Introduction

Rewards for work in Maoist China were spartan but secure, with little variation and few surprises. What has happened subsequently remains a matter of some controversy, but unemployment and income insecurity now exist alongside greater occupational choice, labour mobility and higher rewards to skills. Expectations of lifelong employment, welfare provision and a pension - all guaranteed to urban workers under the 'iron rice bowl' system - are increasingly threatened by rising unemployment and the privatisation of welfare services. For the rural population, previously excluded from many of the employment and social security benefits of the pre-reform system, collective consumption and welfare provision have almost disappeared before the tide of market forces.