Social welfare Archives - Friends of Socialist China

China marks May Day with tangible gains for working people

On the eve of May Day, Chinese President Xi Jinping extended festive greetings and best wishes to the country’s working people. He called on workers across the country to work hard, deliver solid results, and play a leading role in driving high-quality economic and social development. Party committees and governments at all levels, he added, should safeguard workers’ lawful rights and interests, address their most pressing concerns, and encourage them to strive unremittingly for the country’s grand goals.

A feature article published by the Xinhua News Agency explored these themes in greater depth.

Noting that Xi Jinping has said that “model workers and exemplary individuals are the moral exemplars of the people and the pillars of the nation,” it added that in the week leading up to May Day, 3,024 individuals and organisations were honoured for their contributions to major national strategies, projects and priority industries. Recipients ranged from engineers, technicians, teachers and doctors, to delivery workers.

The article added: “Xi has built a reputation for hard work since his early years as a village official in a poor rural area of northwest China more than half a century ago. As the country’s top leader, he has called on the society as a whole to respect model workers and promote the spirit they embody and has backed the commitment with a range of policy and institutional measures.

“He has called for building a large, highly skilled industrial workforce with strong ideals, technical expertise, a capacity for innovation, and a sense of responsibility and dedication, while also emphasising workers’ welfare and protections.

“In recent years, China has continued to expand legal protections and social security coverage for workers, with growing attention to those in new forms of employment such as food delivery couriers and ride-hailing drivers, as well as older workers beyond the standard retirement age…

“Beyond policy measures, Xi has also conducted on-site inspections to ensure their needs are being met. In 2023, he went to a migrant worker housing complex in Shanghai, entering homes, inspecting shared facilities such as communal kitchens and laundries, and speaking with residents about their daily lives.

When it comes to China’s development, Hukou reform is inevitable

In this useful article, republished from China Daily, Keith Lamb provides an overview of the Hukou household registration system and the reasons for the recently-announced plans to reform it. Lamb notes that Hukou was originally introduced in order to prevent uncontrolled urban migration and the accompanying problems (in particular the emergence of slums, which can be found in practically all other recently-industrialized countries). However, the economic and social needs of a modern, increasingly urbanized socialist country require loosening restrictions on household registration and improving the rights and living conditions of people migrating to the cities. As the author observes, “when it comes to building a modern socialist state, inequality in accessing services must eventually, on principle, be transformed into a state of equality.”

China’s National Development and Reform Commission recently announced that the household registration system, popularly known by its Mandarin name Hukou, will be streamlined to encourage urbanization. All cities with a population under 3 million will have Hukou limits removed and registration for an urban Hukou in cities with a population between three and five million will be eased.

The modern Hukou, which reached maturity in 1958, determines who has access to local social amenities, such as education, healthcare and employment. Originally, it was an effective measure that prevented mass internal migration when China had an undeveloped economy based on agricultural production.

Checking mass migration from rural to urban centers prevented slums from building up, which was common in neighboring developing countries. Labor was also paired with the land which was important considering it was the location where the majority of production took place, allowing agriculture to be used in the service of industrialization.