Current approaches to social protection in China精品.pdfVIP

4. Current approaches to social protection in China Yapeng Zhu Alongside profound economic, social and demographic changes, the Chinese social protection system has also undergone profound changes in the past decades. In order to address various social problems and poverty resulting from the transition to marketization and social transformation, the government has introduced several new social protection measures, especially after the global financial crisis. This chapter examines current approaches to social protection and reviews their preliminary impacts on meeting social needs of vulnerable groups and to poverty alleviation. SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION, SOCIAL NEEDS AND SOCIAL PROTECTION IN CHINA The last three decades have witnessed China’s phenomenal economic growth and remarkable social transformation. During this period, the country’s economy has been growing by an average rate of 9.8 per cent and it is now the second largest in the world after that of United States. China’s rapid social transformation has generated great demand for social services and social security, which has required a major shift of social policy. First, the large-scale rural–urban migration and consequent risks and social problems have posed a major challenge to the social policy system (Cook, 2002; Li, 2006; Nielsen et al., 2005). Second, the accelerat- ing trend towards an aging population, rural–urban migration and the