ABSTRACT
This chapter explores an important social changes and new policies to address emerging social needs. It includes the formation of new social classes, education and health care, women, family and environmental issues. Of growing importance to the generation born since 1980-90 was access to the internet and new forms of entertainment and culture. The massive social changes underway in China affected people of all classes and ethnic groups, but the process was deeply influenced by the massive size of China's population. In China, family consumption increased as career women and wives bought the latest in household appliances and electronics. In terms of earning power, Chinese women did well in comparison to women elsewhere in Asia. One route to self-advancement in China has always been linked to education. Health care was once the province of the commune or work unit. China's increasing technological sophistication relied on its best universities to produce a new generation of trained technology and communication personnel.
