This comprehensive review of the progress in recasting China's provision of social welfare tackles a tough job. In addition to summarizing much theoretical literature on government benefit allocation, Tony Saich also surveys a wide array of other reform programs, including changes in the fiscal system, migration, the rural revamping of land tenure as well as alterations in rural fees and taxes, and trends in infrastructural investment, to name a few.
He supplies a huge wealth of statistical data on the coverage over time of the whole range of welfare policies. These include both social insurance (pensions, unemployment, maternity, work injury, and health care)—for each of which he presents material on early experiments and eventual policy initiatives—and one critical social assistance program, the means-tested Minimum Livelihood Security Scheme. He also includes a chapter on the government's handling of epidemics, namely SARS and HIV/AIDS. There is information on specific localities (provincial as...
