourse touch upon issues of social policymaking. More specifically, official China has stated the goal of achieving a ＂moderate＂ or ＂appropriate＂ universal welfare state in order to mitigate increasing inequality and the individualization of social risk. Consequently, the new millennium witnessed a wave of social reforms in China's Mainland, the most significant of which were arguably within the policy fields of health insurance, pensions and unemployment protection. This paper reviews reform efforts within these three policy fields and discusses progress and looming challenges with the concept of universalism as the yardstick. From the perspective of universalism, the social right dimensions of coverage （the share of the population included）, generosity （benefit levels or adequacy of welfare proved for those included） and financing （such as state, contributions or private） are quintessential. Coverage of social protection has increased significantly with new schemes in all three policy fields. The hukou divide in coverage of social insurance is not as pronounced as before, especially in health insurance. However, major challenges still persist. Declining benefit generosity or adequacy has been a tendency in both pensions and unemployment protection. The pension system also faces problems of financial fragmentation and unsustainability. The health insurance system is still inadequate in terms of protection against health risks, particularly serious or chronic illnesses. These issues are more pronounced in schemes catering to rural residents or urban residents outside the labor market. This reflects that schemes for urban workers are still much more generous. In this regard, recent tentative efforts to integrate the divided welfare system should be noted.展开更多
文摘＂The Chinese Dream＂ and its ideational precursors in official discourse touch upon issues of social policymaking. More specifically, official China has stated the goal of achieving a ＂moderate＂ or ＂appropriate＂ universal welfare state in order to mitigate increasing inequality and the individualization of social risk. Consequently, the new millennium witnessed a wave of social reforms in China's Mainland, the most significant of which were arguably within the policy fields of health insurance, pensions and unemployment protection. This paper reviews reform efforts within these three policy fields and discusses progress and looming challenges with the concept of universalism as the yardstick. From the perspective of universalism, the social right dimensions of coverage （the share of the population included）, generosity （benefit levels or adequacy of welfare proved for those included） and financing （such as state, contributions or private） are quintessential. Coverage of social protection has increased significantly with new schemes in all three policy fields. The hukou divide in coverage of social insurance is not as pronounced as before, especially in health insurance. However, major challenges still persist. Declining benefit generosity or adequacy has been a tendency in both pensions and unemployment protection. The pension system also faces problems of financial fragmentation and unsustainability. The health insurance system is still inadequate in terms of protection against health risks, particularly serious or chronic illnesses. These issues are more pronounced in schemes catering to rural residents or urban residents outside the labor market. This reflects that schemes for urban workers are still much more generous. In this regard, recent tentative efforts to integrate the divided welfare system should be noted.
