ABSTRACT
The positive results of the reforms that China has been carrying out in its social security system since the mid-1980s have widely been acknowledged. The reforms have resolved, to a large extent, the problem of enterprise-insurance that has characterized the system before the reform period. A consequence of which is that the Chinese government has been forced to place more emphasis on the political effects of the reforms rather than the income protection functions of the social security system itself. This chapter gives an explanation to the meaning of 'a socialist social security system with Chinese characteristics'. Hence, other than supporting a rapidly increasing number of retirees, the new social security system has also to provide for the surplus and laid-off employees, who accounted for about one-third of the urban labour force. It is thus difficult to say whether or not China has succeeded in constructing a socialist social security system with Chinese characteristics.
