ABSTRACT
China's social policy after entering into the WTO will depend on the government's ability to balance its policies in two directions at the same time: to accelerate economic growth and to maintain social stability. This chapter outlines and accounts for general trends in social inequality and poverty in China, discusses their possible influences on China's social policy, and analyses the Chinese government's responses to general issues. The big gap between regions within a country is the most significant phenomenon in China's social inequality, by contrast with other countries. Related to social inequality, the poverty problem is another hot topic among scholars and the public. Because of China's dual system the huge gap between the rural and the urban economy and society, the concept of poverty has quite different meanings when applied to rural and urban societies. Urban poverty is a new topic in China, by comparison with rural poverty.
