The Achievement of China’s Social Policy Development Since the Beginning of the New Centuryand Current Problems Since the Beginning of the New Century

The first decade of the new century is a "golden stage" as far as China's social policy development is concerned. After the "state-unit" model under the former planning system and a weakened model in the first two decades of the reform era, China's has made a major adjustment in social policies in the new millennium by stepping back from a pro-market model and having more state intervention in securing people's well-being to overcome market failure. As a result of the decade-long social policy development, China has established a comprehensive social policy system with a noticeable increased benefit level, which has played a larger role in securing and improving people's well-being. Nevertheless, to achieve the goal of a "Moderately Prosperous Society", further improvements can be made in China's social policy system, including further elevating the overall benefit level, encouraging participation of non-state sectors, and increasing equality of the system. This paper offers important policy suggestions for further developing China's social policy.