The Contents of Welfare

Abstract

This chapter introduces the process and contents of building a socialist welfare system in rural China. Facing the inadequate and extremely piecemeal welfare situation, the new regime began to plan a comprehensive reorganization of rural social welfare provision based on the collectivization of rural economic and social life. The first modern rural welfare system covers peasants—the greater part of China’s population. This welfare system is the first time in the history providing peasants land distribution, work income, calamity relief and poverty assistance, mutual help in collective welfare, the Five Guarantees System (FGS), cooperative medical system, family guarantee, compulsory education and so on, which bring about huge changes in peasants’ well-being. However, this is the basic guarantee and the state did not budget too much for this system.