General Theory of Social Governance in China (Understanding China) 9811657149, 9789811657146

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Understanding China

Liqun Wei   Editor

General Theory of Social Governance in China

Understanding China

The series will provide you with in-depth information on China’s social, cultural and economic aspects. It covers a broad variety of topics, from economics and history to law, philosophy, cultural geography and regional politics, and offers a wealth of materials for researchers, doctoral students, and experienced practitioners.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11772

Liqun Wei Editor

General Theory of Social Governance in China

Editor Liqun Wei Beijing Normal University Beijing, China Translated by Dr. John Qiong Wang, et al. Beijing, China

Funded By Chinese Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences ISSN 2196-3134 ISSN 2196-3142 (electronic) Understanding China ISBN 978-981-16-5714-6 ISBN 978-981-16-5715-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3 Jointly published with Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD The print edition is not for sale in China (Mainland). Customers from China (Mainland) please order the print book from: Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD. Translation from the Chinese language edition: 中国社会治理通论 by Liqun Wei, and John Qiong Wang, © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD. 2019. Published by Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD. All Rights Reserved. © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publishers, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Preface

Since the epoch of the 18th National Congress of the CPC, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered the new era. The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC suggested that social governance should be strengthened and innovated, and a social governance pattern of co-construction, co-governance, and sharing should be built. Social governance is an important domain of national governance, and the social governance of modernized construction is the inherent requirement of the national governance system and the governance capacity for modernized construction. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “social governance is a science. This important conclusion deeply reveals the connotation of social governance and the direction of modernized social governance construction and puts forward specific requirements for the construction of the innovation of the social governance discipline”. Contemporary China is experiencing unprecedented, extensive, and profound social changes, and it is carrying on the greatest and unique practical innovation in human history. This great reform and practice provides a powerful impetus and broader space for theoretical innovation, discipline development, and academic prosperity. In the past few decades, the theoretical and practical innovation of social governance in China has been advanced in many ways. While a series of important achievements and rich experiences have been achieved, new contradictions and new problems have emerged in the field of social governance, and it is urgent to deepen the theoretical research of social governance and innovate the discipline’s construction of social governance. It is in this historical light and through an in-depth study that we decided to write and present the General Theory of Social Governance in China. There are three main purposes for writing the General Theory of Social Governance in China. The first is to strengthen the discipline construction of social governance. In his speech at the Symposium on Philosophy and Social Science Work held on May 17, 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “the discipline system is inextricably linked to the teaching material system. If the construction of the discipline system does not improve, then the teaching material system will not be

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improved either; in turn, the teaching material system does not improve, and the discipline system will have no support. To cultivate good philosophy and social science talents, it is necessary to have good teaching materials”. In December 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the National Conference on Ideological and Political Work at Colleges and Universities, “the construction of the discipline system and teaching material system of philosophical social science with Chinese characteristics should be sped up, more high-level teaching materials should be introduced, academic discourse system should be innovated, scientific authority should be established, the evaluation system of philosophical social science achievements should be open and transparent, and an all-round, all-field and all-factor system of philosophical social science should be built”. These profound conclusions provide guidance for us to carry out social governance research, create social governance disciplines, and strengthen the construction of social governance teaching materials. To build a worldclass university and first-class discipline, it is necessary to strengthen both discipline construction and the construction of teaching materials. In recent years, many studies have been exploring extensively the theory and practice of social governance at home and abroad, but there is still a lack of comprehensive and systematic professional books on social governance. There is an urgent need for professional and general professional books in the discipline construction of social governance. Therefore, the organization and writing of the General Theories of Social Governance in China has become an important task to strengthen the discipline’s construction of social governance. Second, it is the cultivation of high-quality social governance talent. There is a shortage of social governance talent in our country, so they must be vigorously cultivated. To cultivate high-quality social governance talent, it is necessary to have scientific theory and high-quality professional books. High-quality professional books can shape students’ professional values and concepts; provide students with a complete theoretical system and research methods; and guide students to understand reality scientifically, observe society, and help them better participate in the practice of social governance. Third is the construction of the theoretical foundation of crossdisciplinary construction. To promote cross-disciplinary innovation is the request and deployment put forward by the state. Social governance involves multidisciplinary knowledge such as sociology, political science, law, history, and management, which requires multidisciplinary cooperation among sociology, political science, history, and management. Writing of the General Theory of Social Governance in China is an important measure to strengthen the construction of cross-discipline, and it is also an effort to explore the theoretical framework for the construction of cross-discipline of social governance. The general theory, which refers to the theory for general understanding, refers to the discussion of the comprehensiveness and wholeness of the discipline. The book uses general theory mainly for three reasons. First, social governance is a newly emerging cross-discipline with an interdisciplinary nature and scope. As a result, no single discipline is enough to bear the whole knowledge system of social governance. It is necessary to draw multidisciplinary knowledge and rich wisdom from an interdisciplinary perspective. Therefore, we should construct the framework of the disciplinary system of social governance by breaking through the boundaries and

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barriers of disciplines. Second, knowledge of social governance is a comprehensive product of the evolution of human civilization. The development of human society has accumulated rich experience and wisdom in social governance. The innovation of social governance discipline construction must integrate the past and the present, draw lessons from domestic and foreign social governance knowledge, and enable the past to serve the present and foreign lessons to shape the Chinese. Finally, social governance is a dialectical unity of theory and practice. Social governance is not only a theoretical issue but also a practical issue. Social governance discipline construction must adhere to the organic unity of academic innovation, theoretical innovation, and practical innovation and link up with each other. “Those who value mastering of knowledge value the application of what they have learned”. The aim of the General Theory of Social Governance in China is to strive to guide academic exploration, theoretical research, and practical innovation. “Everything is difficult to start with”, and innovation is even more difficult. We are committed to innovating the discipline of social governance in a spirit of unflinching innovation. According to the requirements of discipline construction, the book tries to fully and systematically explain the general knowledge, basic principles, basic rules, and the main methods of social governance, and it tries to expound and analyze the connotation and essence, the theory and experience, the method and perspective, the policy and practice, the institution and system, and the main domain and development trend of social governance from different perspectives such as theory, experience, policy, and practice, which integrate the ideology, the theory, the knowledge, and the practice. The whole book is divided into 12 chapters. Chapter “Connotation and Function of Social Governance” discusses the connotation and function of social governance. This chapter systematically expounds on the concept of social governance, the determinants of social governance, and the functions and objectives, status and role of social governance. Chapter “Basic Theory of Social Governance in China” discusses the basic theory of social governance in China. This chapter mainly explains the thought of social governance of Marxism, Mao Zedong, and socialism with Chinese characteristics, especially the important exposition of General Secretary Xi Jinping on social governance. Chapter “Chinese Traditional Thoughts on Social Governance” discusses the thought of traditional Chinese social governance. This chapter briefly addresses the thoughts of social governance in ancient and modern China. Chapter “Social Governance Reform in China” discusses the reform of social governance in China. This chapter mainly analyzes the system of innovation, rich practice, and experience enlightenment of Chinese social governance and shows the historical process of Chinese social governance change and reform innovation. Chapter “Chinese Social Governance System” discusses the Chinese social governance system. This chapter mainly elaborates the basic connotation and interrelationship of the social system and social governance system and then discusses the main body framework of the social governance system and the country, market, and social relations supporting this framework. Chapter “Basic System of Social Governance in China” discusses the basic system of social governance in China. This chapter systematically discusses the basic system of social governance, including the population system, household registration system, employment system, land system, education system, medical

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and health system, social security system, and income distribution system. Chapter “The System of Social Governance in China” discusses the social governance system in China. This chapter focuses on the main systems of social governance, including the social organization system, public service system, public security system, social security prevention and control system, disaster prevention and relief system, environmental safety system, emergency management system, social credit system, and social psychological service system. Chapter “National Security Construction” discusses national security construction. This chapter focuses on the significance of national security construction, the basic connotation of the overall national security outlook, and the national security system and tasks. Chapter “Field of Social Governance in China” is about the field of social governance in China. This chapter focuses on the main field of social governance, including family governance, community governance, rural governance, urban social governance, and network social governance. Chapter “Chinese Social Governance Modes” discusses the modes of social governance in China. This chapter focuses on the main aspects of social governance modes, including law governance, moral governance, cultural governance, and scientific and technological governance. Chapter “The Ability to Build Social Governance in China” discusses the capacity building of social governance in China. This chapter mainly elaborates on the connotation of social governance capacity and the promotion path. Chapter “Evolution Trend of Social Governance” discusses the trend of social governance. This chapter focuses on the development trend of China’s socialist modernization and global governance, as well as China’s contribution to global governance. The important characteristic and innovation of this book lies in the comprehensive, systematic, and panoramic elaboration of Chinese social governance. The structural system and the main content of the book revolve around the main strand of promoting the modernization of the social governance system and governance capacity. In turn, it constitutes a construction of the “Four Pillars”—Theory, Experience, Policy, and Practice. The Theory Pillar. The whole book has provided profound research and exploration on the theory of social governance. While the discussion of the theory is not limited to the pure deduction and explanation from theory to theory, it is focused on constructing the theory of social governance discipline with Chinese characteristics from the angle of the interrelation among history, ideology, theory, and system. The elaboration of this theory is based on Marxist thought on social governance and its achievements in China. It not only draws lessons from representative theories of social governance abroad but also sums up the theoretical system of social governance that draws lessons from the wisdom of social governance in China in the past to open up the scope and threshold of the theory of social governance both in ancient and modern times, capturing its base at home and abroad. The first chapter to the third chapter of the book mainly deals with the construction of the theoretical pillars of social governance. The Experience Pillar. The book has a clear understanding and summary of the experience of social governance. The experience of social governance not only emanates from the reform and innovation practice of social governance but also

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benefits from the policy, law, and the system design of social governance. There are four main sources of experience in social governance: wisdom and experience in traditional Chinese social governance; practical experience of Chinese contemporary social governance innovation; experience of foreign social governance practices; and experience of social governance shared by human society. Each chapter of this book, especially from the fourth to the sixth chapter, runs through and embodies the empirical analysis of social governance and focuses on constructing the “Chinese path” of the modernization of social governance. The Policy Pillar. The whole book has a systematic review and analysis of social governance policies. The key to the modernization of social governance is institutional modernization. This means that the study of social governance is inseparable from the close attention and fore analysis of the policy system. Both social governance practice innovation and system innovation have direct and close relationships with social governance policy. Chapters “National Security Construction”–“Chinese Social Governance Modes” of this book focuses on the study and analysis of Chinese social governance in each system, each field, and each way of the policy composition and institutional arrangements. The Practice Pillar. The book has a strong view and interpretation of the practice of social governance. The practice of social governance is not abstract and general but specific and concrete. This kind of practice not only is embedded in China’s social development of a specific field but also looks at the general trend of the common development of human society. Because of the interrelationship between the theory and practice of social governance in China, social practice itself has become an important source to construct the theory and policy system of social governance in China. Not only in the various fields of social governance, such as family governance, community governance, rural governance, urban governance, social network governance, and so on, are constantly emerging a variety of innovative practices in social governance, but also in various systems of social governance, such as social organizations, social work, social credit, social security, emergency management, public services, public security, and national security, are producing a variety of governance skills, strategies, experiences, and wisdom. The fifth chapter and the subsequent chapters discuss the promotion effect of social governance practice on policy evolution and theory development. The whole book outlines the main line of Chinese social governance and surrounds the “Four Pillars”, which form a general research pattern and logical system and attempt to answer and address the four basic relationships. The first is the relationship between theory and practice. This dimension reflects the relationship between “social governance theory” and “social governance practice”. Social governance theory both guides and promotes the development of social governance practice, while social governance practice creates and produces new elements of social governance theory. The second is the relationship between policy and experience. This dimension reflects the relationship between “social governance policy” and “social governance experience”. Governance policy is not only the manifestation of governance experience but also the result of the sublimation of governance experience. Governance experience is not only the basis of governance policy-making but also

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the realization process of governance policy. The third is the relationship between history and reality. This dimension reflects the relationship between “traditional social governance” and “modern social governance”. Traditional social governance can provide beneficial experiences and wisdom for modern social governance, and modern social governance is the inheritance and development of traditional social governance thought. It is in the connection between tradition and modern that unique contemporary Chinese social governance is nurtured and formed. The fourth is the relationship between foreign countries and China. This dimension reflects the relationship between “foreign social governance” and “Chinese social governance”. Chinese social governance is a theoretical and practical innovation based on China’s national conditions as well as a reference for the study of foreign social governance theory and practice. Four goals should be achieved when studying this book. First, we grasp the categories, principles, rules, connotations, and other basic knowledge of the social governance discipline and strive to grasp the characteristics and laws of the social governance discipline. Second, it aims to grasp the basic norms, systems, and policies of social governance and strive to grasp the mode of operation of social governance. Third, we grasp the historical evolution and reality of Chinese social governance and strive to grasp the progress and trend of Chinese social governance. Fourth is to grasp the research methods of social governance; strive to grasp the scientific way of thinking; improve the self-awareness of research on and promote the modernization of social governance; and enhance the ability to observe, analyze, and solve problems in the field of social governance. Finally, we expect readers to be able to understand the four methodological principles of social governance by studying this book. First, we insist on the combination of theoretical exploration and empirical analysis. The research of social governance has the dual characters of “theory and experience”, which requires us to not only focus on condensing and extracting the real problems of social governance from the live practice of reality but also to explore and construct the theoretical system of social governance with Chinese characteristics on the basis of empirical research. Second, it adheres to the combination of multiple disciplines and cross-disciplines. We should examine social governance from different academic perspectives and form a relatively independent academic knowledge system. At the same time, we should realize the cross-focus of the interdisciplinary perspective to find the “greatest common divisor” between different disciplines on social governance. Third, we adhere to the combination of macroperspective and microperspective. Social governance in practice is a continuous unity from the micro- to macro-level. Only by combining macrovision and microvision can we solve the difficult problems of social governance in the dual meaning of academia and practice. Fourth, it adheres to the combination of academic research and policy research. Social governance research should closely combine basic theory and policy research to realize two-way reciprocating and spiraling up from “learning theory” to “policy” and from “policy” to “learning

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theory” to continuously promote theoretical innovation, academic innovation, and practical innovation. Beijing, China

Liqun Wei

Introduction of Chief Editor

Liqun Wei is a member of the Communist Party of China, professor, and doctoral supervisor. He is currently Dean of the Chinese Academy of Social Management/School of Sociology, Beijing Normal University. He successively served as a member and Secretary-General of the Party Leading Group of the State Planning Commission, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Financial Leading Group, Secretary and Director of the Party Group of the Research Office of the State Council, Secretary of the Party Committee of the National Academy of Governance, member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Deputy Director of the Committee on Literature, History and Learning, and member of the 16th and 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He has participated in or presided over the drafting of a large number of important documents and important speeches by the Party Central Committee and the State Council; he has presided over many major research projects and achieved a large number of valuable scientific research and political consultation results. He mainly studies the theory and policy of economic and social development, as well as the theory and policy of administrative system reform. He has been appointed Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University, National Academy of Governance, and China Center for International Economic Exchange.

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Contents

Connotation and Function of Social Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liqun Wei

1

Basic Theory of Social Governance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liqun Wei

21

Chinese Traditional Thoughts on Social Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liqun Wei

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Social Governance Reform in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liqun Wei

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Chinese Social Governance System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Liqun Wei Basic System of Social Governance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Liqun Wei The System of Social Governance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Liqun Wei National Security Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Liqun Wei Field of Social Governance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Liqun Wei Chinese Social Governance Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 Liqun Wei

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Contents

The Ability to Build Social Governance in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 Liqun Wei Evolution Trend of Social Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 Liqun Wei Postscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

About the Translator

Dr. John Qiong Wang obtained his Ph.D. in Translation Studies from Hong Kong Baptist University, has rich knowledge of translation theory and practice. He has translated more than a million words, published more than 30 academic papers on translation, and has translation projects at the national and provincial levels.

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Connotation and Function of Social Governance Liqun Wei

Overview This chapter focuses on the basic concepts of social governance. The basic concepts of social governance include social governance, the subject of social governance, the field of social governance, the system of social governance, and the mode of social governance. It also covers the function and goal of social governance. The reader can obtain a preliminary understanding of the basic theory and knowledge about social governance in this chapter.

1 The Origin of the Concept of Social Governance 1.1 The Intellectual Evolution of the Term—“Social Governance” “Social governance” and “governance” are two different but related concepts. The term “governance”, which was derived from the Latin and Greek languages, originally meant controlling, guiding and manipulating. It has long been used together with the word “government” in management and political activities relating to the state and public affairs. The term “governance”, as used by ancient Chinese scholars, is mostly referred to as “government”, but currently, “governance” and “government” are not used interchangeably. Usually, “governance” refers to a kind of activity in which multiple social subjects participate and support a common goal. It involves cooperation and coordination among multiple subjects. L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_1

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Since the term “governance crisis” was used by the World Bank in 1989 in response to the challenging situation in Africa, the term “governance” has been widely used in solving complicated issues or relationships between countries and societies. In the early 1990s, there was an emergence of governance theories in the world; as a result, the term “governance” was given new meanings. Concepts of governance under different disciplines emerged. These include “social governance” in sociology, “government governance” in political science, “interstate governance” in international relations science, “global governance”, and so on. Research on governance in Chinese academic circles that mainly introduces Western governance theory began in the middle and late 1990s. Generally, the academic explanation of “governance” can be summarized as follows: (a) (b)

A process of cultivation and development in the social field; The internal structure of government and institutional reform.

The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Major Issues on Comprehensive Deepening Reform adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2013 explicitly used the concept of “social governance” in the official documents of the Party for the first time, pointing out that the overall goal of deepening reform is to improve and develop the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and promote the modernization of the state governance system as well as governance capacity. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, China’s academic circle further deepened the research on the connotation of “social governance”, holding that the transition from “social management” to “social governance” embodied the transformation from the topdown management of the state to governance with top-down interaction, the combination of the state and society, and the development of functions of multisocial subjects. Additionally, they held the opinion that social governance emphasized the participation of various social forces. With just a difference of only a word, “social governance” and “social management” have both internal relations and important differences. The differences are mainly embodied in four aspects. First, the subjects are different. The concept of social management is singular, mainly referring to the party committee, the government and its functional departments, while that of social governance is pluralistic, including not only the party committee and government but also social organizations, market subjects and individual citizens. Secondly, the contents are different. Social management is based on administrative control, but social governance is under the unified leadership of the Party. Governments, enterprises and social organizations work together to provide all kinds of public services for members of society, coordinate social relations, maintain social order, resolve social contradictions and promote social harmony and progress. Thirdly, the modes of operations are different. Social management is mainly controlled by administrative means, while social governance requires a comprehensive use of economic, legal, moral, cultural, scientific and technological means and administrative means, emphasizing consultation, democracy, openness and transparency. Finally, purposes are different. The main purpose of social management is to maintain social stability,

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but social governance serves many purposes, including safeguarding rights, cohering consensus, and realizing co-construction, co-governance and sharing. The rich and deepening connotation of “social governance” is a reflection of its social reality. During the first ten years of the twenty-first century, profound changes in the Chinese social field have gradually taken place. These changes were manifested in diverse aspects, including the new urbanization level of the population, the frequent occurrence of social contradictions, the prominent short board effect of people’s livelihood, and the pluralism of public opinion. In the face of these profound changes, many proposals for reform in the social field have emerged. Social reforms such as the economic reform are bound to undergo a difficult and complex gameplaying process on the one hand. On the other hand, it will certainly lead to the onward development of Chinese society. It is in this light that the term “social governance” was adopted authoritatively. In 2015, “social governance refinement” was further proposed at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee by the Communist Party of China. In the Outline of the Third Five-Year Plan for the National Economy and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China adopted at the Fourth Session of the Twelfth National People’s Congress in March 2016, a total of four chapters in one article (Article 17 Strengthening and Innovating Social Governance) were devoted to the state’s deployment and policy of social governance. So far, “social governance” has been shifted from concept to practice: In 2017, the report of the Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party in China proposed “to raise the standard of ensuring and improving people’s livelihood, and to strengthen as well as innovate social governance”. For the first time, they explicitly proposed building a pattern of social governance of co-construction, cogovernance and sharing. This transformation originated from the strong need for social practice and was the people’s new expectation of a better life. At the national level, “social governance” is mainly embodied in four aspects. First is the construction of social governance system. It mainly includes the system of national social governance, the basic system of social governance, the system of urban and rural communities, the system of social organization, the system of social regulation, the system of public participation, the protection system of the rights and interests of the masses and the mechanism of resolving social contradictions. Second is the construction of a social credit system. It mainly includes credit information management systems, information disclosure and credit file systems, credit encouragement and punishment systems, credit service markets and supervision systems. Third is the construction of public safety system. It mainly includes a comprehensive management system of production safety, disaster prevention, mitigation and relief systems, social security prevention and control systems, and emergency response systems. Last is the construction of national security. It mainly includes the system of national security guarantees, the security guarantee mechanism of state power and

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sovereignty, the mechanism of preventing and defusing national security risk, and the legal system of national security. In general, “social governance” at the state level is the top-level design of social public affairs. At the local level, “social governance” has been expanded to different perspectives. Taking Beijing and Shanghai as examples, in The Social Governance Plan of Beijing in ‘The 13th Five-Year Plan Period’, “social governance” was summarized into six aspects: (i)

(ii) (iii)

(iv)

(v) (vi)

Social services. It includes the construction of a public service system, a new social service model (i.e., government-led, social participated, multisupplied), and a grassroots community service system. Social management. It includes urban service management and social governance system reform. Social mobilization. It includes public participation, grassroots consultative democracy, corporate social responsibility, social organization development, the professionalization of professional teams for social work, volunteer organization development and so on. Social environment. It includes the construction of a social integrity and social responsibility system, the education of socialist core values, the guidance of social civilization, the standardization of social governance and public affairs according to law and so on. Social relations. It includes social contradiction mediation mechanisms and social psychological service mechanisms. The Party building in the social field. It includes party building in the community, social organizations, nonpublic enterprises and so on.

In the “The Social Governance Plan of Shanghai in the 13th Five-Year Plan Period, “social governance” was categorized into five aspects, each with a corresponding specific indicator, as follows: (i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

Social vitality. The corresponding indicators include the number of social organizations per ten thousand people, income growth rate of social organizations receiving purchase services from the government, growth rate of four categories of organizations in the community, rate of party organizations that should be established and have been established in social organizations, and the number of social work personnel. Urban management. The corresponding indicators include the new illegal construction investigation rate and the completion rate of the “12,345” public service hotline. Social security. The corresponding indicators include the settlement rate of disputes and arbitration in labor and personnel, success rate of people’s mediation, and the number of deaths from production safety accidents per unit of total output value. Community building. The specific corresponding indicators are the number of safety demonstration communities, the number of exemplary intelligent

Connotation and Function of Social Governance

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communities, proportion of the districts with owners committees to the districts eligible for establishment, the number of streets and towns establishing community funds (foundations), and the completion rate of community representative meetings/community committees in streets and towns. Social civilization. The corresponding indicators are the establishment rate of civilized districts and the proportion of registered volunteers to the permanent population.

The brief description above shows that the “social governance” field is very broad, and all activities related to public services, social order, norms, relations, and public safety have been incorporated.

1.2 The Connotation and Denotation of Social Governance

(I)

The connotation of social governance.

Social governance is a practice activity involving multiple social subjects aimed at maintaining social order, promoting social equity, coordinating social relations, stimulating social vitality and promoting social progress. Social governance mainly includes the social governance subject, social governance field, social governance system, social governance mechanism, social governance mode, social organization governance, grassroots governance, spatial environment governance, public safety governance, network society governance and so on. To understand the connotation of social governance, two points should be made clear: The first is the “multiple subjects” of social governance. This is not just in line with the needs of social practice but also falls in line with the theoretical requirements of governance research. From the perspective of social practice demand, social life is increasingly complex, people’s demand is increasingly pluralistic, and social activity is increasingly abundant. It is impossible to get used to social changes by relying solely on government management. It is therefore necessary to actively encourage other social subjects and the public to participate extensively in public affairs. Viewed from the theoretical requirements of governance research, the concept of “governance” is proposed to solve the problems in traditional social management. Only by emphasizing multiple subjects can the situation of single government management be broken. Second is the public’s right to participate in public affairs. This is not the only need of social practice but also the theoretical requirements of governance research. From the perspective of the needs of social practice, with the quickening process of social reform in China, the public’s desire to participate in public affairs is becoming increasingly stronger, and it is a general trend to actively encourage and guide the public to participate in public affairs. From the theoretical requirements of governance research, “governance” is not merely “management”. The so-called “management” is a top-down mode of management and control. The development of

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modern society needs to take various forms and organize multiple subjects to handle public affairs together. The connotation of social governance highlights the epochal significance of social governance in practice, including three aspects: (i)

(ii)

(iii)

Society is progressive. Social governance is people-oriented, emphasizing interactive, cooperative and consultative relations and solving problems according to law. Society is equal. Social governance emphasizes the role of pluralistic subjects and encourages equal dialogue among participants to reach a consensus. In addition to using power, social governance adopts many management methods and techniques, such as market, law, culture, education, custom and so on. Society is inclusive. Social governance requires a new type of harmonious relationship among the government, society, market and individual citizens under the unified leadership of the Party committee. It encourages the public to be active and have a willing spirit to participate in all the state’s affairs. It also requires strict adherence to the principles of democracy and rules of the law.

The denotation of social governance highlights all-inclusiveness aimed at promoting benign social development as well as improving social relations and lifestyles. In the practice of social governance, different regions and groups have different activities and pursuits for social development. All kinds of practical activities aim at maintaining social order, coordinating social relations and improving lifestyles. This characteristic is embodied at the national level, local level and different group levels. (II)

Subjects of social governance.

The subject of social governance refers to the organizations, institutions, groups and individuals that participate in social or public affairs as well as the construction of benign social order, social relations and lifestyles. Looking at the practice of social governance in China, these subjects include party organizations, government, enterprises and institutions, social organizations, community organizations and urban and rural residents. Among these subjects, the Party committee leads, while the government is responsible, and the other subjects participate in social governance under the leadership of the Party. Currently, there are two urgent problems to be solved in the practice of social governance in China. First is how to enhance the ability of various social governance subjects, including decision-making, execution, supervision, participation and so on. Second, is how to turn the management to governance for the Party committee and the government, especially to correctly ascertain the relationship with other governing subjects. If these problems are not handled properly, it will affect the vitality of other social governance subjects, reduce the efficiency of social governance and increase the cost of social governance.

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Field and space of social governance.

The “Social governance field” is a concept put forward from the level of state governance, referring to the key aspects of national social governance. The following are the basic consensus for the areas of social governance: public services, income distribution, education, employment, medical care, housing, social security, social credit, social psychological services, public safety, social organization, and mediation of social contradiction. “Social governance space” refers to the space–time scope of social governance, including family, community, rural, urban and network space. Family governance includes the construction of family tradition and care for the aged and the young. Community governance includes community autonomy and community construction. Rural governance includes grassroots organizations, governance subjects and governance methods. Urban social governance includes the urban layout, form, and organization system, as well as the governance of metropolises and emerging cities. Network social governance includes network security, network order and network civilization construction. (IV)

Social governance system.

The “social governance system” refers to the relationship structure of the governance body. The characteristics of China’s current social governance system are the Party committees leading, the government being responsible, society coordinating, public participation and rule of law guaranteeing. The party committee plays a leading role in the social governance system, such as holding the overall situation and coordinating all parties. The government plays a responsible role in the social governance system, makes plans for social development and governance, provides public services, maintains public safety and constructs related facilities. Social organizations are collaborators in the social governance system and undertake the public service supply and public affairs transferred by the government. The people are the participants in the social governance system who have the right to participate in all social governance activities and conduct self-management, self-service and self-coordination in grassroots autonomy. The rule of law plays a normative and safeguarding role in the social governance system. The composition of these systems is interrelated. (V)

Modes of social governance.

The “Social governance mode” refers to the means and methods of social governance. In China’s social governance, there are mainly administrative, economic, legal, educational, cultural and technological means and the comprehensive use of these means. There are four main aspects of governance: system governance, governance by law, comprehensive governance, and source governance. System governance takes social governance as a system and analyzes the governance system with the system method so that all aspects and links of social governance are interrelated and interact to realize the leading role of the government and benign interaction. Governance

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by law is to conduct social governance and deal with social contradictions with the thinking of law, the mode of law and the norm of law. Comprehensive governance relies on the strength of the people and all aspects of society and integrates various means and norms, such as law, politics, economy, administration, education, culture, science and technology, to regulate interest relations, coordinate social relations and solve social problems. Source governance focuses on preventing and resolving social contradictions, adheres to treating both symptoms and root causes and focuses on treating root causes, satisfies people’s interest demands by improving people’s livelihood, safeguarding people’s rights and interests, increasing social services, and promotes the practice of social governance from the “source” of people’s interest demands so that social governance can take root in the masses, rely on the masses, serve the masses and help the masses, preventing the emergence and intensification of social contradictions.

2 Determinants of Social Governance Social governance activity is a complex and huge system. The social governance mode is determined by the basic national conditions of each country. The social system, historical evolution, cultural tradition and development level of a country or region determine and stipulate the corresponding social governance mode. The thoughts, tasks, ways and levels of social governance are determined by many factors in the process of social development. For a country in different historical periods, due to the differential levels of economic and social development, social governance will show different characteristics. Fundamentally speaking, the basic determinants of social governance are productivity, production relations, economic base and superstructure.

2.1 Productivity and Production Relations Marxism holds the view that material productivity is the material premise of the whole social life, and the sum of productivity and the production relations corresponding to productivity at a certain stage constitutes the social economic base. Productivity is the most active and revolutionary factor in promoting social progress, and it is also the decisive factor of social governance. Productivity was originally defined as the ability of laborers to produce material products. With the abundance of social material products and the deeper understanding of social development, the ability to produce spiritual products is also added to the category of productivity. In modern society, science and technology have become the first productivity and the most active factor in productivity. The productivity level, including science and technology level, determines not only the general characteristics of social governance but also all aspects of social governance. In the social form with relatively low

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productivity, the level of social governance is low, and the method of governance is extensive and simple. With the improvement of productivity, social governance has gradually become specialized, standardized, refined and informed. The fundamental decisive role of productivity in social governance is mainly embodied in the structure of productivity, the “material” of productivity and the “quantity” of productivity, which determine the basic characteristics of social governance. The structure of productivity determines the role and level of social governance in every social progress. The productivity structure includes many aspects, among which the industrial and technical structures are the most important. The industrial structure is basically of three divisions, namely, the primary industry, secondary industry and tertiary industry. In the historical stage where the primary industry was dominant, social governance was low-level; in the historical stage at the dominant position of the second industry, the level of social governance had significantly improved. In the historical stage where the tertiary industry was dominant, social governance played an important role in social progress. The level of modernization of the technical structure of productivity determines the level of modernization of social governance. The technical structure of productivity involves five aspects: cuttingedge technology, advanced technology, medium technology, primary technology and original technology. When primary technology and original technology are dominant, the level of social governance must also be basic and primitive; when cutting-edge technology and advanced technology are dominant, social governance must also be advanced and modernized. The “material” of productivity determines every aspect of social governance. The “material” of productivity usually refers to the means of labor used for creating both material and spiritual wealth, and the level of production tools is its main symbol. In human history, the development of “material” of productivity has gone through different stages from lower to higher levels. Generally, it has gone through the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Steam Age, Electrical Age, and now it has entered the Information Age. When productivity was in the historical stages with the lower-level “material”, for example, in the Steam Age and its previous stages, the level of social development was relatively low, and the social management idea was relatively extensive. Only productivity is in the historical stage with higher-level “material”; that is, in the Electrical Age and the Information Age, the social development level is relatively complex, and social management has the foundation to turn to social governance. The “quantity” of productivity determines the level of social governance. In the final analysis, the “quantity” of productivity is labor productivity in essence, which is to the degree of material and spiritual wealth created by the amount of the means of labor (i.e. big or small, much or little). In the historical stage with low labor productivity, it was the common task of the whole society to try to satisfy the basic survival needs of the social members, and the social governance level was relatively low. In the historical stage with high labor productivity, after the basic survival needs of the social members have been fully met, how to better meet the people’s growing needs for a better life has become an important task for the whole society. In

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such a historical stage, the importance of social governance has become even more prominent. Production relations are the fundamental determinants of social governance. Production relations usually refer to the social relations formed by laborers in the process of producing material and spiritual products. To date, human society has experienced five basic forms: primitive society, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society and socialist society. The production relations of different social forms have different essential characteristics, which play a decisive role in social governance. Before the emergence of capitalist relations of production, social governance was basically partial and piecemeal. The emergence of capitalist relations of production greatly promoted the progress of social governance, especially large-scale industrialized production, providing the material base and technical conditions for the systematization of social governance. The establishment of socialist production relations has promoted the fundamental progress of social governance. The basically decisive role of production relations on social governance is embodied in the four basic links: production, distribution, exchange and consumption. Production is the process in which workers use production tools to create products. The labor division relationship that people form in the production process is the basic relation that social governance must depend on. Different social groups have different interests and demands. Social governance must first coordinate the relationship among different stakeholders. Distribution refers to how labor products are distributed among members of society and the proportion of distribution. The income distribution relationship is an important adjustment mechanism of social governance. The income of the laborers should be gradually and rationally increased, and the minimum living standard of the disadvantaged groups who are short of income through social governance should be guaranteed by regulating the income level of social members through social governance. Exchange, also known as circulation, in a broad sense includes the exchange of productive activities and productive capacity. In a narrow sense, it refers to the exchange of labor and labor products. Fair exchange is an important principle in a socialist market economy. It stipulates that the subjects participating in the exchange need to participate in the establishment of exchange rules and supervise the exchange process to maintain the social order of fair exchange. The equal exchange relationship in the market economy determines people’s equal status and equal rights in participation in social public affairs. Consumption is an activity where people use social products to meet the needs of survival and development. The social consumption relation in the consumption link is the key field of social governance. The consumption relations among different professions, the relations between social consumption and personal consumption, the consumption relations among different classes, and the relations between current consumption and long-term consumption are all related to social development, social equity and social members’ sense of acquisition. Social governance should coordinate these relations, promote social fairness and justice, and maintain social harmony and stability.

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2.2 Economic Base and Superstructure The economic base is the main determinant of social governance. The Marxist classical writers define the economic base as the sum of the dominant production relations within a society. The development of human society is not a simple linear process but tortuous, circuitous, and spiraling. Therefore, it is impossible for any stage of social development or any historical era to present very pure production relations. There is always a main production relation determining the nature and level of social governance. In some capitalist countries, for example, there are still traces of feudalism in certain areas or regions. Similarly, in the primary stage of socialism, different types of production relations will exist in some areas, but the decisive factor is socialist production relations, which determine the basic direction and goal of social development and the nature and characteristics of social governance. Social governance dominated by capitalist production relations and social governance dominated by socialist production relations have definitely different social governance concepts, different social governance systems and different social governance tasks. Superstructure is an important determinant of social governance. The important determinant effect of superstructure on social governance is manifested in many aspects, especially the important role of the social political system, rule of law, culture and core values of social governance. The political system determines the direction, goal and path of social governance. When the level of the rule of law is high, all kinds of social subjects will obey laws and regulations voluntarily, and social governance can give full play to the leading and normative role of the rule of law on social behavior. Culture, which can merge social values, is a symbol of social progress and can guide the direction of social development. Through the role of culture, we can encourage social members to practice the core values of society and work together to solve social problems; through the infiltration and enlightenment of culture, we can improve the degree of social civilization and improve social customs to alleviate social contradictions and reduce social antagonism. The core values are the dominant values with a leading role in society and the indispensable spiritual prop of any society in healthy development. They play an integrated and leading role in social governance. First, the stability, harmony, prosperity and development of society need the guidance of core values. The core values can effectively promote the unity of social thoughts, effectively reach social consensus, and strengthen the ideological foundation for social governance. Second, core values can enhance the sense of identity within society to form a harmonious relationship of mutual respect and understanding among individuals, individuals and groups, groups and groups and enhance social cohesion and solidarity so that different social governance subjects can trust, support and cooperate with one other.

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3 The Function and Goal of Social Governance 3.1 The Basic Function of Social Governance

(I)

Maintaining social order and preventing social crisis.

Maintaining social order is one of the basic functions of social governance. The antithesis of social order is social disorder or crisis. By reviewing the history, we found that when the social system is dysfunctional and its scope and intensity have not truly affected the social order, it will not be considered a social crisis. When the scope and intensity of a dysfunctional social system triggers social unrest, it can lead to social crisis. Looking back at the major social crisis events that have taken place around the world since the nineteenth century, we can see that the social disorder of modern countries consists of two levels: the first level is that the public loses confidence in the credulity of the state to maintain social order and demands the replacement of some members or key members of the government; the second level is that the public loses trust in the state and destroys the existing systems by violence or revolution. The American social crisis model since the nineteenth century and the European capitalist countries’ social crisis model after the Second World War are all classical examples of the first level. Additionally, the social crisis models of many countries in Europe before the Second World War and the social crisis models of many countries in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East after the Second World War are all emphatic examples of the second level. Therefore, the fundamental way of preventing a social crisis is to first prevent the crisis caused by public distrust in the government, and an effective way of preventing this crisis is reforming “social governance”. By adhering to the concept of pluralistic social subjects, strengthening the government’s management of society, and actively tapping all kinds of social forces to partake in social affairs as well as public governance, we can avoid “government failure” caused by the government’s monotonous rule. Therefore, the first basic function of social governance is to maintain social order and prevent social breakdown. (II)

Dissolving social contradictions and promoting social harmony.

Another basic function of social governance is to coordinate social relations, build social consensus and promote social harmony. Since the reform and opening-up, a profound transformation has taken place in China’s economy and society, and both economic and social structures have undergone historic changes. In cities, after the disintegration of the unit system, all-round changes have taken place in employment, housing, medical care and old-age care. In the countryside, the original village organizations were weakened, the borders of villages were porous, and a large number of farmers went out to work; the whole society was characterized by distinct stratum and increasing mobility, and there were frequent social contradictions. Therefore, it is necessary to coordinate social relations, resolve public discontent, and promote

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mutual understanding and recognition by guiding various social forces to participate in public affairs to resolve social contradictions and maintain socially harmonious relations. (III)

Stimulating social vitality and arousing the enthusiasm of all aspects.

Another basic function of social governance is to inspire the entrepreneurialism of the social subjects and make society operate with vitality and efficiency. If the social forces are active and the broad masses of the people take active part in social governance, many seemingly difficult problems can be solved smoothly. If the whole society is “waiting, depending on, asking for”, with everyone unwilling to take responsibilities, the society will lack vitality and many things that should be done will be difficult to do, and the government will be overburdened. Therefore, it is necessary for social governance to effectively stimulate social vitality and constantly encourage the initiatives and enthusiasm of the people and grassroots units to participate in public affairs. (IV)

Promoting social progress and demonstrating social fairness and justice.

Another basic function of social governance is to promote all-round social progress and raise the level of social civilization. In social construction, fairness and justice are important symbols of social progress and social civilization. The realization of social justice depends on effective social governance. If social governance is an institutional mechanism of co-construction, co-governance and co-enjoyment of multiple governance subjects, then it will provide a system guarantee for the realization of social justice. It is necessary for social governance to build a governance system with equal opportunities and equal results. This is in a bid to transcend the competitive public order under free social mobility in the early stage of Western modern society, whose essence is to contest between the social structures with relatively equal opportunities and the social structure with unequal results.

3.2 The Main Goals of Social Governance (I)

Constructing “harmonious society”.

Constructing a harmonious socialist society is an important goal of China’s socialist modernization as well as the main goal of social governance. A harmonious society is a society where all the people build, govern and enjoy together. To build a harmonious society is to solve the most concerned interests of the people in accordance with the general requirements of democracy and rule of law, fairness and justice, honesty and fraternity, vitality, stability and order, and a harmonious coexistence between man and nature, so as to make the people’s living more perfect, the rule of law more sound, and fairness and justice more compact. To build a harmonious society is also to build a society where all members do their best, play their proper roles,

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build and share the fruits of development. The rural–urban disparity and income gap will be narrowed, and absolute poverty will be eliminated. All social undertakings develop in an all-round way, and the social security systems are fully covered. We will better realize the ancients’ pursuit of “the old can have good end-results, the strong can have proper roles, the children can grow up healthily, and widowers, widows, lonely people, disabled people, unhealthy people all have support of life” (Li Yun of Li Ji). This will help realize the ideal life, which has been reiterated many times by our Party, as “every child getting access to education, every kid being in school, everyone having work to do, every sick being treated, the elderly being taken care of, everyone having a roof over the head, and every weak being helped”, and promote social equity and justice. Respecting virtue and etiquette, sincerely believing in charity, cultivating and disciplining oneself, respecting the elders and caring for children are generally accepted in society. In a harmonious society, political clarity, social harmony, family harmony, interpersonal harmony, kind mentality and harmonious coexistence between man and nature will be realized. The construction of a harmonious socialist society will constantly take new steps. (II)

Constructing “safe society”.

Building a safe society means that people’s sense of security is greatly enhanced and that they enjoy more peaceful lives in general. In a safe society, people live and work in peace, and society is filled with peace. Justice is generally upheld, evil is resolutely punished, and the phenomenon of “stealing and burglary” is drastically reduced. In addition, the three-dimensional public safety system is sound, the ability to maintain public safety is enhanced, while the systematicness, integrity and synergy of public security works. Public safety situations such as food and drug safety, traffic safety, residential safety and environmental safety are also continuously improved, which guarantees an efficient working social order. (III)

Constructing “credit society”.

Constructing a credit society means that the whole society’s credit consciousness and the level of credit are generally improved. People there are honest and respect promises, consciously “keeping faith and maintaining harmony”. The “deception and weirdness” phenomenon is reduced. In such a society, the credit reference system covering the whole society has been basically completed. The social credit law and the standard system have been gradually established. The credit infrastructure and the service market are relatively perfect. The credit supervision system is unceasingly perfect, and the incentive mechanism for keeping promises and the punishment mechanism for breaking promises have played an all-round role, where significant progress have been recorded in the construction of political, business, social and judicial integrity. Likewise, the social credit environment is obviously improved, and even the credit culture and the credit society also rise magnificently.

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Constructing “society ruled by law”.

To build a society by law is to implement the rule of law in an all-round way in society. The social life of people should be put into the track of legalization and standardization. Social vitality should be kept advancing and operating in accordance with rules and regulations. The concept and belief of rule of law in society as a whole should be generally strengthened. The Constitution and the law should also be better implemented and obeyed. The ability to govern society in accordance with the law needs to be encouraged. The social public legal service system and service guarantee must be gradually perfected, and the whole society has to adopt the habit of respecting the law, learning the law, believing the law and abiding by the law. Living and abiding by the law should be seen as highly respectable, while breakage of the law should equally be seen as a disgrace. (V)

Constructing “healthy society”.

Building a healthy society means that the health status of the masses is continuously improved, the overall quality of the people is generally enhanced, and the average life expectancy of the people is satisfactorily increased. The basic medical and health care systems covering urban and rural residents have been gradually improved. In addition, a sound public health and medical service system has been generally established, where everyone enjoys basic medical and health services. In addition, the sanitary environment in urban and rural areas has improved, and dirty, disorderly and bad phenomena have been significantly reduced. Furthermore, the national fitness-oriented society has been built, and the main indicators of physical fitness have reached the level of developed countries. Last but not least, the construction of social morality has been promoted in an all-round way, the mental quality and health of the populace have been fully improved, the social ethos has been obviously purified, and the whole society is duly developing in an all-round and healthy way. (VI)

Constructing “happy society”.

Building a happy society is to better benefit the people and improve the warmth of society so that the indices of the well-being of urban and rural residents will be raised in an all-round way. This calls for a drastic financial prosperity in the lives of the people, and the quality of life of the people to be significantly improved, family property to be increased, democratic rights to be widely enjoyed, various legitimate rights and interests to be effectively guaranteed, and the spiritual life of the people to be well enriched. Additionally, human dignity should be generally respected, and human freedom and all-round development should be continuously realized, with a sense of gaining and happiness, where the value of life can be better realized. A happy environment will be constructed in an all-round way, and the living, working and ecological environment will be continuously improved. Families are happy and healthy. The general mechanism of all the elements of happiness is constantly expanding. “Happiness” will become the popular pursuit of the people, and the experience and satisfaction of happiness will be generally increased.

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4 Status and Role of Social Governance 4.1 The Status and Role of Social Governance in State Governance Social governance is an important organic part of state governance. First, the subjects of social governance are the legal persons or natural persons of the state. They are both the participants and service objects of state governance. In other words, the subjects of social governance are also the subjects of “a state”. Second, the objects of social governance are the important constitution of the objects of state governance. In all state public affairs, social order and social relations are indispensable basic elements. Without good social order, there is no social environment for any state public affairs. Without good social relations, there is no social basis for any state public affairs. The modernization of social governance is one of the goals of the modernization of state governance. First, the modernization of social governance will provide the basic conditions for the modernization of state governance. Modernization in the final analysis is man’s modernization, and the core of man’s modernization is the modernization of man’s ideology. The subject of social governance has the characteristics of pluralism. In addition to the Party organization and the government, enterprises, social organizations and individual citizens are the subject of social governance. For these governance subjects, especially the governance subjects other than the Party organization and the government, transformation from “homey” governance subject to the “self-conscious” governance subject is an important sign of social governance modernization. The process of modernization of social governance and the process of modernization of the subjects of social governance are moving forward together. With the advancement of the modernization of social governance, the degree of the modernization of the subjects of social governance is bound to be increasingly higher, which lays the foundation for humans and provides the subject condition for the advancement of the modernization of state governance. Second, from the logic of long-term development, the modernization of social governance is the inevitable result of the modernization of state governance. The modernization of state governance is essentially the modernization of state public affairs activities. The modernization of state public affairs activities is not an aim in itself, but the real aim is to make people’s lives happy, make society energetic and operate orderly and make social relations harmonious through the modernization of state public affairs activities. The essence and connotation of social governance modernization is people’s happy lives, stable social order and harmonious social relations. Therefore, the modernization of social governance is one of the goals of the modernization of state governance. Whether or not, the modernization of state governance or the modernization of social governance will be a rather long historical process. In the meaning of the process, the modernization of social governance and the modernization of state governance match with and promote each other and are prerequisites of and based on each other.

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4.2 The Status and Role of Social Governance in Social Construction Social construction is an important aspect of the overall layout of the national “Five in One”. “Five in One” is the overall layout of economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, social construction and ecological civilization construction. Social governance is an important component of social construction. To do a good job in social construction, we must do a good job in social governance. Without good social governance, there can be no good social construction. Economic governance can be divided into macroeconomic governance and microeconomic governance, and social governance can also be subdivided into macrosocial governance and microsocial governance. Macrosocial governance determines the overall level and general trend of national social construction. The aim of social construction is to make people enjoy better lives, better public services and a better development environment. To promote social construction, macrosocial governance needs to optimize the leadership system of social governance, improve the mechanism of social governance, and straighten out the relationship between the different social governance subjects. To optimize the leadership system of social governance is to establish a relatively perfect leading system of social governance at every administrative level under the leadership of the Communist Party of China to avoid local and departmental separation. Perfecting the mechanism of social governance involves establishing a mechanism with functional cooperation and avoiding all kinds of problems caused by the fragmentation of governance. To straighten out the relationship among different social governance subjects is to fully promote social forces to participate in social governance and to actively encourage social organizations and individual citizens to take part in social governance while emphasizing the leadership of Party committees and the responsibility of the government to avoid the marginalization of social organizations and individual citizens. The development of macrosocial governance is a gradual process that needs to be constantly adjusted and changed according to the overall situation of economic and social development. We should not only avoid being eager for success and advancing blindly but also avoid following old routines and standing stills. Microsocial governance determines the quality and efficiency of social operation. Public services in particular must be implemented in the process of specific services so that the service objects have a real sense of access. To promote social construction, microsocial governance should first make great efforts to change the concept and methods of extensive social management. Extensive social management lacks the understanding and respect for the specific needs of the broad masses of the people and the attention paid to the efficiency of public services. To change this situation, standardization and normalization should be emphasized in microsocial governance, and two main aspects of work should be done well. First, we should make full use of scientific and technological means to collect information and feedback. Information

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collection and feedback is the inherent meaning of social governance. Only by understanding people’s needs in a timely and accurate manner can we carry out targeted services. Only by giving timely feedback to the people’s evaluation and sense of acquisition can we also continuously optimize and perfect the contents, methods and objects of the services. Second, we should fully rely on professional methods to do well in “the last kilometer” service transmission. Public service and social service can be truly completed when they are transmitted to specific individuals as service objects. Service transmission can truly play its role only when it adopts specific working methods according to the different objects, different questions and different demands. Therefore, the specialization of service transmission is very important,

4.3 The Promotion Role of Social Governance on Economic, Political, Cultural and Ecological Civilization Construction Social governance promotes economic construction. Economic development is the basis of political, social and cultural development, and the modernization of economic construction is the basis of the modernization of state governance. At present and in the coming periods, China’s economy is entering the “new normal” development and is experiencing the process of shifting the speed of growth, adjusting the economic structure and changing the power of economic growth but will likely face the challenge of crossing the “middle income trap”. An important issue in the reform and development of the economic system is how to play the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources and better play the role of the government. Good social governance can effectively solve the problems of nonstandard market order, nonuniform operating rules and inadequate competition in economic construction. Promoting the modernization of social governance is conducive to promoting the modernization of economic construction. First, social governance can provide credit support for economic governance. The modern market economy is a kind of economy in which the basis of exchange relationships is by contract. The credit concept and trustworthiness behaviour of the subject of economic activity are the basic conditions of the market economy. Without the support of credit, it will be difficult to finally establish a modern market economy. The important goal of social governance is to build a “credit society”. It is an important task of social governance to establish credit concepts and respect trustworthiness behaviour among all people. The construction of a “credit society” will lay the foundation of credit for the market economy. Social governance can then provide a legal environment for economic construction. The modern market economy is an economic activity system based on modern law. The important guarantee of the market economy’s activity and prosperity is a perfect law system. The important goal of social governance is to build a “society ruled by law”. It is an important task of social governance to establish the concept of rule of law, popularize legal knowledge and form law-abiding behaviour among all the people.

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The construction of a “society ruled by law” will create a good legal environment for the market economy. Social governance has a catalytic effect on political construction. The modernization of political construction is an important part of the modernization of state governance. The core content of political construction is the construction of democratic politics, and the improvement of democratic politics is an important part of the modernization of state governance. To improve democratic politics, we first need to adhere to the status of the people’s subject and give full play to the role of the People’s Congress in its fundamental political system. Second, we need to adhere to the institutionalized development of consultative democracy so that people of different strata and groups can have the opportunity to participate in the political process. Third, we need to fully develop grassroots democracy and actively support and encourage residents of urban and rural communities to participate in public affairs decision-making and consultation activities. Social governance will be conducive to the modernization of political construction. First, social governance emphasizes “multiple subject”, that is, encouraging social organizations and individual citizens to play the role of the subject of social governance and actively and responsibly participate in social governance practice. The social organizations and individual citizens’ successful practice accumulated in the participation of social governance can be an important embodiment of their participation in the construction of democratic politics. Therefore, social governance provides the subject basis for political construction. Second, social governance emphasizes the equal relationships among the governance subjects; that is, it advocates the development of social governance practice activities through cooperation and negotiation among governance subjects. This subject relation model of equal participation is a necessary feature of the modernization of political construction. Therefore, social governance provides an interactive basis for political construction. Social governance promotes the construction of culture. Cultural governance, in the final analysis, aims to purify people’s minds, create healthy spiritual pillars, improve citizens’ ideological accomplishment, and enrich the cultural life of society. The promotion of social governance on the basis of cultural governance is reflected in two aspects. First, the goal of social governance is to build harmonious social relations. The establishment of harmonious social relations helps to eliminate antagonism among people, resolve all kinds of contradictions among people and ease people’s psychological anxiety, which provides a psychological basis for cultural governance. Second, social governance emphasizes refinement service, that is, to provide effective public service for the broad masses of the people and provide effective social service for the disadvantaged groups. “Refinement” is to specifically pay attention to and understand the uniqueness of each individual’s needs and provide appropriate service content and service methods for this uniqueness. Refinement reflects respect for people and humanistic care. The universalization of refinement services will provide good spiritual incentives for cultural construction. Social governance promotes the construction of ecological civilization. Ecological governance, in the final analysis, is to construct a harmonious relationship between man and nature, create green mountains, green water, blue sky for the sustainable

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development of the Chinese nation, and leave rich resources and a beautiful environment for future generations. The relationship between man and nature is an extension of the relationship between man and man. The relationship between man and nature cannot be truly harmonious without a harmonious relationship between man and man. Therefore, the success of eco-civilization construction must depend on the success of social governance. Through social governance, we can improve people’s awareness of ecological civilization and build harmonious human-to-human relationships, providing social conditions for the construction of ecological civilization. In this sense, social governance will be the premise and guarantee of ecological civilization construction. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Explain the following concepts: social governance, social governance subject. Describe briefly the connotation of social governance. Analyze the function of social governance. Describe briefly the factors that determine social governance. In association with the actual situation, elaborate on the status and function of social governance in state governance.

Basic Theory of Social Governance in China Liqun Wei

Overview This chapter mainly expounds the basic theory of China’s social governance, including the social governance thought of Marxism and the development of the social governance thought of Marxism in China. Through the study of this chapter, readers can understand the basic thought and analysis method of social governance of Marxism, which is helpful to form the view of social governance of Marxism.

1 The Social Governance Thought of Marxism 1.1 The Background of the Social Governance Thought of Marxism From the middle of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, some classical Marxist writers, such as Marx, Engels and Lenin, in their revolutionary practice and theoretical research, boldly conceived of the future social form, actively explored the new ways of socialist social governance, creatively raised the question about how a socialist society should be managed and formed rich thoughts of social governance. (I)

The Theoretical Origin of Social Governance Thought of Marxism

The social governance thought of Marxism originated from the discussion of state and social relations by early scholars in Western countries. First, the “Absolute Monarchy”, represented by Machiavelli, Hegel and others, holds that the state is supreme, L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_2

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the state is at the center, and society is on the edge; the state has absolute control over society and does not change with time and place. Second, the “Confrontation Theory of State and Society”, represented by Locke and Paine, holds that there are qualitative differences between the state and society, which are independent and relatively separate from each other, but society may be swallowed up by the state at any time, so it will take measures to resist. This gradually developed into a struggle for “freedom” and “equality”. Third, the “Relation Theory of State and Society”, represented by Marx and Engels, holds that the state is the product of social development. In the process of development, the two gradually form a relation of competition and interaction, which will completely replace mutual confrontation and eventually achieve great integration. (II)

The Objective Conditions for the Emergence of Social Governance Thought of Marxism

The economic development of capitalism provided a realistic condition for the emergence of social governance through Marxism. In the early nineteenth century, the capitalist economy in the west experienced unprecedented development, but the great progress of productivity also led to overproduction and an economic crisis. The economic crisis exposed the inherent contradiction of the capitalist mode of production and aggravated the conflict between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie under the capitalist system, leading to the outbreak of the social revolution led by the proletariat. The proletariat needed the guidance of scientific theory to fulfill its mission. This promoted the emergence of the classical social governance thought of Marxism. In addition, the development of natural sciences, including cell theory, energy conservation law and Darwinian biological evolutionism, has provided a materialistic view of the social governance thought of Marxism and prompted people to take a dialectical view of the relationship between the state and society. (III)

The Class Basis for the Emergence of Social Governance-Thought of Marxism.

The industrial revolution promoted the rapid development of capital. The proletariat was ruthlessly exploited by industrial capitalists, and the basic contradictions of society became increasingly prominent. Since the 1830s, the Workers’ Uprisings in Lyon, the Chartism and the Textile Workers’ Uprising in Silesia have successively broken out. The occurrence of the Three Workers’ Movement marked the emergence of the proletariat as an independent political force with workers as its main body on the stage of history. On the one hand, the emergence of the proletariat provided a class basis for the birth of Marxism; on the other hand, the struggle of the early proletariat had a certain degree of spontaneity, and it was difficult to adapt itself to the increasingly intensified situation of class struggle. Scientific theoretical guidance and organizational leadership are urgently needed, which provides a practical basis for the emergence of social governance through Marxism.

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1.2 The Main Contents of Social Governance Thought of Marxism (I)

Marx and Engels’ Thought of Social Governance

Marx and Engels hold that social affairs are the affairs of all members, and all members in society should participate in and govern affairs together. Although Marx and Engels did not directly refer to the exact definition of “social governance”, there was much discussion about “how to govern society in the future” in their works, such as The Communist Manifesto, Critique of the Gotha Programme and Anti-Duhring. Marx holds that social governance should take the state, the civil society and the general people as the main body, the development of social productivity, education and the establishment of social security as the content, and the realization of social fairness and justice and the free and all-round development of human beings as its objectives. In theoretical research and social practice, Engels enriched the thought of socialist social governance based on his long-term observation of the development of socialist society and his profound grasp of the laws of social development. Marx and Engels’ important discourse and thoughts on social governance are mainly embodied in six aspects. 1.

Advocate the Generality of Social Governance Main Body

Marx thought that the state, civil society and the people were all the main bodies of social governance, but in societies with different natures and different stages of social development, the structures of the main bodies of social governance would be quite different. Marx analyzed the social governance of three social forms in detail: first, the primitive clan society, the structure of social main body was single, social governance was a kind of spontaneous, loose self-organization and management; After entering the class society, the social main body structure changed profoundly, the state became the important main body of social governance, and the organization degree of social governance increased unceasingly. Society in the future, the “Community of Free People” will become the main body of social governance so that the people will truly become the masters of their own affairs. In summing up the governance experience of the Paris Commune, Marx pointed out that “the people” means” the people’s class, the peasants and the middle class”, and the so-called “people’s governance” refers to people’s sovereignty, people’s universal suffrage, people’s supervision, people’s education and so on. At the stage of social development to the communist society, coalitions consisting of free developing individuals will carry out the functions of social governance. This not only includes the state service personnel but also involves the masses. That is, in communist society, every member of society will truly become the master of society and participate fully in social governance. 2.

Advocate the Diversity of Social Governance Content

Essentially, social governance aims to meet people’s needs for a better life, that is, people’s livelihood. People “need basic things in life first; to eat, drink, live, wear

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and others,”1 Marx said. After the basic necessities of life are met, other needs at a higher level will naturally arise. To realize the orderly governance of society, we must start from many aspects. First, we should vigorously develop social productivity and promote the improvement of social productivity. The development of productivity is the basic premise and material guarantee of social governance. Marx believed that if there was no rapid growth and high development of productivity, it would lead to the universalization of extreme poverty, and we must restart the struggle for necessities. Also, we should vigorously develop the cause of education and promote the overall development of human beings. The development object of education in Marx’s field of view is mainly the working class and their children, especially the children. He criticized the use of child labour in bourgeois countries and advocated the abolition of the child labour system, free universal education for all children, and the strengthening of family education. Furthermore, we should set up reserve funds to guard against social risks. In Marx’s opinion, society needs to provide reserve funds to adapt to the risk and uncertainty of social material production and to effectively guarantee the rights and interests of workers. Society needs to provide partial living security to maintain the basic living needs of people who have not reached the legal working age. Society needs to provide safeguard measures to solve the survival and social problems of people unable to participate in productive labor due to old age. Social security, as the common basis of all social production modes, is necessary in economic development as well as in social life and social development. 3.

Identify the Multiplicity of Social Governance Goals

According to Marx, the goal of social governance includes at least two levels: primary goal and ultimate goal. First and foremost, realizing social fairness and justice is the primary goal of social governance. On the basis of criticizing the justice thought of bourgeois societies, Marx explained the justice view of proletariat. Marx holds that the discussion of social justice should be based on “realistic people”, rather than on the so-called human rationality, on the basis of which the “equality”, “freedom”, and “rights” of “abstract people” or “ordinary people” are the main contents concerned and the main category discussed of social justice theory. He put forward the proposition that social justice can be achieved only in a communist society. In Marx’s opinion, only when the public ownership of production means is established and productivity is highly developed could the situation of “sacrificing the interests of some people to meet the needs of others” be avoided and the broad masses of the people could share the welfare created by social development. Only in this way can we promote the advent of social equity and justice. Second, realizing humans’ free and comprehensive development is the ultimate goal of social governance. Marx’s thought of social governance starts from the authentic “real man”, respects man’s main body status, and fully demonstrates the people-oriented value theme. The “realistic people” mentioned here refer to living individuals in society who form certain social relationships with each other and are constantly engaged in practical life. “Such a person” is defined by the society he depends on and constructs and actively changes 1

Selected Works of Marx and Engels, vol. 1, pp. 79, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995.

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society. Thus, in The Communist Manifesto, Marx envisioned the organizational form of the future society, that is, “instead of the old bourgeois society where class and class antagonism existed, there would be such a union where the free development of everyone would be the condition for the free development of all people”.2 4.

Social Governance is the Basis of Political Rule

In view of the relationship between social governance and political power, both Marx and Engels made important remarks. Marx thought: “All political power is based at first on some kind of economic and social function.”3 Engels pointed out that “Political rule is based on carrying out some kind of social function everywhere, and political rule can last only when it carries out this kind of social function.”4 All these show that social governance lays the social foundation for political rule, and political rule dictates and guarantees the effective implementation of social governance. In the view of Marx and Engels, the function of social governance will always exist along with the existence of the state and will not disappear because of regional differences or the development of times. In other words, social governance has lasting influence and wide coverage. In the process of leading socialist social governance, the proletariat must ensure that achievements are even greater. Otherwise, the failure of social governance will lead to the collapse of political rule, and because of the loss of basic preconditions, social governance will become the water without source and the tree without roots. From this point of view, the relationship between the state and society constitutes the logical starting point of social governance. 5.

Social Governance is a Dynamic Development Process

When predicting and judging the future society, Engels placed special emphasis on the application of dialectical materialism views. In his view, human society is moving, changing and developing, and its basic and general trend is from low-level to high-level historical processes. He stressed: “the so-called ‘socialist society’ is not an immutable thing, but should be regarded as a society with constant changes and reforms like any social system.”5 He also stressed: “we are continuous development theorists, and we do not intend to impose any final laws on mankind. “6 Socialist society is a changing and developing society. When answering how he would govern the future society, he said, “My party has not proposed any ready-made solutions once and for all. “7 We can see that Engels believes that measures should be taken flexibly, according to the social reality and development process, and it is not recommended to give specific plans or ready-made plans directly. Therefore, in changing and developing societies, there is no immutable social governance plan. Governance measures must change with the development and change of society. 2

Marx, Engels: The Communist Manifesto, pp. 51, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2014. Marx and Engels Selected Works. vol. 3, pp. 526, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995. 4 Engels: Anti-Duhring, pp. 187, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1999. 5 Marx and Engels Collected Works, vol. 10, pp. 588, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2009. 6 Marx and Engels Collected Works, vol. 4, pp. 561, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2009. 7 Marx and Engels Complete Works, vol. 36, pp. 419, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1975. 3

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The Fundamental Task of Social Governance is to Return to Society

In Engels’ view, participation in social governance is the right enjoyed by every member of society, and the ultimate goal of social development is to return to society; that is, the ownership of social governance rights and production means should be returned to citizens and society. When answering the question of “how to govern a socialist society”, the answer that Engels talked about repeatedly and considered to be the most important was the realization of public ownership of production means. On the issue of “how to embody the social ownership of production means”, Engels, taking land as an example, advocated the return to society in the form of collective ownership and state ownership, explained the steps of return in detail, and emphasized the role of this process in social governance. In addition, he pointed out in particular that “it is possible for each member to participate not only in the production of social wealth, but also in the distribution and management of social wealth”.8 Engels believed that once the production means were owned by society and all members of society had no difference in their possession of the production means and social wealth, social governance rights would be enjoyed by members of society and naturally equal to each other. (II)

Lenin’s Thought of Social Governance

Lenin inherited and developed the social governance thoughts of Marx and Engels and formed the ideology of social governance. This ideological system adhered to the leading core status of the Party, established the principal role of the people in governance, strengthened the construction of laws and systems, promoted the establishment and development of social undertakings such as social security and basic education, mobilized social forces to participate, and finally realized the allround development of human beings and social equity and justice. Lenin’s thought of social governance is mainly embodied in seven aspects. 1.

Adhere to the party’s Overall Leadership

On the basis of summarizing the practical experience of the Russian socialist revolution and construction, Lenin proposed correctly handling the relationship between the Communist Party and various other organizations and unswervingly upholding the leading core status of the proletarian party. Regarding the modes of leadership, according to Lenin’s view, adhering to the Party’s leadership does not mean that the government is replaced by the Party committee to manage specific social affairs. The Party’s task is to carry out “general leadership” (political leadership) rather than “excessive, abnormal or trivial interference”. Therefore, it is extremely necessary to “clearly divide the responsibilities of the Party (and its central government) and the Soviet political power”.9 This discussion practically showed that the overall leadership of the Party is of great importance to social governance and provided an important theoretical basis for the subsequent leadership of socialist social governance. 8 9

Marx and Engels Selected Works, vol. 3, pp. 336, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995. Lenin Complete Works, vol. 43, pp. 64, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1987.

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Establish the Main Body Status of People in Governance

Lenin believed that the people were the masters of the state, and all the rights of the state representing and belonging to the people came from people and were vested by the people. After the establishment of Soviet political power, the proletarian political party, when consolidating nascent political power and developing socialism, should attach great importance to “attracting the labourer and the poor to participate in the day-to-day work to manage the state”.10 He also pointed out that we should mobilize the broad masses, arouse the people’s main body consciousness and give full play to the main body role of the people, not only in the socialist revolution but also in the whole process of building socialism. In addition, Lenin believed that the dictatorship of the proletariat was a “complex system composed of a number of gears”. Between the “engine” and the “machine”, there must be a “transmission device”.11 Trade unions, the Communist Youth League, women’s federations and other people’s organizations organized in a joint way should give full play to the role of the bridge. 3.

Strengthen the Construction of Legal System

Lenin holds that socialist social governance must establish and perfect laws and systems, regulate the operation of social power and maintain social public order. He stressed, “The more stable our political power becomes and the better our civil circulation develops, the more we need to put forward the unswerving slogan of strengthening the revolutionary legal system.”12 Under the leadership of Lenin, Soviet Russia continuously promoted legal system construction and strengthened the normative role of the law and system in state management and social governance. Its concrete measures include: Power should be operated within the frameworks of law and system; to institutionalize the supervision power of people; to regulate the relationship between government and market by law. 4.

Attach Importance to the Development of Social Undertakings

Lenin systematically expounded social security in Russia and advocated the implementation of this social security system. In the process of consolidating the new political power, it is an unshirkable duty of the proletarian regime to provide extensive social security for the broad masses of the people. Only through legislation can we promote the implementation of the social security system, ensure its unity, equality and effectiveness and win broad rights for the working masses, and only then can the social security system become a legal way to pursue freedom and liberation. On the basis of the abovementioned considerations, he proposed the social security system for the working class for the first time to ensure that workers obtain social welfare. At the same time, Lenin attached great importance to the development of social undertakings such as basic education, national literacy, prevention of poor 10

Lenin Selected Works, vol. 3, pp. 303, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995. Lenin Thematic Collected works: On Socialism, pp. 304, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2009. 12 Lenin Complete Works, vol.42, pp. 353, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, I987. 11

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harvests, and elimination of famine. He put them in a prominent position in the social governance system, which highlighted the supporting value of the development of social undertakings to social governance. 5.

Mobilize Social Forces to Participate

Lenin believed that trade unions were the most extensive working-class organizations and mass organizations of the proletariat and should actively participate in the construction and management of socialist countries. At the beginning of the establishment of the Soviet, Lenin pointed out that he hoped that the power of trade unions could be exerted and trade unions would fully assume state administration functions. He took this as an opportunity to advocate the implementation of the policy of “nationalization of trade unions”. He stressed that if we wanted trade unions to be the main carrier for the realization of people’s autonomy, we should make them “communist schools” where people will learn management skills and the representatives of all the working people. With the development of social productivity, people’s management ability and level will be greatly improved under the education of trade unions, and they will eventually be able to manage the country and truly realize autonomy. 6.

Promote the Overall Development of People

In Lenin’s view, promoting the overall development of people is the proper meaning of social governance. He noted, “eliminate the division of labour among people, educate, train and develop the people who have all-round development and are fully trained, that is, the people who can do all work. Communism is moving towards this goal, and we must move towards this goal, and we will certainly achieve it.”13 In the realization of the overall development of people, he emphasized the importance of education even more. By influencing and guiding the masses in ideology, organization and education, society should cultivate a generation of young people who can contribute to the realization of communism and make sustained efforts for the eventual realization of human freedom and all-round development. 7.

Pursue Social Justice and Equality

Lenin holds that the elimination of class is a prerequisite for social justice and equality, and he especially emphasizes the consistency between the elimination of class and the elimination of social differences. “If equality is not understood as the elimination of class, equality is an empty word.”14 He pointed out that, in the interpretation of different classes, the concrete content of justice and equality would be different. In the class society with private ownership of production means, class inequality persists, and there can be no real “equality” between the exploiters and the exploited. In society with public ownership of production means, with the complete elimination of private ownership, the high development of productive forces, the disappearance of the opposition between mental and physical labour, and the great abundance of material wealth, it is possible to achieve true justice and equality only 13 14

Lenin Complete Works, vol. 39, pp. 29, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1986. Lenin Selected Works, vol. 3, pp. 816, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995.

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when “all people do their best and distribute according to their needs”. In this sense, justice and equality are social and historical processes that can only be truly realized in a communist society.

1.3 Significance of Social Governance Thought of Marxism Marx, Engels and Lenin’s thought of social governance constitutes the classic social governance thought of Marxism. Based on the reality of the stage of social development, combined with the governance experience of the Paris Commune, Marx and Engels criticized and absorbed the beneficial results of capitalist democracy, followed the law of human social development, envisioned the new characteristics of future social governance, judged the new trend of social development, revealed the law of human social development, and proposed that the people were the creators of history and the theoretical basis of social governance thought of Marxism. Although their ideas involve only the most general principles, they can also provide scientific methods and point out forward directions for the innovation of social governance. In the construction and development of Soviet socialism, Lenin persisted and developed the social governance thoughts of Marx and Engels. Combined with the national conditions of the backward economy and culture of Soviet Russia, Lenin creatively proposed the idea of how to develop social governance in socialist countries with backward economies and cultures to further enrich the social governance theory of classic Marxism, which has a certain range of universal significance to the construction of backward countries. The social governance theory of Marxism is a dialectical development process from theory to practice and from practice to theory. As Lenin said, “Now everything is in practice, and now we have reached such a historical juncture: theory is turning into practice, theory is given vigor by practice, revised by practice, and tested by practice.”15 The theory of Marxist classical writers on social governance is the theoretical development and action guide of social governance in the victory of China’s newdemocratic revolution, the establishment of the people’s political power, socialist construction and reform and opening up. At the same time, the rapid development and change of socialist society will further perfect social governance theory, enrich the connotation of social governance, and expand the extension of social governance. The social governance thought of Marxism has an important enlightenment function for Chinese social governance thought and practice development. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that “socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and the major social contradictions in China have been transformed into contradiction between the people’s growing needs for a better life and the unbalanced and inadequate development.” When people’s basic material needs are met, they will pay more attention to 15

Lenin Thematic Collected works: On Socialism, pp. 59–60, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2009.

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enhancing their sense of gain, happiness and security and pursue the satisfaction of their needs in democracy, rule of law, fairness, justice, security and environment. This aspect directly reflects the ultimate value goal of social governance of Marxism, i.e., the free and all-round development of human beings. Therefore, to strengthen social governance in the new era, we need to adhere to the principle of taking people as the main body and highlight the people-oriented value orientation; we need to promote the modernization of the social governance system and governance capacity, to stimulate social vitality, to promote the co-establishment and co-governance of multiple main bodies, and form the resultant force of social governance.

2 The Development of Social Governance Thought of Marxism in China 2.1 Mao Zedong’s Thought of Social Governance In the construction of revolutionary base areas in the period of democratic revolution, Mao Zedong made many important comments on social governance. After the founding of New China in 1949, how to carry out state building and social governance became the main tasks of Chinese Communists, mainly represented by Mao Zedong. In light of China’s basic national, social and people’s conditions, Mao Zedong creatively proposed a series of social governance thoughts and realized the revolutionary transformation from “New Democracy” to “Socialism”. These thoughts provided a powerful ideological and theoretical weapon for solving the social problems of that period, enriched and developed the social governance thoughts of Marxism, and made China’s social governance enter into a new historical development stage. In summary, Mao Zedong’s thoughts of social governance are mainly embodied in six aspects. (I)

The People are the Real Masters of Social Governance

Mao Zedong attached great importance to the important status and role of the people in social governance. In summing up the experience of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Mao Zedong emphasized that “the people, only the people, are the driving force for the creation of world history.”16 With the word “Only”, he emphasized the main body role of the people in the creation of history. This provided theoretical support in the world view for upholding people ruling and governing. The victory of the Chinese revolution depends on millet plus rifles and the broad masses of the people, and the people are the real source of power for social progress. After the three tasks of socialist transformation were basically completed, Mao Zedong put forward the proposition of “After the issue of ownership is basically solved, the most important issue is management”.17 In his view, social construction and governance 16 17

Selected Works of MAO TSE-TUNG, vol. 3, pp. 1031, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1991. Collected works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. 8, pp. 134, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1999.

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have become the most important issues of society, which must be taken seriously. Governance depends fundamentally on the masses, and governance is for the masses. It can be said that following the mass line and letting people directly manage state and social affairs is one of the originalities of Mao Zedong’s thought and practice of social governance. (II)

Income Distribution is an Important Aspect of Social Governance

In social governance, Mao Zedong paid great attention to the issue of income distribution. On the one hand, he completely abolished the system that people exploit other people, and he established principle distribution according to work; on the other hand, he resolutely opposed equalitarianism and polarization. He pointed out, “Our formulation is to oppose both equalitarianism and excessive disparity.”18 The balance point between the two needs to be controlled as well as possible, no matter which side is biased; it will frustrate the enthusiasm and initiative of the people to participate in social governance. It will undermine the enthusiasm and initiative of the people to participate in social governance. Such efforts to narrow the distribution gap are reflected not only in narrowing the gap in people’s possession of production means but also in narrowing the gap in wages and incomes and then seeking to achieve equality among people in a wider range and to a higher degree. At the same time, on the basis of emphasizing “distribution according to work, and recognition of differences”, Mao Zedong also attached great importance to” the issue of distribution. We must take state, collective and individual interests into account”.19 This shows the harmonious unity of the relations of the state, the collective and the individual interests, which is the important foundation for the realization of social governance. In terms of China’s basic national conditions, Mao Zedong has given more realistic and richer content to social justice and social equality. (III)

Ideal Education is the Key Link of Social Governance

After the founding of New China, to highlight the important role of laws in social governance, the state accelerated the pace of building the socialist legal system. In September 1954, the first law of New China, Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, which was formulated under the guidance of Mao Zedong, was promulgated and implemented. This was the first time that the state’s political, economic, military, cultural, educational and other systems had been clarified in the form of national fundamental laws. It involved all aspects of social governance and social life, stipulated the basic rights and obligations of citizens, and provided strong legal support for the construction of the country. At the same time, Mao Zedong stressed that we should vigorously promote communist ideology and morality, “educate the people with communist ideals”.20 He also pointed out that our country “is not only a big socialist country, but also a poor country with economic backwardness. We should build our country with diligence and thrift, oppose extravagance and waste, 18

Collected works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. 8, pp. 130, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1999. Collected works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. 7, pp. 221, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1999. 20 Collected works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. 8, pp. 136, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1999. 19

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advocate hard work and plain living, and share happiness and sufferings together”.21 Under the scientific guidance of Marxism, Mao Zedong summarized and refined the lofty spirits of “serving the people”, “industrious and thrifty” and “arduous struggle” gradually formed by the Chinese Communists in practice. These spiritual qualities became the moral ideal of that time. Through the propaganda and education of the Communist moral ideal in the whole country, Communist thoughts became people’s action criterion and an effective way of social governance. (IV)

Grass-roots Organizations are the Solid Bulwarks of Social Governance

Mao Zedong attached great importance to the importance of grassroots organizations to social governance. In the 1930s, he had a vivid metaphor: “If we want to build a strong tower, we need to start with a solid tower foot, and if we need to build a solid Soviet, we need to build a solid tower foot of Soviet, that is the urban and rural Soviet.”22 It can be seen that a solid China is built on a solid and powerful foundation of grassroots political power. Similarly, a stable and sustainable society requires strong grassroots organizations to guarantee. For the social construction after the founding of New China, one of its most important tasks is to organize the people. Based on this core goal, Mao Zedong proposed a series of grassroots organization thoughts, such as production cooperatives, people’s communes, unit organizations, mass organizations and household registration management systems. He pointed out: “a lot of people, a lot of things, can be solved by social organizations or by the masses directly, they can come up with a lot of good ways.”23 Grass-roots organizations and people’s organizations play an important role in social governance. (V)

Material Welfare is the Important Content of Social Governance

Mao Zedong attached great importance to social security and repeatedly emphasized that it should be regarded as a major event in social governance. He not only advocated protecting social security by establishing systems and laws but also focuses on implementing targeted measures in specific areas to make breakthroughs in key areas. As early as in the late period of the Anti-Japanese War, he pointed out, “All empty words are useless and we must give visible material benefits to the people.”24 In 1951, the Government Administration Council of the Central People’s Government promulgated and implemented the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Labor Insurance. It provided detailed and clear provisions on the treatment for workrelated injuries, old-age care, child-bearing, death and so on. The basic rights and interests of the labourer were better safeguarded. It was welcomed and supported by the labourer groups. They sang: “Socialism is good, there is labour protection for birth, death, illness and old age”, which showed the feeling of happiness and satisfaction. Subsequently, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, Regulations on 21

Topic Excerpts of Mao Tse-Tung’s Works, vol. 2, pp. 2135, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2003. 22 Mao Zedong: Elections for this year, in Red China, No. 108, 1933–09-06. 23 Collected works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. 7, pp. 228, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1999. 24 Collected works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. 2, pp. 467, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1993.

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Social Security for Enterprise Employees and Regulations on Social Security for State Organ Staff were introduced in succession, which effectively guaranteed the interests of the broad masses of the people. (VI)

The party’s Leadership Is the Fundamental Guarantee of Social Governance

After the founding of New China, rebuilding the basic order of the whole society became an urgent task and an important task of social governance. Mao Zedong pointed out: “The Communist Party of China is the leadership core of the whole Chinese people. Without such a core, the cause of socialism cannot be victorious.”25 This shows that social governance, as an important part of the cause of socialist construction, is bound to be inseparable from the leadership of the Party and that the leadership role of the Party in social governance must be brought into full play. At the same time, he stressed: “The Party is in a leading position in these seven aspects: work, agriculture, business, study, army, politics and party.”26 It was in the course of socialist construction that Mao Zedong further expounded the Party’s overall leadership ideology. He stressed that the Party’s leadership should be strengthened and improved and that the Party’s leadership system should be improved so that social governance in this period gradually forms a set of policies and a planning system with its own characteristics. This laid a foundation for the Party to enrich the social governance thought in China and provided a fundamental guarantee for the promotion of scientific social governance.

2.2 Socialist Social Governance Thought with Chinese Characteristics In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party made a great decision to shift the work focus of the Party and the state to economic construction and carry out reform and opening up. China entered a new historical period where socialism with Chinese characteristics was initiated and developed. The Chinese Communists represented by Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao made great efforts to explore and build socialism with Chinese characteristics and gradually formed theoretical guiding ideologies, such as Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of “Three Represents” and the “Scientific Outlook on Development”, thus pointing out the direction and providing ideological guidance for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Based on the great practice of reform and opening-up, Chinese Communists have formed and developed social governance thought corresponding to socialism with Chinese characteristics, which is embodied in the following seven aspects. 25 26

Collected works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. 7, pp. 303, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1999. Collected works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. 8, pp. 305, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1999.

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Adhere to and Improve the Party’s Leadership

To strengthen and innovate social governance, we should not only adhere to the Party’s leadership but also constantly improve the Party’s leadership. While deciding to implement the policy of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping made it clear that we should adhere to the Four Cardinal Principles, the core of which was to adhere to the Party’s leadership. This principle cannot be shaken, and if it is shaken, it will return to division and chaos. Deng Xiaoping also pointed out that “In order to uphold the leadership of the Party, efforts must be made to improve the leadership of the Party.”27 Improving the leadership of the Party is not to weaken the leadership of the Party but to uphold and strengthen the leadership of the Party. Jiang Zemin pointed out: “Under the new historical conditions, we must adhere to, strengthen and improve the leadership of the Party”28 and “If a ruling party is unable to control or manage the leading bodies and cadres well, the consequences cannot be imagined.”29 This shows that to give full play to the leading role of the Party in social governance, we must pay special attention to the key minority of leading cadres. Hu Jintao pointed out: “Under the new situation with profound changes in the world, national conditions and the Party’s situation, we should raise the leadership and governance level of the Party, improve the ability to resist corruption and risks and prevent changes, and strengthen the construction of the Party’s governing capability and advanced nature.”30 This requires enhancing its social governance capacity and level through the Party’s governing capability and advanced nature construction. Thus, it can be seen that only when the Party’s leadership is strengthened and its methods are appropriate can the governance of a country and society obtain twofold results with half the effort and obtain the desired good results. (II)

Attach Importance to Safeguarding and Improving People’s Livelihood

Safeguarding and improving people’s livelihood is the essential strategy of social governance. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “The essence of socialism is to emancipate and develop productivity, eliminate exploitation and polarization, and eventually achieve common prosperity.”31 This requires that social governance adheres to fairness and justice, avoids disparity between the rich and the poor, and takes realization of the common prosperity of all members of society as the ultimate goal. Jiang Zemin put forward the important thought of “Three Represents” and especially emphasized that “the Communist Party of China should always represent the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people”.32 This thought deeply 27

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 2, pp. 268, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1994. Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, vol. 2, pp. 262, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2006. 29 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office; The Selection of important documents since the 14th National Congress, the last volume, pp. 1967, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1999. 30 Hu Jintao: Speech at the Congress to Celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, pp. 10, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2011. 31 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 3, pp. 373, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1993. 32 Jiang Zemin: How does our Party achieve the “Three Represents” under the new historical conditions, in Literature of Chinese Communist Party, 2001(3). 28

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reveals the dialectical unity of development, governance and people’s livelihood and emphasizes that protecting and improving people’s livelihood is an important cornerstone of the Party’s long-term governance. Hu Jintao pointed out that “ensuring and improving people’s livelihood is the starting point and the final goal for us to carry out revolution, construction and reform, and also the fundamental requirement of upholding the Party’s purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly.”33 This shows that ensuring and improving people’s livelihood is in line with the Party’s fundamental purpose. He also stressed: “To strengthen social construction, we must focus on ensuring and improving people’s livelihood. Improving people’s material and cultural living standards is the fundamental goal of the reform and opening up and socialist modernization drive.”34 This requires strengthening the social construction focusing on ensuring and improving people’s livelihood, dealing with all kinds of interests in a real and proper way, establishing and improving the mechanism for expressing interests, breaking down the barriers of interest solidification and realizing that the achievements of reform and development are shared by all people, and the sense of gain, fairness and well-being of the people is constantly enhanced and improved. (III)

Emphasize “Doing Two Jobs at Once and Attaching Equal Importance to Each”

Reform and opening up is a profound social revolution. Promoting economic development, reform and opening-up has a direct impact on all fields of society, including idealistic belief, social mentality and values. This requires that while strengthening the construction of material civilization, we must strengthen the construction of spiritual civilization. It is a remarkable feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics to do two jobs of material and spiritual civilization at once and attach equal importance to each. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “For a long time in the past, we neglected developing the productive forces, so now we should pay special attention to building the material civilization. At the same time, we should also build a socialist spiritual civilization.”35 Adhere to doing the two jobs at once and attaching equal importance to each, and only when both civilizations are well developed can socialism with Chinese characteristics be achieved. Jiang Zemin stressed, “We should take material civilization construction and spiritual civilization construction as the goal of unity. We must adhere to doing two jobs at once and attaching equal importance to each. In any case, we must not sacrifice spiritual civilization for temporary economic development.”36 This shows that “material civilization” and “spiritual civilization” are 33

Hu Jintao, Speech at the Second Plenary Session of the Second Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, seeing in the CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpt from the important discussions of the Scientific Outlook on Development, pp. 75, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, Party Building Reading Publishing House, 2008. 34 Hu Jintao: Striving unswervingly along the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and striving for building a well-off society in an all—round way Report of the 18th National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China, pp. 34, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2012. 35 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 3, pp. 28, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1993. 36 Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, vol. 1, pp. 474, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2006.

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inseparable as an organic whole. They are interdependent. They must be organically integrated and interconnected in the process of social governance. Hu Jintao said, “Socialism with Chinese characteristics is a cause of all-round development and all-round progress, and a cause of mutual complementarity and coordinated development of material and spiritual civilization. Material poverty is not socialism, nor is spiritual emptiness.”37 This shows that the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilization is related to the all-round development and progress of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. They are inseparable and closely linked, and the relationship between them must be properly dealt with in the process of social governance. Thus, it can be seen that the thought of “doing two jobs at once and attaching equal importance to each” provides important ideological guidance for our Party to carry out social governance. (IV)

Strengthen the Construction of Democracy and the Legal System

Persisting in the combination of democracy and legal systems is a basic point of view in the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics and an indispensable “two wheels” of social governance. In the course of exploring the fundamental question of “what socialism is, how to build socialism”, Deng Xiaoping realized the important status and function of democracy and the legal system deeply and expounded for the first time the principle of “sixteen words” in the construction of a socialist legal system in our country, namely, “there are laws to abide by. The laws must be observed, the laws must be strictly enforced, law-breakers must be prosecuted”38 ; He also stressed the need to deal with the relationship between the rule of law and the rule of man through reform. He pointed out, “We need to strengthen the legal system if we want to strengthen democracy.” “Without broad democracy, we can’t do it. Without a sound legal system, we can’t do it.“ “Democracy and the legal system must be both upheld. They are like two hands, neither of which can be weakened.”39 They complement each other and are indispensable. Regardless of which side is missing, they will not play their due roles. Jiang Zemin pointed out: “Building a high degree of socialist democracy and a complete legal system is one of our fundamental goals and tasks and the common aspiration of the people.”40 He further pointed out that “The development of democracy must be closely combined with an improving legal system, and manage state affairs in accordance with the law.”41 This shows that to establish a high degree of democracy and a complete legal system, we must adhere to the basic strategy of managing state affairs in accordance with the law. Hu Jintao 37

CCCPC Party Literature Research Case: The Selection of Important Documents Since the Seventeenth National Congress, the first volume, pp. 802, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2009. 38 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 2, pp. 148–149, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1994. 39 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 2, pp. 189, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1994. 40 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: The Selection of Important Documents Since the Thirteenth National Congress, the second volume, pp. 940, Beijing, People’s Publishing House,1991. 41 The Paper Compilation of the Fifteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, pp. 31, Beijing, People’s Publishing House,1997.

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pointed out that democracy and the rule of law are important features of a socialist harmonious society. He stressed that “democracy and the rule of law means that socialist democracy is fully developed, and the basic strategy of governing the country by law is effectively implemented and all positive factors are widely mobilized.”42 All these statements show that for the governance of a country, we should attach importance to democracy as well as to the legal system. Both of them complement each other and promote each other. Neither of them can be omitted or biased. (V)

Do a Good Job in Public Security

Public security is the important content of strengthening and innovating social governance. In view of the severe situation of public security in China in the early stage of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping made a series of important remarks on how to do well in public security and maintain social stability. He pointed out, “We should attach equal importance to both reform and opening up, and combating all kinds of criminal activities. We should not be merciful when cracking all kinds of criminal activities and eliminating all kinds of ugly phenomena.”43 According to Deng Xiaoping’s series of important instructions, China has put forward and confirmed the basic policy of “comprehensive management of public security”. In view of the complex social environment, Jiang Zemin said, “Public security is not only a major social issue but also a major political issue. If public security is poor, the masses cannot live and work in peace, which will not only affect the image of the Party and the government in the minds of the people but also affect the overall situation of reform, development and stability.”44 This fully demonstrates the high importance of public security issues, which must be considered and dealt with as a whole. In the process of strengthening public security, we must adhere to unified leadership, coordination and linkage. The nine dragons of water control are likely to lead to the absence of a leader. Hu Jintao attached great importance to the importance of doing a good public security job by building a harmonious socialist society. He pointed out that to realize the fundamental improvement in public security”, we should rely on the combination of attack and prevention, the combination of symptoms and root causes, and comprehensive treatment.”45 He also stressed that “we should vigorously strengthen public security prevention and control system construction, improve the comprehensive management mechanism of public security, crack down on all kinds of criminal activities in accordance with the law, and effectively ensure the safety of people’s lives and property.”46 It can be seen that it is of great significance to do a good job in public security to further promote the construction of a safe China. 42

Hu Jintao, On Building a Harmonious Socialist Society, pp. 52, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2013. 43 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 3, pp. 378, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1993. 44 Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, vol. 3, pp. 208, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2006. 45 Selected Works of Hu Jintao, vol. 1, pp. 213, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2016. 46 Hu Jintao: Speech at the Symposium of Major Leading Cadres at the Provincial and Ministerial Levels on Improving the Ability to Build a Socialist Harmonious Society, pp. 26, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2005.

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Take People’s Satisfaction as the Fundamental Standard

Whether the people are satisfied or not is the touchstone of social governance. Deng Xiaoping stressed: “In addition to mastering the principles and policies and making decisions on the use of important cadres, the Party’s leading organs should free up their major time and energy to do ideological and political work, and do the work of people and the masses.”47 This means that we should not only pay attention to ideological and political work but also be good at doing the work of the masses in social governance. In the final analysis, it is to do a good job in people’s work. Jiang Zemin pointed out: “only when we have done a good job in caring for and serving the masses can we always maintain our flesh and blood ties with the masses and be invincible.”48 This requires that we must always put the people’s warmth and cold in mind in social governance and constantly enhance the flesh and blood ties between the Party and the people in the process of strengthening and innovating social governance. Hu pointed out that “we should respect the masses ideologically, be emotionally close to them and rely on them in our work” and “take the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of the masses as the starting point and final goal for strengthening and innovating social management”.49 This shows that we should not only serve the masses ideologically and emotionally in social governance but also regard people’s satisfaction as the basic criterion to judge the effectiveness of social governance. From this point of view, social governance is related to the well-being of the broad masses of the people, and we must always adhere to taking the people’s interests as the center, the people’s voice as the guide, and the people’s satisfaction as the basis. (VII)

Correctly Handle the Relationship between Reform, Development and Stability

Maintaining social stability is not only the basic task of strengthening and innovating social governance but also the basic premise of the healthy and orderly development of the economy and society. Correctly handling the relationship of reform, development and stability and realizing the organic unity of reform, development and stability are important guidelines related to the overall situation of China’s socialist modernization. Deng Xiaoping pointed out: “The overwhelming problem in China is the need for stability. Without a stable environment, nothing can be achieved, and the results achieved will be lost.”50 At the same time, he stressed: “there are so many Chinese with such a weak foundation, without a stable and united political environment, without a stable social order, nothing can be done. Stability is overwhelming.”51 All of these show that social stability is the supreme interest of our country and the biggest reason for our country’s social governance. Stability is the premise, reform 47

Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 2, pp. 365, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1994. Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, vol. 3, pp. 280, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2006. 49 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: The Selection of Important Documents Since the Seventeenth National Congress, the last volume, pp. 150, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2013. 50 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 3, pp. 284, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1993. 51 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 3, pp. 331, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1993. 48

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is the motive force and development is the aim. Jiang Zemin emphasized the dialectical relationship of reform, development and stability and pointed out: “We should be good at looking at the overall situation, planning carefully, grasping the internal relationship of reform, development and stability as a whole, and achieving mutual coordination and mutual promotion.”52 This call for unifying the strength of reform, the speed of development and the extent to which society can tolerate, carrying out a reform in a steady and orderly manner, and realizing the best interests of the people. Hu Jintao pointed out that “development is a crucial principle, and stability is an absolute task; “Without stability, nothing can be done, and the results achieved will be lost. This principle should be borne in mind not only by all Party members but also by all the people.”53 This constitutes an important guideline for handling the relation of reform, development and stability in adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics.

2.3 Important Discussion on Social Governance by General Secretary Xi Jinping Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core, has put forward a series of interrelated and interpenetrated new ideas, new thoughts and new strategies for governing country and political affairs and formed systematic and logical thoughts of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era of Xi Jinping. This is a new achievement in the treasure house of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the new development of Marxism in China. Among them are a series of new ideas, views and assertions put forward by Xi Jinping to strengthen and innovate social governance. These are the most important innovative progress and innovative achievements in the field of social governance since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and are an important part of Xi Jinping’s thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. They are embodied in the following ten aspects. (I)

People-centered Theory

Adhering to the people-centered theory, we should be people-oriented, put the people in the highest position in the heart, and adhere to serving the people wholeheartedly in social governance. Xi Jinping pointed out that “All the ruling activities of the Communist Party of China and all the administrative activities of the People’s Republic of China must respect the people’s main body status and the people’s pioneering spirit, and worship the people as teachers,”54 Xi said, “To test the effectiveness of all 52

Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, vol. 1, pp. 461, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2006. Hu Jintao: Speech at the Conference to Celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China, pp. 25, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2011. 54 Xi Jinping: Speech at the Conference to Celebrate the 65th Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, pp. 18, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2014. 53

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our work, it is ultimately up to whether the people have really benefited, whether people’s lives have been really improved and whether people’s rights and interests have been truly safeguarded.”55 To strengthen and innovate social governance, we must always listen to people’s voices and respond to people’s expectations. The core of the “people-centered theory” is that everything is for the people, everything depends on the people, it is for the everything of people, and everything is subject to the people’s test. Such a “view of the people” is the core value in innovating social governance under the new historical conditions; it is also a new governance view that leads the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics to move forward continually. It is the continuation and development of the major scientific assertion, “the people are the masters of history”, in Marxism and Mao Zedong’s Thought. (II)

People’s Livelihood Is the Essence

Ensuring and improving people’s livelihood has a fundamental role and is significant to innovating social governance. People’s livelihood is the basis of people’s happiness and the foundation of social harmony. People’s livelihood is connected with the people’s heart, which is related to the national fate. Xi Jinping stressed that “We should actively promote the solution of basic people’s livelihood problems, constantly strengthen and consolidate the material basis for social harmony and stability, and prevent and reduce the emergence of social contradictions from the source.”56 Ensuring safety in one place and maintaining public security are the basic needs of people’s livelihood and the basic requirements of social governance. According to Xi Jinping, “Safety is the first need for ordinary people after solving their needs for food and clothing, which is a very important people’s livelihood and is also the most basic development environment.”57 “A good ecological environment is the fairest public product and is the most inclusive welfare of the people.”58 Correctly handling the relationship between safeguarding the people’s rights and interests and maintaining social harmony and stability is the fundamental requirement for innovating social governance. Xi Jinping pointed out: “From the inside of the people and the general sense of society, safeguarding rights is the foundation of maintaining stability and the essence of maintaining stability is safeguarding rights. It is only when people’s feelings are reassured that society can be stable. For the problems of maintaining stability involving safeguarding rights, we should first solve the reasonable and legitimate interest appeals of the masses. If we simply maintain stability without solving the interest problem, we will have the order reversed, and it will be 55

Xi Jinping: Speech at the Symposium to Commemorate the 120th Anniversary of Comrade Mao Zedong’s Birth, pp. 19, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2013. 56 Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China: The Important Speech Reader of General Secretary Xi Jinping (2016 Edition), pp. 222–223, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2016. 57 From Li Peilin: Reading ‘Xi Jinping: the Governance of China’: Safety is the First Demand after Food and Clothing, in People’s Daily, 2015–02-05. 58 Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China: The Reader of Series of Important Speeches of General Secretary Xi Jinping, pp. 123, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, Studying Publishing House, 2014.

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difficult to stabilize in the end.”59 This is an important ideological point of view for innovating social governance, which is full of materialistic dialectics. (III)

The Theory of Fairness and Justice

Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the central role and status of fairness and justice in social governance. The first is to emphasize the improvement of the social fairness security system. To realize the fairness of laws, we should treat all people equally before the law. To realize the fairness of opportunity, everyone should be the same before opportunities. To realize the fairness of power, basic citizen rights should be equal. The second is to emphasize the road to common prosperity. We should make steady progress towards common prosperity on the basis of continuous economic and social development. Deal with the relationship between efficiency and fairness, we should not only make the “cake” bigger but also divide the “cake” fairly. To deepen the reform of the income distribution system and avoid polarization, “there must not be the phenomenon of ‘the rich accumulate huge amounts of money, while the poor eat husks’.”60 Pay more attention to precise help for specific groups with special difficulties, so that all people can live a good life. The third is to emphasize the establishment of a co-construction and co-sharing society. A co-sharing society is a society in which all people comprehensively share development achievements and co-construct and share development achievements. Make everyone “enjoy the opportunity to make their lives brilliant, the opportunity to realize their dreams and the opportunity to grow and make progress together with the motherland and the times”.61 The fourth is to emphasize the problem-oriented approach. “Use the promotion of social fairness and justice and the improvement of the well-being of the people as a mirror to examine all aspects of our institutions, mechanisms and policies,” Xi said, “Where there are problems that do not conform to the promotion of social fairness and justice, reform is needed.”62 By establishing a co-constructing and co-sharing society, we should let all people share the sense of “gain” “security” and “happiness” and truly let all people feel real social fairness and justice. (IV)

The Theory of Co-Ruling by Law and Virtue

Xi Jinping stressed that “the rule of law and rule of virtue must be combined to make the rule of law and rule of virtue complement each other, promote each other and supplement each other”.63 We must adhere to both the rule of law and the rule of virtue. The rule of law is the basic way to govern the country. We should give full play to the guarantee, service and promotion of the rule of law to social governance. We 59

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpt from Xi Jinping’s Comment on Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, pp. 139, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2016. 60 Xi Jinping: Speech at the Second Plenary Session of the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (excerpts), in Qiushi, 2016(1). 61 Xi Jinping: the Governance of China, pp. 40, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 2014. 62 Xi Jinping: Practically unifying thoughts into the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, in Qiushi, 2014 (1). 63 Xi Jinping: the Governance of China, Vol. 2, pp. 133, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 2017.

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should firmly set up the concept of the law-ruled society and adhere to the integrated construction of the law-ruled country, law-ruled government and law-ruled society. We should be good at thinking about social governance with the spirit of the rule of law, planning social governance with the thinking of the rule of law, solving difficult problems of social governance with the ways of the rule of law, and bringing the whole thoughts and behaviors of social governance into the orbit of the rule of law. Xi Jinping pointed out that “cultivating and promoting core values and effectively integrating social consciousness are important ways for social systems to function normally and social order to be effectively maintained”.64 The history of human social development shows that, for a nation and a country, the most profound and lasting strength is the core value system and core values that the whole society agrees on. Adhering to the common rule of law and virtue is a vivid embodiment of Xi Jinping’s thoughts of governing the country in the field of social governance. (V)

Theory of Institutional Innovation

“The key to strengthening and innovating social governance lies in institutional innovation,”65 Xi said. The first is to innovate the social governance system. The innovation of the social governance system is the fundamental innovation of the social governance mode. We should establish and perfect the social governance system with Party committee leadership, government responsibility, social coordination, public participation and the guarantee of the rule of law to ensure that society is both dynamic and harmonious and orderly. The second is to innovate the ways of social governance. Social governance is a science”66 Xi said. It is a major change in the ways of governance from social management to social governance. “The one-word difference between governance and management reflects system governance, legal governance, source governance and comprehensive policy implementation.”67 “With the development of the Internet, especially the mobile Internet, the social governance model is changing from one-way management to two-way interaction, from offline to the integration of online and offline, and from simple government supervision to governance that emphasizes social collaboration more. We must always think of danger in safety, strengthen bottom-line thinking, and further create a new situation of social governance.”68 The third is to innovate the mechanism of social governance. We should establish and perfect the mechanism for safeguarding the people’s rights and interests, the coordination mechanism of social interests, the mechanism 64

Xi Jinping: the Governance of China, pp. 163, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 2014. People’s Daily Comments Department: Learning Reader of “Four Comprehensives”, pp. 92, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2015. 66 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpt from Xi Jinping’s Comment on Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, pp. 139, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2017. 67 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpt from Xi Jinping’s Comment on Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, pp. 142, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2016. 68 Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China: Thirty Speeches on Thought of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era of Xi Jinping, pp. 235, Beijing: Learning Press, 2018. 65

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of preventing and resolving social contradictions, the mechanism of assessing social risk, and the mechanism of monitoring and warning emergencies, which are led by the Party committee and guided by the government, to ensure the normality, long-acting, socialization and intelligence of social governance. (VI)

Not Forgetting the Original Theory

In light of inheriting and developing traditional Chinese virtues and excellent culture, Xi Jinping pointed out: “We can open up the future only when we don’t forget our roots, and we can innovate better only when we are good at inheriting.”69 Chinese culture is the foundation and soul of our nation, and we must forge ahead in the continuation of our national culture. To cultivate and carry forward, socialist core values must be based on China’s excellent traditional culture. “To discard tradition and throw away the root is to cut off one’s spiritual lifeline.”70 Excellent traditional culture is the most profound foundation and source to innovate social governance. The creative transformation and innovative development of China’s excellent traditional culture under new historical conditions will lay the most profound and vigorous force for promoting the modernization of social governance. Xi Jinping paid special attention to family construction, pointing out: “No matter how much times have changed, no matter how much the pattern of life has changed, we should pay attention to family construction, pay attention to family, pay attention to family education, pay attention to family customs”, and “make millions of families important basis for national development, national progress and social harmony.”71 To cultivate and carry forward socialist core values, discarding good traditional culture is giving up the root, which is no different from seeking fish on trees. This emphasis on excellent traditional culture emphasizes the spiritual nourishment and directional navigation of traditional culture and core values to social governance with Chinese characteristics. (VII)

The Mass Work Theory

“Social management is primarily about serving and managing people,” Xi said, “after all, it is about doing the work of the masses. All social management departments are departments that serve the masses, all social management work is for the interests of the masses, and all social management processes are the process of doing the work of the masses. In this sense, working for the masses is the basic, regular and fundamental work of social management.”72 Thus, it can be seen that social governance is essentially the work of the masses. The work of the masses of the Party is a regular and basic task for the Party to govern the country. We should effectively enhance the “political, advanced and mass nature” to better reflect and serve the needs of the 69

Xi Jinping: the Governance of China, pp. 164, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 2014. Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China: The Reader of Series of Important Speeches of General Secretary Xi Jinping, pp. 100, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, Learning Press, 2014. 71 Xi Jinping: Speech at the 2015 Spring Festival Feast, in People’s Daily, 2015–02-18. 72 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: The Selection of Important Documents Since the Seventeenth National Congress, the last volume, pp. 176, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2013. 70

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people. Ideological and political work is an important form of working for the masses and an important way to innovate social governance. These important remarks on strengthening working for the masses in social governance are the basic ideas that have innovated and developed the mass line of the Party under the new historical conditions. (VIII)

Grass-roots Is the Focus

Xi Jinping attached importance to strengthening grassroots construction, focusing on stimulating the vitality of grassroots units, enhancing the capacity of grassroots units, strengthening the foundation status of grassroots units, and better playing the key role of grassroots management in the whole social governance system. “Urban– rural community” and “social organization” constitute the two basic carriers of modern social governance. The first is the innovation of the governance of urban and rural communities. Urban and rural communities are the basic units of society, the intersection of various interest relations, the agglomeration of social contradictions and the focal point of social construction. Xi Jinping repeatedly stressed: “Grass roots is the cell of society and is the foundation of building a harmonious society.”73 “The focus of social governance must be placed on urban and rural communities. When community service and management ability is strong, the foundation of social governance will be solid.”74 Therefore, good community governance is the basic link of social governance and an important breakthrough in innovating social governance. The second is the reform and innovation of social organizations. The basic direction of reform and innovation of social organizations are the withdrawal of government from social organizations, clearly defined rights and responsibilities, and self-government according to law. This requires accelerating the reform of “de-administration” and “de-monopoly” of social organizations, establishing and improving the excellent ecological system of social organizations and the management system of social organizations with Chinese characteristics, especially comprehensively promoting the Party’s construction on social organizations, and promoting the healthy and orderly development of social organizations. The third is to promote “grid management; human-oriented service.” Xi Jinping pointed out: “We should deepen and broaden grid management, and put resources, services and management into the grassroots as far as possible, so that the grassroots will have duties, rights and things to provide accurate and effective services and management for the masses.”75 In summary, much attention to the grassroots foundation shows that Xi Jinping has a strong sense of problem, a solid foundation of practice and a deep feeling for the people. 73

Xi Jinping: A New Vision for Development, pp. 239, Hangzhou, Zhejiang People’s Publishing House,2007. 74 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpt from Xi Jinping’s Comment on Deepening Reform, pp. 101, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2014. 75 Xi Jinping Stressed the Construction of Shanghai Free Trade Zone in the Deliberation of Shanghai Delegation, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan and Wang Qishan Attend the Deliberation Respectively, in People’s Daily Overseas Edition, 2014–03-06.

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Theory of General Security

Establish an overall safety perspective. Xi Jinping pointed out that at present, the connotation and denotation of national security in our country is richer than ever in history, the space–time domain is wider than any other time in history, and the internal and external factors are more complicated than ever before. We must adhere to the overall national security concept, taking the people’s security as the purpose, taking political security as the foundation, taking economic security as the basis, taking military, cultural and social security as the guarantee, and relying on the promotion of international security, and work out a national security path with Chinese characteristics.”76 The traditional concepts of national security mainly refer to external security or foreign security. The overall security concept emphasizes that we should attach importance to both external and internal security; we should attach importance to both traditional and non-traditional security, and build a complete national security system, especially to prevent and respond to new security forms such as social security, scientific and technological security, and information network security; we should attach importance to both homeland and national security; we should attach importance to state security as well as state development; we should attach importance to our own security as well as common security, build a community of shared future for mankind, and promote all parties to move towards the goal of mutual benefit and common security. (X)

The leading Theory of Party

Xi Jinping pointed out that “The most essential characteristic of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China.”77 In contemporary China, without the leadership of the Communist Party of China, it is impossible to bring people of all ethnic groups together and manage the state and society well. We should strengthen the Party’s leadership in an all-round way. First, we should give full play to the leading core role of Party in overall leadership and coordination in social governance. The leading core role of the Party is mainly embodied in the following aspects: highlighting “strengthening” and “improving”, firmly grasping the initiative of the Party’s leadership in social governance; highlighting “leading” and “grasping the general”, firmly grasping the key link of the Party’s leadership in social governance; highlighting “system” and “norm”, firmly grasping the Party’s leadership in social governance. Second, the social atmosphere should be improved with the improvement of party conduct and government style. We should adhere to the Party police itself and impose strict discipline on its members and officials, and we should vigorously carry out the construction of an honest administration, purify party conduct and government style, and drive and promote the 76

Xi Jinping presided over the first meeting of the Central Committee and emphasized the establishment of a centralized, unified and efficient national security system, in the People’s Daily • Overseas Edition, 2014–04-16. 77 Xi Jinping: Determine the victory to build a well-off society in an all-round way and seize the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era - Report on the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, pp. 20, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2017.

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healthy development of a social atmosphere. Third, the Party’s ability to lead social governance should be improved. The key to promoting the modernization of social governance is to improve the Party’s ruling level. The leading core role of the Party in social governance needs to be realized through the Party’s grassroots organizations. Grass-roots organizations of the Party take root at the grassroots and serve the grassroots, which has the natural advantage of leading social governance. At the same time, we must always strengthen the Party’s self-construction, consciously improve the Party’s leadership, constantly enhance the Party’s political leadership, ideological leadership, mass organization and social appeal, and constantly improve the Party’s leadership. This requires promoting social reform and development with the construction of the Party’s ruling ability and advanced nature and constantly creating a new situation of social construction and social governance with the high spirit of reform and innovation. It can be said that strengthening the Party’s leadership in an all-round way is not only the most important feature of social governance with Chinese characteristics in the new era but also the fundamental guarantee for Chinese social governance civilization to stand firmly in the national civilization of the world. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Summarize the origin and basis of the social governance thought of Marxism. Summarize Lenin’s thought of social governance. Describe Mao Zedong’s thoughts on social governance. Discuss the contemporary significance of Marx and Engels’ thought of social governance. Why is Secretary General Xi Jinping’s important discourse on social governance the latest achievement of Marxism in China?

References Chaoyi L (2015) Marxist social management theory and its new development in contemporary China. Studies on Marxism (2) Fangjiang Y (2013) Theory and practice of social construction of the communist party of China. China Social Sciences Press, Beijing Jian G, Long Q (2018) On the core content of Marx’s thought of social governance. J Fujian Provincial Party School CPC (2) Liqun W (2017) Record of contemporary Chinese social events (1978–2015). The Commercial Press, Sino-Culture Press, Beijing Liqun W (2017) New progress in social governance since the 18th national congress of the party. Guangming Daily, 07 08 2017 Peilin L (2017) Efforts to improve the socialist social governance system with Chinese characteristics. Qiushi (2) Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (2018) Thirty speeches on thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era of Xi Jinping. Learning Press, Beijing

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Shufa L (2018) Marx, Engels and Lenin’s thought on the construction of socialist society. China Renmin University Press, Beijing Weibin G (2015) Research on social governance in China. Social Sciences Academic Press (China), Beijing Xueyi L (2012) Theory of social construction. Social Sciences Academic Press (China), Beijing

Chinese Traditional Thoughts on Social Governance Liqun Wei

Overview Chinese traditional social thought is a rich treasure house, many of which influence the social governance of contemporary China. This chapter mainly expounds the thoughts of Chinese social governance before the May 4th Movement. This chapter focuses on the content of the four aspects: social relations, social order, people’s livelihood guarantee, and power operation in Chinese traditional governance thoughts. Through the study of this chapter, the readers will understand some representative discourses of the traditional Chinese social governance system.

1 The Social Governance Thought in Ancient China 1.1 Social Relations and Social Order Thought The cognition of Chinese ancient thinkers on society has rich connotation and expression. From the point of view of social governance, since the various schools in the pre-Qin period, the thoughts about social relations have been basically demonstrated in the following categories and frameworks, so we mainly discuss the thoughts of various schools. Their thoughts on social relations and social order still have some reference significance up to now.

L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_3

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Thoughts on Social Relations.

“Being human” is an important topic in the social relations field in the traditional Chinese social thought. The essence of “being human” is to learn to build healthy interpersonal relationships. What kind of interpersonal relationship is benign? Confucius used “benevolence” sum up to benign interpersonal relationships. He said: “it is insignificant for a man without benevolence to abide by etiquette, it is insignificant for a man without benevolence to play music”. There are many meanings of the “benevolence” of Confucius. The first is to emphasize self-restraint in interpersonal relationships. He said: “Restrain yourself and do everything according to the requirements of etiquette. This is benevolence. Once this is done, everything in the world will be attributed to benevolence”. The second is to stress on putting yourself in other people’s place. He said: “Don’t impose on others what you don’t want to accept. No matter where you work, you won’t let others complain”. Think more about what you don’t like and don’t do things you don’t like to others. The third is to emphasize the closeness to others. It is recorded in The Analects of Confucius: “Fan Chi asked what benevolence was, and the Confucius said: cherish others”. The fourth is to emphasize the need for being educated. It is recorded in the The Analects of Confucius: “Fan Chi asked what was benevolence, and Confucius said: usually being well-behaved at home, being serious when dealing with things, treating people with loyalty and sincerity, and you shouldn’t betray it even in barbaric lands”. In short, it is a kind of good interpersonal relationship to respect others and restrain ourselves in interpersonal relationship. Different from Confucius’s discussion on interpersonal relationship, Hsun Tzu, based on the hypothesis of evil human nature, emphasized that “division” was the symbol of benign interpersonal relationship. Because of the evil nature of human, if the division of labor, the distribution of interests, and the social stratification are not appropriate, then the “interpersonal relationship” will never be peaceful, and will be bound to be a dispute. Mo Tzu’s idea is also different from Confucius’s, Mo Tzu thinks that people’s selfish heart is the enemy of benign interpersonal relationship. He said, “the father loves himself, but he does not love his son, so he damages his son’s interests to profit himself; the elder brother loves himself, but he does not love his brother, so he damages his brother’s interests to profit himself; the monarch loves himself, but he does not love his ministers, so he damages his ministers’ interests to profit himself”. Why are they selfish? Mo Tzu thought that “they all arise from not loving each other”. Because they do not have a heart of loving each other, the behavior of damaging others and profiting themselves appears. Therefore, in order to establish benign interpersonal relationship, we must solve the problem of “not loving each other”, so he put forward the idea of “universal love”: “taking other people’s bodies as your body, taking other people’s family as your family, and taking other people’s countries as your country”. To sum up, Confucius believed that “benevolence” was the standard of benign interpersonal relationship and the path to realize benign interpersonal relationship;

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Hsun Tzu believed that “division” was the standard of benign interpersonal relationship and the path to realize benign interpersonal relationship; Mo Tzu believed that “universal love” was the standard of benign interpersonal relationship and the path to realize benign interpersonal relationship. (II)

Thoughts on Social Order.

Lao-Tzu’s thought of “small country with small population” is found in the Tao Te Ching. The central description of this ideal is in Chapter 80: “(Let there be) a small country with a small population, where the supply of goods are tenfold or 100-fold, more than they can use. Let the people value their lives and not migrate far. Though there be boats and carriages, none be there to ride them. Though there be armor and weapons, no occasion to display them. Let the people again tie ropes for reckoning, let them enjoy their food, beautify their clothing, be satisfied with their homes, delight in their customs. The neighboring settlements overlook one another so that they can hear the barking of dogs and crowing of cocks of their neighbors, and the people till the end of their days shall never have been outside their country”. Lao-Tzu’s social ideal is rich in connotation, including four levels of meaning: first, limited-type government. “Small countries” can be understood as the countries with a small territory, a small government size, and a light burden on the people. Second, the worship of peace. There are many discussions about “soldiers” in LaoTzu’s the Tao Te Ching, and the basic idea is to avoid war as much as possible. Although there are troops and weapons, it is better not to use them. Anti-war is an important idea of Lao-Tzu. “Neighbouring countries watch each other and hear each other’s voices” is a description of a peaceful relationship: people in the neighborhood countries watch each other and do not disturb each other’s peaceful lives. Third, advocating a happy life. Eating well, dressing well, and living comfortably, these yearnings for a better life are reflected in the society of “small country with small population”. Fourth, advocating the simplification of social relations. On the one hand, not advocating too much social mobility, on the other hand, not advocating too much social interaction. Hsun Tzu used “group” to express the essential characteristics of society, that is, people form an aggregation associated with each other through social interactions. He thinks that, if the “group” or society is in a good order, there must be “division”. This idea is embodied in the following three paragraphs of discussion. “The peasants cultivate the lands distributed to them, the merchants sell all kinds of goods, the craftsmen work diligently, the scholar bureaucrats set their own positions to deal with political affairs, the vassal states guard the lands assigned to them, the three councilors govern all aspects, and the emperor just needs to bow his hands and sit upright” (Hsun Tzu • Wangba). “Therefore, the ancient saintly emperors made rites and righteousness for people to distinguish them, such as noble and lowly people, old and young people, intelligent and stupid people, and virtuous and incompetent people, so that each of them could undertake his own work and get his own place” (Hsun Tzu • Honor and Disgrace). “People can’t live without social groups, but there will be scramble if there is no limitation of rank and place in social groups. Once there is a scramble, there will

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be turmoil, and once there is a turmoil, there will be a dilemma. Therefore, it is a great disaster for human beings to live without rank difference; it is the fundamental interest of the world to set rank difference” (Hsun Tzu • Rich Country). The connotation of Hsun Tzu’s “division” is very rich. First, it has the meaning of rational social division of labor. Only by rational division of labor can social order be maintained in an orderly way. Whether engaged in agricultural production, business activities, handicraft labor, or management activities, the need for appropriate division of labor is necessary. Second, it has the meaning of rational distribution of interests. Only reasonable interests’ distribution can ensure the continuous stability of the “group”. It not only includes the division of labor, such as the division of land, division of goods, division of affairs, division of duties, etc., but also includes the calculation and distribution of results. Third, it has a meaning of reasonable social stratification. The high and low status (identity), the elder and the younger (age), the knowledgeable and the stupid (knowledge), the capable and the incapable (ability), and so on are important indicators of social stratification. Hsun Tzu thinks that, according to these four indicators, distinguish people into different levels and let everyone carry out all kinds of social activities according to their own actual conditions, which will make everyone in the appropriate state. Hsun Tzu believes that the basis of the benign operation of social order is “division”. If there is no reasonable division of labor, distribution of interests, and social stratification, the society will fall into a state with abnormal struggle, thus falling into poverty. Hsun Tzu’s thoughts imply the idea that “a benign social order is the foundation of social prosperity”. Han Feizi is the aggregator of the thought of the order of rule of law. Han Feizi’s thought of the rule of law order includes three aspects: first, the necessity of implementing the rule of law; second, the social function of the rule of law; and third, the way of realizing the rule of law order. With regard to the necessity of the rule of law, Han Feizi believed that it was necessary to recognize it from the characteristics of human nature. He also believed that, based on the desire for survival, there will inevitably be selfish heart in human nature, and there will inevitably be “benefit” and “harm” concerns in interpersonal relationships. It can be seen from Han Feizi • Jielao: “Humans don’t have feathers, if they don’t wear clothes, they will feel cold; They neither belong to the heaven nor to the earth, and they are based on their stomachs, and they cannot survive without eating. So, it is inevitable for people to have selfish heart”. Since it is inevitable that everyone would have a desire for profit, different desires will cause mutual calculation when they are extended to social relations. The relationship between parents and children, husband and wife, and monarch and minister are the same. About the parent-child relationship, Han Feizi said: “Therefore, parents and children also use the heart of calculation to treat each other” (Han Feizi • Liufan). On the relationship between husband and wife, Han Feizi said, “They don’t have the affection of flesh and blood. If they love each other, they are close. If they don’t love each other, they are not close” (Han Feizi • Beinei). As for the relationship between the monarch and minister, Han Feizi clearly put forward the viewpoint of “the emperor and the courtiers have different ideas in heart”, and explained in detail the expression of “different ideas”.

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He said: “Therefore, the monarch and minister are not unified. The monarch keeps his ministers by calculation. The ministers serve the monarch by calculation. The communication between the monarch and his ministers is calculation. The ministers will not do the things that harm themselves but benefit the country, the monarch will not do the things that harm the country but benefit the ministers. It is no interest to harm the ministers themselves in ministers’ original mind; it is no intimacy to harm the country in a monarch’s original mind” (Han Feizi • Shixie). It is based on the inherent desire for profit in human nature that Han Feizi believes that we must rely on “law” to maintain a good social order. On the social function of the rule of law, Han Feizi has a deeper discussion. Han Feizi praised “law” to the extreme. He said: “Therefore, in a country with a sage monarch, there is no unnecessary formalities, such as scriptures and classics books, and the law is regarded as the ethics to govern the country”; “The speeches must follow the laws” (Han Feizi • Wuchun). In Han Feizi’s opinion, “Law” is not only the sole basis for state rule, but also the most important criterion for judging the right and the wrong. Han Feizi believed that only the rule of law could ensure the long-term maintenance of social order, and explained the different functional consequences of “rule of law” and “benevolence governance” by taking the governance of family as an example. The functional consequence of the rule of law is “hard at the beginning and long-term gains in the future”: “Now ordinary people manage their family property, encourage each other by enduring hunger and cold, and urge each other by enduring hardship and hard work. Even in the disaster of war and famine, the family must be the people who can still eat and wear well”. The functional consequence of benevolence governance is “happiness in a moment and hardship in the future”: “(Now ordinary people manage their family property), They love each other by eating well and wearing well, and take care of each other by comfort and enjoyment. In the famine years, it must be this kind of people who sell their wives and children” (Han Feizi • Liufan). Han Feizi concluded: “The saints weigh the importance of law and benevolence and choose the party with the greatest benefit, so they force each other by law, and abandon the mutual pity of benevolent people” (Han Feizi • Liufan). Han Feizi means that only the rule of law can maximize the benefits of society. On the way to realize the rule of law order, Han Feizi’s famous viewpoint is the combination of “law”, “tactic”, and “influence”. The law is the decree. Han Feizi believes that the law must be public, and law enforcement must be fair. Han Feizi said: “The rules will be written into codified laws, set by the government and published to the common people” (Han Feizi • Nansan). He also said: “As to the punishment determined by law, the intelligent people cannot justify and prevaricate by words, and the brave people dare not fight it with force. When punishing faults, powerful ministers cannot be missed, and when rewarding good deeds, ordinary people cannot be missed” (Han Feizi • Youdu). Tactic is the monarch’s governing tactic. Han Feizi learned from the historical lesson of “the law without tactic” in Shang Yang’s reform, and proposed that the monarch should have a concrete tactic to rule ministers. “Influence” is the monarch’s ruling power. Han Feizi thought that, “influence” was equivalent to the horse pulling the carriage, the country was the monarch’s “carriage”,

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without “influence”, the monarch cannot lead the country forward. Han Feizi advocated that only combining the “law”, “tactic”, and “influence”, we could govern the country well, and, that is, “only combining the law and influence, the country can be governed well” (Han Feizi • Nanshi). Using tactics to drive the influence, “your will be in a state of ease, and you will make the monarch’s achievements” (Han Feizi • Wai Chu Shuo You Xia). (III)

Thoughts on the “Great Harmony” World.

The Book of Rites is a work written by Dai Sheng, a scholar of rite in the Western Han Dynasty. The thought of “Great Harmony” in this book continues to this day and is still an ideal social blueprint. He said: “In the era when the great morality and justice is implemented, the world is shared by all people. People with virtue and talents are elected to govern the world”. People pay attention to credit and get along well with each other. Therefore, people not only regard their own relatives and children as their relatives and children, so that the elderly can enjoy their old age; the middle-aged people can have a place to contribute themselves; the young can get a good education; and the old widowers and widows, the orphans, the disabled, and the diseased can be fed. Men do their own duties and women have their own homes. If people don’t want to abandon their property in useless places, they do not have to hide it in their own homes. If people worry about not being able to using all the ability, it is uncertainly for themselves. Therefore, intrigue is suppressed and cannot be realized, and the bad things, such as robbing, stealing, and killing, will not appear, so even the door outside the house can be left open. This is the so-called Great harmony. The “great harmony” world, from the perspective of social governance, can be understood as the social order with “good governance”. The “great morality and justice” can be understood as “good governance”. What is the social order with “good governance”? First, the logic of social operation is the spirit of contract. “The world is public” is that the society members have the consciousness of “public”, and take “the public intention” as the basic criterion in all things. The emergence of ancient “social elites” is based on the characteristics of their superior personality and ability, rather than on the characteristics of birth and descent. The society takes the good faith as the basic intercourse criterion, and takes the friendly relation as the basic pattern. Second, social welfare is highly developed. Every member of the society can receive basic respect and protection, the labor force can be fully employed, and the vulnerable groups can get adequate living security. Both the male and female society members can get respect. Third, social values are highly recognized. People both oppose extravagance and waste and self-interest; they abhor both indolence and being addicted to ease. Fourth, the social environment is good. The society is in a good environment with security and mutual trust. (IV)

Thought on the Patriarchal Relationship.

The patriarchal relationship is the most basic social relation in Chinese traditional society. What is the benign patriarchal relationship like? What is the point? It is can be seen from The Book of Rites·Dazhuan: “The reason is that, all human beings are close to their own relatives, so they respect their ancestors and then they

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respect their forefathers. Because they respect their forefathers, they gather their clansmen together, and then they make strict systems of ancestral temples, and then they have respect for the country, and then they love the common people, and then there is appropriate reward and punishment, so that the common people can be stable, and then the country’s wealth becomes sufficient, and then the ideals can be achieved, and then the etiquette, customs and punishment can be formed, and then the governance of the country can be contending”. Obviously, the benign patriarchal relationship is: family members are close to each other, they have respect for ancestors, and they are united. There is good inheritance of patriarchal culture. It is the basis and premise of traditional social harmony, people’s stability, rich life, and strict standard. Taking benign social relations as the basis of benign social order is not only the viewpoint of The Book of Rites, but also that of other thinkers. Confucius’s “monarch and monarch, ministers and ministers, fathers and fathers, sons and sons” directly juxtaposed the patriarchal relationship with the effectiveness of state rule. In the Han Dynasty, Jia Yi directly copied the patriarchal relationship to the level of state rule: “It is difficult to attach to the people in high position, and it’s easy for the people in low position to be bullied. This is the situation. Therefore, the ancient holy monarchs set a number of status. There are high-ranking officials inside the court, and nobilities outside the court, and then small officials and common people, but the emperor is above all these people, so his dignity is hard to match”. How to realize the benign patriarchal relationship? In the Chinese traditional thought of social governance, “filial piety” is the only way. It is said in The Book of Songs: “People should always adhere to filial piety and respect for the elderly. Filial piety is the principle of life” (The Book of Songs Daya • Xiawu). The most famous exposition about “filial piety” is Confucius’ Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism. The common point of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism is to define the relationship between the subject and the object of “filial piety”, and they both emphasize the respect and obedience of children to their parents. There is rational component in Confucius’ “filial piety”, which emphasizes “heart”, that is, to respect parents in concept. But the “filial piety” in Neo-Confucianism was pushed to the extreme state, and the view of “there is no wrong parent in the world” was put forward, which made “filial piety” go to the irrational end.

1.2 People’s Livelihood Security and Power Operation Paying attention to people’s livelihood was a valuable spiritual wealth in the ancient Chinese traditional management thoughts. Almost all social thinkers had relevant discourse. Mencius’ thought of “benevolent government” and Guan Zhong’s thought of “three people” were the gathering place and representative of the livelihood thought. When we attach importance to people’s livelihood, we must attach importance to “people”. Therefore, the thought of public power relation in Chinese

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traditional social governance thoughts mainly focused on the relationship between “monarch” and “people”. Of course, it was impossible to produce the democratic thoughts only in the modern society under the concept of divine right of kings, but there were also some views with social governance significance in these discussions. (I)

Thoughts on “benevolent government”.

Mencius’ thought of “benevolent government” is rich in connotation. Mencius proposed that the first task of benevolent government is to respect the old and love the young, which was called “push grace”. Under the social condition at that time, it was a difficult task for the majority of families to support the aged and the young. Therefore, Mencius put forward that “Respect your elders, and extend this respect to other elders; love your children, and extend this love to other children, and then the world will be in your hands”. It was a countermeasure that Mencius put forward to the people in power. He wanted them to treat well the elderly and children of his family as well as the old people and children all over the world. This is similar to the universal welfare of modern society. Only when the problems of the old and the young have been solved, the middle-aged people can engage in all kinds of social activities at ease, so Mencius believed that the strategy of push grace can be used to get the world. Mencius suggested that the second task of benevolent government was to increase the wealth of the people. He said: “There is a basic situation about people, only those who have a certain amount of property income have certain moral concepts and codes of conduct, and those who do not have a certain amount of property income will not have certain moral concepts and codes of conduct. If they have no certain moral concept and code of conduct, they will act recklessly and do anything bad”. Mencius believes that the wealth of the people determines the stability and harmony of the society, he also put forward specific countermeasures on how to increase the wealth of the people. The first is to solve the land problem: “To implement benevolent government, we must start from dividing the field boundary. If the field boundary is not well divided, the area of the well field will be uneven, and the land rental income as salaries will be unfair. Therefore, tyrants and corrupt officials must disturb the boundary of the field. If the field boundary is correctly divided, then the distribution of the well field and the establishment of the salary standard can be done easily”; “They are not allowed to leave the township even for death burial and relocation. The fields in the township are all well field system. People go in and out of work with each other, help each other when resisting bandits, and take care of each other when there are diseases and accidents, so that the people will be friendly and harmonious. There is a well field in a circumference of 800 li, and it is 900 mu. The middle one of the well field is a public field, and each of the eight families takes 100 mu as a private field, but they should arrange the public field together; only after finishing the work in the public field, they can do private work, which is the way to distinguish farmers” (Mencius • Tengwengong the Part One). The solution to the problem of land is to restore and rebuild well field system through land reform. The second is to solve the problem of economic supply. He proposed, “Planting mulberry trees in a five-mu residential space, the people in their fifties can wear silk fabrics; Raise chickens, pigs

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and dogs, and do not delay their breeding time, the old people in their seventies can eat meat; Do not delay the cultivation season of a hundred-mu field, and a family of several will not suffer from hunger; Set up school education conscientiously, and repeat the principle of respecting parents and brothers to the common people, and then the old men with white hair and beard will not walk on the road with heavy load. The people in their seventies can wear silk fabrics and eat meat, and there are no common people suffering from hunger and cold. If someone can realize these ideals, he can certainly unify the world and become the monarch” (Mencius • Lianghuiwang the Part One). The third is to solve the problem of taxation. Mencius advocated the reduction of taxes, he said: “Farmers only need to help cultivate public land without paying extra taxes. In this way, farmers all over the world will be willing to cultivate in such fields”. (II)

Thoughts on People’s Livelihood.

Guan Zhong put forward rich thoughts of people’s livelihood, which can be summed up as the three people’s thoughts: follow people, enrich people, and help people. Guan Zhong’s thought of “follow people’s will” is still an important idea of governing the country. “Following people’s will” is the ideological basis for the development of people’s livelihood. He said: “The reason why a decree can be carried out is to conform to the people’s will; the reason why a decree may be broken is to go against the people’s will. If the people are afraid of hardship, I will make them happy; if the people are afraid of poverty, I will make them rich; if the people are afraid of danger, I will make them stable; if the people are afraid of extinction, I will make them fruitful”. “Following people’s will” is to take the people’s difficulties and needs as the goal, so as to ensure the people’s support. Guan Zhong’s thought of enriching the people mainly answered the question of the importance of enriching the people. First, he believes that prosperity is the foundation of civilization. He said: “only when the granary is full can the people understand the etiquette system; only when the food and clothing are sufficient can the people know the honor and shame”. Second, he believes that affluence is the foundation of social stability. He said: “When the people are rich, they will be satisfied with living in the hometown and cherish their homes, then they will respect the king and fear the crime of punishment. Therefore, it is easy to govern”.“ Therefore, a monarch who is good at running a country must first enrich the people and then govern them”. Third, he believes that people’s prosperity is the foundation of a strong country. He said, “If the people are unable to defend their land, the city defense will not be consolidated. If the people are hungry, they will not be able to engage in war”. Guan Zhong’s thought of “helping people” is mainly embodied in “nine aspects of benevolent government”. These nine aspects are: respecting the old, loving the young, compensating the orphans, feeding the sick, matching the single, visiting the sick, reporting the poor, aiding the people in need, and continuing the terminating. “Nine aspects of benevolent government” is the social welfare system of “Guan Zhong Edition”: respecting the old is that the state should be responsible for the old-age care of the elderly over the age of 70; loving the young is the government’s special care policy for families with three or more young children, such as

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exemption from military service, subsidies, etc.; compensating the orphans is that the government should be responsible for the social care of orphans, and encourage the family for adopting orphans; feeding the sick is that the government should take care of the disabled; matching the single is that the government should solve the marriage problem for widows and widowers, and allocate farmland and houses to help them improve their lives; visiting the sick is that government officials should visit the sick people; reporting the poor is to provide assistance for homeless couples or poor guests; aiding the people in need is disaster relief, it is giving relief to those suffering from disaster; and continuing the terminating is for the people who died for the country, it is to help their friends and relatives continue the temple. (III)

Thoughts on Loving People and Fearing People.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the thought of loving people had already come into being. “For the people, the former emperor encouraged them to correct and improve their morality and conduct, opened up the ways to gain money to meet their needs, made them use satisfactory utensils, showed them gains and losses, educated them by etiquette, so that they could pursue advantages and avoid disadvantages, feel the kindness of the emperor and fear the majesty of the emperor. Therefore, the former emperor was able to extend his inheritance from generation to generation and keep growing” (Guoyu • Zhouyu the Part One), which is an emphasis that only by first educating the people, making them have good moral character, and using various strategies to guide the people’s behavior and values can the country continue. This is to emphasize that loving the people is the foundation of governing the country. Jia Yi of the Han Dynasty put forward that: “The monarch who chooses the method of etiquette and justice to govern the country will accumulate the etiquette and justice, and the monarch who chooses the penalty to govern the country will accumulate the penalty. When punishment is accumulated to a certain extent, the people will complain and betray the monarch. When the etiquette is accumulated to a certain extent, the people will be harmonious and close to the court. Therefore, the monarchs’ desire for the people to be kind and docile is the same, but the methods used to make the people kind and docile are different. Some monarchs guide the people with morality and enlightenment, and some monarchs punish them with decrees. With the guidance of morality and enlightenment, people will be happy with the popularity of morality and enlightenment; with the punishment of law, people will be sad when the law is used to the extreme. The feeling of sadness and happiness is the thing to achieve misfortune”. On the surface, this was to propose the strategy of governing the country for the people in power. In essence, it was to emphasize that only by the way of moderate education, rather than severe punishment and cool law, can people really identify with the country. It is still to deal with the relationship between the monarch and the people by the idea of loving the people. The thought on fearing people was actually a warning to those in power not to take rash actions, and it also came into being in the Zhou Dynasty. “The harm of preventing people’s criticism is more serious than the flood caused by blocked rivers. If the river breaks after being blocked, it will hurt a lot of people, so will the people. Therefore, the people who govern water dredge the river to make it smooth, and the

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people who govern people can only enlighten the people to let them speak freely” (Guoyu • Zhouyu the Part One), which required the people in power should allow common people to express their opinions and should not block the opportunities for the people to speak, otherwise the country will be defeated. (IV)

On the Thought of “People oriented”.

People-oriented thought is one of the most important ideas in China. Lao-Tzu’s “governing by non-interference” and Mencius’ “the people are more important than the monarch” are both important viewpoints of the people-oriented thought. Lao-Tzu’s inaction thought put forward in Tao Te Ching has far-reaching influence. “If I do nothing, the people will cultivate themselves; if I am calm, the people will be right by themselves; if I have nothing to do, the people will be rich naturally; if I have no desire, the people will be simple naturally”. It emphasized that the less the government interferes with the people, the more the people can achieve progress and development. The essence of governing by non-interference is to respect the people’s rights for self-education, self-development, self-progress, and self-growth. “Inaction” is stopping the monarch doing evil. This is the first time that the idea of social governance in China has been put forward from the perspective of restraining the monarch’s power. Mencius’ thought of “the people are more important than the monarch” also had a wide and far influence in China, he said: “the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the last one. Therefore, with the support of the people, you can be the monarch; with the support of the monarch, you can be the princes; with the support of the princes, you can be the senior officials. If the princes damage the country, you should change it”. In terms of the significance of social governance, this proposition is the first time in the history of Chinese social governance thought to clearly discuss the characteristics of the dialectical relationship between subject and object in the power relationship. That is to say, the power subject can exercise power depending on the partner with the power object. When the power object refuses to cooperate, the status of the power subject will no longer exist.

2 The Social Governance Thoughts in Modern China After the Opium War in 1840, China entered a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. With stagnant economic development, social disintegration, and the loss of national sovereignty, many thinkers were worried and put forward many ideas of reforming the society, and the representative of which ones included Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Tan Sitong, Yan Fu, Sun Zhongshan, etc. From the perspective of social governance thought, compared with the ancient social thinkers, the modern social thinkers had begun to transform the traditional Chinese society with modern social concepts, such as evolution theory, equality, and democratic thought. The views put forward in the aspects of social order, social relations, people’s livelihood guarantee, and power operation are quite different from those of the ancient representatives.

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2.1 The Evolutionary View on Social Order and the Equality View on Social Relations

(I)

The Evolutionary View on Social Order.

Kang Youwei broke the theory of social order circulation in ancient Chinese social thoughts, and formed the evolutionary view on social order through the transformation of “the theory of gongyang three times”. “The male sheep three times” itself is a point of view put forward by Dong Zhongshu, He Xiu, and other scholars of the Han Dynasty in their interpretation of The Spring and Autumn Annals and The Commentary of Gongyang. They thought that the Confucius’ history about the spring and autumn period could be divided into three historical stages: time of separation and war chaos, time of celebrating peace, and the time of peace. The time of separation and war chaos is “the time from hearsay”, the time of celebrating peace is “the time heard”, and the time of peace is “the time seen”. Gongyang School extended it and thought that social history was the continuous cycle of these three times. Before Kang Youwei, Gong Zizhen of the Qing Dynasty also reformed “the theory of three times”. On the one hand, it followed the viewpoint of the ancient Gongyang School, and held that the ancient times was separation and war chaos time, the Shang Dynasty was in the celebrating peace time, and the Zhou Dynasty was in the peaceful time. On the other hand, it has been developed, and held that the social order was developed in three forms of “peaceful times, chaotic times and declining times”, while the middle of the Qing Dynasty was in the declining times. Kang Youwei incorporated the evolution thought into “the theory of three times”, combined with the “well-off” and the “great harmony” thought of The Book of Rites • LiYun, and formed a historical evolution with a unique “three times” theory. Kang Youwei believed that the social history was evolved along the path of “the time of separation and war chaos–the time of celebrating peace–the time of peace”, and it couldn’t be overstep. In the time of separation and war chaos, “human being is multi-ranked”, the hierarchical differentiation among people is strict; the relationship among people, races, and countries is oppressive and enslaved; and there is no equality. Some scholars think that the time of separation and war chaos is equivalent to the absolute monarchy time. The time of celebrating peace is “well-off” time, “there is less classes of humans”, that is to say, compared with the times of separation and war chaos, there is relative equality among people, races, and countries, but there is inequality still. Some scholars believe that the time of celebrating peace or well-off time is the era of “constitutional monarchy” proposed by Kang Youwei. The time of peace is the “great harmony” time, “there is no classes for people”, the equality has been fully realized among people, countries, and races, “there is no difference between noble and lowly races, everyone is equal, and the world’s nobles are completely abolished”. Kang Youwei believes that the development process of “the three times” is irreversible, but the development process cannot be overstep. The so-called “Born in a turbulent world, the way forward is very difficult. Although I inwardly want to

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achieve peace, the world has not yet been in the celebrating peace time and the chaos has not been eliminated. The flowing water cannot flow forward without filling the holes on the way. Everything needs to be done step by step” (Liyun Zhuxu). If we try to transcend the historical stage to develop, it will bring about the destruction of social order. The most prominent feature of Kang Youwei’s “the theory of three times” is to jump out of the thinking mode of circulation theory, insists on understanding the development of social order with the thought of evolution theory, and to firmly believe that the social order must develop toward the direction of the great harmony world. This optimistic evolutionary thought has important progressive significance in the history of Chinese social governance thought. (II)

View of Equal Social Relations.

Compared with the ancient Chinese social thinkers who sanctified ethical-based social relations (the most classic description is that “the monarch is the ruler of ministers, the father is the ruler of the son, the husband is the ruler of the wife”), the modern social thinkers all emphasize the importance of equality of social relations. Kang Youwei’s great harmony world is a society in which all people are equal, men and women are equal, races are equal, and there is no distinction between the high and the low. In the discussion of the importance of equality in social relations, Tan Sitong’s view of equality was the most representative. Tan Sitong borrowed the concept of “benevolence” to discuss the importance of equal social relations. He believed that “the essence of benevolence is accessibility” and “the appearance of the accessibility is equality”. This was to associate the modern concept of “equality” with “benevolence”, and to emphasize that equality is the real “benevolence”. The equality advocated by Tan Sitong is all-round, including the equality among the people of different countries, the political equality within the country, the equality between men and women, and the equality of individual’s rights and interests. It is the so-called “accessibility between China and foreign countries”, “accessibility between the high and the low status”, “accessibility between men and women inside and outside”, and “accessibility between other people and me”.

2.2 The Principle of People’s Livelihood and Democratic Thoughts

(I)

The Principle of People’s Livelihood.

Chinese modern social thinkers have inherited the tradition that ancient social thinkers attached importance to the people’s livelihood security and raised the people’s livelihood to a new level. The most representative one is Sun Yat-sen’s thought of people’s livelihood.

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Sun Yat-sen’s principle of people’s livelihood started from the promotion of economic equality, and he said that “the so-called implementation of people’s livelihood is due to the inequality between the rich and the poor”. This view is quite different from the viewpoint of people’s livelihood in the ancient Chinese thought of social governance: the people’s livelihood in ancient China was always put forward under the premise of maintaining the feudal dynasty’s rule, that is, the decline of people’s livelihood will lead to the demise of the dynasty, and people’s livelihood will be emphasized if they want to maintain the dynasty’s rule. The starting point of Sun Yat-sen’s principle of people’s livelihood is to prevent the polarization between the rich and poor within the people, which has the significance of social equity. There are two main points in Sun Yat-sen’s principle of people’s livelihood: the one is making land ownership average, the other is controlling private capital and developing state capital. In terms of the equalization of land ownership, he mainly emphasized that land prices should be controlled by the state. The controlling method is to determine a land price as the reference frame before the development of industry and commerce, and when the price of land rises after the development of industry and commerce, the state can purchase land according to the price set before the increase of land value and manage it by the state. The state will then use the proceeds after the increase of land value increment to fund social undertakings and promote the equal distribution of social wealth. In controlling the private capital and developing the state capital, he believes that the excessive development of the private capital will lead to the increase of the polarization between the rich and the poor, leading to the concentration of capital and wealth in the hands of a few people, and the solution to the over-development of the private capital is to develop the state capital. To develop state capital, according to Sun Yat-sen’s understanding, is to “develop state industry” by using foreign capital. “We should take the capital that foreign countries have already made to create China’s future communist world. If we can do this, we will get twice the result with half the effort”. Sun Yat-sen is a trans-era figure among modern social thinkers. He realized that the development of China’s people’s livelihood must be in line with the world and must be related to “capital”. This level is not special today, but it was a breakthrough before and after the 1911 Revolution. (II)

Democratic thought.

Compared with the people-oriented thought of ancient Chinese social governance thoughts, the modern social thinkers have made revolutionary progress, fully aware that democracy is the most advanced discovery of the operation of power, and they consciously develop the people-oriented thought into democratic thought. Yan Fu deeply criticized the feudal monarch autocracy system in China and put forward a preliminary democratic thought. Yan Fu believed that, since the Qin Dynasty, there had been no “world” and no “state”, but “all were the families”: “when one surname rules the world, all the people will become his servants. The prosperity of the country is the family’s prosperity. The decline of the country is the family’s decline”. He thought that autocratic monarchs regarded the world as their own private interests, “with the three major things of constitution, the state, and the king”, and

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disregarded the public opinions, “If the monarch is angry, he will threaten people with punishment, if he is happy, he will bless people. The fate of the people in the country is all determined by me, so the shock and terror to people is more and more serious”. Yan Fu believed that the monarchy violated the “should-be” relationship between the monarch and the people. He pointed out that, in the relationship of the monarch and people, the people should be engaged in production, and the monarch should be responsible for defense, and the relationship between the monarch and the people was not slavery relationship or master-servant relationship. Based on this, he drew lessons from the western contract theory and proposed that the people are the masters of the country: “the state, the public property of the people”. In order to respect people and be close to people, it is necessary to give people freedom, strengthen people’s strength, enlighten people’s wisdom, and encourage people’s morality. Sun Yat-sen put forward the “democracy” and systematically established the democratic thought of power operation. The reason why Sun Yat-sen’s democracy is democratic thought is that he clearly put forward that “revolution should aim at civil rights”, which is actually “democratic teleology”, which is the fundamental difference between democratic thought and people-oriented thought. In the ancient people-oriented thoughts, “the people are the most important” was also emphasized, but “the people are important” was only a means of consolidating the feudal autocratic rule, not an aim. Sun Yat-sen’s democracy already had many elements of modern democratic thoughts. He argued that to prevent the emergence of a new dictatorship of minorities after the revolution, democratic rights must be shared by all the people. He thought that there were direct civil rights and indirect civil rights in civil rights, and the democracy should give people the four direct civil rights, such as the right to vote, the right of recall, the right of initiative, and the right of referendum, and avoid the situation that people cannot enjoy direct civil rights caused by the representative system of Britain, France, the United States, and other countries. He also proposed a new design on the relationship between the people and the government under the democratic system. He advocated that the people should have the rights, the government should have the power, and the power and the right should be separated, that is, the people have four kinds of direct rights, and the government should become an all-powerful government with administrative, legislative, judicial, examination, and supervision ability. Yan Fu’s criticism of the feudal autocracy and the proposal of Sun Yat-sen’s democracy indicated that the democratic idea that power belongs to the people had initially formed among the thinkers of modern Chinese society. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4.

A brief analysis of Lao-Tzu’s thought of “small country with small population”. What is the enlightenment of Mencius’ thought of “benevolent government”? What is the difference between Guan Zhong’s “Three People” thought and Sun Yat-sen’s “Three People’s Principles”? What is the practical significance of Hsun Tzu’s “group and division theory”?

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5.

Expound the contemporary value of Chinese traditional social governance thoughts. Expound the connotation and important significance of Sun Yat-sen’s social governance thoughts.

6.

References Dainian Z (1982) Outline of Chinese philosophy. China Social Sciences Press, Beijing Dinghong C (1990) History of social thought in China. Peking University Press, Beijing Guying C (1992) Lao Zhuang Xin Lun. Shanghai Classics Publishing House, Shanghai Gongquan X (1998) History of Chinese political thought . Liaoning Education Publishing House, Shenyang Jiyu R (2003) History of Chinese philosophy. People’s Publishing House, Beijing Qichao L (1996) Pre-Qin political and ideological history. Oriental Publishing House, Beijing Qian M (1997) The academic history of China for nearly three hundred years. Commercial Press, Beijing Youlan F (2005) A short history of Chinese philosophy. Tianjin Social Science Publishing House, Tianjin

Social Governance Reform in China Liqun Wei

Overview This chapter expounds on the characteristics and evolution of traditional Chinese social governance, describes the changes and progress of social governance at different development stages in New China, and analyzes the characteristics of social governance at different development stages in New China. Through the study of this chapter, readers can grasp the historical reform of Chinese social governance and form a general acknowledgment and understanding of Chinese social governance.

1 Ways of Social Governance in Chinese Traditional Society 1.1 Ways of Social Governance in Traditional Society (I)

Self-discipline and Social Governance of Family Units.

Since the Zhou Dynasty, China’s society has experienced turmoil, changing the socioeconomic formation and regime changes in the country many times. The foundation of China’s society is patriarchal; that is, a family maintained by the ties of blood. For the patriarchal clan, all male descendants of the same ancestor belong to the same clan group and are generally members of the clan. The kinship relationship was the deep structure of the social interpersonal relationship in ancient China. In ancient Chinese society, every family member could find his or her own status, which was inborn and immutable. Parent rights were mainly embodied in two aspects. First, the power of decree: parents have the power to educate and govern the family. L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_4

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Second, property rights and parents have the right to control family property. “If the parents are alive, the kids dare not have their own way, dare not keep personal wealth” (The Book of Rites • Fangji). Family is regarded as the basic unit to constitute political law. The patriarch is the representative of each family and is responsible for the state. China’s social relations are the five cardinal relationships: the so-called ruler and subject, father and son, brothers, husband and wife, and friends. Among them, the relationships between ruler and subject and father and son are the most basic ethics. The Book of Filial Piety emphasizes serving the ruler with filial piety, which embodies the unity of family ethics and social ethics. The family is both a social unit and a political unit, which also becomes the basic unit of social governance. Ancient China paid attention to not only cohabitation and co-existence, one family through the “family ritual” and patriarchal temple and other social organizations to build a common residence and living together, but also through the establishment of public granaries, public communities, public farms, public schools, public wells, etc. to establish shared family economic relations. From the Chunqiu period to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the family had significant social existence, which was also the main object to realize grassroots management and social governance. The basis of China’s traditional society is rural society, and the state’s ruling power generally extends only to the county level. People may have the chance to interact with state power only when they pay for food and rent, enlist for army, manage water, relieve disasters, or take legal action. Even so, the common people cannot deal directly with the state but complete the state’s expropriation, apportionment, and distribution of public affairs through groups such as patriarchs, squires, and gentry of a certain class in the villages. Villages are self-managed and self-supervised; state governance as far as possible does not interfere with villages’ autonomy and public order. The key to the grassroots governance of traditional rural society is the clan and the family. To realize the governance of rural society, we must start from the patriarchal clan relationship. Family instructions, clan rules, and village regulations have played a very important role in social governance at the grassroots level. They are an easyto-accept way of rural social governance and play an important role in maintaining the autonomy of social order. Village regulations, township rules, family instructions, and folk customs all play an important role in rural social governance, which together regulate the behavior of villagers, regulate the relationship of villagers and the relationship between villagers and grassroots organizations, and dissolve disputes at the grassroots level in villages. It maintains the stability of the rural social order, therefore, and forms a unique governance mechanism in traditional China. (II)

Household Registration System and Social Governance.

The household registration system appeared very early in our country. According to the records of oracle bone inscriptions, the Shang Dynasty has begun to implement the population registration system, with the records of “enrolling one person” or “enrolling one group”, that is, temporarily recorded for recruiting soldiers. Household registration in ancient China is the account book of “households” in the literal sense, which is the basis for mastering the family as the object of taxation and expropriation.

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Therefore, Tang law often explains the family as a household and vice versa. Ciyuan • Household Department explains “household” means: “One family is one household”. There were different political and social situations in the past dynasties in China, which caused the alternation of prosperous and turbulent times and the frequent occurrence of refugee problems from time to time, which resulted in the phenomenon of “separation of people and households”. To solve this problem, the household registration system has been continuously reformed. In general, it went through three stages of development: the Shang-Zhou period, which is the first stage of the development of China’s household registration system. It is the shaping period of the household registration system, which is mainly characterized by the establishment of a household registration system combining people with land. During the period of the Qin, Han, Wei, and Jinan southern and Northern Dynasties, it was the second stage of the development of China’s household registration system, which formed a household registration system through keeping records and accounting for the people’s numbers, which is characterized by “making up the household for the whole people” and laid the foundation of China’s ancient household registration system. The period of the Sui, Tang, and Ming and Qing Dynasties is a mature period of the household registration system in China that is characterized by the combination of the household registration system and Baojia system, which has enhanced the effect on population mobility and promoted the growth of the population and social stability. The reform of the household registration system in ancient China was generally aimed at limiting the population to the land, at the same time appeasing the refugees and stabilizing the social order. 1.

Strict household registration management.

According to The Book of Lord Shang • Kenling, the household registration system “makes people not to have the right to move”. The Qin and Han Dynasties carried out the Shangji system, which took the county as a unit and was reported annually by the county magistrate to the ruler, in which the increase and decrease of household registration were the main contents of the Shangji system. The government accordingly tested the local officials. In the period of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Shangji system was inherited from the Qin Dynasty. Each autumn, the county magistrates compared cases according to the original household registration. The common people helped the elderly and the children go to the county government, gathered in the court, waiting for the master to check. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, this system developed into “appearance reading”. Tang household registration for secondary schools had a special item of “shape of the appearance”, which records the features of the person’s faces through verification, whose household will be kept in the registration system, in case of counterfeiting and his/her family fled to use as catching clues. After the comparison of the case, the official registration was made, which continued to apply until the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

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To appease the refugees.

The most typical systems were the overseas Chinese county system, Huang Bai nationality system, and local residence area system during the East and West Jin dynasties. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the cities’ commodity economy flourished, the population increased sharply, and the floating population also increased dramatically. By the time of the Song Dynasty, the floating population was less than 1,000 people and more than 100,000 people. The government of the Song Dynasty set up temporary household files for these people and strengthened the registration process. In addition, the floating population with strong assets can be transferred to urban household registration. After the rich families of the floating population were recorded in the household registration system, they ran businesses with their original capital, and many of them made their fortune again. In addition to taking measures to absorb the floating population, previous governments adopted measures to record the floating population at the local household registration system to solve the problem. In the period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, aiming at the problem of “escaping households” later in Empress Wu, he ordered Yu Wenrong to integrate the households and allowed the floating population to enroll in the local household registration. Later, the government of the Yuan Dynasty issued a similar decree: “The vagrants who cannot return their business while they are living in other places, they are often given a preferential pension by the local government, and those who wish to plant fields will be granted from then on and they will be exempted from tax for five years”.1 The Qing Dynasty allowed the Northeast refugees to register in the local areas, which made a great contribution to the development of border areas and the promotion of friendly exchanges among ethnic groups. (III)

Autonomy of Rural Community and Social Governance.

Generally, the ancient rural system in China has strengthened the management of villagers in the land, taking the traditional village organization form and the Baojia system of “Shi-wu-mutual protection” as the basic organizational principles.2 However, the situation is different in every historical period. Before the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the old patriarchal clan power was still strong, and there were signs of weakening the rural system. The popular folk associations in Dunhuang, in the late Tang and early Song Dynasties, are the most basic social organizations with the function of social management. In fact, the main carrier to realize the management function is social provision, also known as social regulation. Social regulation is the stipulation of the private organization and activities, which is similar to the constitution; its contents are binding to the members of the private association, and it is the criterion of the activities of the private organization and punishment of the members. During the Tang and Five Dynasties, Dunhuang 1

The Yuan Dynasty’s Decrees and Regulations, vol. 3: The Sage Government and caring for the refugees. See Luo Xianyou and Ren Chongyue: A Brief Survey on the problem of refugees in the Yuan Dynasty, in Journal of Zhengzhou University (Social Science Edition), 1988(3). 2 Zhao Xiuling. Chinese Rural System, pp. 12, Social Sciences Academic Press (China), 1998.

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private associations, whose members were a kind of grassroots nongovernmental self-governing organization, voluntarily formed with the internal drive of preserving “ethics” and then realizing self-education and the external drive of mutual aid activities such as funeral mutual aid and collective anti-disaster.3 In the ninth year of Song Xining (1076), LyuDajun (named Heshu), a Confucian scholar at Lantian in Beijing, and his brothers carried out a new kind of local political system in their native town, that is, Lyu’s Convention. The text of Lyu’s Convention has a total of 1630 words, with four general principles: “advise others on virtue and work”, “discipline others when making faults”, “make friends with etiquette and customs”, “help others during disasters”, “using popular language stipulates the basic rules to deal with the relations between neighbors and parties, as well as the code of conduct that the villagers should follow in their self-cultivation, career building, family unity, as well as the etiquette and customs that should be followed in greeting and sending, marriage and funeral and other activities. For example, in relation to helping others when in difficulties”, we summarize seven “disasters” in the village, including “water and fire, stealing and robbery, disease, death, loneliness and weakness, injustice, and poverty”, advocating that people help each other and work together to maintain social peace. Later, it was updated by Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty; the content was more abundant and complete. It is the rule that the gentry tries to educate and organize the peasants as leaders and the organization that combines for the people automatically. This is what Lyu Heshu said: “the villagers are guided by the rules, which is the small good”. In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, with the gradual disintegration of the old patriarchal clan system and the new patriarchal clan system has not been established, the government strengthened the control and management of the village, the Baojia system came into being, and the role of the township regulations and social rules were gradually valued and utilized by the rulers. (IV)

City guild system and social governance.

China’s guild system, first recorded in historical documents in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, was formed on the basis of thousands of years of industry and market management systems from Zhou to Sui. The markets were standardized since ancient times according to the “business” of the same industry. Rites of Zhou • Local Official • Business Leader contains: “Each of the business leader holds the political order of their own industry, to show their goods, those with similar names but different utilities are laid far away from each other, while those with similar utilities but different names are laid closer, with accurate category and fair prices to collect the taxes of the industry and manage the decree of the industry.” The “business” is the “industry”. In the inscription of the Great Prajna Paramita Sutra of the Fangshan Stone Sutra in Tianbao and Yuanhe of Tang Dynasty, we can see dozens of activities of saluting Buddha, such as the industries of rice, silk, pig iron, charcoal, cloth, meat, scarf, slaughtering, five foods,

3

Qi xiaoqing: the folk association in confucianization—the investigation with the social rules and regulations as the center, in social scientist, 2010(4).

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fruits, grinding, boots, groceries, oil, and others.4 In Reminiscences of the Eastern Capital written by the elder Meng Yuan of the Song Dynasty, there are also recorded the fruit business of Bianliang (now Kaifeng), ginger shops, silk shops, cattle shops, horse shops, big and small groceries, meat shops, fish shops, as well as and embroider shops and embroideries works. Tang, Song, Yuan, in addition to the name “works”, refers to the handicraft industry guild, others called “shop”, “group”, “public offices”, and a number of other business organizations. Mengliang Lu Tuanxing recorded in the southern Song Dynasty Linan (Hangzhou) the city’s perfume shops, tailor shops, antique shops, flower shops, wine shops, rice shops, pharmacy, etc., all belong to the common service industry guild. Its society said the music club, the sound club, the puppet club, the poor rich gambling club, the football, ball, shooting water club, etc., belonged to the common entertainment industry guild. In Song, Yuan, Ming Dynasties, such as Yongjia book club, Jiushan book club, Guhang book club, Wulinbook club, etc., also belonged to the common entertainment such as guilds. There is a line in the drama, The White Rabbit Story in the Yuan Dynasty: “When you look at it from the left, you raise the banner of the army with me, and call the people in the neighborhood, and do business in the three hundred and sixty industries, you are willing to sign up for the army, and sign up for it”. Through the spread of drama, the theory of “three hundred and sixty industries” is widely known.5 First, the guild plays a social role in serving the needs of the government in traditional society. In the early Tang Dynasty, the guild system was established in the name of the government, and the main purpose was to carry out the decrees through various “business” leaders and to assist in the collection and payment of taxes, purchases, recruitment, and other public affairs. At the end of the Tang and Five Dynasties, there was a kind of service called “the business owner should supply for free”, which means that if the official needed any goods or services, they went directly to the guild and asked the guild to supply them free of charge. The guild will distribute to each individual merchant one by one according to official requirements. However, with the development of history, the work content of the guild is increasing, such as coordinating internal disputes, balancing the interests of all parties, holding groups to warm up, negotiating with the government together, stressing conditions, negotiating with the opponents, forming a kind of monopoly in a sense, and seeking greater benefits for themselves. Second, the guild has the function of representing the government’s will to manage business. At that time, the head of the guild was mostly appointed by the government; that is, the person who was elected by the industry must also receive official recognition. Zhao Su, a scholar of the Yuan Dynasty, in the Nine essentials for the government, said: “when the county magistrate arrived at the office, he should investigate the spies and thieves in private plot unknown business, secretly inquire the gossipers, leaders of tea house, wine bars, brothels, food shop, shop for storing and 4 Wang Zhongluo, The Historical Records of the Sui and Tang Five Dynasties, pp. 457–458, Shanghai, Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 1989. 5 Tong Shuye: The Development History of Chinese Handcraft Industry and Commerce, page 208, Jinan, Qilu Publishing House, 1981.

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lending the valuables and money, horse shop, pawnshop, bank, hotel, whom must be informed of the situation from different levels, with confidential report, so that they know everything”. New officials can inquire for the “leaders of the industries” to understand the local conditions and business operation, which will help to improve the efficiency of business management and the level of social governance. Third, the guild bears the social function of self-governance in business organizations. For example, as recorded in Volume five “Folk custom” of the Tokyo dream of China Record: “All the people who sell food and drink, packed with fresh and clean dishes, make the eaves of the car move so skillfully, lovely food and soup, dare not to skim. Sales persons for medicine and hexagrams were all dressed formally. As for beggars, there were also specifications. It seemed to be a little slack, which is not allowed by all. People of different industries, such as scholars, farmers, workers, and officials, were dressed in their typical outfits and colors. No one dared to violate the rules. That is, if the incense shop was wrapped in incense, that is, a hat on the back; the head of the quality bank, that is, the corner of the soap shirt with no hat, and so on; the street pedestrian, then recognize is what color.” The Beijing teacher is the political and cultural center of a country, is also the center of trade and business and all around the place. The lines were complicated but not chaotic; they had their own rules and customs, and they had their own rules and customs, which made them orderly. Obviously, guild plays an organizational and management role in one. As the saying goes: “The state-owned law, family rules, no rules and regulations and no fairness”. The industry code is an important part of the guild system folk customs. It was the purpose of the guild, the principle of organization, the rules of employment, and the professional ethics, the belief of the patriarch, the mode of activities, financial management, members’ rights and obligations, as well as the methods of punishment, such as coordination of internal and external competition. It was also an important means and way for guild organizations to realize internal governance to safeguard the mutual aid function of members’ interests. Finally, the guild achieved a modern transformation from guild to chamber of commerce in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which strongly promoted the development of Chinese industry and commerce. Before the Ming Dynasty, the traditional guild was a loose industry association. From the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were commercial guilds and public offices. Compared with guilds, these guilds and public offices had more strong color of community, whether they were businessmen of the same home town or the same industry, they can maintain the feelings of fellow townspeople or peers through guilds and public offices, coordinate internal affairs and facilitate the development of commercial interests. At the same time, due to the presence of guilds and public offices, merchants could strengthen their contacts with their fellow towns people or peers through group worship, sacrifice, meeting, etc., and could make use of the strength of the group to engage in some constructive activities such as charity or social welfare, such as setting up charity garden and charity hall. Organizing charity was also a social affair of traditional public offices and guild halls. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the modern Chamber of Commerce appeared, most of which were issued by the Ministry of Commerce and enjoyed the status of “legal person” of the community.

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Since its establishment, the various industries and regions had formed a relatively unified whole for the first time and had begun to take a new attitude of “legal person” as an independent community and stepped on the social stage of modern China, which has greatly promoted the development of modern industry and commerce.6 (V)

Assistance Mechanism and Social Governance.

China’s social assistance has a long history, disaster relief, and famine relief, and benevolence politics were social ideals throughout the ages. In China’s ancient society, the government’s social assistance was mainly aimed at the large-scale poverty phenomenon that appeared suddenly during the famine, which generally did not involve people’s normal life, social assistance is mainly achieved through social and clan assistance. The main forms of social assistance included merchants and squire’s social assistance, social group assistance, clan assistance, and so on. Businessmen’s participation in poverty relief is mainly reflected in the event of large-scale disasters. Such relief was sometimes funded at the request of the government, but many businessmen’s social assistance was a personal act. Records of merchant relief in the early history of China are relatively rare, but there are many records since the Ming and Qing dynasties. For example, in the Ming dynasty 3 years (1438), Hengyang grain merchant Zhou Cheng passed through Jiujiang, Anqing, experienced a starving disaster, so he sent 7,500 Dan rice to all the victims. The most concentrated records of merchant relief in the Qing Dynasty were Jianghuai salt merchants. Wang Yinggeng, a large salt merchant who had presided over the salt business of the Huaihe South and Huaihe North provinces in 9 years (1731), 10 years (1732), 11 years (1733), and 12 years (1734) of Yongzheng, continuously contributed to the relief of tsunamis, river tides, and other disasters, especially during the third year of Qianlong’s famine. He contributed “ten thousand” to establishing eight porridge factories to relieve the hungry people in January, with a relief population of more than 900,000. This shows that businessmen in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, as a social force, played a very important role in social assistance. The squire is the most representative local social governance force in the ancient society of China. The main form of squire relief activities is to hold “social warehouses” or “porridge factories”. Social warehouses were originally proposed by Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty. In the four years of Qiandao (1168), in Kaiyao Township, Chongan County, Fujian Province, Zhu Xi experienced famine, and Zhu Xi borrow 600 dan grain from the county government to the victims. The victims returned the same weight of grain in winter, Zhu Xi stored the grain among the people, and every “community” (25 households as for one community) set up a warehouse, for a total of three granaries. The social warehouse was jointly managed by the government and the people. They lend the grain to the villagers once a year at a 20% interest. “If there is a small scale of hunger, the villagers are allowed to pay half of the interest; if there is a great scale of hunger, the interest will be completely free”. This is the so-called warehouse 6

Chen Baoliang: Chinas community and guild, pp. 238–239. Hangzhou, Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, 1996.

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loan relief. Under the influence of Zhu Xi, some places in Fujian, Jiangxi, Suzhou, and Hunan also set up social warehouses. In the late period of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the social warehouse was large, but it was already the folk’s own graingathering and silo. Thus, it can be seen that social loans are actually a kind of social assistance form of folk mutual assistance that is led by squire. Social organizations organized charities to raise money for the relief of the victims, the poor and their peers, which existed in ancient times and flourished in modern times. For example, in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, the Liyuan Association often raised money by hosting voluntary plays to help with disaster relief. These voluntary or duty plays that the Liyuan Association performs are recommended by a famous steward to discuss the stage code togther. Once the stage code is released, all the actors in the class will follow to play. Obligatory play is mainly performed by public welfare causes, such as the relief of Jingzhao flood obligatory play and the restoration of Miaofeng Mountain Joy Temple obligatory play. The Liyuan Association also often held relief peer duty play, known as “Wowotou duty play”. The ancient religious organizations of our country can be divided into two categories: legal monk groups recognized by the government and illegal secret groups that are not approved by the government. Both groups play a certain role in poverty relief activities in traditional societies. According to the Book of Southern Qi Dynasty • Biography of Prince Wen Hui, “The Prince and the Prince Jingling were well-off and had set up six houses to support the poor”. Some of the rich and influential Buddhist temples in history have implemented some measures to relieve the poor. Most of the ancient secret group carried out various kinds of poverty relief. For example, the original Taoism “Celestial Masters” (“Way of the Celestial Master”), founded by Zhang Daoling at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was to attract believers at the lower levels of society by treating diseases by using calligraphy as a symbol and to organize people to help themselves. Clan assistance is one of the main ways of assistance in traditional Chinese society. The history of clan assistance for poverty is far earlier than that of the government. Ordinary people do not have the power to solve the problem of daily life, mainly resort to the clan. The forms of the clan’s poverty relief are various, not only free relief but also nongratuitous aid, as well as inter-clan mutual assistance. Saving the weak and helping the poor are the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation and the ideal carrier of Chinese Confucianism’s “benevolent government”. Social assistance at different times and forms is an organic supplement to the traditional mechanism of social governance and an effective way to achieve long-term social stability. (VI)

Cultivation of etiquette and customs and social governance.

“Etiquette and Customs” is one of the major propositions of Chinese classical thought. For example, “To rule with eight principles is contemptible… Six terms of etiquette and customs” (Rites of Zhou • Dazai),” etiquette and customs, bereavement, sacrifice, all in accordance with the law of the earth’s beauty and evil for the light of the law “(Rites of Zhou • Diguansitu • Suiren • Tujun), “When he was years old,

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the party thought that the pilgrimage, the appointment, the exchange of joy, to shoot the township, to feed, together with the people to do things as Shitian, school, down to Li-ma-mu, good-luck mourning, all the people, do not be out of courtesy; from which to teach their people for filial piety, friendship, loyalty, benevolence, often not out of the place, movement, clothing, food” (Etiquette • Township Drinking), “virtue and morality, nonceremony can not, teaching into the vulgar, nonceremony is not prepared” (The Book of Rites • Quli) and so on. As far as the Han Dynasty, there were still rumors of the day: “To seek Zhuye by courtesy” (The History of the Han Dynasty • Yiwenzhi). Under the trend of increasing institutionalization of rites, customs are becoming increasingly latent and continuing to participate in the political operation of the country. The interaction of etiquette and customs and the transformation of people into customs is an effective way of social governance in ancient China. First of all, from the historical origin of the main ceremonies in the rural society, as a cultural tradition, ceremony etiquette is a kind of inheritance of “etiquette and customs”; in terms of its relationship with “etiquette”, there is also the basis of the text, because as one of the main texts of “ritual” culture, Etiquette is a detailed record of the crown, marriage, funeral, employment, and village ritual festival, although the etiquette changes, the form changes, but still has the relatively systematic preservation and the development in the native society. Second, these “etiquettes” become not only the criterion for people to deal with these “events” but also the key to maintaining the local social order. Etiquette and customs are forms of villagers’ mutual assistance. Whether wedding or funeral will spend a lot of money, need a lot of manpower, material resources, which are often beyond the ordinary farmer’s ability to afford. However, people rely on traditional etiquette and customs in the way of relatives and friends to help each other, cleverly avoiding the occurrence of this situation: on the one hand, these ceremonies have “go with the ceremony” etiquette, that is, the guests to attend these ceremonies will send some “gift money” of different amounts. The cost of the ceremony is actually shared by the people or relatives; on the other hand, carrying out the ceremony requires considerable manpower, and the members of the family or the neighbors who are closer to each other will take part in the work of the ceremony according to the etiquette and customs, such as providing food and accommodation for the guests, transporting the guests, collecting, purchasing, and managing the items needed for the ceremony to make the ceremony go smoothly. In such a ceremony, the villagers’ mutual assistance was the key. These originated from the traditional form of etiquette and customs of mutual assistance but were also reflected in the villagers’ daily lives. For example, during the busy farming season, villagers will voluntarily help each other so that crops can be harvested or cultivated in time. Those who encounter bad harvests, accidents or children go to school, and other villagers will take the initiative to help to tide over difficulties. Finally, as far as the essence of folk culture is concerned, it is the spirit, language, and behavior pattern that people create in long-term production practice and social practice, or it is the behavioral rule that people create and abide by together. This model and rule have great adaptability to an objective environment, including natural

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environment and social environment. It has the characteristics of observing the collective psychology of the people and the need for survival. Various patterns of behavior in folk culture are established in people’s lives; therefore, they are considerably stable. The most common is the unwritten law or customary law in folk society, which exerts a strong constraint on the thoughts and lives of the people and forces people to act within certain moral and customary norms in order to achieve coordination and balance between the mind and the environment.7 In Chinese history, the folk culture is rich and colorful; life etiquette and customs, festival etiquette and customs, production folk-custom, belief folk-custom all have important influence on people’s daily lives and social behavior. Below are two thematic areas to note. (I) (II)

Characteristics of social governance in traditional society. The concept of governance of family-state integration.

Traditional social governance in ancient China is closely related to the social characteristics of family-state integration and the distribution of the urban–rural dualistic structure. The social characteristics of the integration of family and country determine that the governance of ancient Chinese society pays more attention to the factors of the poor order pattern of the blood-related clans and pays more attention to the elements of the ritual law and the moral force of the traditional ethics; the distribution characteristics of the dual structure of urban and rural areas determine the different governance modes of the urban and rural civil society. As an ancient mainstream social consciousness, “family-state integration” came into being in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. The essence is the patriarchal clan relationship of family to the patriarchal clan system and the ruling policy of the country. The ancient society took the small-scale peasant economy as the economic foundation, which takes the family and the family clan as the basic production and the distribution unit, along with the economic development, the wealth accumulated, the blood inheritance, the patriarchal system that was established in the family blood relation became the social basic law. Its essence was to establish political relations according to the distance of consanguinity to analogy the relationship between rulers and courtiers with the relationship between father and son and to equate the rule of family with the rule of state. Mencius said: “The foundation of the world is in the country, the foundation of the country is the family, and the foundation of the family is the individual”. (Mencius • Liloushang) Chinese Confucianism advocates the integration of the family and the state; that is, it emphasizes the family and the state in the internal structure of the mechanism of homogeneity and emphasizes the importance of the family in the social organization. Han Feizi • Loyalty and Filial Piety said: “The courtier serves the emperor, the son serves the father, the wife serves the husband, if the three relations are in order, the country is well ruled; if the three relations are in disorder, the country is in chaos.” The Book of Filial Piety said, “To love the father and in the same way to love the mother, to serve the father and in the same way to serve the king that is 7

Zhong Jingwen, An Introduction to Folklore Studies, pp. 22–23, Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1998.

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to show respect to the country. Therefore, to love the mother and to respect the king, to both love and respect the father”. The family is the cell of society, the family is the foundation of social stability, and the family order is the guarantee of the national order. When the family is in order, the country can be stable, and when the family is in harmony, the country can flourish. Managing the family is the starting point of governing the country. There is a close logical relationship in traditional social governance in China. (II)

Governance system supplemented by state-led and grassroots social autonomy.

First, state-led social governance is the premise and key to the stability of the whole society. Since the establishment of the unified centralized power in the Qin Dynasty, the idea of great unity has been deeply rooted in the people’s hearts, and the concept of “the supremacy of the throne, the unification of the country and the unification of the whole world” has become the mainstream trend of thought in Chinese society. Maintaining high-efficiency centralization was the key to social governance in ancient China. In China’s history, when the power of the central government was weakened, the whole society often fell into turmoil, even the separation of the Tibetan towns. There is a close relationship between social security and the ruling power of the central government. The security of the whole country is determined by royal power, which is a remarkable characteristic of social governance in ancient China. Second, state forces and social forces combine to govern society. In ancient China, the scope of state control over society was very limited. Central political power is mainly limited to ideological propaganda, civil disorder, and maintenance of national defense to support the government’s tax revenue and to choose a successor in new public works. In terms of social governance, the state not only pays attention to the control of rural society and the close combination of state power to realize the control of rural society but also pays attention to the use of rural talented people to govern rural society. Custom, squire, and local people with high moral values also play a very important role in the daily management of the village economy, etiquette activities, and so on. (III)

Governance means the parallel between rule of law and education.

The parallel rule of law and etiquette education is another basic feature of traditional social governance. The Analects of Confucius • Weizheng records, the Confucius said: “To govern the people with government orders and to rectify them with criminal law, the people only want to be free from crime and punishment, but have no sense of shame; to guide the people with morality and assimilate them with etiquette, the people will not only have a sense of shame, but also a sense of obedience”. The main characteristics of social governance in the Shang and Zhou dynasties are the ritual and music civilization and the penitentiary. Additionally, our country’s traditional society, which governed the basic thought, laid the ancient Chinese society, which governed the basic form and the pattern. The ritual and music civilization originated very early in China, and the bronze ceremonial instruments in the Xia and Shang Dynasties were endowed with the sacred ritual function of “coordinating with the upper and lower, connecting the heaven and

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the west” by the superclass society. The Book of Rites • Quli says: “Morality, benevolence and justice can’t be achieved without the standard of propriety; educating people to be correct without propriety can’t be complete; debating and arguing can’t be solved without the intervention of propriety; the fame and propriety among monarchs and ministers, superiors and subordinates, fathers and sons, and brothers can’t be solved without propriety; going out to study and worship a teacher, without propriety, there will be no intimacy and harmony; arranging the rank of the court and regulating the army if there is no ceremony, the officials can’t establish their authority; if there is no ceremony, the ritual and routine ritual can’t reflect piety and solemnity”. The systematization and institutionalization of etiquette also make the rights and obligations among the members of the society clear, can be followed, reduce the internal competition and conflict, and increase the stability of the society. Law is the result of ancient social etiquette and customs becoming culture, standardization, and institutionalization. It is a mandatory tool to maintain the ruling order and adjust social relations. Guan Zi • Seven Courtiers and Seven Masters: “Law is used to promote meritorious efforts to deter violence; law is used to make clear its duty to stop disputes”. Punishment and courtesy are opposite, the former was specially set up for the lower strata of society. The Book of Rites • Quli said: “Etiquette can’t be used for common people, and punishment can’t be added to bureaucrats and nobles”. The Shang Dynasty established Tom punishment, the Zhou Dynasty established Lyu punishment in the spring and autumn periods, and there was a book of punishments about the collection of legal provisions. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Zichan, the ruler of the State of Zheng, cast the Book of Punishment on the tripod and made it public, which was historically known as “The Book of Punishment cast by the king of Zheng”. The Zhou Dynasty discovered the truth that “Justice and selflessness always helped people of high moral character”, put forward for the first time the political thought of “respecting morality and protecting the people” and the legal thought of “being virtuous and careful in punishing”, established the applicable principle of criminal law of “punishing the world lightly and paying attention to the world”, and put forward the legal guiding ideology of “punishing the new country with light penalty, punishing the normal country with medium penalty, and punishing the disordered country with heavy penalty”, thus, the combination of “Do more favors and use less punishment” and “the Whoever violates the monarch shall be punished with the most severe punishment” constitutes a dialectical unified ideological system, which lays the foundation for the social governance thought of “Using moral education as the main means of supplement subjects, criminal law as the necessary and assistance”. Traditional social governance embodies the great influence of monarchical politics, and all governance takes the country’s social and political stability as its greatest goal. The essence is two aspects: one is “the cause of the disorder” and the other is “the policy of governance”. The ultimate purpose of exploring “the cause of the disorder” is to find “the policy to seek governance”. The most famous “policy to seek governance” in Chinese history belongs to Jiayi’s Policy for Governance in the Western Han Dynasty. Jia Yi perceived the hidden contradictions and crises in society

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through the “peaceful scene” of the early Han Dynasty. In view of the great power of the separatist powers of the kings, he put forward the measures of “building up kings with less strength” against the power of the kings and suggested solving the problem by weakening the separatist powers of the kings to solve this problem. Chu-Ko Kungming also explained the way of governing the world in the Memorial on Sending out the Troops. He put forward, “The emperors of the Western Han chose their courtiers wisely, and their dynasty flourished. The emperors of the Eastern Han chose poorly, and they doomed the empire to ruin”, but also put forward the “Rewarding and punishing, good or bad, should not be different”, “Seek out good advice” and other political advice. Gu Yanwu, Wang Fuzhi, and so on also put forward the thought of the practical application. These thoughts are the sublimation of the experience of social governance in ancient China.

2 30 Years of Social Governance After the Founding of New China (1949–1978) From the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China, the way social governance in China began to change greatly. With the overthrow of the imperial system and the development of the new and old democratic revolution, the old system collapsed in an all-round way, and various social experiments began to emerge. After the Revolution of 1911, the local self-government movement in various parts of China included the content of social governance, such as school affairs public health, charity, and public welfare. In particular, the rural construction movement at the beginning of the twentieth century has accumulated experience for subsequent rural social governance. According to statistics, by 1934, there were more than 600 rural construction groups throughout the country, and experimental sites were established in more than 1,000 villages throughout the country.8 For the first time in Chinese history, it is the first large-scale and bottom-up movement of social governance and social construction that there are three different rural construction modes: civilian education, cultural rehabilitation, and the development of the people’s livelihood. When the Communist Party of China was founded in 1921, it began to explore social governance under the guidance of Marxist ideology. After the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927, the Communist Party gradually shifted its focus of work from cities to the countryside and made great efforts to develop revolutionary base areas in the countryside. The practice of social governance carried out by the Chinese Communist Party in these areas has accumulated experience for subsequent comprehensive governance and socialist social governance. First, overthrow the local tyrants and evil gentry, carry out the land reform and abolish the patriarchal clan system and implement the ownership of small-scale peasants. A series of land decrees promulgated by the Central Committee of the 8

Zhang Yuanshan: An Experiment in Rural Construction • No. 2 Episode, pp. 19, Shanghai, Zhonghua Book Company, 1935.

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Party, such as the Land Law of Jinggangshan and the Land Law of the Soviet Republic of China, took the settlement of the land problem as the basis of social governance, fundamentally changing the social structure of the base areas and the living conditions of the farmers. Second, we should set up grassroots organizations with farmers as the main body and establish the political power of workers and farmers in the base areas on the basis of social organizations. A large number of social organizations were set up in the Soviet Area to cover all aspects of social fields and social strata, such as trade union organizations, poor peasant groups, youth groups, women’s associations, etc. The Party and the Border Region Government in the Yan’an period paid equal attention to all kinds of social organizations and mass organizations. The people are well organized to form an integrated social force through a vertical organizational system from the central government to the countryside. What’s more, these social organizations exclude the landlord class and the squire class, which not only establishes the master status of the masses of the workers and peasants but also forms full social governance with their different functions. Third, taking the publicly owned industry and commerce as the leading role, collective cooperatives should be established and developed to restore and rebuild the rural market system. In the early days of the Soviet Area, various localities began to set up “economic communes”, that is, public shops and township agencies. By 1933, various localities had basically formed a public business system covering the Soviet area. At the same time, collectively owned cooperatives have changed the traditional pattern and mode of rural commerce, which plays an important role in maintaining the economic stability of revolutionary base areas and maintaining the stability of the people. Fourth, establish a unified tax and monetary system. During the period of the Central Soviet period, the Communist Party of China established a unified financial revenue and expenditure system based on the progressive tax system. During the Yan’an period, each base area and liberated area set up their own banks to issue their own currencies, which laid a solid foundation for the revolutionary struggle. Fifth, we should actively carry out literacy education, national education, and rural cultural construction in the base areas, change customs, and promote changes in social ethos. Advocate science and oppose superstition; protect women’s rights and interests; promote equality between men and women; transform hooligans and purify the atmosphere; carry out primary medical treatment and prevent and manage infectious diseases; carry out social assistance and disaster relief and rescue; develop folk literature and art; and encourage and mobilize the public. The valuable exploration made by the Chinese Communist Party in social governance during the period of the new-democratic revolution laid the foundation for social policy after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The new practice of social governance after the founding of the People’s Republic of China has laid a solid social foundation for socialist construction. Generally, the basic characteristics of social governance from 1949 to 1978 were to lay the foundation for a new social governance structure by energetically eliminating the old social disadvantages, to establish a grassroots social governance system, to focus on people’s livelihood and

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pay attention to social equity, to set up a highly organized and state-led social governance model, and to concentrate resources on socialist construction in an all-round way.

2.1 Strive to Rid the Old Society of Its Ills and Build New Social Foundations At the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, bad social habits such as smoking, drugs, and prostitution were abolished, the landlord class, bureaucratic capital, and the patriarchal system were toppled, and a new social order was gradually established. (I)

Anti-smoking and Avoidance of Socially Vulnerable Habits such as Prostitution.

On February 24, 1950, the General Order of the Government Council on the Prohibition of Opium Smoking and Poisoning was issued. It is pointed out that “in order to protect people’s health, recover and develop production, now the whole nation has been liberated, the following measures are specially formulated to prohibit opium and other narcotic drugs”. In accordance with the requirements of the General Order, the People’s Government at all levels has established a Committee on Anti-smoking and Drug Control, and the work of getting rid of tobacco and drugs throughout the country has begun to commence step by step. On April 15, 1952, The Instruction of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Elimination of the Drug Epidemic required all localities to use the forces already organized in the “Three anti” and “Five anti” campaigns, as well as the clues and information available, to carry out an unprecedented anti-drug campaign mainly aimed at drug trafficking. By the end of 1952, tobacco poisoning had been largely wiped out, and social ethos had been purified. At the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, when political power took over, cities began to ban prostitution, mainly Beijing and Tianjin. The Beijing model takes decisive action to concentrate on closing brothels and dealing with bosses and prostitutes when conditions permit. For the owners and leaders, the Public Security Bureau and the People’s Court shall form a trial committee for interrogation and handling, and the Public Security Bureau and the Civil Affairs Bureau shall form a property handling committee to register and investigate the property and confiscate and dispose of the property as the case may be. In the case of prostitutes, the Municipal Women’s Federation, the Civil Affairs Bureau, and the Health Bureau shall organize women’s production and rehabilitation centers, which shall be responsible for the education and transformation of prostitutes, the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, and the organization of production. Another mode of work, represented by Tianjin, was that the number of prostitutes attached to the industry was too large, and the national finance was limited, therefore, the policy of “confinement to limits” was adopted, through administrative management, to restrict

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the development of brothels and the increase of the number of prostitutes, so that the industry gradually shrinks. When the conditions were mature, the brothels were closed again. By 1954, open brothels in public were completely prohibited, and women’s foster homes were set up throughout the country until approximately 1956. By the mid-1950s, the fight against prostitution had won full victory. (II)

Promote land reform, confiscate bureaucratic capital, and form the basis of a new society.

From the beginning of the revolutionary war, the Communist Party of China (CPC), through launching and organizing land reform in the vast rural areas, broke the rule of the original theocracy, gentry powers, and clan powers in the rural areas, thus laying the foundation for the cooperative movement of land public ownership and the establishment of the people’s commune system in the later period. Before the founding of New China, land reform in the liberated areas had been basically completed, but approximately 265 million agricultural people lived in East China, Central South China, Southwest China, and Northwest China, and no land reform had been carried out. After the founding of New China, land reform progressed rapidly. In the winter of 1949, land reform was first completed in the suburbs of North China, most of Henan Province and in some other areas with mature conditions. In other areas, a great campaign of eliminating bandits, fighting against hegemonic democracy, and reducing rent and interest rates was launched to create conditions for comprehensive land reform. On June 28, 1950, at the 8th meeting of the Central People’s Government Committee, the Agrarian Reform Law of the People’s Republic of China was adopted, and on 30th, Mao Zedong issued an order for the Central People’s Government to be formally promulgated and put into effect. From 1949 to the spring of 1953, except for some minority areas (approximately 7 million people) where the central government decided not to carry out land reform temporarily, the land reform, in most areas of the country, was completed in succession. More than 300 million farmers without or having less land (including farmers from the old liberated areas) had acquired approximately 700 million worth of land and a large number of means of production free of charge. In the process, the Central Committee has established land reform committees and set up land reform committees in local people’s governments at or above the county level to strengthen leadership in land reform work. Regulations on punishing landlords’ sabotage have also been promulgated in various localities to give full play to the role of the people’s courts. Each batch of land reform has generally gone through such steps of mobilizing the masses, dividing classes, confiscating land, distributing fruits of victory, reviewing, and summarizing. It has been carried out relatively smoothly and effectively, strengthened the control of state power over rural society, and gradually pushed rural areas into a highly organized and nationalized road. After the founding of New China, in the cities, the bureaucratic capital was confiscated for the people’s ownership, the “three anti” and “five anti” campaigns were carried out, and democratic reforms in the enterprises were carried out, thus laying the foundation for the establishment of a new urban governance system. Since 1950,

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the Party and the government have carried out relatively centralized and comprehensive reforms in bureaucratic capital enterprises, which are generally divided into two stages: the first stage is democratic reform, and the second stage is production reform. At the beginning of 1951, the State Administration of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China formulated and promulgated measures for the liquidation of public shares in private enterprises and the confiscation of shares and property of war criminals, traitors, bureaucrats, and counterrevolutionaries in private enterprises. From the end of 1951 to October 1952, an “anti-corruption, anti-waste, anti-bureaucracy” campaign was carried out among the staff of the party and government organs, and the “three anti” and “five anti” campaigns were carried out among the private industry and commerce workers, including “anti-bribery, anti-tax evasion, anti-fraud of state property, antiJerry building, anti-theft of state economic intelligence”. By the end of 1952, the large-scale democratic reforms in state-owned enterprises all over the country had basically ended, the socialist state-owned economy had been established and developed, and the major economic lifeline of the country had been controlled. This provided a material basis for the unification of finance and economics, the stabilization of prices and the rapid recovery of the national economy and the planned economic and social construction in the early days of the founding of New China. At the same time, social life is also brought into the state plan along with political economy. While the Party and the government are centralized in controlling the economic lifeline, they are also responsible for allocating social resources and organizing the supply of public service products. (III)

Establishing a new social order for equality between men and women.

The most striking practice of social governance in the early days of the founding of New China was to break the feudal patriarchal system, improve the status of women, and make China one of the advocates of gender equality in the world at the time. In September 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference elected the Central People’s Government Committee and adopted the Common Program of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which stipulated: “The People’s Republic of China abolished the feudal system that bound women. Women have equal rights with men in political, economic, cultural, educational and social life”. This fundamentally defines the political concept of equality between men and women in New China. Subsequently, the Communist Party adopted a series of measures to improve the status of women, protect women’s rights, and realize gender equality. The most important of these measures was to protect women’s rights in marriage and family, protect women’s land ownership, protect women’s labor rights, and encourage women to participate in political affairs. These measures have fundamentally broken the social tradition of men’s superiority over women’s inferiority, practiced the socialist gender ideal, and laid the foundation for the social governance mode of cooperation between men and women. Freedom of marriage is the first step of women’s liberation. The Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China, promulgated in 1950, clearly stipulates that the

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feudal marriage system with coercion, inferiority of men and women, and disregard of the interests of children should be abolished. We will implement a new democratic marriage system in which men and women have freedom of marriage, monogamy, equal rights between men and women, and the legitimate interests of women and children are protected. No bigamy, no concubines. Children and foster daughters-inlaw are prohibited. It is forbidden to interfere with the widows’ freedom of marriage. No one is allowed to solicit property through marriage. To ensure women’s ability to extricate themselves from male rule and realize their own value, New China has adopted a series of measures on the distribution of means of production, economy, and social system. The Agrarian Reform Law of the People’s Republic of China, promulgated on June 30, 1950, stipulates that “distribution according to population” allows both unmarried women and married women and widows to have their own land. Women have not only the right to ownership of land but also the right to dispose of it. In September, the first three sessions of the All-China Women’s Federation at the expansion of the meeting proposed changing the idea of “dividing the land regardless of the women’s land” according to the population unified to distribute land. Since then, rural women have the same ownership of means of production as men. In cities, in addition to vocational education for women and the protection of women’s labor rights and interests, a series of labor protection regulations have been formulated for women, such as the Notice on the Production Holidays for Women Workers issued by the State Council in 1955 and the Regulations on the Protection of Women Workers of the People’s Republic of China issued in 1956. With the promotion of these measures, the number of female workers increased rapidly. From 1949 to 1957, the number of female workers increased from 600,000 to 3,286,000. After 1952, the average annual growth increased by 12.7%, and the proportion of female workers in the total number of workers gradually increased from 7.5 to 13.4%. By 1982, the third census data showed that the proportion of females in the working population in China had reached 43.7%. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, promulgated in 1954, clearly states that “Women in the People’s Republic of China enjoy equal rights with men in all aspects of political, economic, cultural, social and family life. Marriage, family, mother, and children are protected by the state.” Equality between men and women has been written into the fundamental law, which is an important achievement of social governance in New China.

2.2 Basic Social Governance System (I)

Grassroots health institutions and grassroots health organizations.

The health work in New China has established four principles: facing workers, farmers, and soldiers, giving priority to prevention, uniting traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and combining health work with mass movement.

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Since farmers accounted for more than 85% of the population at the time of the founding of New China and the lack of medical treatment in rural areas was the most serious, the establishment of rural grassroots health organizations became the focus of medical and health work in New China. In August 1950, the Ministry of Health proposed improving county-level medical institutions in a planned way. By 1952, county-level health centers had been established in addition to ethnic minority areas. However, in rural areas below the county level, health centers will be set up in the districts, health committees will be established in the administrative villages and graded medical organizations will be set up in the villages. Meanwhile, health personnel and midwives who are not separated from production should be trained to supplement medical professional resources. In the period of the people’s commune, most of these joint clinics were converted into commune health centers, while in the production brigade, large-scale health centers (cooperative medical stations) were formed, thus forming a three-level rural grassroots health network of county-level medical institutions, township/commune health centers, and village/brigade health centers. Prevention first, especially it should focus on the establishment of epidemic prevention systems and epidemic prevention. In 1950, the Ministry of Health of the Central People’s Government issued the Instruction on Medical and Political Work in 1950, requiring county health officers to make epidemic prevention the first task. By the end of 1950, 88 professional anti-epidemic teams and 12 plague anti-epidemic teams had been set up in China, and special guidance systems and research and control institutions had been set up for some major epidemics, such as schistosomiasis, hookworm, malaria, and black fever, throughout the country. In January 1953, the Government Council approved the establishment of health and anti-epidemic stations throughout the country and established anti-epidemic organizations and networks at all levels according to administrative divisions. In 1957, there were 1626 health and anti-epidemic stations, and specialized prevention and control stations increased from 11 to 66. Epidemics such as schistosomiasis are basically under control. The combination of health work and mass movement is a major feature of New China’s medical and health work. In 1952, the Patriotic Health Campaign was launched throughout the country, with the main contents of eliminating “four evils”, emphasizing hygiene, and eliminating diseases, and hundreds of millions of people took the initiative to take part in this mass movement of changing customs. Patriotic health campaigns have adopted the method of a combination of surprise cleaning and regular cleaning: on the eve of holidays or at certain times, everyone starts to clean; usually, special emphasis is placed on regular cleaning work. (II)

Preliminary establishment of the social security system.

After the founding of New China, the working class became the leading class, and the construction of its treatment laws and regulations became the most important task of social governance at that time. On June 29, 1950, the Central People’s Government promulgated and implemented the Trade Union Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Trade Union Law), which clearly stipulated the

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nature, functions, tasks, rights, and responsibilities of China’s trade unions. Under the promotion of the Trade Union Law, trade unions at all levels of the country have quickly organized and assumed the responsibility of improving the material and cultural life of the workers. In 1953, the Central People’s Government and the Government Council issued the Labour Insurance Regulations of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Labour Insurance Regulations). In the same year, the Labor Department of the Central People’s Government formulated the Draft amendment to the detailed rules for the Labour Insurance Regulations of the People’s Republic of China. In January 1953, the Government Council published the Decision on Several Amendments to the Labour Insurance Regulations of the People’s Republic of China. At the same time, the revised Labour Insurance Regulations, which further expanded the scope of implementation of labor insurance, also raised the existing standards on insurance treatment. By 1956, the socialist transformation had been basically completed, and 94% of the employees of the state-owned, public–private joint ventures, and private enterprises in China had been covered under the social insurance system. With the family members of the employees enjoying the relevant insurance benefits, the number of people covered by the social insurance system had reached 60 million. At the same time as the establishment of the labor insurance system, the system of medical insurance for urban workers and rural farmers was advancing at the same time. On June 27, 1952, the Instruction on the Prevention of Public Expensive Medical Care for the State Staff of the People’s Governments, Parties, Organizations and the State Functionaries affiliated with the State Government of the People’s Republic of China decided to carry out public medical care for state functionaries and revolutionarily disabled soldiers since 1952. In August of the same year, the Government Council further promulgated the Measures for the Implementation of Public Medical Preventive of State Staff , which clearly stipulated that public medical preventive funds were included in the financial budget. In view of unemployed workers and affected people, New China has gradually established a social security and relief system. In the aspect of unemployment insurance, in the Instruction on the Relief of Unemployed Workers issued by the Government Council in 1950, the relief principle of “giving priority to work-related relief, providing relief to the unemployed through production and self-help, job transfer training, return to the rural areas for production and grant of relief fund” was stipulated, and organizing the unemployed to participate in municipal engineering or other state construction has become the main method to help the unemployed workers. In terms of disaster relief, in December 1949, the Government Council issued the Instruction on Production and Disaster Relief , which identified disaster relief as a “serious political task” and encouraged people affected by the disaster to take measures according to local conditions to help them through production and selfrescue by developing sideline and handicraft industries, saving the whole people for the famine, social cooperation, and local governments to provide loans or relief grain to help them through difficult times. By 1952, the social relief problem left over from the old society had been basically solved.

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The basic education system covers the whole country.

After the founding of New China, one of the best achievements of social governance was the establishment and improvement of the basic education system covering the whole country. In December 1949, the First National Conference on Educational Work emphasized that the purpose of education was “to serve the people, to serve the workers and peasants first, and to serve the current revolutionary struggle and construction”. Under the guidance of this thought, New China quickly established a complete education system and a school system and made great efforts to develop education for workers and farmers, and the literacy rate among workers and farmers increased greatly. In terms of school system construction, on October 1, 1951, the Government Council promulgated the Decision on the Reform of the School System, established a teaching system including kindergarten, primary school and secondary education, higher education, and special schools, adjusted the educational institutions, years and regulations at different stages, and formed a perfect school education system in New China. The education of workers and farmers is the key direction of New China’s education reform. Its main contents include vigorously developing the education of farmers, the education of workers, and organizing quick-learning classes, and cultural supplementary schools. In December 1949, the Ministry of Education issued an Instruction on carrying out the work of winter studies in 1949, which pointed out that “the rural winter school movement is one of the powerful weapons to unite and educate the broad masses of peasants”. Winter school: “This way of education, which is closely combined with practical work to meet the needs of the broad masses of the people, should be carried out in rural areas throughout the country in the future”. Due to the call of the Ministry of Education, winter education has developed very rapidly. From 1949 to 1953, the number of farmers participating in winter education was 13 million, 25 million, 35 million, 48.85 million, and 19 million, respectively.9 In June 1950, the Government Council issued the Instruction on the Development of Amateur Education for Staff and Workers. By 1951, the number of urban workers taking parttime study had increased from 500,000 in 1950 to 1.35 million. In March 1958, the Fourth National Education and Administration Conference of the Ministry of Education proposed that agricultural secondary schools, industrial secondary schools, and handicraft secondary schools should be organized vigorously, i.e., urban vocational education should be carried out. The city vocational school becomes the main body that trains the labor or the technical reserve forces.10 It is also an important means to solve the problem of grassroots education for new China by using spare time to hold fast-growing secondary schools for workers and farmers and providing fast-food education for them. In December 1950, the Government Council issued the Instruction on the establishment of a quick-learning 9 The Editorial Department of China Education Yearbook, China Education Yearbook 1949–1981, pp. 603, Beijing, Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 1984. 10 Editorial Department of China Education Yearbook, China Education Yearbook 1949–1981, pp. 180, Beijing, Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 1984.

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middle school for workers and peasants and a supplementary school for workers and peasants’ cadre culture. By 1954, 87 quick-learning middle schools had been built nationwide, with more than 64,700 students enrolled. In May 1952, the Ministry of Education issued a notice. To popularize the “Quick Literacy Method” created by Qi Jianhua, a cultural teacher in the Southwest Military Region of China. In 1953, nearly 20 million people took part in literacy studies in urban and rural areas. By 1954, there were 1.3 million illiterate workers, 8.5 million farmers, and 360,000 citizens throughout the country.

2.3 A Highly Organized and State-Led Model of Social Governance After the founding of New China, the governance mode of the state (government) controlling society in an all-round way was formed. The formation of this “all-round” system has historical and practical reasons. There are three important aspects. First, the national conditions of China’s semicolonial and semifeudal society since modern times require a strong country to resist foreign humiliation and revitalize China. Second, before the founding of New China, social productivity was greatly destroyed, society was depressed, and autonomy was low. Finally, the catch-up national development strategy promotes the strengthening of the overall social management model. On the country side, the traditional squire classes were replaced by the “party going to the countryside”, and the party organization became the main body of power in rural governance. In cities, the state realizes the control and integration of society by taking the unit system as the main part and the street system as the supplementary part. Under such a model, the masses of the people are highly organized and closely linked, and at the same time, the Party and government departments at all levels are the only subjects of social governance. (I)

The pattern of economic and labor employment in the unified plan of the State.

In the early days of the founding of New China, with reference to the Soviet Union’s management model, a highly centralized control over the country’s political, economic, ideological, and cultural and social life was established, and a system of distribution of the labor force was established to ration food and other necessities of life as planned, a unified national wage system and a unified national plan. On October 16, 1953, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made the Resolution on the Proposed Purchase and Supply of Grain; on November 19, it issued the Order on the Proposed Purchase and Supply of Grain by the Central People’s Government and the Government of the People’s Government. The whole rural area began to implement grain purchases and sales in December 1953. Since then, it has carried out the purchase and marketing of oil materials and cotton and cotton cloth. In addition to living materials, income distribution and employment are also under the unified management of the state. In 1956, the state carried out the second wage

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reform, in accordance with the differences in units, industries, departments, and regions, unified provisions of wage level standards. As with income distribution, employment is basically managed by the state. The state has established the principle of “first adjustment, then recruitment” first city, then rural areas”, emphasizing the unified recruitment and allocation of labor force. Graduates of institutions of higher learning and vocational schools shall be uniformly distributed and uniformly arranged for employment, and the pension benefits enjoyed by workers shall be determined according to their working years. Such centralized management objectively not only avoids unemployment and other social problems but also makes the unit the only way to obtain employment. (II)

Unit System and Street Settlement System in the City.

After the founding of New China, the city established a social management system with a unit system as the main body and a street system as the supplement and realized social integration and control with the government as the main body from the top to the bottom. The political struggle and economic situation in the early days of the founding of New China led the Party and the government to adopt unified management measures in the field of social governance, forming the dominant system structure of the state to society controlling the fiscal deficit, cracking down on speculative activities, stabilizing the market and prices, and at the same time laying the foundation for a highly centralized economic system. The establishment of the state and social integration structure also makes the authority of the state permeate into the basic level of society. The unified wage system and unified labor force distribution system make the fate of the individual completely dependent on the country, which laid the foundation for the emergence of the unit system. The most important stage in the formation of the unit system was the establishment of the urban industrial system during the First Five-Year Plan period. On June 15, 1953, Mao Zedong proposed the gradual transformation of capitalist industry and commerce into a rigorous and efficient socialist economic unit. In 1955, the State Council’s Report on the First Five-Year Plan for the Development of the National Economy proposed that we should concentrate our main forces on industrial construction centered on 156 construction units designed by the Soviet Union for our country, consisting of more than 694 units, to establish the preliminary foundation for China’s socialist industrialization. A number of the most important industrial units in New China officially emerged. In 1955, the Central Committee’s Resolution on the Reconstruction of Capitalist Industry and Commerce was adopted by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which established a strip management system with urban units as the main body. Since then, “enterprises” have become “units” attached to the administrative system. Almost all the areas of public culture and private life in New China’s cities have been branded after the establishment of the system of units. However, units do not cover all urban populations. According to statistics, in 1952, Shanghai’s nonunit residents accounted for 2/3 of the city’s population, and in 1954, they accounted for approximately 3/5 of the city’s population. For these nonunit

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residents, the government needs another form of grassroots organization, which not only realizes the comprehensive control of state power at the grassroots level but also meets the needs of residents’ survival and life. In this case, the urban resident’s committee came into being. The urban resident’s committee originated from all kinds of social organizations related to grassroots public life, such as clean and sanitary committees, winter defense committees, and water management committees, most of which have a single function. Later, cities such as Hangzhou, Tianjin, and Shanghai gradually emerged with comprehensive functions of resident organizations. In 1952, many cities began to establish the pilot work of establishing grassroots mass organizations, but with different names and different forms of organizational structure. On December 31, 1954, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress adopted the Regulations on Organization of Urban Residents Committees (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations). For the first time, it clearly defined the resident’s committee in the form of law, which marks the formal establishment of the urban residents’ street system in China. According to the Regulations, it stipulates that residents’ committees are self-governing organizations of the masses and that there are groups of residents, usually composed of 15–40 households, and that the number of residents’ committees shall not exceed 17. The residents’ committee has five main tasks: to deal with the public welfare of the residents concerned, to reflect the residents’ opinions and demands to the local people’s committee or its agency, to mobilize the residents to respond to the government’s call and abide by the law, to lead the public security work of the masses, and to regulate the residents’ disputes. The promulgation and implementation of the regulations have greatly promoted the full implementation of the organization and construction of the residents’ committees throughout the country. By 1956, residents’ committees had been established and started to work in cities all over the country. After 1958, people’s communes began to carry out pilot projects in cities, which had a great impact on the system of residents’ committees. In 1960, the Instruction of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Question of Urban People’s Communes was issued. The autonomous organizations of urban residents have been gradually replaced by the people’s communes of “the unity of government and society” and “the five-inone system of workers, farmers, businessmen, students and soldiers”. Most of the residents’ committees have become subordinate organizations of the urban people’s communes. Due to the change in the nature of the neighborhood committee, its function changed, and the function of autonomy began to shrink and changed to economic organization and quasi-administrative organization. On the one hand, the residents’ committees began to set up various service-oriented and productive entities; on the other hand, the administrative affairs of the residents’ committees also increased day by day and became the “police agency” of the subdistrict offices. (III)

The system of people’s communes in rural areas.

Mao Zedong put forward in 1958: “It is better to run a people’s commune. Its advantage is that it can bring together workers, farmers, businessmen, students and soldiers

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to facilitate leadership”.11 With the call of the Party leaders and the direct impetus of them, the people’s commune system has been established throughout the country. Under this system, production management and political power management are integrated, and state power penetrates into rural society in an all-round way. After 1962, the people’s commune was readjusted and determined as a three-level organization of commune, production brigades, and production team. The collective means of production of the commune were jointly owned by communes, production brigades, and production teams, which were the basic units for organizing production, labor, and income distribution. The party committee and the team branch of the commune were the leaders and decision-making organs of their respective regions. All administrative powers belong to the Party organization, the commune has a Party Committee, the brigade generally has a party branch, and the production team has a party group. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, which was formulated in 1982, established the mode of township government and village governance, and the mode of social and political integration of the people’s commune was finally put to an end. Before the rural land reform and the establishment of the people’s commune system, China’s traditional countryside was a relatively slow-changing and stable society, and the successive vicissitudes of feudal dynasties never fundamentally destroyed the basis of this social structure. After the founding of New China, a series of rural revolutionary movements destroyed this tradition in two ways: first, destroying the material basis on which the tradition relies, such as decomposing clan property, dissolving clan organization, restriction of geomancy, legal affairs, Taoism and other activities, providing space for the intervention of strong ideology; and second, breaking down the spiritual core of traditional culture through strong ideological propaganda. For example, advocate science, break superstition, advocate new literature and art, break old drama, advocate class struggle, and break the original interpersonal relations, and so on. The people’s commune system established on this basis is to subvert the traditional natural village system through the integration of powerful political organizations, but at the same time, it continues the rural tradition in the aspects of collective economy, close interpersonal relationship, and so on. It is the result of historical development to replace the traditional natural village with the people’s commune system. After the founding of New China, the primary task of rural governance was to rebuild the social order in rural areas and establish socialist public ownership. At the same time, it is necessary to absorb rural resources efficiently and support the process of urban industrialization with the minimum administrative cost and the most refined political mobilization mechanism. The people’s commune system is a product of this background. Prior to this, the reform of both economic and social systems laid the foundation for the emergence of the people’s commune system. On the economic side, after the completion of the land reform, socialist public ownership of the means of production was realized in the vast rural areas. Land is collectively owned by the working people, and the right of land use by the peasants has been implemented. The Constitution of the 11

Pang Xianzhi, Jin Chongji: A Biography of Mao Tse-Tung (1949–1976), pp. 829, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2003.

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People’s Republic of China of 1954 clearly stipulates the dominant status of public ownership in China’s social economy. The corresponding social system and administrative system were also established. In April 1951, the Directive on the Work of the Council of Governors on the Construction of the People’s Democratic and Political Rights required that where the land reform was carried out, the scale of district and township administration was reduced to facilitate the management of the government and improve administrative efficiency. However, it also made it more difficult for the county government to work. In January 1954, the Ministry of Internal Affairs promulgated the Instruction on Improving the Organization of Political Power at the Township Level, which provides for the establishment of township-level political power organizations and democratic operation procedures. In September 1954, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Organization of Local People’s Congresses and Local People’s Committees at the Local Level further regulates the system of political power at the grassroots level in rural areas, making it clear that the people’s committees at the township level shall establish only working committees for civil affairs, public security, armed forces, production cooperation, finance and grain, culture and education, mediation, and, if necessary, one more person can be appointed as a document. To date, the county-township grassroots political power structure has been basically determined and has continued until the people’s commune system appeared.

3 Social Governance Reforms the After Reform and Opening-Up (1978–2012) 3.1 Background of the Change in Social Governance In 1978, when the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was successfully convened, a new period began in the history of socialist modernization construction. The focus of the wok of the party and the state realized a major shift from “taking class struggle as the key point” to “taking economic construction as the center” and made a major decision to implement reform and opening-up. This provides a new historical condition and social environment for the reform of social governance in China. (I)

Deepening on the Transformation of the Economic System.

With the gradual expansion and deepening of reform and opening-up, the originally planned economy has been transformed into a socialist market economy, and the originally closed and semi-closed economy has been transformed into an all-round opening-up pattern. These two major changes have promoted the reform of the administrative system, and the mode of social governance gradually loosened the control and control of the social field, released social vitality, made society active, gradually established a framework of social governance compatible with the socialist market

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economy and explored a new way of social governance. On December 4, 1982, the Fifth Session of the Fifth National People’s Congress adopted the new Constitution of the People’s Republic of China and made new provisions on the country’s basic system, basic tasks, governance structure, and main principles, including the principle of the rule of law, respect and protection of human rights, and the change of the “unity system of political communities” of the people’s commune, and the relaxation of the management of the city’s “unit system” and “street residence system”.12 In October 1983, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Notice on Separating the Real Administration and Establishing the Township Government, which began to abolish the establishment of the people’s commune nationwide, and the people’s commune system withdrew from the historical stage. With the development of the market economy and the diversification of forms of ownership, a large number of social members begin to work in enterprises, the dominant position of the unit system is obviously weakened, private enterprises, foreign enterprises, and social organizations absorb an increasing labor force, and the vitality and efficiency of society as a whole are increasingly apparent. In 1992, the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made it clear that the goal of economic reform was to establish a socialist market economy. In 2001, China successfully joined the World Trade Organization, which indicates that China has further strengthened its ties with the world economy. Under the background of the deepening development of the market economy, the mobility of the whole society is increasing. (II)

Great emancipation and development of social productive forces.

Since the reform and opening-up, with the deepening of ideological emancipation, China’s socially productive forces have been greatly liberated. Deng Xiaoping pointed out in the South in 1992 that whether the reform and opening-up were successful, “the criterion of judgment should mainly depend on whether it is conducive to the development of the productive forces of socialist society, whether it is conducive to the enhancement of the overall national strength of a socialist country and whether it is conducive to the improvement of the people’s living standards”.13 As a result, “three benefits” have become an important value orientation and standard for the development of China’s socialist market economy since the mid-1990s. Under the guidance of this value standard, China’s economic construction has continued to develop rapidly and created a remarkable “economic miracle” that attracts the world’s attention. In 1978, China’s total economic output ranked No. 10 in the world. By 2010, China’s total economic output surpassed that of Japan and jumped to the second place in the world; in 2017, China’s total economic output exceeded 80 trillion yuan, an increase of 33.5 times over 1978 at constant price; China’s per capita disposable income reached 25,974 yuan, a real increase of 22.8 times over 1978, with an average annual growth rate of 8.5% after deducting price 12

Wei Liqun: The History process of 40 Years’ Reform of Social Governance in China, in The Front Line, 2018(9). 13 Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 3, pp. 372, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1993.

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factor.14 All these provide a solid material foundation for strengthening the social construction focusing on ensuring and improving people’s livelihood. (III)

The trend of social pluralism is becoming increasingly obvious.

Since the reform and opening-up, with the deepening of the social division of labor and social mobility, the trend of social diversification in China has become increasingly obvious. From the perspective of social structure, the development of the market economy leads to the continuous differentiation of social interests, and Chinese society has undergone profound changes in class structure, employment structure, population structure, and urban–rural structure. The stratum of “two classes, one stratum” (working class, peasant class, and intellectual class) before the reform and opening-up divided markedly, and new social strata appeared, such as private scientific-technological entrepreneurs, foreign enterprise management technicians, self-employed individuals, private business owners, freelance workers, and middleincome groups, which gradually developed and grew up. In 2002, the report of the 16th CPC National Congress clearly states that these new social strata are the builders of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. From the point of view of social subjects, with the increasing diversification of economic composition, employment, and distribution, all kinds of new interest groups and social organizations in our country are developing vigorously. Social organization is increasingly becoming an indispensable and important force in China’s economic and social development. From the perspective of social value, the full development of the market economy has promoted the co-existence of multiple economic forms and cultures, and the value diversity of the members of our society has been greatly enhanced. Thus, the emergence of multi-interest, price, value, and organization will inevitably require the diversification of the way of social governance. (IV)

Increasing Disputes and Disputes in Social Conflict.

With the deepening of reform and opening-up, the deepening of market economic system reform, people’s interest consciousness is increasing day by day, multiinterest subjects are growing, social structure is deeply and continuously divided, and the income gap between urban and rural areas, regions, and different social groups is expanding, “first rich and common rich”, “efficiency and equity” become important social issues. The laws of social development in the world show that in the period of per capita GDP reaching US $1,000-US $3,000, it is not only the golden period of economic development but also the highlight period of various social contradictions. In 2003, China’s per capita GDP exceeded US $1,000 for the first time, which marks a new stage of development of China’s modernization drive. In this new stage of development, various kinds of social contradictions and social disputes are easy to break out in a concentrated way, and the reform gradually enters the “deep water area” and “key period”, in particular, the incompatibility 14

The CPC National Bureau of Statistics Party Group: Reform and opening to the outside world cast brilliant economic construction new chapter—Reform and opening up 40 years of economic and social development of the main achievements, in the Qiushi, 2018(17).

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between economic and social development, the rapid economic development and the lagging social development resulting in the increasingly prominent problem of “one leg long and one leg short”. In the process of rapid economic development, problems such as the gap between rich and poor, environmental pollution, food safety, land demolition, contradictions between doctors and patients and property disputes have become increasingly prominent and have caused extensive social concern. This requires the implementation of the Scientific Outlook on Development, the adherence to the people-oriented, the establishment of a comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development concept, and the promotion of the overall development of the economy, society, and people. In the face of increasing social contradictions and social conflicts, China’s traditional administrative and social management systems have shown obvious unsuitability. This fully illustrates that profound changes in the social structure of our country will inevitably make it necessary to accelerate the construction of a harmonious socialist society and effectively maintain social stability and unity. (V)

The government’s social management functions are more clearly defined.

After the reform and opening-up, with the development of the market economy, various social affairs and social problems are increasing daily, and the social management function of the government gradually develops and improves. After the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1992, it became an urgent task to speed up the transformation of government function. Under the background of the establishment of a socialist market economy system, the government’s social management functions have been strengthened. In the institutional reform of the State Council carried out in 1998, it was clearly put forward for the first time that governments at all levels should assume a “social management” function and that government functions should be effectively transformed into macro-control, social management, and public services and truly give the power of production and operation to enterprises. In 2003, the outbreak of the “SARS event” played an important role in promoting the reform of government functions. The Third Plenary Session of the Sixteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed that the government should pay more attention to performing the functions of “social management” and “public service” while continuing to improve economic regulation and strengthen market supervision. As a result, “social management” and “public service”, as the basic functions of the government, are increasingly valued and further recognized and strengthened at subsequent central meetings.

3.2 Major Advances in Social Governance Change (I)

Grassroots self-government and community organizations have been constantly improved.

With the gradual collapse of the “people’s commune system” and “unit system”, the grassroots mass autonomy system has gradually become a new type of grassroots

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social management. In 1979, the villagers of the Hezhai group in Yishan County in Guangxi took the lead in spontaneously setting up the “villagers committee”. This mass creation has been recognized and valued and has been widely studied for reference and promotion. In 1980, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the Regulations on Organization of Urban Street Offices and the Regulations on Organization of Urban Suburban Committees. The system of residents’ committees established in the city has been restored, and together with the sub-district offices, a “street system” has been established. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, amended in 1982, clearly stipulated that “The residents’ committees or villagers’ committees established in the urban and rural areas according to the resident’s area is a grassroots mass autonomous organization”. This laid a solid constitutional foundation for people’s autonomy at the grassroots level. Since then, the Organic Law of the Villagers’ Committees of the People’s Republic of China (Trial) was promulgated and implemented in 1987, and the Organic Law of the Urban Residents Committee of the People’s Republic of China was promulgated and implemented in 1989. Therefore, the grassroots mass autonomy represented by village committees and residents committees has gradually entered into the orbit of institutionalization, standardization, and legalization, which has also opened up a new path for social governance at the grassroots level. The interest differentiation brought by the development of the market economy has brought profound change to social governance patterns at the grassroots level, the status and function of urban and rural communities have become increasingly important, and the construction and autonomy of urban and rural communities have opened the new agenda. China’s community construction began in cities and gradually expanded to the countryside. In the aspect of urban community construction, in 1992, the concept of “community service” was first proposed. On this basis, it was extended, expanded, and upgraded to “community construction”. An important development turning point during this period is the institutional reform of the State Council in 1998, which made important adjustments to the functions of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the internal institutions and gave it a clear function of “guiding community service and promoting community construction”. As a result, “community building” has become a national-level policy concept. By 2000, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council forwarded the Opinions of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Promoting Urban Community Construction throughout the country. This is a leading document in the history of urban community construction, marking the beginning of the comprehensive development of urban community construction in the country. Community health, community culture, community environment, and community public security have become the focus of construction. While the construction and autonomy of urban communities have achieved positive results, the construction and autonomy of rural communities have been carried out steadily and have made a series of new breakthroughs. In 1998, the Third Plenary Session of the Fifteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Decision on Certain Major Issues in Agriculture and Rural Work, which is an important document on the construction and

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autonomy of rural communities. The document explicitly calls for all-round promotion of democratic elections, decision-making, management, and supervision at the village level, so as to further expand and improve the democratic autonomy of the people at the grassroots level in rural China. In the same year, the National People’s Congress deliberated and adopted the Organic Law of the Villagers’ Committees of the People’s Republic of China. The results of the 10-year trial efforts rose to a high legal level; thus, Chinese villagers’ autonomy entered a new stage of standardization and legalization. Since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2002, grassroots community autonomy represented by village committees and neighborhood committees has entered a new stage of development. Regarding rural villagers’ autonomy, in July 2002, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, Notice of the General Office of the State Council of the on Further Doing Good in the Reelection of Villagers’ Committees further emphasized and guaranteed the right to vote of the farmers. In 2004, the Opinions of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council on Improving and Improving the Management System of Village Affairs and Democracy clearly proposed protecting peasants’ right to know, decision-making, participation, and supervision. In terms of urban residents’ autonomy, in 2010, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Strengthening and Improving the Construction of Urban Community Resident Committees, further strengthening and upgrading the capacity-building of urban community residents’ committees. With the deepening of China’s housing commercialization reform, an increasing number of commercial housing residential areas are under construction, following the autonomy of village committees and residents committees. In 2003, the State Council issued Property Management Regulations. In 2007, the Fifth Session of the Tenth National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China deliberated and approved the Real Right Law of the People’s Republic of China. In 2009, the Ministry of Housing and Construction issued the Home Ownership Conference and Ownership Committee Guiding Rules. As a new form of self-government, industry committee autonomy entered the stage of institutionalization and legalization and became an important force of social autonomy at the grassroots level. (II)

The reform and development of social undertakings have been carried forward in an all-round way.

After reform and opening-up, the state attached great importance to the development of various social undertakings, and the social welfare and social security system began to undergo social reform. When starting to study and formulate the sixth national fiveyear plan in 1980, the “national economic plan” in the first five plans was changed to the “national economic and social development plan”. Since the implementation of the “sixth five-year plan” in 1982, social development has been added to both the medium- and long-term and annual plans. This shows that the Party and the state began to attach great importance to social development, and the development and reform in the fields of education, science and technology, health and social security, and other fields were strengthened. Generally, the reform and innovation of the social

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undertakings in this stage were mainly carried out as an important supporting part of the economic system reform in the first half and gradually developed into a relatively independent important reform field in the second half. In the field of education, after the reform and opening-up, the college entrance examination system was first officially restored. In May 1985, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Educational Reform was promulgated, which clearly stated that the basic idea of educational reform was to serve socialist construction, face the modernization, the world, and the future; the fundamental purpose of educational reform was to improve the quality of the nationalities, to produce more talents and to produce better talents. In 1993, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council issued the Outline of China’s Educational Reform and Development and the Outline of China’s educational reform and development, which clearly defined the goals and tasks of China’s education reform and development. In 2002, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Promotion of Private Education was promulgated, laying the legal foundation for the development of private education. In 2003, China held the first national conference on rural education work since the founding of New China, which put “rural education” in the prominent position of education reform and development. In 2006, the revised Law of Compulsory Education of the People’s Republic of China was promulgated and implemented, which is a milestone in the history of the development of basic education in China; therefore, the funding guarantee mechanism of compulsory education is fixed in the form of law. Since 2006, in a few short years, China has basically implemented the “two basics” goals of 9-year compulsory education and basically eradication of illiteracy among young and middle-aged adults. In 2010, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council promulgated the Outline of the National Plan for Long- and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020), which clearly sets forth the 20-word guideline for China’s education reform and development in the next decade. That is, “give priority to development, educate people, reform and innovate, promote fairness and improve quality”. In the field of health care, after the reform and opening-up, the first focus was on the recovery and construction of the health system, emphasizing “the use of economic means to manage health services”. In 1981, the Ministry of Health issued the Interim Measures on Hospital Economic Management and the Opinions on Strengthening the Economic Management of Health Institutions. In 1982, the Regulations on the Work of National Hospitals were further promulgated. In September 1992, The State Council issued Several Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Health Care System, which marked the official start of the reform of the healthcare system in China. In 1997, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Health Care Reform and Development were promulgated, which became an important guiding document for the reform of health care in this period. In 2003, the program of a new type of rural cooperative medical system began to be piloted in the country. In March of the same year, the State Council issued the Key Implementation Plan for the Recent Reform of Medicine and Health Care System (2009–2011), which clearly proposed five reforms, namely, “the construction of the basic medical security system”, “the national basic medicine system”, “the basic

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medical and health service system”, “the equalization of basic public health services”, and “the pilot reform of public hospitals”. In 2009, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Medical and Health System, marking the official start of the “new medical reform”; thus, medical and health reform in China has been deepening. In the field of housing, important progress has been made in the reform of the housing system, and significant improvements have been made in the living conditions and environment of urban and rural residents. At the beginning of reform and opening-up, China began the reform of the housing system with “public housing sales” as the main content. In 1980, the outline of the report of the National Conference on Capital Construction was issued to explore ways of enterprises, individuals, and the government each bearing 1/3 of the house price, and encouraging employees to buy houses on their own. In 1988, the leading group of housing system reform of the State Council on the implementation plan of housing system reform in cities and towns nationwide by stages and batches was issued; the reform idea is to encourage workers to buy houses independently by raising rent and wages. In 1991, the housing accumulation fund system began to be tried out in Shanghai and then popularized throughout the country. In 1994, the Decision of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Urban Housing System was issued, which marked the official launch of the reform of the housing system market-oriented. In 1998, the Notice of the State Council on Further Deepening the Reform of Urban Housing System and Accelerating Housing Construction clearly proposed stopping the distribution of housing and fully implementing the monetization of housing, which marked the end of the welfare housing system in China. In 2007, The State Council’s Several Opinions on Solving the Housing Difficulties of Urban Low-income Families was issued, which clearly proposed to further establish and improve the urban low-rent housing system, improve and standardize the affordable housing system, and laid an important institutional foundation for urban low-income groups to realize “living with housing”. In the social security field, after the reform and opening-up, the reform of the endowment insurance system took the lead. In 1984, Guangdong, Jiangsu and, other places carried out a pilot project of social coordination for the retirement expenses of employees of state-owned enterprises. In 1986, the social coordination of the endowment insurance society was carried out all over the country. As a result, the cost of endowment insurance for employees in state-owned enterprises has changed from “enterprise insurance” to “social insurance”. After entering the 1990s, the reform of endowment insurance was further deepened. In 1991, the Decision of the State Council on the Reform of the Endowment Insurance System for Enterprise Employees was released, and it was clearly proposed to start the implementation of the endowment insurance scheme combining social planning with individual accounts. In 2003, the “new rural cooperative medical system” was implemented, and in 2009, the “new rural insurance” was established, which basically covered almost the entire rural population. In 2006, the Regulations for the Agricultural Tax of the People’s Republic of China was officially abolished, and the agricultural tax was canceled nationwide. For the first time, Chinese farmers said goodbye to the history of paying

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the “state tax on grain” for thousands of years. In 2007, the basic medical insurance for urban residents began on a pilot basis; in 2011, the social endowment insurance system for urban residents was established. In particular, the promulgation and implementation of the Social Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China in 2010 are of great significance to protect and improve people’s livelihoods. (III)

Social organization develops and gradually strengthens.

Before the reform and opening-up, there were no real civil society organizations in China. The nominally social organizations were mainly people’s organizations represented by workers, youth, and women, which were essentially the extension of state power. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, with the gradual progress of the reform of the economic system, social organizations, as an important social force, have been developing and emerging and have gradually gained a relatively loose and rapid development environment. Due to the lack of management system for nongovernmental organizations, the decade from 1978 to 1988 was a decade of “wild growth” of nongovernmental organizations, especially the rapid growth of various academic social organizations. In July 1988, the Ministry of Civil Affairs established the Department of Social Organization Management, which was especially responsible for the registration and management of social organizations. This marks the beginning of China’s development of nongovernmental organizations to standardize and manage. In September 1988, the State Council issued the Measures on the Administration of Foundations; in June 1989, the State Council promulgated the Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Foreign Chambers of commerce. In China, in October of the same year, the Regulations on the Administration of Registration of Social Organizations were promulgated, thus forming and establishing a dual management system for the registration and management departments of nongovernmental organizations and the main business units. This dual management system has a profound impact on the development of social organizations in China. After Deng Xiaoping’s southern talk in 1992, the development of nongovernmental organizations emerged as a number of new scenes, which resulted in some important milestone events. For example, in 1992, the Ministry of Civil Affairs convened the first National Conference on the Management of Social Organizations; in September 1995, the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, and the “Forum on NonGovernmental Organizations” especially set up by the conference had an important social impact on the development of Chinese nongovernmental organizations. In 1997, the report of the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) proposed that social intermediary organizations should be cultivated and developed. In June 1998, during the institutional reform of the State Council, the Administration of Social Organizations of the Ministry of Civil Affairs was renamed “the Administration of Civil Organizations”. In October of the same year, the newly revised and improved Regulations on the Administration of Registration of Social Organizations and the newly formulated Interim Regulations on Registration Administration of Private Nonenterprise Units were promulgated and implemented.

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As a result, the management of nongovernmental organizations is more systematic, standardized, and legal. Before 1999, all nongovernmental organizations were collectively called “social organizations”. Later, “private nonenterprise units” were added, and the “foundation” was differentiated. Thus, the type of nongovernmental organization has changed from “one category” to “multicategory”. As this stage is in an important period of market economy in-depth development, the needs of various trade associations, social intermediary organizations, and private nonenterprise units are obviously released, thus obtaining rapid growth and development. According to the relevant data, during the two reforms of government institutions in 1993 and 1998, nearly 40,000 trade associations were formed from the adjustment and transformation of the functions of government departments; there were more than 6,000 private nonenterprise units in 1999 and more than 80,000 in 2001.15 After the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2002, all kinds of social organizations in our country developed steadily and gradually entered a period of stable development. In terms of quantity, according to relevant data, there were 244,000 social organizations, private nonenterprise units and foundations registered with the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 2002, which soared to 462,000 by 2011.16 In addition, there were a large number of “grassroots” social organizations in civil society. In terms of the reform system, in 2006, Guangdong Province took the lead in carrying out the reform of “five by oneself and four none” in the management system of the trade association, which played an important role in promoting the privatization and socialization of the trade association. Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and other places began to actively explore nonexecutive direct registration of nongovernmental organizations such as public welfare charities and dual management system reform at the local level, which has made new breakthroughs. In addition to the implementation of the registration system, community social organizations to implement the filing system have also been widely implemented. In 2008, the Enterprise Income Tax Law of the People’s Republic of China was promulgated, which raised the pre-tax deduction proportion of public welfare donation expenditure from 3 to 12%, which is a higher level in the world, fully reflecting the preferential nature of fiscal and tax policies for public welfare donation. In 2010, the National Medium and Long-term Talent Development Plan Outline (2010–2020) was issued, and “Social Organizational Talents” were included as an important talent type. Since then, social organizations have developed rapidly and played an important and active role in social management and public services. In particular, a large number of voluntary service-oriented social organizations have played an important role in earthquake relief work, such as “Wenchuan earthquake relief”, “Yushu strong earthquake”, “Zhouqu huge mountain flood debris flow”, “Beijing Olympic Games”, “Shanghai World Expo”, “Guangzhou Asian Games”, and other major activities.

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Xie Ju, Ma Qingyu, A Review of the Development History of Chinese Social Organization, in The Journal of Yunnan Administration College, 2015(1). 16 Refer to Statistical Bulletin on the Development of Civil Affairs in 2002 and Statistical Bulletin on the Development of Social Services in 2011 issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

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Significant achievements have been made in the construction of public security.

After the reform and opening-up, under the new situation of social transformation, China’s crime rate, especially the juvenile delinquency in large and medium-sized cities, has increased dramatically, which has become a prominent problem affecting and endangering social stability. This has resulted in insecurity among the people; the social security situation has become quite severe. Due to this social situation and the background in 1981, the central political and legal commission held the “forum on public security in five major cities”. The central committee in the transfer of the forum minutes clearly stated: “to strive for the fundamental improvement of public security, party committees must pay attention to all levels, to grasp the whole party hands in and the implementation of comprehensive management.” Therefore, the strategic policy of comprehensive management of public security has been formally established. Since then, the Central Committee has continuously emphasized and deepened this policy. In February 1991, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Strengthening the Comprehensive Management of Public Security was issued, the Central Commission for the Comprehensive Administration of Public Security (hereinafter referred to as the Central Committee) was established, and the comprehensive administration of public security at all levels from the central to the local level was established, thus greatly enhancing the organizational leadership of the comprehensive management of public security. At the same time, we have formulated and established the basic principle of comprehensive management of public security, which is “both fighting and defending, treating both symptoms and root causes, focusing on the root cause”. We have made it clear that the scope of work of the comprehensive management of social security mainly includes the following six aspects: attack, prevention, education, management, construction, and transformation. In December 1991, the Regulations of the Central Commission for the Comprehensive Administration of Public Security on the Implementation of the Principle of “Dependent Management” (Trial Implementation) and the Regulations of the Central Commission for the Comprehensive Administration of Public Security on the Implementation of the One-vote-veto System for the Comprehensive Management of Public Security were issued, which resulted in the strengthening and improvement of the normative policy system for the comprehensive management of public security. “Dependency management” and the “one-vote veto system” have become important principles of the comprehensive management of social security and have an important impact on the reform and development of social governance in China. In 1992, the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put “strengthening comprehensive management of social security and maintaining social stability” as a key task into the Party Constitution. In 1993, five ministries, including the Central Committee for Comprehensive Control of Public Security, issued the Several Provisions on the Implementation of the Leadership Responsibility System for Comprehensive Management of Public Security, which further emphasized the one vote veto power for comprehensive management of public security.

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In 1997, the Central Commission for Comprehensive Management issued the Opinion on Further Initiation of Grassroots Security Creation Activities, comprehensively deploying and promoting the creation of peace at the grassroots level. In 2001, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Decision on Further Strengthening the Comprehensive Management of Public Security, which called for adhering to the principle of “combining attack with prevention and focusing on prevention”, and emphasized that “fighting against illegal crimes is the primary link in the comprehensive management of social security”. In 2002, the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) further emphasized this principle, calling for the implementation of various measures for the comprehensive management of public security, the improvement of social management and the maintenance of good social order. In 2003, all regions began to explore and carry out safety construction. In December 2005, The Circular of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council on “The Opinions of the Central Political and Law Commission and the Central Commission for the Comprehensive Administration of Social Security on Deepening the Construction of Peace” emphasize that the construction of safety is a new measure to strengthen the comprehensive management of public security under the new situation and is of great significance to the construction of a harmonious socialist society. Subsequently, the construction of safety was carried out in all cities across the country. In November 2006, the Opinions of the Central Committee for the Comprehensive Administration of Public Security on the in-depth development of rural safety construction was printed and distributed, so safety construction began to expand from the city to the countryside. Since then, under the background of vigorously promoting the construction of “safe China”, China’s social security work has made positive progress, and the overall social situation has remained stable. (V)

Innovation in social management has been strengthened.

After the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), strengthening and innovating social management gradually became an important task in our country and gradually rose from the functional field of the government to the Party’s general strategy and strategic tasks. In September 2004, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the CPC clearly proposed strengthening social construction and management and promoting the innovation of the social management system. It also called for the establishment of “the leadership of the Party committee, the responsibility of the government, the coordination of society and the participation of the public”. This has become an important guiding principle for strengthening and innovating social management in this period. In 2007, the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) expanded the “three-in-one” overall layout of socialism with Chinese characteristics into a “four-in-one” layout. Social construction, as an independent field, was clearly proposed, and social management is an important part of social construction. It also proposed a plan to strengthen social construction focusing on ensuring and improving people’s livelihood, which clearly defined the importance of establishing

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and improving the basic pattern of social management. In 2009, the National Conference on Political and Law Work emphasized the three key tasks of “social conflict resolution, social management innovation and enforcing the law with integrity”, and “social management innovation” as a special key task was further defined. In October 2010, the Central Political and Law Commission and the Central Comprehensive Control Commission identified 35 cities and counties as the national comprehensive pilot of social management innovation in the whole country. All regions actively carried out the exploration and practice of social management innovation and made great efforts to build the system and mechanism of social management innovation on the basis of trial experience. In February 2011, the Central Party School of the CPC held a seminar on social management and innovation of major leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial levels. Party and state leaders attended and delivered important speeches. In March of the same year, “social management innovation” was separately written in the outline of the “12th five-year plan”; in July of the same year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Opinions on Strengthening and Innovating Social Management, which further defined the guiding ideology, basic principles, objectives, tasks and main measures for strengthening and innovating social management. In 2012, the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that to strengthen social construction, we should reform the social system and accelerate the reform of a social management system with the leadership of the Party committee, the responsibility of the government, social coordination, public participation, and the guarantee of the rule of law. All these results indicate that social management innovation has been included in the important strategic plan of the state.

3.3 Empirical Enlightenment of Social Governance Reform Since the reform and opening-up, great progress has been made in the reform and opening-up of China’s social governance, which has achieved great historic transformation from “agricultural society” to “industrial society”, from “closed society” to “open society”, and from “shortage society” to “abundant society”. The vitality and energy of the whole society have been stimulated and released unprecedented. In this process, China’s social governance actively explores, keeps moving forward, accumulates valuable experience, and concentrates on the following five aspects. (I)

Persisting in emancipating the mind.

After the reform and opening-up, with the discussion of “practice is the sole criterion for testing truth” and the discussion of “planned economy and market economy” and “social category or capital category”, the minds of the Party and the government and the people were emancipated unprecedentedly. Under this background, the ideological emancipation in the social field of our country has been gradually carried out, especially for a series of problems, such as how to correctly understand and treat the

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status and function of social organization, how to correctly understand and deal with maintaining social stability, which have made a great breakthrough in both theoretical cognition and ideological conception, thus laying the ideological and theoretical foundation for the reform of social governance. In this period, China’s social organizations achieved rapid development and expansion; the overall social situation can remain stable for a long time. Due to the great liberation and development of social productivity in China during this period, it has laid a solid material foundation for guaranteeing and improving people’s livelihood and innovating social management. (II)

Adhere to the basic national conditions.

Each country has its own history, culture, and traditions. This means that social governance has its own characteristics and relative independence for each country. Throughout this period of social governance reform, it is an important basic experience to adhere to the basic national conditions, proceed from the objective reality, and carry out social construction and social reform. After reform and opening-up, China established the basic policy of taking economic construction as the center, and social construction and social management were strengthened accordingly. With the development of the market economy, especially the reform of state-owned enterprises, the reform of social security and social welfare has become an important direction. At the same time, the transformation from “unit person” to “social person” also makes the traditional grassroots management system face severe challenges, which makes the community occupy an increasingly important status and plays an increasingly important role in the whole grassroots society. Under this background, social construction and social management, as independent fields, have been proposed, and their status and role in coordinated development with economic construction are increasingly clear and established. With the different development stages of China’s economic and social development, the status and role of social construction and social management are different, and the manifestation of its own subjectivity and independence is a process of historical construction. This process has always been closely linked with China’s national conditions and national strength, which has realized its own creative transformation on the basis of learning and studying from foreign advanced social management experience, opening-up, and walking out of a road of socialist social governance with Chinese characteristics. (III)

Adhere to people-oriented.

People-oriented development is the core of the scientific concept of development, as well as the basic value concept that social construction and social governance must uphold. Social construction and social governance, after all, are the service and management of people. This requires that the relationship between “service” and “governance” be handled well, adhere to governance in the service, realize governance in the service, and reflect the service in governance. Social construction and social governance must insist on the development for the people, the development depends on the people, the development achievements are shared by the people, we must take the realization of human’s all-round development as the goal, earnestly respect the people’s realistic interest, demand and the dignity of personality

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values. In this sense, the people are not only the starting point of social construction and governance but also the foothold. At the same time, we should see that the masses are historical, concrete, and realistic, with different strata, interests, and characteristics. This requires that social construction and social governance aim at different groups, strata, and groups and implement differentiated, diversified and individualized demand programs. Under the baptism of the market economy, people’s factors become increasingly profound and liberating, which makes people the most fundamental factor in social construction and social governance. (IV)

Adhere to Safeguarding and Improving the People’s Livelihood.

The issue of people’s livelihood is the origin of social construction and social governance. Since the reform and opening-up, with the rapid development of China’s market economy, especially the full implementation of the tax-sharing reform system, the central government’s fiscal revenue has also achieved rapid growth and accumulation, which also provides the basic conditions for the state to guarantee and improve people’s livelihood. Therefore, China’s livelihood has achieved important development, people’s livelihood expenditure has gradually increased, initially forming a relatively clear livelihood public finance system, and the people’s livelihood connotation system has been constantly enriched and expanded. In this process, because of the need to ensure the improvement of people’s livelihood and the coordination of interests, the state attaches great importance to social construction and coordinates the relationship between “economic policy” and “social policy”. Positive progress has also been made in basic legislation in the social field. The basic goal of social construction and social governance is to constantly ensure, improve, and optimize people’s livelihood through various social policies and regulations to better realize the masses of the people “ kindergarten for the children, the education for the students, job for the graduates, get paid after work hospitals for the sick, pensions for the old, houses for the residents, supports for the weak”, and to realize the achievements of reform and development to build and share together. The value of social equity and justice is fully demonstrated and embodied. (V)

Adhere to Strengthening and Perfecting the Party’s Leadership.

Reform and opening-up is a great decision of the Communist Party of China. It is precisely because of the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy that the focus of the Party and the country’s work has achieved a major historic change and the whole society has re-entered the track of sustainable development. It also provides the basic environmental conditions and institutional soil for the reform and innovation of social governance in China. Obviously, it is impossible to produce social construction and social governance in the modern sense under long-term adherence to the principle of class struggle. At the same time, it should be noted that social construction and social governance are long-term and systematic complex projects, and the Party must give full play to the overall situation and coordinate the leadership of all parties. Since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Party’s leadership system has been strengthened from the central level to the local level in light of social construction and social governance. At the central level, the

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Central Committee has strengthened its member units and leadership; in some places, Party and government functional organizations have been set up that are specifically responsible for social construction and governance and the work of the masses. The establishment of these specialized agencies has greatly enhanced and promoted the improvement of the leadership system of social construction and social governance, provided a strong organizational guarantee for the reform and development of China’s social field, and enabled social construction and social management to be better implemented.

4 New Progress in Social Governance in the New Era (2012 to Now) 4.1 Major Progress in Social Governance in the New Era Since the 18th CPC National Congress, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping’s socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics in the new era, great progress has been made in the practice and innovation of social governance in China. In accordance with the goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way and improving the socialist social governance system with Chinese characteristics, from macro-social governance to micro-social governance, from system governance in all fields to community governance in both urban and rural areas, we have made great efforts and made all-round and in-depth progress, making new breakthroughs, new progress, and new achievements. (I)

Works to improve and safeguard the people’s livelihood.

To build a harmonious and safe society and to form a new pattern of social governance that is shared by the whole people, the most important thing is to ensure and improve people’s livelihood. The Central Committee of the Party, with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, places greater emphasis on ensuring and improving people’s livelihood. In accordance with the needs of specific historical periods, we adhere to the policy of synchronizing residents’ income growth with economic growth, increasing labor remuneration, improving labor productivity, and generally continuing to increase the income of urban and rural residents. At the same time, the principle of sticking to the bottom line emphasizes the key points, improving the system, guiding the expectation, paying attention to the fairness of opportunity, building the people’s livelihood guarantee, and improving the project. The first is to carry out the anti-poverty project. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) takes poverty alleviation as the bottom-line task and symbol of building a well-off society in an all-round way and launches a nationwide battle to tackle poverty. The strength, scope, and influence of poverty alleviation are unprecedented. In November 2015, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China convened a conference on poverty alleviation and development, issued the

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Decision of the State Council of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Combating Poverty and Fighting against Poverty, and made a comprehensive plan to combat poverty. The State Council issued “the 13th Five-Year Plan” for Eradication of Poverty, detailing the implementation of the central decisionmaking plan. The General Office of the Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued 11 supporting documents. The relevant departments of the Central Government and state organs issued 118 policy documents or implementation plans. The “six precision” and “five batch” plans were implemented. Through the establishment of a set of effective responsibility systems, policy systems, investment systems, and so on, for poverty alleviation, various decisions and arrangements of the central government have been implemented. From 2013 to 2016, the number of people living in poverty rural areas dropped by more than 10 million years. A total of 55.64 million people have gotten rid of poverty. The poverty-stricken areas have improved significantly and have promoted social harmony and stability. The second is to promote employment and entrepreneurship. Employment is the foundation of people’s livelihood. Adhere to the employment priority strategy, implement more active employment policies, create more jobs, encourage entrepreneurship to promote employment, and focus on solving structural employment conflicts. With economic development entering the new normal and the growth rate slowing down, through the implementation of supporting employment policy, the implementation of “mass entrepreneurship, mass innovation” and the continuous promotion of the reform of “management service” effectively stimulated social creativity and steadily increased the number of employment and entrepreneurship personnel. In recent years, more than 13 million new employment opportunities have been created each year, which has played an important role in improving people’s livelihood and maintaining social stability. The third is to deepen the reform of the distribution system. To promote the sharing of development achievements by all the people, a series of policies will be adopted to narrow the income gap, and minimum wage standards will be generally raised everywhere. At the same time, we will reform the income distribution system, improve the primary distribution mechanism, improve the redistribution adjustment mechanism, establish a long-term mechanism to promote the rapid growth of residents’ income, promote the formation of an open, transparent, fair, and rational income distribution order, obviously increase the income of low-income workers, expand the proportion of middle-income earners, increase the property income of residents through multiple channels, and strive to build an embodiment of skills, income distribution mechanism of knowledge value. The fourth is to improve the social security system. Based on the framework of broad coverage, basic protection, and sustainable development, China’s social security system has further broken the ice of urban–rural division and unit two-track, which embodies the principle of fairness and justice. First, a unified national basic endowment insurance system for urban and rural residents was established. Combine the new rural social endowment insurance and urban residents’ social endowment insurance. At present, all provincial governments in China have formulated new opinions on the implementation of social security for urban and rural residents, basically

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realizing the “four unification” of system name, policy standard, handling service, and information system. Continue to raise the basic pension standard for endowment insurance. The second is to carry out the reform of the pension system. The twotrack pension system, which has been implemented for more than 20 years, has been formally abolished. The basic pension insurance system, which combines social planning with individual accounts, has been implemented by government institutions and enterprises. Pension benefits and contributions are not linked to rank. Third, promote social assistance as a whole. The State Council has promulgated the Interim Measures of Social Assistance, which, for the first time, has incorporated the principles and policies of emergency rescue, disease emergency rescue, and temporary assistance into the legal system, which is the symbol of China’s overall construction of the social assistance system. At the same time, we will support the development of charities and mobilize social forces to carry out social relief and social mutual assistance and voluntary service activities. In particular, the promulgation and implementation of the Charity Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Charity Law) is a milestone event in the construction of China’s social security system and will usher in a new era of modern philanthropy in China. The fifth is to improve housing security. A series of policies and measures should be taken to guide the sustained and healthy development of the real estate industry and curb the excessive rise in housing prices. Accelerate the renovation of shantytowns and dilapidated houses in urban and rural areas. The housing security system, including public rental housing, shantytown reconstruction, rural dilapidated housing reconstruction, housing provident funds, and so on, has been established. Implement the public rental housing system. It is clearly pointed out that public rental housing and low-cost rent housing will be combined everywhere since 2014, which will be collectively referred to as public rental housing, and public rental housing will be expanded to the urban nonhousehold population. Promote the legalization of housing in cities and towns and standardize the work of housing security in cities and towns. (II)

Promoting the Reform and Innovation of the Basic System of Social Governance.

The systems of education, health, population, and household registration management, etc. are important basic systems of social governance that are closely related to the interests of the people and are important aspects of the social governance system and the progress of social civilization. To promote social equity and justice and better meet people’s needs, the state has adopted a series of major decision-making arrangements and institutional arrangements. In the field of education, vigorously promote the construction of educational equity systems. Promote the balanced development of compulsory education, gradually exempt tuition and miscellaneous fees for secondary vocational education, improve the financial aid system for students with family financial difficulties, establish an effective mechanism to expand the coverage of high-quality resources by means of information technology, and gradually narrow the gap between regions, urban and rural and schools. Improve the systems of government subsidies, government purchase services, student loans, fund awards, and incentives for donations, and

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encourage social forces to set up education. To promote the reform of the examination and enrollment system, it is proposed to basically establish a modern educational examination and enrollment system with Chinese characteristics by 2020, to form a model of classified examination, comprehensive evaluation, and multiple admissions and to improve the institutional mechanism for promoting fairness, scientific selection and effective supervision to fundamentally solve the chronic problems in the field of education and meet the needs of the people for better education. In the field of medicine and health care, the establishment of a modern medical and health system should be emphasized. First, the basic medical security system covers the whole population. At present, China’s basic medical insurance covers more than 95% of the population and weaves the world’s largest basic medical care network; the World Health Organization praised “the achievements of China’s medical reform which has attracted worldwide attention”. Second, the system of insurance and medical assistance for major diseases should be improved. Carry out medical assistance for serious and major diseases comprehensively and effectively link basic medical insurance, major disease insurance, medical assistance, emergency medical assistance, commercial health insurance, and charitable assistance. Third, deepen the reform of the medical and health system, implement the linkage of medical care, medical insurance and medicine, promote the separation of medicine, and implement hierarchical treatment to break down the mechanism of medical support by drugs in public hospitals and to promote the reform of public hospitals completely and optimize the distribution of medical and health institutions. Fourth, the construction of a “healthy China” should be thoroughly promoted. In October 2016, the CPC Central Committee convened the National Conference on National Sanitation and Health, and the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Outline of the Plan for “Healthy China 2030”, which proposed the strategic position of giving priority to health development, speed up the transformation of the mode of development in the field of health, maintain and guarantee people’s health in an allround and full cycle way, greatly increase the level of health and significantly improve health and equity. These are historic decisions and institutional arrangements. In terms of population development, the family planning system should be improved. Implement the strategy of population development and promote the balanced development of the population. Fully implement the policy that a couple can have two children. The promulgation of the “two-child” policy is a major adjustment to the family planning policy implemented since 1983 in China, which is related to the reproduction and sustainable development of the future generations of the Chinese nation. At the same time, actively carry out action to cope with the aging of the population; establish an aging population response system supported by fertility policy, employment systems, pension services, social security systems, health security, talent training, environmental support, and social participation; actively study and formulate a gradual policy to delay retirement age; and speed up the improvement of the pension service system and the development of the elderly service industry. Carry out special actions for the construction of the service quality of nursing homes

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throughout the country and implement the plan for the development of elderly education. The innovation of population policy is an important sign of the innovation in the practice of social governance. In the field of household registration management, a unified household registration system has been established in urban and rural areas throughout the country. In July 2014, the State Council’s Opinion on Further Promoting the Reform of the Household Registration System was promulgated, which eliminated the distinction between agricultural and nonagricultural household registration, unified registration as the resident household, and steadily promoted the urbanization of the permanent residents of basic public services in urban areas. In January 2016, the State Council promulgated and implemented the Interim Regulations on Residence Permit, replacing the Temporary Residence Permit, so that residents can enjoy basic public services and various conveniences in their cities. In September 2016, the State Council issued the Program for Promoting the Settlement of 100 million NonResident Persons in Cities, and the relevant departments of the State Council issued a series of supporting policies and measures to solve the practical problems of education, employment, medical care, pension, housing security and the “three rights” in rural areas, which are the most important concerns of the agricultural transfer population. The reform of the household registration system is an important innovation of the basic system of social governance in our country. (III)

Constructing a State Security System.

This is an important symbolic measure to strengthen and innovate social governance. National security is the foundation of stability and the premise of social stability and progress. To address the increasingly complex and diverse domestic and foreign security situation and implement the overall national security concept, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) decided to establish a centralized, unified and efficient national security system and adopted a series of important measures. The first is to establish the National Security Committee. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, held in November 2013, clearly proposed that a national security committee should be established to improve the national security system and national security strategy and ensure national security. In January 2014, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided to formally set up a national security committee. The main functions of the National Security Committee are to coordinate the decision-making and deliberation of national security work, to study, formulate, and guide the implementation of the national security strategies and relevant major principles and policies, to coordinate the major national security matters and important work as a whole, and to promote the construction of national security and the rule of law; at the same time, to play a coordinating command role in dealing with major emergencies. National security includes military, public security, judicial, diplomatic, financial, and other aspects of security systems, including traditional security and nontraditional security areas. The establishment of the National Security Committee is an important institutional arrangement to meet the challenges of times when the security situation tends to be severe and complex. Second, formulate the Outline of National Security Strategy and Opinions on Strengthening National

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Security Work. The guiding ideology, major principles, and key tasks for maintaining national security under the new situation are planned, and the work of national security in all fields is emphasized. The third is to amend and adopt the new State Security Law of the People’s Republic of China. The law focuses on China’s economic and social development and the actual needs of maintaining national security and defines the specific systems of duties and tasks for maintaining national security, the national security system, the national security guarantee, the obligations and powers of citizens and organizations, etc. The establishment of the National Security Committee, the formulation of the Outline of the National Security Strategy and the State Security Law of the People’s Republic of China play an important role in maintaining national security and social security. (IV)

Improve the public security system.

Building a safe China is the primary goal of strengthening and innovating social governance, the basic project of building a well-off society in an all-round way and building a powerful socialist country in an all-round way, and the hope of the people throughout the country. Only when the country is strong, it can bring peace to the people. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), “Safe Construction” has been mentioned as a new historical height. To further promote the construction of safety, the public security system, institutional and mechanism reform measures in food and drug safety, production safety, disaster prevention and mitigation, prevention and control of public security, and network security should be improved. A unified and authoritative food safety supervision institution was established, a strict supervision system covering the whole process was established, and a series of policies and measures for food and drug safety and quality safety were introduced. Continue to deepen the reform of the system of production safety management, establish a management system for hidden danger investigation and prevention and control, and strive to contain major production safety accidents. Improve the system for disaster prevention and mitigation and relief. The emergency management system has been constantly improved, and the ability to deal with crises and risks has been greatly improved. Strengthen the comprehensive management of social security, innovate a three-dimensional system for the prevention and control of social security, formulate and implement a sound leadership responsibility system for the comprehensive management of social security, improve the network for the prevention and control of social security, improve the scientific and technological level of the system for the prevention and control of social security, and strictly prevent and punish all types of illegal and criminal activities in accordance with the law to improve the ability of the activities for the prevention and control of social security. New steps have been taken in the comprehensive management of social security, new breakthroughs have been made in the settlement of social conflicts, the work of the masses has been strengthened and innovated, and the risk assessment mechanism of social stability for major decision-making has been improved. Improve the leadership system of network and information management, formulate and implement network security strategies and strengthen network market supervision. To meet the requirements of the Internet era, social members should be guided

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to establish the concept of joint risk prevention and control, promote the refinement of social security work, and achieve the common governance of social security affairs. In the face of the general situation that social security incidents are prone to occur frequently in our country, weave a completed and three-dimensional public safety net, and pay more attention to the use of legal norms, moral education, psychological guidance, and other means to improve the effectiveness of maintaining social security and make important new progress in the construction of safe China. (V)

Accelerating the Construction of Social Integrity System.

Promoting the construction of credit systems is not only an important task to build a harmonious society but also an inevitable requirement to promote the modernization of social governance. Since the 18th National Congress of the Party, the Party and the state have made a series of important arrangements for the construction of social integrity. The State Council issued the Outline of the Program for the Construction of the Social Credit System (2014–2020), and the Central Civilization Commission issued the Opinion on Promoting the Institutionalization of the Credit Construction, stressing efforts to promote the construction of the credit system. The Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the National Development and Reform Commission and the People’s Bank of China jointly formulated the Program for the Construction of the Young People’s Credit System (2016–2020). Fifty departments and a large number of enterprises jointly implemented the Joint Action Plan for the Credibility of Outstanding Young Volunteers. In April 2018, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council promulgated the Program for the Development of Middle and Long-term Youth (2016–2025), which will promote the construction of the young people’s credit system. Advocate and cultivate the integrity of young people into the overall layout of the cause of youth development. Emphasize on strengthening the construction of social information infrastructure, basic systems and basic capabilities, speed up the promotion of a unified social credit code system, establish a national population-based information database with citizenship numbers as the only code and unified sharing, and improve the supporting systems in relevant aspects. Establish a unified social credit code system for citizens and a unified social credit code system for legal persons and other organizations. Social credit management should be strengthened, a unified credit information sharing and exchange platform across the country should be built and the “Credit China” website should be launched online to provide channels for the public to inquire about and understand social credit information and the dynamics of the construction of a social credit system. Actively explore and improve the system of joint incentives and punishment for breach of trust. (VI)

Strengthen Community Governance in Urban and Rural Areas.

The urban–rural community is the basic unit of social governance and the basic part of the social governance system. The Party and the government paid more attention to the important role of urban and rural communities in social governance and carried out a series of reform and innovation measures to improve the level of urban and rural community governance in China. Improve the system of community governance in

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urban and rural areas, give full play to the leading role of grassroots party organizations, effectively play the leading role of grassroots governments, strive to play the basic role of grassroots mass self-governing organizations, and give full play to the coordinated role of social forces. This is to improve the level of community governance in urban and rural areas, improve the ability of community service supply, enhance the ability of community conflict prevention and resolution, and enhance the ability of community information application. Democratizing, networking grids, and good management and innovation of a new model of comprehensive service management for urban and rural residents. Open democratic channels conduct grassroots consultations and promote the institutionalization, standardization and procedures of community consultations in urban and rural areas. Adhere to the principle of adjusting measures to local conditions, highlighting the characteristics; promote each region to improve the community governance mode based on their own resources, conditions, cultural characteristics, and other realities. Improve the code of conduct, such as citizens’ conventions, township rules, and regulations. Many urban and rural areas attach great importance to the dissemination of excellent traditional culture, and in some places, councils of rural sages have been set up to carry forward the new culture of rural sages, improve the level of rural social organization, and enhance the ability of “self-governing organizations”. Vigorously carry out the construction of rural style, village style, family style, pass on the positive energy of improving by strengthening the protection of ancient villages, compiling genealogies and family instructions. The relevant departments of the central government have formulated and implemented a series of protection measures for famous towns and traditional villages in famous historical and cultural cities, which have greatly promoted the protection and innovative development of China’s excellent traditional virtues and culture, as well as the construction of a safe society and a harmonious society. (VII)

Promoting the healthy development of social organizations.

Social organizations are an indispensable important force in social governance, an important carrier for the public and social forces to participate in social governance, and a shortcoming and difficulty in social governance in China. In view of the problems in the development of China’s social organizations, the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed that “Correctly handle the government and social relations, accelerate the implementation of the separation of political and social organizations, promote social organizations to clarify their rights and responsibilities, exercise self-governance in accordance with the law, and play a role. Public services and issues suitable for social organizations to provide and solve shall be entrusted to social organizations. Support and develop voluntary service organizations”. In recent years, the relevant departments of the central government have formulated and implemented a series of measures to clean up, standardize and support the development of social organizations, promote the genuine decoupling of trade associations, chambers of commerce and administrative organs, and devote themselves to establishing a new management system and operating mechanism for trade associations to promote and guide the independent operation, orderly competition and optimized development of

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trade associations. Significant progress has been made in this regard. At the end of 2016, 132 national trade associations and chambers of commerce in the first batch of decoupling trials achieved the reform objectives of decoupling from administrative organs. In June 2016, the second batch of national trade associations and chambers of commerce (144) published the pilot list of decoupling, and the second batch is being carried out in an orderly progress. In December 2016, the Comprehensive Regulation of Trade Association Chamber of Commerce (for Trial Implementation), all 10 supporting documents stipulated in the overall plan were issued, and a complete policy system framework was formed. The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinion on Reforming the Management System of Social Organizations and Promoting the Healthy and Orderly Development of Social Organizations. It is proposed that by 2020, establish and improve the management system for the development of social organizations with unified registration, each performing its own duties, coordination and cooperation, hierarchical responsibility, and supervision according to law, create a sound legal system, sound policies and fair treatment. Establish a social organization development pattern with reasonable structure, perfect function, integrity and self-discipline and orderly competition and form the modern social organization system with separation of government and society, clear rights and responsibility, and self-governance according to law. In recent years, governments at all levels from the central government to the local government have actively explored the implementation of the purchase service mechanism, attached great importance to the role of social organizations in guiding social members to participate in risk assessment, conflict mediation, community correction, youth education management and so on, and achieved positive results. (VIII)

Innovating the way of social governance.

According to the requirement of promoting the modernization of social governance, actively exploring the innovation of social governance is an important feature of the new practice of social governance in China. First, on the basis of information construction, the network and intelligence of social governance should be constantly enhanced. In today’s world, the information tide characterized by digitalization, networking, and intelligence is booming; without information, there will be no modernization of state and social governance. In recent years, the state has promoted the informatization of social governance in an all-round way. In February 2014, the Central Leading Group on Network Security and Information Technology was set up to promote the construction of national network security and information technology. Subsequently, the Outline of National Informatization Development Strategy was issued to standardize and guide the country’s informatization development in the next 10 years. The “13th Five-Year Plan” for national informatization was formulated to make it clear that it carries out the strategy of network power, big data strategy, and the Internet Plus model, integrates concentrated resources, and provides a digital power engine for promoting the modernization of national and social governance systems and governance capability. Major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and

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Shenzhen actively explore new ways of social governance that conform to the characteristics and laws of mega-cities, strengthen networks, intelligent management, and improve the standards of urban management. Many cities widely use information technology such as the Internet and big data in social governance, vigorously promote informatization of grassroots governance, create “smart communities”, and constantly improve the science of urban social governance. Second, taking the opportunity of “running the country according to law completely” as an opportunity to push forward the legalization of social governance. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has created a new situation of governing the country by law completely and building a society under the rule of law. From 2013 to 2017, China formulated and revised 48 laws, 42 administrative regulations, 2,926 local regulations, and 3,162 rules. At the same time, 57 laws and 130 administrative rules and regulations were successfully revised in a “package” way. The Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China has been codified and promulgated and the General Part of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China, the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics is becoming more and more complete; the effective implementation system of the rule of law, the strict supervision system of the rule of law and the strong guarantee system of the rule of law have achieved remarkable results, which have played an important role in promoting the overall rule of law and governing society in accordance with the law. The State Council has formulated the goal and program of action for basically building a government under the rule of law by 2020; 618 items of administrative examination and approval have been abolished and decentralized successively, and the examination and approval of nonadministrative permission have been completely terminated, which has stimulated the vitality of the market and society, the reform of the administrative law enforcement system has been further promoted, and the level of fair and civilized law enforcement has been improved. The main framework of the new judicial system reform is basically established. The reform of the judicial responsibility system has been carried out in an all-round way, the reform of the criminal procedure system centered on trial has been carried out in depth, and the unified management of people and property of the local courts and procuratorates below the provincial level has been carried out step by step. Formulate and implement systems for intervening in judicial records, circular accountability, establish intellectual property courts, circuit courts of the Supreme People’s Court and procuratorates of cross-administrative divisions, implement a system of filing and registration, abolish the system of re-education through labor, resolutely correct a number of major wrongful acts, optimize the allocation of judicial functions and powers, and further strengthen the standardization of law enforcement. The quality, efficiency, and credibility of justice have been greatly improved, and people’s sense of fairness and justice has been greatly enhanced. New steps have been taken in building a law-abiding society for all and the rule of law. On the establishment of the national constitution day, the constitution oath system has been widely implemented, more attention has been paid to the mediation and resolution of social contradiction disputes, and the diversified dispute settlement system has become increasingly perfect. The leading cadres have taken the lead in respecting

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the law and abiding by the law, and their ability and level of applying the thinking and way of the rule of law are greatly improved. (IX)

Intensifying Environmental Protection and Governance.

It is an important task to strengthen innovative social governance to control environmental pollution and improve environmental quality, which is related to people’s life safety and social stability. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council pay more attention to environmental protection and governance and make great efforts to solve environmental problems that affect people’s physical and mental health and social stability, build beautiful cities and villages, improve the quality of the living environment, and eliminate hidden dangers of social risks. At the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Important Issues of Deepening Reform in an All-round Way was made clear: “We must establish a systematic and complete system of ecological civilization, implement the strictest system of source protection, damage compensation system and responsibility, investigation system, improve the system of environmental governance and ecological restoration, and protect the ecological environment with the system”. In the “13th Five-Year Plan” of the People’s Republic of China, the state has made a comprehensive plan and deployment for improving the ecological environment and forming an environmental governance system under the joint governance of the government, enterprises, and the public. In recent years, great efforts have been made to reform the management system and basic system of ecological and environmental protection, strengthen the rule of law for environmental protection, carry out environmental supervision and inspection, carry out comprehensive prevention and control of pollutants and environmental treatment, promote the transformation of water into toilets and garbage disposal, and establish an organized system for environmental protection that strictly supervises the discharge of all pollutants so as to fight the three major battles of prevention and control of air, water, and soil pollution In order to grasp, gradually build and improve the working system of environmental quality step by step. Fully launch strong supervision and strict accountability in the control of pollutant emissions. Innovate the environmental protection supervision system and decide to establish an environmental protection supervision mechanism. In July 2016, the first batch of central environmental protection supervision work was launched, and eight central environmental protection supervision teams were set up responsible for the environmental protection supervision work of eight provinces (autonomous regions). Since 2017, all environmental protection inspectors have been conducted in 31 provinces and municipalities (districts) in 2 years. Though central environmental protection supervision not only promoted the local party committee government’s environmental protection responsibility but also promoted the solution of a large number of environmental problems and promoted the local establishment of a longterm environmental protection mechanism. There was a general clean-up “scattered, disorderly, dirty” enterprise. The “toilet revolution” initiated by the National Tourism Department has been greatly promoted in the national tourism system, which has not only effectively changed the local tourism environment but also promoted the “toilet

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revolution” of society as a whole. Many places have also launched innovative public space governance actions, notably improving the living environment in urban–rural areas and improving social order and social ethos. (X)

Strengthen the Party’s leadership in social governance in an all-round way.

Strengthening the Party’s leadership in an all-round way and strictly governing the Party is the most distinctive feature of running the country since the 18th National Congress of the Party and the most prominent symbol of practical innovation in the field of social governance. The style of the Party determines the style of government, society, and the people. To govern the country, one must first govern the Party, and to govern the Party, one must be strict, which is an important institutional and organizational guarantee for the modernization of China’s social governance system and governance capacity. Experience has shown that it is the most important social governance system to punish corruption from the strict governance of the party, and it is the fundamental action to straighten out the people’s will, realize the long-term governance of the party and ensure the long-term stability of society. Over the past few years, major measures to strictly govern the party have been closely linked; tigers, flies, mosquitoes fighting together, and a large number of corrupt elements being punished, which has played a major role in rectifying the party’s style of work, upholding justice, halting unhealthy practices, winning the hearts and minds of the party and the people, greatly improving the political, social and people’s style, but also promote the innovation and development of social governance. In view of the outstanding problems existing in the organization, the organization should be reformed vigorously. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) convened a meeting of the Party’s mass organizations, and the Central Committee of the Party formulated and implemented the reform plans for trade unions, the Communist Youth League, the women’s federations, and the federation of literary and art, and put forward a series of reform plans and measures, which effectively promoted the smooth progress of the reform of the mass organizations and enabled them to better implement the mass line, serve the masses, and play a more effective role as a bridge and link between the Party and the government and the people. In recent years, we have also made great efforts to strengthen the construction of serviceoriented Party organizations at the grassroots level so that the Party’s construction covers all kinds of enterprises and institutions, all kinds of social organizations, and all urban and rural grassroots units and strengthens the leading core role of the Party organizations. These measures have played an important role in strengthening the Party’s leadership over social governance in an all-round way.

4.2 Some Enlightenment of Social Governance Innovation in the New Era Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the innovation of social governance in China has clearly embodied the institutional orientation of fairness and justice as the core value reflecting the new ideas and strategies of the

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CPC Central Committee, which takes Comrade Xi Jinping as the core to govern the country. The innovation and reform of social governance in recent years profoundly show that it is necessary to correctly understand and deal with the following relations to promote the modernization of social governance. (I)

Relationship between vigor and order.

To promote the innovation of social governance, one must deal with the relationship between stimulating social vitality and maintaining social order. Xi Jinping pointed out that “a good society should be full of vitality and harmonious and orderly”.17 The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed that “speed up the formation of a scientific and effective social governance system to ensure that society is full of vitality and harmonious and orderly”. “Order” represents the order, harmony, and stability of society, while “vigor” implies the rich and diversity of social life, both of which are dialectically unified and mutually complementary. In the process of social governance, there should be an organic balance between vitality and order, especially to avoid the appearance of either “a pool of stagnant water” or “rough waves”.18 This requires that the promotion of social governance should be transformed from a single administrative means to the comprehensive use of the rule of law, economy, administration and other means, from a major use of coercion, punishment and other punitive means to more use of consultation, dialogue, and other means. (II)

The relationship between the protection of rights and the maintenance of stability.

To promote the innovation of social governance, one must deal with the relationship between protection of civil rights and maintaining social stability. The so-called “rights protection” is to solve the legitimate and reasonable interests and demands of the masses so that the people sincerely feel that their rights and interests have been treated fairly and effectively protected. “Maintaining stability” means that when the legitimate interests of the people are settled, the people will naturally follow their wishes, and society will be harmonious and stable. “Cannot simply rely on suppression and control, hard to maintain stability, but also pay attention to facilitation and resolution, flexible to maintain stability”.19 In this sense, innovative social governance to realize the transformation from “maintaining stability” to “protecting rights”, “maintaining stability” internalized in “protecting rights”, is the party’s 18th Party Congress since China’s social governance concept innovation of major achievements. (III)

The relationship between rule of law and rule of virtue.

To promote the innovation of social governance, the relationship between the rule of law and the rule of virtue must be addressed. “Rule of law” is the rule of law 17

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpts from Xi Jinping’s Exposition on Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Ways, pp. 150, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2016. 18 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpts from Xi Jinping’s Exposition on Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Ways, pp. 139, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2016. 19 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpts from Xi Jinping’s Exposition on Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Ways, pp. 139, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2016.

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and rule of regulation; “rule of virtue” is the rule of rites and customs and the rule of education. The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Important Issues Concerning the Comprehensive Advancement of the Rule of Law adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, proposed: “must adhere to the construction of a country under the rule of law, a government under the rule of law and a society under the rule of law, and realize scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, fair justice and law-abiding by the whole people, so as to promote the modernization of national governance system and the ability of governance”. The rule of law is the basic way of governing the country and is also the most effective mode of social governance. This requires the use of legal thinking and legal ways to plan, guide, and implement social governance and then in the legal track to achieve good social governance. In the meantime, the effective operation of social governance is also inseparable from the internal support of moral values. The core values of socialism are the important spiritual force of innovative social governance, which can effectively enhance the cohesion, centripetal force, and appeal of society. This requires that the cultivation of the core values of socialism starts from focusing on family, family education, and family style and be turned into practical action among the members of the whole society. (IV)

Relationship between co-construction and sharing.

To promote innovation in social governance, one must deal with the relationship between co-construction and sharing. In May 2015, Xi Jinping investigated Zhejiang Province and pointed out: “Social construction should take co-construction and sharing as the basic principle together and plan systematically in terms of institutional mechanisms and policies, from the protection and improvement of people’s livelihood, and stick to what the masses think and what we do”.20 The so-called “coconstruction” emphasizes that the motivational force of social governance comes from the people and requires the joint participation and active dedication of multiple subjects. “Sharing” emphasizes that the achievement of social governance should benefit the masses of the people, so that the people’s sense of achievement and wellbeing will be enhanced constantly, and then “form a vivid situation in which everyone participates, everyone tries his best and everyone has a sense of achievement”.21 Coconstruction is the basic premise of sharing, and sharing is the inevitable requirement of co-construction, both of which run through the whole process of social governance. (V)

The relationship between co-governance and self-governance.

To promote the innovation of social governance, one must deal with the relationship between co-governance and self-governance. Co-governance and self-governance are the core meanings of modern social governance, both of which are related and 20 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpts from Xi Jinping’s “Four Comprehensive” Strategic Layout Discussion on Coordination and Promotion, pp. 145, Beijing, Central Literature Publishing House, 2015. 21 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpts from Xi Jinping’s Essay on Building a Well-off Society in an All-round Way, pp. 61, Beijing, China Central Literature Publishing House, 2016.

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different. Co-governance mainly refers to the cooperative co-governance between the government and society in the field of public affairs; self-governance emphasizes the self-organization mechanism of society, which mainly manifests in the grassroots mass autonomy represented by neighborhood committees and village committees and the autonomy of various social organizations. The basic mechanism of social co-governance is consultative democracy; the basic mechanism of social autonomy is voluntary trust. Good social co-governance is inseparable from mature social autonomy. In the system of social governance, the division of the responsibilities and authorities of the three main bodies of the government, the market, and society in social public affairs is the key link and difficulty to effectively promote social co-governance and social self-governance. (VI)

The relationship between governance and people’s livelihood.

To promote social governance innovation, one must deal with the relationship between governance innovation and people’s livelihood security. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) pointed out that “improve security and improve the level of people’s livelihood, strengthen and innovate social governance”. Xi Jinping pointed out: “In the policy of improving people’s livelihood, we should grasp a good principle, that is, we should do more work to offer timely help, and do less work that is icing on the cake”.22 This requires that in the work of people’s livelihood, focus on making up for the shortcomings of people’s livelihood and maintaining the bottom line of people’s livelihood. We should not only do our best but also do what we can do to ensure and improve people’s livelihood in the course of development. At the same time, to strengthen and bring out innovative social governance, one must create a pattern of social governance that is shared by the people so that the people feel a sense of well-being, happiness, and security and strive to achieve common prosperity of all the people. This shows that ensuring and improving people’s livelihood are not only the basic way to strengthen and innovate social governance but also the fundamental basis for strengthening and innovating social governance.

5 The Main Experience of Social Governance Reform Since the Reform and Opening-Up Since the reform and opening-up, our Party has made unremitting exploration and practice for the formation and development of the theory and system of social governance suited to China’s national conditions, made great progress and achievements, and at the same time accumulated valuable and rich experience. These experiences have important implications for continuing to push forward reform and development in the social field. 22

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpts from Xi Jinping’s Discussion on the Construction of a Socialist Society, pp. 79, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2017.

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5.1 Persisting in Emancipating the Mind and Promoting the Innovation of the Theory of Social Governance Every historical progress in the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the result of emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, and keeping pace with the times. It is also the result of theoretical innovation by combining the basic principles of Marxism with the specific practice of China. From Deng Xiaoping’s creation of the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics to the formation of the important thought of “Three Represents” and the scientific concept of development, especially Xi Jinping’s thought of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, all these have provided a powerful ideological weapon and action guide for the development and improvement of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Since the reform and opening-up, China’s social governance reform has made remarkable achievements and also benefited from the constant emancipation of the mind, adhere to promoting the Party’s social governance theoretical innovation, in particular, to get rid of many untimely traditional ideas and concepts, including constantly correcting the problems of economic construction “one hand is hard”, social construction “one hand is soft”; it puts forward the important thought of building a socialist harmonious society and the deployment of social system reform; the relevant theory of social governance has gone through the process of deepening and advancing step by step, that is, from the comprehensive governance of social security to the management of society, and then to the modernization of social governance. Our Party has the courage to examine the current situation in the social field with the world’s vision and the development of the times, constantly promote the theoretical innovation of social construction and social governance, persist in solving new problems in the reform and opening-up and modernization construction with new theories, new ideas, and new methods, and strive to make the reform of social governance reflect the characteristics of the times, conform to the laws and be innovative. This is the most fundamental experience.

5.2 Adhere to the Right Political Direction and Develop the Way of Social Governance with Chinese Characteristics The direction of reform is related to the success or failure of China’s modernization drive, the fate of the country, and the well-being of the people. “The flag determines the direction the road determines the fate”. What kind of flag to hold determines the direction to go. Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, our Party has always held high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, led the people of the whole country on the road to socialism with Chinese characteristics, and constantly improved and developed in practice. The course of development since the reform and opening-up is

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the process of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics from the perspective of China’s national conditions, adhering to the principle of integrity and innovation. Fundamentally speaking, social construction and social governance reform, like other reforms such as economic construction and economic governance reform, are the self-improvement and development of the socialist system, not the reform of the socialist system. We must always maintain political stability; neither follows the old closed and rigid road nor follows the evil road of changing the flag. We should study and learn from all the beneficial practices of foreign countries in social construction and social governance with a broad mind, but we must not copy the experiences and models of other countries. We must conscientiously resist the influence of all kinds of erroneous ideas and propositions and ensure that the reform and development of social governance always follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

5.3 Persisting in Taking the People as the Center and Relying on the Masses to Innovate Social Governance Always adhering to people-centered governance is China’s social governance since the reform and opening-up of the source of power. The people are the creators of history; the masses are the real heroes. To insist on the people as the center is to insist on the people’s main body status. The people are not only the main body to create social material wealth and spiritual wealth but also the main body to carry out social governance reform. People’s desire will and strength determine the relations of production, economic base, and superstructure in the historical period and fundamentally determine the direction of historical development. Since the reform and opening-up, China has achieved a series of achievements in social governance reform. The reason is that our Party has always adhered to the people’s position and put the people’s interests above everything else to look at and deal with problems. At the same time, we should widely mobilize and organize the people to manage state and social affairs in accordance with the law, adhere to the mass line and make social governance work for the sake of the masses and rely on them. Only by effectively protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the people and giving full play to the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the masses can effective social governance be truly realized.

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5.4 We Will Continue to Deepen Reform in an All-Round Way and Work Hard to Promote Innovation in the System of Social Governance To strengthen and innovate social governance, the key lies in deepening reform and promoting institutional mechanism innovation. For quite some time in the past, the traditional “grand unified model”, which was arranged by the government, not only placed a heavy burden on the government but also restrained the vitality of the social field. To strengthen social construction, innovate social governance, and solve problems in the social field, we must carry out institutional mechanism reform and innovation. Since the reform and opening-up, strengthening and innovating the work in the field of social governance, we must firmly grasp the “cow’s nose” of institutional mechanism reform and innovation. Including the reform of the dual structure of urban and rural areas, carrying out the reform of the household registration system, implementing the system of grassroots self-governance, innovating the system of community governance, developing all kinds of social organizations, giving play to the role of market and social forces, and constantly promoting the reform and innovation of systems such as employment, distribution, education, medical care, social security, and housing. Through the transformation of government functions, strengthening, and improving the government’s social management, we will continue to push forward the reform of “deregulation” and improve the level of social governance. By promoting the classification reform of public institutions, optimizing the composition of public institutions, strengthening the basic public service attributes of public institutions, and establishing the government’s public service purchase system, the public service market has been prized and activated. Only by deepening the reform of the system in the social field can we better promote the modernization of social governance.

5.5 Persisting in the Use of Various Means and Innovating the Ways of Social Governance Improving the mode of social governance is not only an important aspect of innovating the system of social governance but also an inevitable requirement of changing the mode of social development. Dialectics in social governance should be focused, not only manage but also cannot control too much, rigid and flexible, lenient and moderate should be applied to make society active and orderly operation. Adhere to systematic, legal and comprehensive governance and strive to achieve social governance from a single administrative means to multimeans integrated and integrated transformation. Especially in the information age, China has formed a large-scale, complex, diversified network society whose complexity and risk are unprecedented,

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the unstable, uncertain factors are difficult to fully predict, which makes social governance more difficult, we must attach great importance to the use of modern information technology, to create the “the Internet Plus model” social governance model, to refine, standardize, the intelligentization and specialization run through the whole process of social governance, combine the reform of system mechanism with the application of modern science and technology, effectively utilize the information means such as big data, cloud computing, internet of things, artificial intelligence and so on, and continuously improve the quality, efficiency, and efficiency of social governance.

5.6 Adhere to Overall Planning, Coordination, and Promotion and Build a Solid Foundation for Innovation in Social Governance Social construction and social governance are part of national construction and governance. Social governance innovation cannot be separated from the support of basic social conditions, infrastructure, and cultural construction. Only by promoting economic construction and creating more social wealth and material conditions can we provide a solid material basis for social construction and social governance. Since the reform and opening-up, with the sustained and rapid development of China’s economy, the cause of social construction and social governance has been further developed. From the practice of many places in recent years, the construction of social governance systems and governance ability must have a corresponding material basis and economic strength. At the same time, the social governance of socialism with Chinese characteristics is a long-term and complex systematic project that cannot be accomplished in a single step overnight but must be closely combined with the economic governance, political governance, cultural governance, and ecological governance of socialism with Chinese characteristics to promote and complement each other to realize the overall improvement of the state governance of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Social harmony and stability, multisubject, abundant vitality, will also provide good conditions and guarantees for other aspects of governance innovation. This requires that the whole view, the system view, and the synergy view be firmly established in the process of promoting the reform of social governance.

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5.7 Persisting in Strengthening and Improving the Party’s Leadership and Giving Full Play to the Party’s Central Role in Social Governance Xi Jinping pointed out that the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The great achievements of the reform and opening-up, including the field of social governance, are fundamentally the result of persisting in the Party’s leadership and constantly strengthening and improving the Party’s leadership. History and practice have eloquently proven that in contemporary China, without the leadership of the Communist Party of China, it is impossible to unite the people of all ethnic groups and to govern the country and society well. The reform of social governance is an arduous and burdensome historical task. To advance this important task smoothly, it is necessary to give full play to the leading core role of the Party’s overall command and coordination of all parties and firmly grasp the right direction of social governance. The ruling status of the Communist Party of China also decides that the reform of social governance must be carried out under the leadership of the Party. At the same time, we should strengthen the Party’s self-construction, conscientiously improve the Party’s leadership, constantly enhance the Party’s political leadership, ideological leadership, mass organization, and social appeal, constantly improve the Party’s leadership level, and promote the great social revolution with the Party’s self-revolution. This is also the most important experience of social governance reform since the reform and opening-up. The above-mentioned seven points are the understanding of the basic experience of reform and development in the field of social governance in China since the reform and opening-up. In summary, one must firmly follow the road of social governance with Chinese characteristics, insist on giving full play to the superiority and political superiority of the socialist system in the course of reform and opening-up, correctly grasp the law of social operation and change, properly handle and coordinate the relations in all aspects, and lead and orderly progress the reform and development of the field of social governance in China to move forward. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4.

Briefly, we describe the main characteristics of traditional Chinese social governance. What is the content of the grassroots social governance system in New China (1949–1978)? Briefly, we describe the experience of social governance after reform and opening-up (1978–2012). What new developments have been made in social governance in the new era since the 18th National Congress of the CPC?

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References Chen P (2018) Innovation of social governance system since the 18th National Congress of the CPC. Soc Govern 2018(3) Gong W (2014) Research on Chinese social governance. Social Sciences Academic Press (China), Beijing Jing F, Wu Z (2012) Research on Chinese governance culture. China Social Sciences Press, Beijing Li P (2014) Social reform and social governance. Social Sciences Academic Press (China), Beijing Li Q, Hu B (2014) Outline of social governance theory in Chinese history. Yunnan Education Publishing House, Kunming Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (2018) Thirty lectures on Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. Learning Press, Beijing Wei L (2011) Social construction and social management. People’s Publishing House, Beijing Wei L (2017) New progress in social governance since the 18th National Congress of the CPC. Guangming Daily, 2017-08-07 Wei L (2018) We will firmly follow the path of socialist social governance with Chinese characteristics. Qiushi 2018(16) Zhao X (1998) Chinese rural system. Social Sciences Academic Press (China), Beijing

Chinese Social Governance System Liqun Wei

Overview On the basis of expounding the relationship between the basic social system and social governance, this chapter systematically analyzes the connotation and framework of the social governance system and discusses the core problems of the social governance system in the above context. Throughout the study of this chapter, readers will have a better understanding of the connotation and basic features of the Chinese social governance system.

1 Social System and Social Governance The social system is a social institutional system with universality in each country and stability in quite a period of history. Marx categorized the basic practical activity of human beings, namely, production, as the starting point and understood the essence of the social system as the specific social relations of production formed by people in the process of production, that is, the social relations formed by different groups, different ranks and different classes in the whole social division and the cooperation system. Marx pointed out: “Man is the most veritable political animal, not only a social animal but also an animal that can be independent only in society.”1 That is, the existence of human beings is the existence of society. Humans cannot leave society, and their survival, progress and development must be carried out in historical social activities.

1 Marx

and Engels Selected Works, vol. 1, pp. 2, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995.

L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_5

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Most humans rely on the manifestation of society, that is, social relations, “only within the scope of these social contacts and social relations will there be their influence on nature and production.”2 Different social systems have different functions. The social system determines the nature of social form and is the main basis for formulating various systems. The social system has the following functions; The first is the function to guarantee social operation. The social system determines the direction of social development and the mode of social operation, which is the basis of formulating specific systems in various fields of society. The second is the function to regulate social order. The social system regulates and coordinates social activities, coordinates human relations, plays the role of social organizations, and establishes the order of social operation. The third is the function of inheriting and creating culture. The social system promotes the level of social civilization by inheriting and carrying forward the excellent traditional culture, creating the culture of the times and spreading the advanced culture. The fourth is the function of guiding the behavior of social main bodies. The social system stipulates the rights and obligations of the social main bodies and provides ideological and behavioral norms to prevent and resolve social contradictions and conflicts.

1.1 Evolution of Social System and Change of Social Governance (I)

The social system is the premise and foundation of social governance

Since the development of human society, five social systems (social form) have been formed: primitive society, slavery, feudalism, capitalism and socialism. The fundamental motive force driving the change of the basic social system of human society is the contradictory movement between productivity and production relations. Under different social systems, the ways and methods of managing public affairs, including social affairs, are different, which constitute the differences of content, system, institution and mechanism of social governance in different social development forms. In the stage of primitive society, the level of productivity determined that the survival and development of ethnic groups must depend on close cooperation and relatively average labor and distribution. Therefore, the social governance of primitive society relies on customs, taboos and conventions to regulate and adjust individual behavior and social life. As the representative and embodiment of society, clan leaders were responsible for managing simple social affairs and handling simple social affairs, such as internal disputes. Therefore, in this historical stage, 2

Marx and Engels Selected Works, vol. 1, pp. 344, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995.

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social governance was basically in the spontaneous stage and did not become a self-conscious, conscious behavior, let alone institutionalized development. After the emergence of the state, private ownership became the dominant production relation in social production and distribution, the contradiction between the exploiting class and the exploited class gradually became the main contradiction in social development, and the function of the state essentially became the tool to safeguard the interests of the ruling class based on private ownership. In the feudal society stage, the state and society highly coincided, and the state’s political functions and social functions had not yet been divided. Therefore, social management was manifested mainly through the political functions of the state, which occupied an absolute dominant position in social management. The ruled class only passively joined the system of social management as the target and object of management. The social management in this period went from spontaneity to self-consciousness and started the institutionalized construction, but it was generally in the dominant-type social management, which was to safeguard the interests of the ruling group and the ruling class. The oppressing and oppressed relationship between the ruling class and the ruled class was strengthened through social management. The capitalist society born after the Bourgeois Revolution was an important class society in the history of human society. Since then, the shackles of personal attachment in feudal society have been liberated through the Bourgeois social revolution and political revolution. Political liberation made civil society eliminate political attributes, realized the dual differentiation of the state and society and directly spawned the emergence of a modern society and modern country. “Political liberation is also the liberation of civil society from politics”. By partially freeing people from the double oppression of religion and the state, the bourgeois revolution made people attain life closer to human nature in modern democratic countries. The bourgeoisie advocated freedom, equality and other human rights and fought against the feudal autocracy with natural rights in the period of bourgeois revolution. After the success of the bourgeois revolution, natural rights were put into the national legislation. It is in this sense that Marx spoke highly that: “Political liberation is of course a great progress; although it is not the last form of general human liberation, it is the last form of human liberation in the context of the world system to date.”3 In capitalist society, the dominant bourgeoisie constructed the social management mode, which adapts to its social form mainly by laws and contracts that embody its will. This social management mode was characterized by the relative separation of the political governing functions of the state in the social field. At the same time, the management functions of the state gradually manifested and occupied the center of social management, and the human social management mode entered the historical stage of the managerial social governance mode. However, because of the decisive role of the basic contradiction in capitalist society, social governance, which is the carrier for the realization of human freedom and social rights in capitalist society, has never been realized.

3

Marx and Engels Complete Works, vol. 1, pp. 429, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1956.

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The social development of capitalism is a kind of scenario where “some people force and monopolize social development by sacrificing others in society.”4 “Only when a real individual, also as an abstract citizen and as an individual, becomes species-being in his own experienced life, his own personal labor and his own personal relations, and only when one realizes his ‘original power’ and organizes it as a social force and no longer regards social force as a political force and separate it from himself, only then can the liberation of mankind be accomplished”.5 This stage is the communist society. The transition from state management to a high degree of social self-governance is the basic direction of the social governance system. After the development of human society enters socialist society and communist society, the main contradiction of society is no longer the contradiction between class rule and class oppression but the contradiction between the free development of humans and the overall development of society. Social governance in this period will be cooperative governance on the premise of guaranteeing humans’ full freedom and rights and on the basis of individuals’ self-management. Only in this stage can humans’ overall and free development be realized. (II)

Social governance is an important embodiment of the social system

From the origin and essence of states, Marxist classical writers analyzed the functions of states and pointed out that the state was not only the tool of class rule but also the important function of managing social affairs. “Political rule is based everywhere on the performance of certain social functions, and political rule can only continue when it performs such social functions.”6 The state is the product of irreconcilable class contradictions. To safeguard the interests of the ruling class, it is necessary for the state to exert the function of social management to adjust social contradictions and conflicts and maintain the stability and orderly operation of a basic social system. The social management function is the basic function of states, the political governing function of states is the essential embodiment of states, and the political governing function is based on the social management function. Only after performing the above two functions can states achieve sustainable development and basic social systems maintain stability and orderly operation. At the same time, the political governing functions of states will be adjusted and will tend to die out with the development of productivity and the transformation of production relations, but the social management function of states will continue to exist and be strengthened day by day. “The rule of man will be replaced by the management of things and the leadership of the production process”.7 Thus, it can be seen that social governance is the stabilizer of the basic social system and the eternal theme of the development of human society.

4

Marx: Das Kapital, vol. 3, pp. 928, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2004. Marx and Engels Complete Works, vol. 1, pp. 443, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1956. 6 Marx and Engels Selected Works, vol. 3, pp. 523, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995. 7 Marx and Engels Selected Works, vol. 3, pp. 755, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1995. 5

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1.2 Relationship Between China’s Social System and Social Governance (1)

China’s social system and its connotation

The social system of our country is a socialist system with Chinese characteristics. The first paragraph of Article 1 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China clearly stipulates, “The People’s Republic of China is a socialist country under the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants. The socialist system is the fundamental system of the People’s Republic of China. The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most essential characteristic of socialism with Chinese characteristics.” This is a constitutional norm of the nature of China’s basic social system. The socialist system with Chinese characteristics is the inevitable result of the historical logic, theoretical logic and practical logic that Chinese people have struggled for a long time since modern times and is the inevitable requirement of upholding the Party’s essential attribute and carrying out the Party’s fundamental purpose. The 18th Party Congress expressed the socialist system with Chinese characteristics as follows: “The socialist system with Chinese characteristics is the fundamental political system of the people’s congress system, the basic political systems, such as the multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the system of regional ethnic autonomy and the system of grass-roots mass autonomy and so on, the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, the basic economic system with public ownership as the main body and multi ownership economy developing together, and the economic system, political system, cultural system, social system and other specific systems are based on these systems.” (II)

Social governance and its characteristics under the socialist system with Chinese characteristics

The socialist system with Chinese characteristics is the foundation and premise of social governance in China. “What kind of governance system a country chooses is determined by the country’s historical heritage, cultural tradition and level of economic and social development, and by the people of the country,” Xi said, “China’s national governance system today is the result of long-term development, gradual improvement and endogenous evolution on the basis of China’s historical heritage, cultural tradition and economic and social development.”8 China’s contemporary social governance is also determined by China’s basic social system, the level of economic and social development and the local social governance resources based on China’s history and tradition. Fundamentally speaking, social governance with Chinese characteristics is a process of reflecting the basic social system, reflecting social demands, safeguarding 8

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: An Excerpt of Xi Jinping’s Discussion on National Deepening Reform, pp. 21, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2014.

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the fundamental interests of the people, safeguarding social fairness and justice, and increasing social harmony factors. It is mainly reflected in the following aspects. First, it is the social governance structure with the Party’s leadership as the core. Based on China’s basic national conditions being in the primary stage of socialism and a long-established social system, the leading position of the Party in social governance cannot be replaced by any organization. We should give full play to the leading core role of the Party to coordinate the overall situation and all parties in social governance and firmly grasp the leadership of the Party in social governance. Second, it is people-centered social governance values. Social governance, after all, is the service and management of people. China’s social governance adheres to the people-oriented, places the people in the highest position in the heart, adheres to wholeheartedly serving the people, anytime and anywhere listen to the people’s voice, and responds to the people’s expectations. Third, it is the social governance strategy aimed at a continuous improvement of people’s livelihood. People’s livelihood is the basis of people’s happiness and social harmony. People’s livelihood is connected with people’s hearts, and people’s hearts are related to national fortune. Therefore, in the process of social governance, we must always push for the solution of the basic problems of people’s livelihood, constantly strengthen the material basis of social harmony and stability, prevent and reduce the generation of social contradictions from the source, and realize a healthy and orderly society with long-term stability. Fourth, it is the social governance methodology with mass work as magic weapon. Mass work is the basis and important component of all the work of the Party. It is the magic weapon for the Party to lead the people in revolution, construction and reform. It is also the basic, regular and fundamental work of social governance. In the work of social governance, China inherits and carries forward the fine tradition of mass work, adheres to the mass line, pays attention to strengthening and innovating the mass work methods, believes in the masses, relies on the masses, actively propagandizes, mobilizes and organizes the masses to participate in the practice of social governance, thus realizing the purpose of social governance that everything is for the benefit of the masses and everything is for serving the masses well.

2 The Connotation and Framework of Social Governance Systems 2.1 Overview of Social System and Social Governance System The social system we are discussing here refers to the specific institutions in the institutional system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, which are juxtaposed with the economic system, political system, cultural system and ecological system, and it is an important part of the modernization of social construction.

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The social governance system refers to the structural relationship among social governance main bodies and among various elements. It is a series of rules and procedural arrangements for the status, roles, mutual relationship and operation methods of the main bodies of social governance in social life, social affairs and social relations. There are both connections and differences between the social system and the social governance system. The social system includes the social governance system, which is an important part of the social system. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward: “To build a social governance pattern of co-construction, co-governance and sharing. To strengthen the construction of the social governance system and improve the social governance system with the leadership of the Party committee, the responsibility of the government, society synergy, public participation and the guarantee of the rule of law.” It can be said that this is both a basic requirement and basic goal of China’s social system reform in the new era. It also generalizes the relationship between the social system and the social governance system. Building a social governance pattern of co-construction, co-governance and sharing is an inevitable requirement for building a harmonious society and realizing the modernization of social governance. “Coconstruction” means adhering to the people’s dominant role and relying on all the people to build a harmonious society. “Co-governance” means optimizing social governance patterns and supporting social forces and people’s participation in social governance. “Sharing” means to let all the people enjoy the fruits of development and governance together. Under the large framework of the social system, the social governance system focuses on defining the status and role of all kinds of social main bodies.

2.2 Basic Framework and Key Link of Social Governance System (I)

The basic framework of the social governance system of “Five-in-One”

The main frame of the socialist social governance system with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Party committee, the responsibility of the government, society synergy, public participation and the “Five-in-One” guarantee of the rule of law. Party committee leadership is the core of our country’s social governance system. This is to give full play to the leading core role to direct the overall situation and coordinate all parties of the party committees at all levels in social governance. Party committees at all levels should conscientiously implement the Party’s line, principles, policies and work arrangements, support the administration and management of the government according to law, guide various social organizations, mass organizations, autonomous organizations and the people to actively and orderly participate in social governance, and give full play to the role of grassroots Party organizations and Party members in social governance. Rationally allocate the social governance responsibilities and authorities of the party and government departments and effectively solve the problems of multimanagement, decentralized management and difficulty

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in forming effective joint forces. While adhering to the party’s leadership, we should constantly improve the party’s leadership, give full play to political advantages, be good at guiding public opinion, give full play to the role of various media, and constantly improve our ability to prevent and resolve various social conflicts and build a harmonious society. The responsibility of the government is to neither strengthen the government’s social governance function, so that the function keeps in place, neither offside nor absent. The government should push forward the “delegating, governing and serving” reform in the field of social governance. For all problems that citizens, legal persons and other social organizations can solve through self-discipline and that can be solved by industry associations and intermediary organizations, the government should fully delegate its powers to them. At the same time, the government should control and manage the affairs that should be managed by the government and take supervisory responsibility during and after the event by improving and implementing the laws and regulations in the social fields. Society synergy means playing the role of various social organizations and organizing social forces to participate in social governance. Grass-roots units are the foundation of society synergy governance. We should strengthen grassroots construction focusing on urban and rural communities, construct an overall social governance system at the grassroots level, and effectively solve social problems and social contradictions. All kinds of social organizations are important forces for society synergy governance. We should give full play to the role of social organizations, promote the development and expansion of all kinds of social organizations, including social organizations, trade organizations, intermediary organizations, volunteer groups, etc., persist in encouraging development and supervision and guidance, strengthen the construction of social organization management and service systems, and give full play to the roles of various social organizations in providing services, reflecting demands and regulating behaviors. Enterprises and institutions have the important responsibilities of social governance. We should strengthen the social governance responsibilities of all kinds of enterprises and institutions, encourage and support them to continue to assume the responsibilities related to social governance and social services, including giving full play to the roles of all kinds of ownership enterprises in community construction, safe production, handling labor relations, developing charity, promoting social harmony and stability. Public participation means giving full play to the people’s management of state public affairs and social activities and guiding citizens to participate in social governance rationally and orderly in accordance with the law. We should vigorously cultivate the consciousness of citizens’ participation, fulfill the citizen’s duties, optimize the mechanism and way of citizen’s participation in social governance, widen the channel of citizen’s participation, and create conditions for citizen’s participation in social governance. The guarantee of the rule of law is to give full play to the guarantee role of the rule of law in social governance. Modern society is a society under the rule of law. Only by applying the principle of rule of law can we effectively embody fairness and justice, and we can we truly build democratic politics. We must fully implement

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the basic strategy of governing the country by law in social governance, improve the ability of leading cadres to use the thinking and ways of rule of law to govern society, highlight the strengthening of legislation, law enforcement and supervision in the social field, effectively guarantee the effective implementation of laws and regulations, and put all kinds of social governance on a scientific, standardized and legal track. (II)

Key links in the system of social governance

Social governance is “more prominent than social management in three aspects”: more prominent in the co-participation and positive interaction of multiple social main bodies under the leadership of the Party’s committee and the guidance of government; more prominent in democracy and the rule of law, and paying attention to the use of deliberative democracy and the rule of law thinking; more prominent in source governance, comprehensive policy-implementing, tackling the problem and sound mechanism; this marks the transition from the traditional social governance system to the modern social governance system that meets the needs of the times. To realize the transformation of the modernization of social governance, we must accurately grasp the internal logic of the benign operation of China’s current social governance system, especially grasp the five key links of good governance of the government, cooperation and co-governance, grassroots autonomy, social rule of law and moral governance of the whole people.9 Good governance of the government means innovating the governance methods of government and playing the leading role of the government. As the executor of public power and the manager of public affairs, the government must fulfill the basic function of social governance. In modern society, which is highly complex and full of risks and uncertainties, the important role of government in social governance can only be strengthened and cannot be weakened. However, government governance must be innovated and must achieve scientific governance, governance according to law, good governance and effective governance. The leading role of government in social governance is mainly embodied in formulating relevant social governance rules, policies and standard systems, formulating and implementing general plans and special plans for social construction, providing social governance infrastructure and public product services, administering and supervising according to law, maintaining good social order and ensuring public security. Cooperation and co-governance: to stimulate the vitality of social organizations and give play to the bridging role of social organizations. Social organization is an indispensable main body of modern social governance and an important energy source to liberate and stimulate the vitality of social development. Modern social governance needs to pay more attention to fully mobilizing and giving full play to the bridging role of social organizations to realize cooperation and co-governance between government and social organizations. The bridging role of social organizations is mainly embodied in; social organizations act as the “middle zone” and 9

Wei Liqun: Actively Promoting the Innovation of Social Governance System, in the Anthology of Reform Theories, pp. 512–516, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2016.

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“cross-border cooperation platform” between the government and people, which can not only effectively aggregate, communicate and express the interests demands of people but also absorb and transmit the government’s governance intention and policy measures in a timely manner to people and provide convenient and efficient public service. Grass-roots autonomy: attach importance to grassroots social autonomy and give play to the basic role of mass participation. The participation of the masses in social governance is the basic requirement of upholding the main body status of people. In a sense, social governance first needs social members’ self-organization and self-management, which is an automatic adjustment mechanism to maintain social harmony and stability and social normal order. Good social autonomy can stimulate grassroots social vitality and effectively reduce the cost of social governance, thus enhancing the efficiency of social governance. We should actively explore new ways and forms of social governance to form a vivid situation in which everyone participates in social governance and shares the results. Social rule of law: promote the construction of the law-ruled society, and give play to the guarantee role of the rule of law. The rule of law is the basic criterion and means of social governance, and carrying out the rule of law in an all-round way is an important sign to realize the modernization of social governance. We should comprehensively promote the construction of China under the rule of law, adhere to the joint promotion of ruling the country by law, governing by law and administering by law, and the integration construction of the country under the rule of law, the government under the rule of law and the society under the rule of law, so as to generally improve the legislation, law enforcement, justice, law-obeying and law-abiding. In particular, Party and government organizations at all levels and cadres at all levels should firmly establish the concept of law-ruled society and governance by law, be good at thinking about social governance with the spirit of the rule of law, planning social governance with the thinking of the rule of law, solving social governance problems with by ways of the rule of law, and bring all the thoughts and actions of social governance into the track of the rule of law. Moral governance of the whole people: strengthening ideological and moral construction, giving attention to the leading role of socialist core values. To realize the modernization of social governance, we should not only rely on the rule of law, but also on the rule of virtue. To realize the modernization of social governance, we should rely not only on the rule of law but also on the rule of virtue. The history of the development of human society shows that the most profound and lasting force for a country and a nation is the core value system and core value concept that the whole society agrees on. The history of the development of human society shows that the most profound and lasting force for a country and a nation is the core value system and core value concept that the whole society agrees on. To adhere to the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and innovate the system of social governance, we must adhere to the socialist core value system that fully reflects the characteristics of China, the nation and the times. In fact, they put forward and answered the major issues about what kind of country and society we should build and what

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kind of citizen we should cultivate. These core values and concept integrate the value requirements of countries, societies and citizens, which not only embodies the essential requirements of socialism, inherits and promotes the excellent traditional culture of China, but also absorbs the beneficial achievements of world civilization and embodies the spirit of the times.

3 The Core Issues of Social Governance System 3.1 Relationship of the State, the Market and the Society is the Core Issue Correctly handling the relationship among the state, the market and the society is the core issue of social governance system. Since the reform and opening-up, our Party has continuously deepened its understanding of the relationship of the state, the market and the society, and made important decisions on the reform of social governance system according to the national conditions and social conditions at each stage of development. In the process of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics, the relationship of the state, market and society in the field of social governance, among which the state is mainly embodied in the role and function of the state power characterized by the centralized and unified leadership of the Party in the field of social governance, while the market is embodied in the introduction and function of the market mechanism based on the law of value in the field of social governance, and the society is mainly embodied in the realization of social selfgovernment function which takes people as the main force and social organization as the important carrier. Great achievements have been made in the practice of socialist social governance with Chinese characteristics, is closely related to the correct understanding and handling of the relations among the state, the market and the society, and the correct functioning of the three. The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most essential characteristic of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the greatest advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. We should correctly handle the relationship between the state and the market, between the state and the society. Under the condition of developing socialist market economy, on the development and reform in the social field, we should pay attention to the use of market mechanism to improve the efficiency of resource allocation, but pay more attention to playing well the role of government. Under the condition of developing a socialist market economy, on the development and reform in the social field, we should pay attention to the use of market mechanisms to improve the efficiency of resource allocation but pay more attention to playing well the role of government.

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3.2 Correct Understanding of State, Market, Social Functions and Advantages In the system of social governance, the state has the coercive power and it is the main undertaker of the social governance responsibility. The government makes laws and guarantees the execution of laws with coercive power and ensures the normal operation of social order. The government makes laws and guarantees the execution of laws with coercive power and ensures the normal operation of social order. Mao Tse-Tung pointed out in his book On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People: “Is it necessary to put everything under the government’s control? Of course not. Many people, many things, can be worked out by social organizations, or worked out directly by the masses, and they can come up with many good ideas.”10 In the process of providing public goods, the government will also have the problems of low efficiency and high cost. This requires the cooperation of government, society and market. The government should cooperate with social organizations and be supervised by social organizations to avoid corruption such as power rent-seeking. To properly handle the relations among the state, the market and the society is to give full attention to their respective advantages and avoid the disadvantages caused by overemphasizing the functions of one aspect. The market is a mode of resource allocation based on the basic guiding principle of value law, which has advantages in resource allocation and efficiency. The market is a mode of resource allocation based on the basic guiding principle of value law, which has advantages in resource allocation and efficiency. However, there are obvious deficiencies in the market. The spontaneous action of the market mechanism can easily lead to social imbalance and fluctuation and waste of resources. In terms of social security, social undertakings development, eco-environmental protection and the provision of public goods, the market lacks function or capacity, so the government is mainly responsible for these. Compared with the efficiency advantage of the market, the main advantage of the state (government) in the field of social governance is to correct the problems in the fields of fairness and justice, public service and environmental protection caused by market failure. The state or government has irreplaceable responsibilities in guiding the direction of social governance and formulating laws and policies for social governance, and in the important social fields involving social equity and the supply of basic public services. As the maintainer of social order and social justice, in order to minimize administrative cost and improve administrative efficiency, the government also needs thirdparty force, that is social force. “We should give attention to the role of social forces in the management of social affairs, because there are some things that the government cannot manage or cannot manage well, and we can let the masses exercise self-management and self-service in accordance with the law,” Xi said.11 10

Collected Works of Mao Tse-Tung, vol. 7, pp. 228, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 1999. CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpt from Xi Jinping’s Dissertation on Comprehensive Deepening Reform, pp. 54, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2014. 11

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Social organizations are established in accordance with laws and different needs of society. Social organizations are established in accordance with laws and different needs of society. There are two functions of social organizations, the first is to realize social autonomy and reduce the work pressure of government. There are two functions of social organizations. The first is to realize social autonomy and reduce the work pressure of government. They can play an important role in many aspects, such as community governance, social assistance, labor disputes and environmental protection. The second is to participate in government decision-making and supervision to ensure scientific and fair government decision-making. Social organizations are not omnipotent either. Social organizations are not omnipotent either. They have no coercive force and cannot replace the government’s governance of society. The above analysis shows that the state, market and social organization has its own advantages and disadvantages in the social governance activities. They should give full attention to their respective advantages, reasonably exercise their respective responsibilities, authorities and scope of activities, realize the benign interaction among the three, and achieve the multiplier effect, thus promoting the modernization of social governance and then realizing the modernization of state governance.

3.3 Basic Principles for Handling State, Market and Social Relations China is a large country with a population of more than 1.3 billion. It is of great significance to deal with the state, market and social relations. It is of great significance to address state, market and social relations. (I)

Adhere to proceeding from the national conditions, emancipating our minds, seeking truth from facts and keeping pace with the times

Throughout the ages, there have been various theories and practical models on the relationship of state, market and society. We should pay attention to studying and researching all the beneficial ideological and theoretical achievements and practical methods of human society in dealing with the relationships with the three. However, we must not copy the experiences and patterns of other countries. However, we must not copy the experiences and patterns of other countries. We must have a comprehensive and realistic understanding of China’s basic national conditions and its internal requirements at the present stage, adhere to the sinicization, modernization and popularization of Marxism, and, under the guidance of the ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, adhere to emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, keeping pace with the times and seeking truth and pragmatism, and actively explore the scientific theories, specific practices and practical models about the relationship of state, market and society that are in line with china’s current national conditions.

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(II)

Adhere to the correct direction of reform, active and steady, make solid progress, and pay attention to actual results

In the process of building the social governance system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, our Party has made arduous theoretical exploration and practical innovation, and accumulated a lot of experience, but there are some unrecognized “inevitable kingdoms”. Among them, there are still a series of intractable contradictions and problems to be solved in dealing with the relations of state, market and society. Among them, there are still a series of intractable contradictions and problems to be solved in dealing with the relations of the state, market and society. This needs a spirit of initiative, bold exploration and innovation, and the courage to overcome difficulties. However, for the major reform issues involving the overall situation, we must have firm determination and steady steps, adhere to the reform direction and act resolutely. (III)

Adhere to the overall planning, coordination and promotion, and effectively integrate the emphasis on market and social roles with the better performance of the role of the government

In the practice of social governance, the role of state, market and society are indispensable and cannot be separated from each other. Therefore, it is not mutually exclusive but unified to insist on the leading role of the state in social governance, and to attach importance to the market and social role, and to stimulate social vitality. The understanding and practice of opposing them are harmful. The understanding and practice of opposing them are harmful. On the premise of adhering to the overall leadership of the Party, we should fully perform the social management functions of the government, and correctly introduce the forces of market and society, so as to maintain social harmony, stability and vitality. In a word, the state, the market and the society should cooperate effectively, develop strengths and avoid weaknesses, complement each other with advantages, and promote each other. (IV)

Persisting accurately and grasping the functions, distinguishing the levels, distinguishing the areas, defining the scopes, and giving full and rational play to their respective functions and responsibilities

In the field of social governance, there are differences in the level, scope, degree, mode and form of the roles of state, market and society. They need to be deeply studied and accurately defined so as to prevent their respective functions from being misplaced, offside and absent, and avoid mistakes and losses. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4.

Explain the following concepts: social system, social governance system. Analyze the relationship between social system and social governance system. Describe the connotation of China’s social governance system. What is the core issue of social governance? What is the core issue of social governance?

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References Collected works of Mao Tse-Tung (1999), vol 7. People’s Publishing House, Beijing Jinping X (2013) A new vision for development . Zhejiang People’s Publishing House, Hangzhou Marx and Engels Selected Works (1995) vol 1–4. People’s Publishing House, Beijing Xi Jinping’s Talks on Governing the Country (2017) vol 2. Foreign Language Press, Beijing Xi Jinping’s Talks on Governing the Country (2018) vol 1. Foreign Language Press, Beijing

Basic System of Social Governance in China Liqun Wei

Overview This chapter mainly expounds on eight basic systems of social governance in China: the population system, household registration system, employment system, land system, education system, medical and health system, social security system, and income distribution system. It also includes the concept, content, evolution, and problems of the basic system of social governance and analyzes the characteristics of the basic system of social governance. Through the study of this chapter, readers can grasp the basic content of the basic system of social governance in China.

1 Population System 1.1 Population System The population system is an important basic system of social governance. The population system in the broad sense refers to the population laws and policies adopted by the state to achieve the goals of economic and social development, with the aim of affecting the fertility rate, mortality rate, age structure, physiological quality, educational level, moral and ideological level, as well as population migration and regional distribution. In the narrow sense, the population system mainly refers to the measures taken by the government to influence the change in the fertility rate. This section discusses mainly population systems in a narrow sense.

L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_6

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1.2 Evolution of China’s Population System The population thoughts and policies of ancient China mainly focused on the increase in population and the adjustment of population structure. Under the ideology of “the country of increasing population must be strong, the country of decreasing household registration is declining”. All dynasties had taken the increasing population as an important policy. To encourage population growth, early marriage and more childbearing were awarded, while late marriage, late childbearing, and nonmarriage were punished. At the same time, because agriculture was the decisive production sector in ancient times, the quantity and growth rate of the agricultural population was also an important component of population system adjustment. The population system in modern China has greatly influenced foreign population theory and thought, especially the study and criticism of Malthus’ population theory, which has pushed people’s understanding of the population system forward slightly. Since the founding of New China, the population system has gone through the following stages: (I)

From encouraging fertility to restricting fertility.

After the founding of New China, with economic recovery and the stability of basic life, China’s population situation changed, the birth rate increased, the death rate decreased, and the population increased rapidly. Combined with the need for a large population reserve for the construction of New China, the practice of encouraging population growth has been widely accepted. From 1949 to 1953, our country adopted a laissez-faire attitude toward population growth. After the first census in 1953, the central government began to realize the many social problems caused by overly rapid population growth. In February 1955, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) provided important instructions on a report on birth control submitted by the Ministry of Health, raising the birth control policy to the height of the Party’s major decision-making and creating a new environment for promoting birth control in the mid-1950s.1 In December 1962, the Instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Serious Advocacy of Family Planning clearly stated that the promotion of family planning is the basic state policy of China’s socialist construction. The goal of moderate control of population growth should be achieved through the promotion of birth control in densely populated rural areas and cities, thus making the unplanned state of child-bearing gradually transition to a planned state of child-bearing. This was the first time that the CPC Central Committee and the State Council made a clear stand on the issue of family planning in an official document, serving as a rallying call for China to further its family planning work. It was also the first time that China made clear the policy of birth control. To bring the birth control population system into effect, the State Council established a family planning commission, which was headed by the then secretary general of the State Council. During the same period, provinces (cities, 1

Chen Jiangsheng, Li Liangyan and Hu Jianmin: Policy and Implementation of China’s Population Development, pp. 43, Beijing, Economic Science Press, 2017.

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districts), prefectural and municipal levels, and some larger counties began to set up corresponding family planning work institutions and were equipped with fulltime staff, and the family planning work became active. Nevertheless, at this time, “family planning” was the only voluntary work to promote birth control, not the real sense of family planning. Due to the lack of rigidity of policy, between 1962 and 1970, China’s average total fertility rate was still around six (that is, six children per woman). From 1970 to the beginning of 1980, based on early practice, China began to carry out the family planning policy of “late (late marriage and late childbearing), sparse (interval between two births) and less (less childbearing)” in an all-round way. Through vigorous administrative intervention, the basic goal of controlling population growth and readjusting population structure had been achieved, and the total fertility rate has gradually fallen to the lowest level in history since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. During this period, birth policy played a dominant role in many factors affecting population development. The gradual implementation of the “late, sparse and less” population adjustment policy marks the beginning of China’s family planning policy in an all-round way. (II)

Carrying out family planning in an all-round way.

On September 25th, 1980, the Open Letter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to all Communist Party Members and Communist Youth League Members of China on the Issue of Controlling China’s Population Growth clearly set forth the goal of population control of “striving to control the total population of China within 1.2 billion by the end of this century”. It called for “one couple to have only one child”. In September 1982, the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China set family planning as the basic state policy. In October, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council forwarded the Summary of National Family Planning Working Conference, which established the implementation of family planning as a long-term strategic task of the country. In December, family planning was included in the newly revised Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Constitution), and Article 25 of the Constitution stipulates that “the country shall promote family planning so that population growth is in line with economic and social development plans”. Article 49 stipulates that “both husband and wife have the obligation to practice family planning”. On May 12, 1991, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Decision on Strengthening Family Planning Work to Strictly Control Population Growth, which calls for the administration of family planning according to law. The “one-child only” policy, also known as the “one-child restriction” population system, is based on a certain theoretical basis and policy objectives, absorbing experience and lessons from the practice of the early population systems, and highlighting the main contradiction of focusing on the number of population. In the 1990s, the effect of the family planning policy was prominent, and the total fertility rate dropped obviously. According to a survey of 380,000 people by the National Family Planning Commission in 1992, the total fertility rate was 1.52,

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with 21 provinces below the fertility replacement level, covering 81.62% of the total population.2 Since then, the leading thought of the family planning policy has been to stabilize the low fertility level, improve the quality of the population, adjust the working ideas and methods of family planning, and gradually improve the country’s legal system. On March 2, 2000, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Strengthening the Family Planning Work and Stabilizing Low Fertility Level of Population made clear that “the population problem is a major long-term problem in the primary stage of socialism and a key factor restricting China’s economic and social development. Controlling the population quantity and improving the quality of the population is an important strategic decision to realize the great goal and sustainable development of China’s socialist modernization construction”. The Population and Family Planning Law of the People’s Republic of China, which came into force on September 1, 2002, clearly stipulates that the country shall establish and improve basic endowment insurance, basic medical insurance, and other social security systems to promote the implementation of the responsibilities and obligations of family planning work. On December 17, 2006, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on the Comprehensive Strengthening of Population and Family Planning Work and Overall Solving of the Population Problem were put forward to solve the population problem comprehensively. Efforts were made to stabilize the low fertility level, greatly improve the quality of the birth population, comprehensively govern the problem of a high sex ratio of the birth population, continuously improve the floating population management service system, and actively respond to the aging of the population. (III)

Implementing the “two-child fertility policy for couples where either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family”.

In the twenty-first century, China’s population situation has changed, the fertility rate has continued to be lower than the replacement level; the aging of the population has accelerated, and the size of the family has continued to shrink, which has weakened the sustainable development ability of the population as an important factor of production. To adapt to the changes in the population situation, in November 2013, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Important Issues of Comprehensively Deepening Reform. “It pointed out that there should be adherence to the basic state policy of family planning, launch the implementation of two-child fertility policy for couples where either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family, gradually adjust and improve the birth policy and promote long-term balanced development of the population.” On December 30, the Opinion of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council on Adjusting and Improving the Birth Policy put forward the starting of the 2

Chen Jiangsheng, Li Liangyan and Hu Jianmin, Policy and Implementation of China’s Population Development, pp. 89, Beijing, Economic Science Press, 2017.

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“two-child fertility policy for couples where either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family”. Starting in 2014, all provinces (districts and cities) across the country introduced the two-child fertility policy for couples where either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family in their respective regions. The “two-child fertility policy for couples where either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family” is a major shift in China’s population and childbearing policy. This marked the gradual liberalization of China’s tightly controlled family planning policy and the beginning of the transition to the “two-child policy”, which is a major adjustment made for China’s population and childbearing policy to adapt to economic and social development. (IV)

The universal two-child policy.

Once the fertility rate falls below a certain level (the total fertility rate is 1.5, or 1.5 children per woman), it will continue to fall into the “low fertility trap”. The effects of the low fertility trap are manifold, including accelerating the aging of the population, increasing the family support ratio, increasing pressure on pension payments, and declining demographic dividends, which in turn affect labor supply and economic growth. On the basis of summing up the practical experience and full research and augmentation of the “two-child fertility policy for couples where either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family”, the 5th Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in October 2015 clearly stated to “promote the balanced development of the population. It adheres to the basic state policy of family planning, improves the strategy of population development, and implements the policy of one couple having two children in an all-round way, and taking active action to deal with the aging of the population”. The “universal two-child policy” is an extension and expansion of the “two-child fertility policy for couples where either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family”, which is conducive to optimizing the population structure, alleviating the pressure of aging and increasing the supply of labor force. It is also conducive to better adapting to the will of the people to have children, promoting the happiness of the family and the harmonious and stable development of society. Of course, these functions cannot be realized in the short term. The “universal two-child policy” has promoted the balanced development of the population. According to statistics, in 2016, 17.86 million people were born in the whole year, with a birth rate of 12.95%; in 2017, 17.23 million people were born in the whole year, with a birth rate of 12.43%. The birth number and birth rate both declined slightly, but in 2017, the number of second children increased by 1.62 million compared with 2016, and the proportion of second children accounted for 51.2% of all births, exceeding the number of first childbirths.

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1.3 Effectiveness of China’s Population System and Existing Problems Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China’s population system has experienced the process of laissez-faire birth, encouraging family planning to full family planning and then gradually releasing family planning. This is a process of continuously exploring the development of a population system suited to China’s national conditions, with both experience and lessons. First, the effect of the population system is obvious. It has successfully controlled the overly rapid growth of the population, alleviated the pressure of the population burden, improved the quality of people’s livelihood, and provided important guarantees and basic support for modernization construction. The birth rate fell from 32.6% in 1955 to 12.95% in 2016; the natural growth rate fell from 20.32% in 1955 to 5.86% in 2016; the total fertility rate for women of childbearing age fell to 2 in 1993, below the internationally recognized replacement level of 2.1, and has continued to decline since then, falling to 1.047 by 2015. After the “two-child” policy, the total fertility rate rose to 1.7 in 2016. Second, the population system regulates both population quantity and quality, and the quality of the population can be improved. The average life expectancy increased from 41 years in 1955 to 76.5 years in 2016. The proportion of people with junior college education and above rose from 3.6% in 2000 to 11.5% in 2014, and the average working-age population was educated for 10.23 years in 2015. Third, the “universal two-child policy” needs the support of other policies. People’s childbearing intention and childbearing behavior are obviously influenced by economic and social factors. With the development of the economy and society, people’s demand for self-actualization is increasing daily, the fertility rate will naturally decrease, and the reasons for the decline include the high cost of raising children, the shortage of childcare services, and the pressure of women’s career development.

1.4 Development Trend of China’s Population System The population problem is the basic, overall and strategic problem faced by society as a whole. The influence of birth policy is not the present but the future. Whether we can formulate a birth policy in line with the national, conditions were related to the national economy and social development and the destiny of the country. Entering the twenty-first century, the internal and external conditions of China’s population development have changed obviously. It is of great significance to improve the long-term population system to grasp the trend characteristics of future population development and deeply understand the challenges brought by changes in population development to population security and economic and social development. Overall, the population scale and population structure are the focus of the future development

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of China’s population system. For a long time to come, the following changes will take place in the evolution of China’s population. First, the inertia of population growth will be weakened. According to the trend of China’s population change in recent years, the birth population will increase within 3–5 years after the implementation of the “universal two-child policy”. Later, due to the declining birth rate caused by the decrease in the number of women of childbearing age and the rising death rate caused by the increase in the proportion of the elderly population, the inertia of population growth will be weakened, and the growth rate of the total population will slow down. Second, there will be a change in the population structure. First, in terms of age structure, with the prolongation of life expectancy and the decline of the proportion of young children, the increase of the proportion of the elderly population will become the general trend of the change of the age structure of China’s population, and China has already and will further enter the aging society. Second, from the perspective of the gender ratio, the structure of gender imbalance is expected to be alleviated with the relaxation of the family planning policy and the improvement of the social security system. The “universal two-child policy” is not the endpoint of China’s birth policy adjustment because the birth policy must be adjusted in time according to the needs of society, economy, environment and resource sustainable development, and according to the changing trend of actual birth index development. It is an important direction for the future. There have been efforts to do a good job of monitoring and forecasting the birth population, to strengthen the strategic study of population development, and to promote the coordination of birth policy and relevant economic and social policies. It is also to promote the solution of the practical difficulties and worries of the masses in childbearing and parenting and to promote the long-term balanced development of the population. It will be a strategic choice to improve China’s population system in a coordinated way, from focusing on population quantity to population quality, with respect to human rights and promotion of all-round human development as the center.

2 Household Registration System 2.1 Household Registration System The household registration system is a basic system of social governance with Chinese characteristics. China is the first country in the world to carry out population surveys and implement a strict household registration system. The household registration system in Chinese history was directly related to land, and it was a familyand clan-based method of population management. The modern household registration system is a standard system for the country to collect, confirm, and register basic information on citizens’ birth, death, kinship, and legal address. At present, China

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implements the household registration population management policy with the unit of household, and the residence permit system is a reform measure of the household registration system. A residence permit is a certificate that the holder lives in his or her place of residence, enjoys basic public services and facilities as a permanent resident, and applies for registration of a permanent residence.

2.2 Evolution of the Household Registration System Since the founding of New China, the household registration system was formed in the process of the construction of the planned economic system and gradually changed with the establishment of the market economic system. (I)

From 1951 to 1977: The urban–rural dual household registration system gradually took shape.

In July 1951, the Ministry of Public Security formulated and promulgated the Interim Regulations on Administration of Urban Household Registration and began to implement household registration in cities. This is the earliest household registration law since the founding of New China. In December 1954, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Public Security issued a joint notice calling for the establishment of a rural household registration system. In June 1955, the Instruction of the State Council on the Establishment of a Regular Household Registration System required the registration of permanent residents and the establishment of a regular household registration and household management system. In March 1956, the first national household work conference was held. It was proposed to establish a relatively strict household registration system in a short period and gradually tighten the control over population and household registration. In January 1958, the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Household Registration was promulgated and implemented, stipulating that “citizens who move from rural areas to cities must hold the employment certificate of the urban labor department, the admission certificate of the school, or the permit of the urban household registration authority”. In 1977, the Notice of the State Council on Approving the Ministry of Public Security on Handling the Household Transfer proposed strictly controlling the city and town population, clarifying the examination and approval authority and procedures for household transfer, and strictly controlling the “conversion of rural to nonagricultural household”. In the process of strengthening population transfer control, household registration is combined with the supply of daily necessities such as food and oil, education, employment, labor security, medical care, old-age care, and other systems so that agricultural household registration and nonagricultural household registration become different levels of household registration. At the same time, household registration has become an addition to realize the transfer of population from agriculture to nonagriculture through institutionalized means such as entrance of higher education, recruitment of workers, joining of the army, promotion of position, and so on. The

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gradual alienation of household registration has become the basic basis for the allocation of rights and the symbol of status. The household registration-based urban–rural division of the dual policy system is gradually formed. (II)

From 1978 to present, the household registration system in urban and rural areas has been constantly reformed.

After the reform and opening-up, the population began to flow on a large scale, and the household registration system was adjusted from market towns and small towns to relax its control over population transfer. In October 1984, the Notice of the State Council on the Settlement of Peasants in Market Towns put forward allowing farmers and their families who work in market towns for jobs, businesses, and services to conditionally have household registration in market towns. In August 1992, the Ministry of Public Security issued the Notice on Implementing the Effective Household System for Local Urban Residents and implemented the effective household registration system in small towns, special economic zones, economic and technological development zones, and new and high-tech industrial development zones. In July 1998, the State Council approved the Ministry of Public Security of the Opinions on Solving Several Outstanding Problems in the Current Household Registration Administration, focusing on the household registration of infants, the living separation of husband and wife, and families. In March 2001, the State Council approved the Ministry of Public Security of the Opinions on Promoting the Reform of the Household Registration System in Small Towns, allowing peasants with legally fixed residences, stable occupations, or sources of livelihood to be converted into urban household registration. This also allows them to voluntarily retain or transfer the right of the management of contracted land. At the same time, a series of policy adjustments were made, such as the market supply of livelihood materials such as grain, cotton, and oil. Market-oriented reform in the field of labor and employment and the admission of studying at primary and secondary schools on a temporary basis have weakened the system of resource and rights and interest allocation based on household registration. Entering the twenty-first century, especially after 2012, the reform of the household registration system accelerated. In 2003, our country carried out the overall social and economic development of urban and rural areas, and some large and medium-sized cities began to push forward the reform of the regional household registration system. The contents of the reform mainly focused on two aspects: first, abolishing the division of household registration in terms of management and unifying the registration as a resident household registration; second, implementing the residence permit system while replacing entry into the city with conditions such as fixed residence, stable occupation or source of living. In February 2011, the State Council issued the Notice on Actively and Steadily Promoting the Reform of the Household Registration System and proposed the policy of classified household registration and transfer, continuing to rationally control the population scale of large cities. Residents in county-level cities with lawful and stable occupation (3 years at the municipal level) and residence (including leasing residence) and a certain number of years participation in social insurance may apply for registration of permanent residence.

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The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward to “speed up the reform of the household registration system, promote the urbanization of the agricultural transfer population in an orderly way, and strive to achieve the full coverage of the permanent population of basic public services in cities and towns”. In June 2013, at the 3rd Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress, the Report of the State Council on the Work of Urbanization Construction put forward for the first time the specific urbanization path of all kinds of cities. That is, opening up household registration of small towns and small cities in an all-round way, opening up the restrictions on the household registration of mediumsized cities in an orderly way, gradually easing the conditions for the household registration of large cities, and setting reasonable conditions for the household registration of mega cities. On July 24, 2014, the Opinion of the State Council on Further Promoting the Reform of the Household Registration System called for further adjustment of the household registration transfer policy. Full relaxation of restrictions on the household registration of administrative towns and small cities, orderly relaxation of restrictions on the household registration of medium-sized cities, rational determination of the conditions for the household registration of large cities, strict control of the population size of megacities and effective settlement of key issues in the household registration transfer. At the same time, it called for innovation in population management and the establishment of a unified household registration system in urban and rural areas. The elimination of the distinction between the nature of agricultural and nonagricultural household registration and the type of household registration derived there from, such as blueprint household registration, the implementation of the residence permit system, and the improvement of the Population Information Management system. On November 26, 2015, the State Council promulgated the Interim Regulations on Residence Permit, making it clear that the residence permit is proof that the holder lives in the place of residence, enjoys basic public services, facilities as a permanent population, and applies for registration of permanent residence permits. The Interim Regulations on Residence Permit shall come into force on January 1, 2016.

2.3 Effectiveness and Problems of the Reform of the Household Registration System The household registration system in China has three main functions: first, household registration management, that is, the registration of the place of residence and basic information of the population. Second, the restriction of the free movement of the population mainly restricts and regulates the movement of the population in urban and rural areas. Third, the distribution of rights and interests, especially in employment, education, housing, medical care, social security, and other aspects related to the vital

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interests of the public. In different periods of economic and social development, the roles of the three functions are different. Under the background of the transition of the economic and social system, a change in the household registration system has gone through a difficult process of constant exploration. As early as the 1980s, some scholars put forward that China’s household registration system needed to be thoroughly reformed to establish a uniform and equal-treatment household registration system in urban and rural areas. After nearly 40 years of reform, the household registration system has made substantial progress in many aspects. People have gained the right of free movement and residence to a certain extent. The reform of household registration has gradually been promoted from small towns to larger cities and has been developing in the direction of stripping away the right of attachment and removing the restriction of transfer. However, from the point of view of local practice, the reform of household registration was mainly centered on the development of cities, with selective transfer of migrants, and differential treatment based on the nature of household registration still exists.

2.4 Development Trend of Household Registration System The residence permit system is an important task in the reform of China’s household registration system. In the process of economic and social transition and transformation in China, the traditional household registration system has been unable to meet the requirements of the new era and has even become a hindrance to economic and social development in the new era. The integrated development of urban and rural areas needs a “people-centered” new household registration system that breaks down the barrier of urban and rural household registration. The residence permit system clearly stipulates the conditions of residence permit application and the treatment of the holder. A citizen who left the place of permanent residence and lived in another city for more than half a year may apply for a residence permit in accordance with the relevant provisions if he or she meets one of the conditions for lawful and stable employment, lawful and stable residence or continuous study. The holder of a residence permit enjoyed the rights of employment, participation in social insurance, deposit, withdrawal, and use of the housing provident fund in his or her place of residence according to law and enjoyed the following basic public services: compulsory education, basic public employment services, basic public health services and family planning services, public cultural and sports services, legal aid and other legal services, as well as other basic public services prescribed by the state. At the same time, the residence permit system clearly stipulates the household registration conditions of the four kinds of cities. The residence permit system brought innovation into the concept of floating population service management, which is conducive to promoting social harmony; brought innovation into the contents of floating population management, which is conducive

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to improving the service level; and innovates the service management mechanism of floating population, which is conducive to strengthening social management. The root cause of the reform of the household registration system is that the dual household registration system hinders the development of the economy and society. The aim of the reform is to eliminate the obstacles of urban–rural dualism and give urban and rural residents equal opportunities for development and rights and interests. In the future, with the improvement of various systems and the development of society, the household registration system will fade out of the historical stage.

3 Employment System 3.1 Employment System Employment is the foundation of people’s livelihood. The employment system is an important system of social governance. There are different understandings about the employment system, and here, it is defined as the general term for the behavior rules and relations that regulate people’s employment activities under certain social and historical conditions. How to realize the laborer’s right of employment is the core of the employment system. In a broad sense, the employment system refers to a series of system arrangements related to the employment of workers, including not only the employment realization mechanism but also the labor employment system, the employment training system, the employment service system, the employment dismissal system, the resignation and retirement system, and the labor security system. Among them, the employment realization mechanism is how the laborer realizes the employment and by what kind of mechanism adjustment; the labor employment system is to stipulate what kind of relationship between the laborer and the employer need to establish; the employment training system is about how to improve the laborer’s competence. In a narrow sense, the employment system mainly refers to the system of how to realize the employment of laborers and only refers to the allocation and utilization of labor resources. The employment system has two important characteristics: first, relative stability. Once the employment system is established, it will play an important role in the employment activities of society for a long time. Even if its social foundation changes, it will remain effective for a certain period of time and has the characteristics of path dependence. Second, due to variability, the employment system will change because of changes in the level of productivity development, economic structure, population structure, and economic system. For example, the employment system under the planned economic system and the market economic system has significantly different characteristics. The employment realization mechanism can be divided into the employment system based on the planned mechanism and the employment system based on the market mechanism. The system of planned employment is the system of realizing

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employment by means of planned administration, and the system of market-oriented employment is the mode of employment, which mainly regulates the flow and allocation of labor resources through the labor market to realize the utilization of the labor force.

3.2 Evolution of the Employment System Since the founding of New China, China has changed from a planned economy to a socialist market economy, and the employment system has gone through three stages from planned employment to market-oriented employment. (I)

The phase of the planned employment system (1953–1980).

In 1955, the Ministry of Labor stipulated that the employment of enterprises and institutions had to be carried out by labor departments in a unified way. At the same time, the government issued a ban on the dismissal of staff and workers, and the employing units often could only employ and not dismissal staff. Since then, the employment autonomy of enterprises and institutions has been gradually weakened, and a traditional employment system characterized by the governments’ “unified contracting and distribution” and permanent labor system has been formed. The system of “unified contracting and distribution” is an employment system in which the country uses administrative means to carry out unified planning, uniform recruitment, and unified allocation of the urban labor force. The permanent labor system is an employment system in which the country uses administrative means to maintain a permanent and fixed labor relationship between laborers and enterprises and institutions, commonly known as the “iron rice bowl”. This kind of labor employment system is the internal requirement and embodiment of the planned economic system, which shows that the government provides employment for laborers, the labor force depends on administrative allocation, enterprises and institutions do not have the right to employ staff, and the labor employment relationship is fixed for life. (II)

The dual-track phase in which the planned employment system and the marketoriented employment system coexist (1980–1992).

In August 1980, the state put forward the “three-in-one” employment policy of introducing employment of labor departments, organizing employment voluntarily, and seeking employment by oneself. This is a breakthrough reform of the traditional employment system of “unified contracting and distribution”, which has opened up various channels of employment in the state-owned, collective, and individual economy and broadened the field of employment. In 1986, the State Council promulgated the Interim Provisions on the Implementation of Labor Contract System in State-owned Enterprises and proposed that the labor contract system should be generally applied to new recruits, thus breaking the permanent labor system. Although the implementation of the labor contract system has changed the original mode of employment but limited

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to the incremental part of employment, the former employees of the enterprise still remained in the permanent labor system. The employment system in this phase is a dual-track system of labor and employment, that is, part of the nonstate-owned economy (including the nonstate-owned economy in rural and urban areas and the incremental part of the state-owned economy). This is regulated by the market, and laborers are self-employed; the other part (the state-owned economy) still implements “unified contracting and distribution”, in which enterprises and workers have no employment autonomy. (III)

The establishment and development phase of the market employment system (since 1992).

In October 1992, the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China established the socialist market economic system as the goal of reform, marking the formal establishment of the market-oriented employment system in China. In 1992, the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Transformation and Management Mechanism of State-Owned Industrial Enterprises, which stipulates that “enterprises may implement contractual management or full-time labor contract system”, and formally endows enterprises with the autonomy to recruit or dismiss employees. Moreover, it is clear that the scope of contractual management has been expanded from new employees to all employees, including original employees. After the third Plenary Session of the 14th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1993, a breakthrough was made in the reform of the labor employment system, which narrowed the scope of adjustment of the mandatory plan and marked the entry of labor employment into a new stage of “market-oriented regulation and gradual reduction of planned regulation”. In 1998, in view of the problems arising from the reform of state-owned enterprises, the State Council put forward the policy of “establishing and improving the market employment mechanism”, implementing the principle of self-employment of workers, market regulation of employment and government promotion of employment. In 2003, the third Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward the principle of “self-employment of workers, market regulation of employment and government promotion of employment”. In May 2014, the State Council promulgated the Regulations on personnel management of institutions, which stipulates that new employees of public institutions shall be recruited openly to the public. After years of reform, China’s market employment system has been established and developed.

3.3 Effectiveness and Problems of the Reform of the Employment System Employment system reform has produced remarkable results, which has obviously promoted economic society development. First, it promotes labor mobility and improves the allocation and utilization efficiency of labor resources. Under the planned employment system, laborers and

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employers are in a fixed life-long labor relation. It is difficult for laborers to resign, and employers also have no right to dismiss the laborer, resulting in difficulty in free flow of laborers, easy appearance of mismatch of laborer and position, appearance of the situation that “man cannot make the best of his ability”, and restriction of the efficient disposition of labor resources. Under the market-oriented employment system, the market plays a basic and decisive role in the allocation of labor resources, which enables enterprises and laborers to make two-way choices through the labor market. To establish an equal labor-employment relationship, break the fixed life-long relationship, promote the free flow of labor force, facilitate the realization of “the best use of one’s talent”, and optimize the allocation and utilization of labor resources. Second, it realizes the flexibility and stability of employment. Under the planned employment system, the goal of “employment for all” and the stability of employment have been greatly improved, but the vitality is not enough, and the problem of hidden unemployment under the high employment rate has arisen. Under the market-oriented employment system, the process of realizing employment is a process influenced by a market competition mechanism. From the point of view of labor demand, there is competition for talent recruitment among employers; from the point of view of labor supply, there is competition for jobs among workers. Competition means the survival of the fittest. There is a risk and pressure that laborers cannot find jobs, which will urge laborers to ceaselessly improve their own quality to obtain more competitive advantages and realize free and flexible employment. At the same time, under the market-oriented employment system, the labor–employment relationship is regulated in the form of a contract, which guarantees the stability of labor employment. Although China’s employment system reform has achieved remarkable results, there are still some problems that need to be solved. The main performance is in the following four aspects: First, the institutional segmentation of urban and rural labor markets still exists. The labor market is artificially divided into two different levels of urban and rural markets. The urban labor force and the rural labor force cannot achieve fair competition for employment in the same market. The employment of rural migrant workers is mainly concentrated in the fields of manufacturing, construction, and individual commercial services, and their occupational changes have not brought about the rise of social status. Second, policy support for disadvantaged employment groups is insufficient. For a long time, the focus of our country’s employment work lies in urban areas. The unequal employment system between urban and rural areas makes it difficult for the rural labor force to enjoy the equal treatment of the urban labor force in employment service, labor security, social welfare, and so on, which leads to the peasants who go out to work not settling down in the city. Although the Labour Law of the People’s Republic of China clearly stipulates that enterprises implement the labor contract system, there are still many rural workers in urban employment that have not signed employment contracts, resulting in rural workers’ legitimate rights and interests not being effectively protected.

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Third, there is a lack of vocational training for laborers. Compared with Western countries with a relatively perfect vocational training system, China’s employers providing laborers with vocational training are obviously inadequate. Many enterprises and institutions in our country not only have less funds for training, with a low proportion of employees receiving training and short training time, but also vocational training is not systematic and institutionalized. Fourth, a harmonious labor relation has not yet been fully formed. Labor relations are economic and social relations between employees and employers, and harmonious labor relations are the foundation of social harmony. The market-oriented reform of the labor-employment system makes the labor relations in our country increasingly complex and diversified. At present, conflicts of interest and contradictions between labor and capital in enterprises are still prominent, and the number of labor dispute cases is still high. The root cause of the conflict between labor and capital is mostly the workers’ legitimate protection of their legitimate rights and interests, rather than “making trouble for no reason”.

3.4 Development Trend of Employment System Although China has formed the employment system of “laborers’ self-employment, market-regulated employment and government-promoted employment”, it still needs a process to form a perfect market-oriented employment system. Looking forward to the future, the development of China’s employment system should focus on the following four aspects. First, institutional barriers shall be broken down, urban and rural employment shall be coordinated and fair employment shall be achieved. With the development and transformation of the economy and society, the government’s employment work should be changed from “attaching importance to the urban area and neglecting the rural area” to coordinating urban and rural employment. Therefore, the coordination of urban and rural employment and the establishment of a unified human resources market between urban and rural areas is an important strategic measure to deepen the reform of the employment system. The focus of the coordination of urban and rural employment is the problem of migrant workers, many of whom have not yet fully enjoyed equal employment rights, and the phenomenon of unequal pay for same work and different rights in the same city has existed for a long time. Therefore, the most basic requirement of the coordination of urban and rural employment is to break the dual employment system between urban and rural areas and endow migrant workers with equal rights. Second, the protection of laborers’ rights and interests should be strengthened, and harmonious labor relations should be built. The government shall play an important role in coordinating labor relations. First, the government is the regulator of labor relations. More mature labor relations generally have a set of relatively perfect legal systems through the construction of rules and regulations to standardize labor relations. Second, the government is the executor and supervisor of the rules and cannot

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protect the “capital party” from the laws and regulations. Finally, the government is the promoter of harmonious labor relations. Under the condition of a perfect market economy, the government needs to take various measures and means to balance labor relations, prevent the imbalance of labor–capital relations, and try to alleviate the increasingly tense state of labor relations. Third, higher quality and fuller employment should be promoted. Promoting highquality development is the basic requirement for formulating development strategies, adopting economic policies, and implementing macro-control in the current and future periods. Accordingly, employment work also entered an era that pursues higher quality. In fact, since the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, China has put forward the idea of equal emphasis on the quality of employment and the quantity of employment, and the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has further strengthened the concept of the quality of employment. Therefore, how to deepen the reform of the employment system and improve the quality of employment is important work in the future employment field. Fourth, a more active employment policy should be adopted. Under the new economic development, employment will face increasing pressure. Implementing more active employment policies, such as combining employment with entrepreneurship and increasing support for entrepreneurial employment in terms of capital, information, and talent training, is conducive to resolving employment pressure under the new employment pattern and is in line with the general trend of employment development.

4 Land System Land systems are an important basic system of social governance in our country. The land system is the general term given to the relations produced by the ownership and utilization of land under certain economic and social conditions. The land system in a broad sense includes the land ownership system, land use system, land planning system, land protection system, land expropriation system, land transfer system, land tax system, and land management system. The land system in a narrow sense only refers to the land ownership system, land use system, and state land management system. Land systems are an important system that reflects the relationship between humans and humans and between humans and land. It is not only an economic system but also a legal system, and it is the embodiment of land economic relationships in law. After years of exploration, China has gradually formed a land system with Chinese characteristics based on public ownership, taking the protection of farmland and saving land as the main line and taking property rights protection, use control, and market allocation as the main content. In particular, China has gradually established a land rights system of equal protection of all kinds of property rights on the basis of public ownership and continuously improved the land factor market allocation system on the basis of land use control. China has consistently adhered to the strictest

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farmland protection system in line with China’s national conditions and comprehensively implemented the strictest land conservation and intensive land use system for promoting green development.

4.1 Rural Land System (I)

Evolution of rural land ownership and management rights.

Land is the foundation for peasants to survive. Land is one of the most basic, extensive, and complicated economic and social problems in China’s rural areas. Since the founding of New China, China’s rural land system has gone through three periods: land reform and mutual assistance and cooperation, people’s commune, and household contract responsibility system. 1.

The period of land reform and mutual assistance and cooperation (1949–1957).

The land reform carried out in the 1950s realized the peasants’ demand for “land to the tiller” and laid the foundation of the land system of New China. On June 28, 1950, the 8th Meeting of the Central People’s Government Commission adopted the Land Reform Law of the People’s Republic of China, which stipulates that “land ownership by peasants” shall be practiced in China. The confiscated land shall be “distributed to the poor peasants with no land, few land and no other means of production in a unified and fair manner”. Except that the land shall be owned by the state according to law; landowners may freely manage, buy, sell and lease their land rights, and the local people’s governments shall issue land ownership certificates to the landowners. Entering the period of the first five-year plan, the state emphasized increasing agricultural output through land cooperation. Agricultural labor mutual-aid groups appeared in various rural areas and gradually transitioned to primary and advanced cooperatives. Primary agricultural production cooperatives should be based on peasants’ individual land shares to carry out unified management. Peasants shall have the ownership of the land that joins the cooperatives but no longer have the right to use. Peasants shall receive land rewards from sharing land and obtain labor rewards by participating in collective labor. Advanced agricultural production cooperatives are based on primary cooperatives, which mainly implement public ownership of the means of production and livestock and are purchased at a discount by the cooperatives. The land, on the other hand, is converted into private ownership and collective ownership of the cooperatives. 2.

The period of people’s commune (1958–1982).

In August 1958, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Resolution on the Establishment of People’s Communes in the Rural Areas. Subsequently, small agricultural production cooperatives were merged into large-scale production cooperatives and later into people’s communes. This included communes,

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production brigades, and production teams. There are three forms of ownership of land: the commune, the production brigade, and the production team. The Regulations on the Work of the Rural People’s Commune (Amendment), issued in 1962, states that the lowest level of production in the three-level organization of the people’s commune is the “basic unit of verification” and that the system remains unchanged for at least 30 years. Land within the scope of the production team shall be owned by the production team and shall not be allowed to be leased or traded; the production team may divide 5–7% of the farmland area into “self-retaining land”, which shall be used by members’ families and remain unchanged for a long time. Agricultural products produced by self-retaining landowners shall not be counted within the collective distribution of output and rations, and the state shall not levy public grain and shall not be subject to unified purchase. 3.

The period of the household contract responsibility system (1982 to date).

At the end of 1979, the rural household contract responsibility system was put into pilot practice in Anhui Province and was popularized throughout the country in 1983. In 1984, document No. 1 of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed that the land contract period should generally be more than 15 years. Meanwhile, it stipulated that if the masses have land adjustment requirements, before the extension of the contract period, in line with the principle of “big stability, small adjustment”, after full consultation, the collective unified adjustment of the land shall be carried out. In 1993, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to extend the contract period for farmland for another 30 years, advocating that land shall no longer be adjusted according to population changes and that “land shall not be increased with population increase or decrease with population decreased”. In August 1998, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress adopted the revised Land Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, which legally stipulates the policy of granting farmers the right to the contracted management of land for 30 years. The Rural Land Contracting Law of the People’s Republic of China, promulgated in 2002, defines farmers’ rights to land as the contracted management of all types of agricultural land, including farmland, woodland, grassland, and wasteland. The Property Law of the People’s Republic of China, adopted at the 5th Plenary Session of the 10th National People’s Congress in 2007, clearly defines the right to the contracted management of land as a usufructuary right. In 2017, the report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward “consolidating and improving the basic management system in rural areas deepens the reform of the rural land system and improving the system of assigning ‘three rights’ of contracted land” to maintain a stable and long-term land contract relationship with the extension of the second round of land contracts after the expiration of another 30 years. (II)

Rural land expropriation system.

In 1953, the State Council issued the Measures for the Land Expropriation for National Construction, which stipulates that the State may expropriate individual

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private land, collective land, and state-owned land. After the land is expropriated, the ownership of the land shall be vested in the state. For the scope and use of land expropriation, the law lists “the construction of factories, mines, railways, transportation, water conservancy, national defense and other projects, cultural and educational and health construction, municipal construction and other construction”. The law sets prerequisites for land expropriation: “If the expropriated land cannot be resettled for a time, it shall be expropriated after proper resettlement, or expropriated separately.” The Land Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Land Administration Law), promulgated in 1986, stipulates that land expropriation may be carried out “by the state in economic, cultural and national defense construction as well as in the establishment of social and public undertakings”. After the amendment of the law in 1998, the scope of land expropriation shall no longer be enumerated, but it stipulates that “any organization and individual undertake construction that need to use land, must apply to use state-owned land according to law”. In terms of land expropriation and resettlement, the Land Administration Law of 1986 stipulates the standard of resettlement subsidies for each agricultural population that needs to be resettled. This value is 2–3 times the average annual output value of each mu in the 3 years prior to the expropriation of farmland, while the Land Administration Law of 1998 raised the standard to 4–6 times. Such labor resettlement based on the output value of farmland always has difficulty guaranteeing the long-term livelihood of land-lost farmers, and petitions and mass incidents caused by land expropriation occur frequently. In 2013, document No. 1 of the Central Government put forward for the first time “speeding up the reform of land expropriation system”. In the same year, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to “narrow the scope of land expropriation, standardize the procedures for land expropriation, and improve the rational, normative and pluralistic security mechanism for the peasants whose land is expropriated”. (III)

Rural (collective) construction land system.

During the period of land reform, the government did not confiscate or expropriate the small amount of industrial and commercial land and public utility land in the countryside but maintained the original relationship of possession and use. After the cooperative movement entered the advanced cooperative stage, the original graveyard and housing land of the members did not have to join the cooperative. The land for new houses was settled by the cooperatives as a whole. After the establishment of the people’s commune in 1958, the land for rural construction was owned collectively. From 1951 to 1981, because of the low level of rural economic development, there was little demand for land for community enterprises and farmers to build houses and public utilities. Collective construction land was used free of charge. In the late 1980s, part of the collective construction land began to implement the compensation system or the system of paid use. Since 1999, the Central Government has banned the sale, transfer, or lease of rural collective land for nonagricultural construction. However, the private transfer of collective construction of land use rights still sometimes occurred. This kind of

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transfer act was not standard, was not protected by law, easily caused disputes, and collective members did not easily share the benefits of land appreciation. In 2013, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Comprehensive Deepening of Reform on Several Major Issues, which proposed “on the premise of meeting the requirements of planning and use control. The transfer, lease, and share-taking of rural collectively owned construction land shall be allowed, and the same right and price shall be exercised to enter the market as state-owned land”. (IV)

Homestead system.

At the beginning of the cooperative and collectivized movement, the homestead was not owned by the collective. It was not until 1962 that the Regulations on the Work of the Rural People’s Commune (Draft) were promulgated that it was officially declared collective ownership (of production teams) and has since been known as a “homestead”. In 1963, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the Notice on Supplementary Provisions to the Problems of Members’ Homestead. In addition to emphasizing that homesteads “are not allowed to rent or buy or sell”, it is also clear that the right to the use of homesteads “belongs to the long-term use of each household, and shall be unchanged in the long term”. The Notice also put forward for the first time the way to obtain the peasant’s homestead: “…… through the application of the household, after the discussion and agreement of the meeting of members, by the unified planning of production teams, to help solve…… the new residential land of members, whether or not farmland, shall not collect land prices”. Thus, the rudiment of homestead system was established. After the reform and opening up, whether it was the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China in 1982 or the Land Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, which has been amended several times, all stipulated that “those who sell or rent their houses and then apply for homestead shall not be approved”. On December 31, 2014, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on the Pilot Work of Rural Land Expropriation, Collective Operating Construction Land Entry into the Market and the Reform of the Homestead System. It was decided to select approximately 30 counties (cities) across the country to carry out the pilot work. In November 2017, the Central Committee of the Leading Group for Comprehensive Deepening Reform considered and approved the Request on the Development of Rural Homestead System Reform Pilot. It stressed that “not to buy and sell homestead as a starting point, not to withdraw the right to use homestead as a condition for peasants to have household registration in the city”. (V)

Farmland protection system.

China implements a strict system of farmland protection, whose core contents include the occupation–supplement balance system, the basic farmland protection system, farmland conversion planning management, and the graded examination and approval system.

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The occupation–supplement balance system.

In 1997, the Central Government issued the Notice of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Further Strengthening Land Management and Effective Protection of Farmland, which put forward “the dynamic balance of total amount of farmland” for the first time. It required the examination and approval of construction land to carry out the policy of “one supplement for one occupation”; that is, the construction occupation of one mu of farmland must supplement one mu of farmland, and in principle, it must be made up first and then occupied within the scope of its administrative area. 2.

The basic farmland protection system.

The Land Administration Law, promulgated in 1998, stipulates that “the basic farmland demarcated by provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities shall account for more than 80 percent of the farmland within their respective administrative areas”. The basic farmland protection law limits the scale and location of farmland occupied by construction in terms of quantity and space. 3.

Farmland conversion planning management and the graded examination and approval system.

The general plan of land use determines the total amount and position of farmland that can be occupied for a long period; through the annual plan of land use and the index of farmland conversion plan, the amount of farmland that can be occupied in that year can be determined. Only after obtaining the annual planning target can the examination and approval procedures for the conversion of agricultural land go through. According to the Land Administration Law, if a single land use project belongs to the following land categories, the State Council shall approve it: ➀ basic farmland; ➁ farmland beyond the basic farmland with area exceeding 35 ha; ➂ other land exceeding 70 ha. If a single project occupies no more than 35 ha of nonbasic farmland or no more than 70 ha of other land, the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities shall approve it and submit it to the State Council for the record.

4.2 Urban Land System In 1982, the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China stipulated that “land in cities is owned by the state. Land, homestead and self-retaining land or mountain in rural and urban suburbs are owned by collectives, with the exception of those owned by the state as prescribed by law”. The urban land system in China has undergone the following changes. (I)

Nationalization of urban land (1949–1978).

At the beginning of the founding of New China, although land was increasingly nationalized, it had largely followed the practice of old China; that is, the ownership

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was separated from the right to use. The right of ownership belonged to the state, but the right to use belonged to various economic entities and land using units of different economic ownership. The local government collected the land use tax and used it for urban development and construction. After 1954, China established a highly unified planning and management model, and the system of paid use of land was abolished accordingly. (II)

The system of paid use of state-owned land in cities (1979–1988).

After the reform and opening-up, the system of urban land administrative allocation and use has exposed many problems, such as the virtual ownership of the state brought by the indefinite use of land, the inefficient allocation of land resources, and the suppression of the law of market value. Urban land system reform is imperative. In 1980, the Interim Provisions of the State Council on the Construction Land of Chinese-Foreign Joint Ventures pointed out that “land used by Chinese-foreign joint ventures, whether newly requisitioned or used by existing enterprises, shall be charged for the use of the site”. In April 1987, the State Council proposed that the right to the use of the land could be transferred with compensation. In September of the same year, Shenzhen took the lead in experimenting with this method, introducing a market mechanism, and changing the traditional practice of relying on administrative allocation of land supply, thus formally opening the prelude to the reform of the system of state-owned land use in cities. The Land Administration Law issued in December 1988 clearly stipulated that the state will try out the system of paid use of urban land according to law. (III)

Establishment of urban land transfer system (1989–2000).

In May 1990, the State Council promulgated Interim Regulations of the People’s Republic of China Concerning the Assignment and Transfer of the Right to the Use of State-Owned Land in Urban Areas. It stipulated that “the State shall, on the basis of the separation of ownership and the right to use, implement a system for the assignment and transfer of the right to the use of state-owned land in cities and towns”. It provides a legal basis for the further reform of the urban land system. The Interim Measures on the Administration of the Transfer of the Right to the Use of Land promulgated by the National Land Administration in 1992 further regulated the specific mode of operation for the transfer of the right to the use of the land. (IV)

Implementation of the land bidding, auction, and listing system (after 2001).

In 2001, the Notice of the State Council on Strengthening the Management of Stateowned Land Assets formally established the system of offering land through bidding and auction for commercial state-owned land. In May 2002, the Ministry of Land and Resources promulgated the Provisions on the Transfer of State-owned Land Use Right by Bidding, Auction and Listing, which required that all land used for commercial development projects be traded publicly through bidding, auction and listing. In October 2004, the Decision of the State Council on Deepening Reform and Strict Land Management was promulgated, emphasizing the implementation of a strict land management system and strengthening the implementation and management of the

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general plans for land use, urban general plans, villages, and collective plans. It also stressed improving the system of land expropriation compensation and resettlement, improving the mechanism of land conservation and utilization and income distribution, and establishing a system of responsibility for the protection and management of farmland. In November 2008, the Ministry of Land and Resources issued the Outline of the National General Plan for Land Use (2006–2020). It focused on optimizing the land development pattern, scientifically dividing the land use area, defining the direction of regional land use, directionally stipulating the land of different natures in different regions, implementing differential land use policies, strengthening the regulation and control of land use in provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, and promoting the implementation of national regional development strategies.

4.3 Development Trend of Land System The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to “consolidate and improve the basic management system in rural areas, deepen the reform of the rural land system and improve the system of ‘three rights’ distribution of contracted land”. According to this spirit, the government will no longer be the only supplier of urban residential land. Its essence is to support the reform of the land system, through supply-side structural reform, to supply rural areas more in line with the overall interests of the land system. It also aimed to promote the integration of urban and rural development so that rural areas and farmers who actually have the most precious resources fully enjoy the dividends of land appreciation and promote rural revitalization. By 2020, the unified rural and urban construction land market will be established, and a mechanism for the income distribution from resources that takes into account the state, the collective and the individual will be formed. The amount of land value-added revenue directed to “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” will be significantly increased, and the allocation of regional urban and rural resource elements will be more equitable. After many years of reform and development, China has realized the historical transformation from rural China to urban and rural China. The relationship between farmers and land, between farmers and the countryside, and the connection between farmers and cities have undergone irreversible changes. In the stage of urban and rural China, the peasant’s urban rights are the important rights arrangements related to China’s transformation and the establishment of a modern country.3 It is closely related to the process of China’s modernization and the future of the country whether we can properly solve the problem of equal rights for farmers to go to the city. Land rights are the basic rights of farmers and the stable cornerstone of economic and social transformation in urban and rural China. Peasants with more complete and stable property rights of farmland and homestead shall be endowed; the basic 3

Liu Shouying, Xiong Xuefeng, Implementation and Institutional Supply of China’s Rural Revitalization Strategy, in Review of Political Economy, 2018(4).

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rights of the two kinds of land by empowering, expanding, and limiting the rights shall be guaranteed. On this basis, the change of agricultural function and the transformation of villages shall be adopted, the reform of the transfer right to contract management and homestead shall be promoted. The effective allocation of scarce land resources should be improved, and the efficiency of land allocation and the income of farmers’ land property rights should be enhanced. The dual division of urban and rural land systems should be broken, collective and state-owned land rights equality should be realized, and the rights of farmers using collective land to participate in industrialization and urbanization should be endowed.

5 Education System 5.1 The Content and Management System of the Education System The education system in the broad sense refers to the national education system, including all educational facilities and relevant rules and regulations. The education system in narrow sense refers to the school education system, referred to as the length of schooling, which is the general system of all kinds of schools at all levels in a country, specifying the nature, tasks, objectives, admission requirements, length of schooling, and the relationship among them. On the whole, the education system is the sum of the institutions and organizational systems that constitute the national education system and the rules of its operation, including the macro-system of education of the Party and the country, the administrative system of education at all levels, the education system of schools at all levels, and other systems related to education. (I)

Contents of the education system.

The education system in China, at the macro-level, mainly includes the strategy and system of education of the Party and the country, the administrative system of national education, all kinds of education system of the country at various levels and so on. At the medium level, it includes the system of preschool education, compulsory education, secondary education, and higher education, and at the micro-level, it includes the system of teacher education, special education, vocational education, continuing education, national education examination, academic certificate, academic degree, education supervision, and education evaluation system. 1.

School education system.4

The school education system includes the following: (1) preschool education. Preschool education refers to early childhood education for preschool children, 4

Yuan Guiren. Education in China, pp. 10–12, Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 2013.

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including kindergarten, nursery, preschool class, and other formal and nonformal forms of early childhood education. There are public and private kindergartens in our country with the implementation of classified management. Kindergarten is generally divided into 3 years. According to the age of children, it is divided into fresh classes (3 years old), junior classes (4 years old), senior classes, and preschool classes (5 years old). (2) Elementary education: The institution that implements elementary education is primary school, with enrolling target students generally at 6–12 years old and years of schooling for 5–6 years to promote the overall development of children’s basic education. The implementation of a compulsory education system, whether public or private, is nonprofit in nature. The publicly run and privately run schools shall be subject to classified management. (3) Secondary education refers to secondary general education and vocational education carried out by common secondary schools, vocational high schools, secondary professional schools, technical schools, and other secondary educational institutions. Common secondary schools are divided into the middle school stage and the high school stage. Full-time common secondary school has a study length of 6 years, with 3 years for middle school (belongs to compulsory education stage), and 3 years for high school; the secondary vocational school and vocational high school has a study length of 2– 3 years, and the technical school commonly has a study length of 3 years. (4) Higher education. It refers to professional education carried out by institutions of higher junior colleges, higher vocational and technical colleges, independent specialized colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher education. Higher education can be divided into junior college education, undergraduate education, and graduate education. Full-time education has a study length of 2–3 years for junior college education, 4 years for undergraduate education, 2–3 years for postgraduate education, and 3 years or more for doctoral education. 2.

Vocational education system.5

Vocational education is a kind of education that imparts professional knowledge and professional skills, fosters professional ethics, and improves professional competence. In 1996, the Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Vocational Education Law) was promulgated. The vocational education system includes the following contents: (1) primary vocational education. It is mainly implemented in middle schools in underdeveloped areas, mainly in the form of 1-year vocational education based on 2-year general education in middle schools or short-term vocational training based on a 3-year general education in middle schools. (2) Secondary vocational education. It is implemented in the high school stage, with the main purpose of training primary and secondary skilled and practical talent, and the implementation institutions include secondary professional schools, vocational high schools, and technical schools. (3) Higher vocational education is an important part of higher education, focusing on training high-end

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Yuan Guiren. Education in China. pp. 15. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 2013.

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skilled and practical talent. The implementing institutions include higher vocational and technical colleges, higher vocational colleges, vocational colleges, and adult colleges. (4) Vocational training education: As an important part of China’s vocational education system, China implements the system of “training first, employment later” and “training first, working later” and establishes the system of professional qualification certificates and skill grade appraisals. 3.

Continuing education system.6

Continuing education is an important part of the life-long learning system, which is aimed at adult education. It is divided into two parts: academic continuing education and nonacademic continuing education. Academic continuing education mainly provides academic educational courses to adults in the form of nonfull-time, parttime, and long-distance education, which is divided into three levels: higher, middle, and primary. Continuing education at higher levels includes doctoral, master, undergraduate, and specialist courses for on-the-job staff; continuing education at middle levels includes general and vocational courses at the middle and high school levels; and continuing education at primary levels includes primary schools, illiteracy elimination courses, and illiteracy elimination continuing education. Nonacademic continuing education mainly includes various vocational training for improving vocational skills and community education for improving quality of life. 4.

Education examination system.7

The Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Education Law) stipulates that the State applies the national education examination system. The national education examination shall be determined by the administrative department of education under the State Council and undertaken by institutions authorized by the state to carry out education examinations. National education examinations mainly include entrance examinations such as college entrance examinations, high school entrance examinations, and postgraduate entrance examinations. The second is the proficiency test, such as the high school graduate test, the Chinese proficiency test, and the English proficiency test. The third is diploma examinations, such as self-taught examinations and diploma examinations. It is an illegal act to hold a national education examination without authorization; the examination results will not be recognized by the state, and the certificates issued will be invalid. Any organization or individual that violates the law will also be punished or even prosecuted. 5.

Academic certificate system.8

Academic certificates are certificates issued by schools and other education institutions approved by the state to the education receivers in accordance with the provisions of the state certifying the degree and length of education they have received. 6

Yuan Guiren. Education in China. pp. 17, Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 2013. Yuan Guiren, Education in China, pp. 18, Beijing, Beijing Normal University Press, 2013. 8 Yuan Guiren. Education in China, pp. 19, Beijing, Beijing Normal University Press, 2013. 7

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Academic certificates consist of academic certificates and other education certificates. Academic certificates include diploma, certificate of completion, and associate degree. Diploma refers to the certificate granted to students with academic status who have completed all the courses prescribed in the curriculum plan and passed the examinations. Certificate of completion refers to the certificate issued by the school to students with academic status who have completed all the courses specified in the course but have failed more than one of the major courses (including graduation theses and graduation projects). Associate certificate refers to the certificate and academic proof issued by the school to the students who have not completed the course and have dropped out (except those who have been expelled from the school). The types of education certificates are certificate of completion of compulsory education, high school graduation certificate, secondary vocational graduation certificate, certificate of higher education, certificate of adult higher and secondary professional school graduation, etc. 6.

Academic degree system.9

China’s academic degrees are divided into three levels: bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctor’s degree. Master’s degree is divided into academic masters’ degree and professional master’s degree. The degree of our country is awarded according to 13 disciplines, namely, philosophy, economics, law, pedagogy, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, military science, management, and art. The degree of our country is a kind of “national degree”. The country formulates a unified degree award standard, and the State Council authorizes the relevant institutions of higher education and research institutions to exercise the right of degree award. 7.

Education supervision system.10

Education supervision is the supervision department, on behalf of the government and the administrative department of education, on the basis of education laws, regulations, and policies, to supervise, evaluate, review, and accept the work of the lower level government, the administrative department of education, the middle- and lower level schools and other institutions of education and their sponsors. China has set up four-level education supervision institutions: national, provincial, municipal, and county. The highest institution of education supervision in China is the National Education Supervision Group. The education supervision groups (offices) of people’s governments were set up in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). In 2003, in the 2003–2007 Action Plan for the Education Revitalization, the Ministry of Education put forward the implementation of the “5-year round” evaluation system of the teaching level of common higher education institutions. In 2004, the Higher Education Teaching Evaluation Center of the Ministry of Education was set up, which is responsible for the organization and implementation of the evaluation of the undergraduate and junior college education of higher education institutions. 9

Yuan Guiren, Education in China, pp. 19, Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 2013. Yuan Guiren, Education in China, pp. 21, Beijing, Beijing Normal University Press, 2013.

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Education administration system.

At present, China’s education implements a four-level administrative system at the central, provincial, municipal, and county levels. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that the State Council guides and administers education affairs. Local people’s governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the limits of authority prescribed by law, administer educational undertakings within their respective administrative areas. The Education Law stipulates that the State Council and the local people’s governments at various levels shall, in accordance with the principles of hierarchical management and division of work and responsibility, guide, and administer the work of education. The central government leads and administers the country’s educational undertakings in a unified way. The local government is responsible for implementing the state’s principles and policies and is responsible for the reform and development of education in its region. Higher level education authorities and lower level education authorities are not in the relationship of leaders and followers but affair guidance. The education authorities shall be under the direct leadership of the people’s governments at the corresponding levels. At present, China’s basic education implements a system of local responsibilities and hierarchical administration. The local people’s governments under the leadership of the State Council administer secondary education. Vocational education has gradually established an administration system under the leadership of the State Council, with hierarchical management, local government domination, central government coordination, and social participation. Higher education implements the administration system of two-level administration of the central government and provincial government with provincial government as the main body of administration.11 1.

Higher education management system.12

In the field of higher education, it implements the management system of two levels management of the central government and provincial government with provincial government as the main body of management. In 1986, the Interim Provisions on the Responsibility of Higher Education Management divided the authority of the central and local governments in the administration of higher education and initially established the framework of the authority of the central and local governments in the management of higher education. In 2000, the State Council decided to delegate the power of examination and approval, except for higher vocational education for teachers and medicine, to the people’s governments at the provincial level. In 2014, the pilot reform of the examination and enrollment system was launched and carried out in an all-round way in 2017. By 2020, a modern education examination and enrollment system with Chinese characteristics will be established, and a pattern of classified examination, comprehensive evaluation and diversified admission will be formed. 11

Dong Hongliang, A Review of the Reform of China’s Education System on the Institutional Guarantee of Cultivating Talents and Rejuvenating the Country, in People’s Daily, 2010-07-11. 12 Yuan Guiren, Education in China, pp. 24, Beijing, Beijing Normal University Press, 2013.

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Vocational education management system.13

The Decision of the State Council on Promoting the Reform and Development of Vocational Education put forward promoting the reform of the management system of vocational education and gradually establishing and improving the management system of vocational education under the leadership of the State Council. This is managed at different levels, with local authorities as the main body, the government overall coordination, and society participation. The Vocational Education Law stipulates that the administrative department of education under the State Council shall be responsible for the overall planning, comprehensive coordination, and macromanagement of vocational education. The education administrative department, the labor administrative department, and other relevant departments under the State Council shall, within the scope of their functions and duties as prescribed by the State Council, be responsible for the relevant vocational education work. Local people’s governments at or above the county level should strengthen their leadership, coordination, supervision, and evaluation over the work of vocational education within their respective administrative areas. 3.

Secondary and lower education management systems.14

The Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China, which was adopted on June 29, 2006 and came into effect on September 1, 2006, stipulates that compulsory education shall be carried out under the leadership of the State Council. This will be under the overall planning and implementation of the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and mainly under the management system of the people’s governments at the county level. The State Council and the local people’s governments at various levels shall, in accordance with their functions and duties, share the burden of funding for compulsory education, and the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be responsible for the overall planning and implementation of the system. Preschool education shall be carried out under the county-based preschool education management system with the leadership of the State Council and the overall planning of provinces and municipalities. In addition to the management system, China’s education system also includes the school-running system, the investment system, the evaluation system, and so on, which are mainly reflected in the planning, guidance, management, and evaluation of the Chinese government and competent authorities, as well as the handling of the relationship among the central government, local governments, and schools at various levels.

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Yuan Guiren: Education in China, pp. 25, Beijing, Beijing Normal University Press, 2013. Yuan Guiren: Education in China, pp. 26, Beijing, Beijing Normal University Press, 2013.

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5.2 The Reform Course of Education System China’s education system has a long history. Education in the Western Zhou Dynasty was “learning in government institutions”, private learning rose in the Chunqiu Period, and government-private cooperation emerged in the Warring States Period. The Qin Dynasty’s culture and education policy was “same words, same wheels”, “prohibition on private schooling”, and “learning from judges”, and education was politicized. In the Han Dynasty, private schools were re-allowed to be set up. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the officer position of Doctor and set up Taixue, the ancient national highest education institution, with Confucianism as the core. In the Wei, Jin, Northern, and Southern Dynasties, there were national schools, and the children of officials at or above the fifth level were enrolled. In the Sui Dynasty, Guozisi (later changed to “The Imperial College”) was set up by the central government to manage education affairs. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the education administration system of the central and local levels was established, and the imperial examination system was born. The academies of the Song Dynasty developed, and the education of Mongolian learning began to develop. In the Yuan Dynasty, the integration method was adopted in Guozixue, the national official school. In the Ming Dynasty, a wide range of schools were set up to strengthen school model management. After the Opium War of the Qing Dynasty, traditional education declined. In 1898, the Qing government established Capital University, which marked the beginning of modern national higher education in China. At that time, it was not only the highest institution of higher education but also the highest administrative organ of education, exercising the functions of the Ministry of Education. In 1902 and 1904, the Qing government promulgated and implemented the earliest school education system in China: the Renyin School System and Guimao School System. In 1904, the Constitution of Zouding School was the first modern school system in China. In 1922, the government of the Republic of China promulgated the new school system and the relevant laws and regulations of kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, vocational schools, colleges, universities, and private schools and implemented the “633” single-track school system, which marked the beginning of the development track of China’s education system. From 1949 to 1978, the evolution of China’s education system went through the process of “establishing, adjusting, destroying and restoring”. The Common Program of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which came into effect on October 1, 1949, stipulates that culture and education were of a new democratic nature. Then, the Ministry of Education was established to administer the education of the country. In 1950, the Ministry of Education promulgated the Interim Teaching Plan for Secondary Schools (Draft). In 1951, the Government Council promulgated the Decision on Reform of the Education System. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, promulgated in 1954, clearly stipulates that citizens enjoy the right to education. To date, the education system in New China has been established. In 1960, the school system was reformed, and in 1965, education began to be

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semiworking (farming) and semilearning. During the “Cultural Revolution”, school education was impacted, and the education order was destroyed. Education rectification work started in 1975, college entrance examination resumed in 1977, and the education supervision system resumed in 1978. At this point, New China’s education system began resuming gradually. During the 40 years of reform and opening-up, China’s education system has gone through steps of removing ideological and policy barriers, restoring and rebuilding the education system, simplifying the government’s power to expand the autonomy of school running, and improving the system of graded school running and management. It has also encouraged diversification and multi-channel fundraising, improving the management system of rural compulsory education, promoting 9-year compulsory education in an all-round way, promoting the balanced development of education, and deepening the process of comprehensive reform of education. (I)

Removing ideological and policy barriers and restoring and rebuilding the education system (1978–1984).

At the beginning of reform and opening-up, the urgent task of education in China was to restore and rebuild the education system destroyed by the “Cultural Revolution”, to deny the “two estimates” of the Summary of National Education Working Conference in 1971 and to clear up ideological barriers for the restoration of education and the elimination of chaos. The Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China provided policy support for the recovery and development of education. “Respect knowledge, respect talent” is advocated, and education should be “threeaspect-oriented” and cultivate “four new people”, which point out the direction for the recovery and development of education. The restoration of the unified entrance examination system in institutions of higher education has become a new beginning for the restoration and reconstruction of the education system.15 (II)

Clarifying the power and responsibility relationship between the central and local governments, streamlining administration and delegating power to the lower levels, and exercising hierarchical management (1985–1991).

In May 1985, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of Education System made it clear that the core of the reform of the education system is to streamline administration and delegate power to the lower levels and expand autonomy in running schools. In the relations between the central and local governments, the management system shall be reformed, macromanagement shall be strengthened, the power of simplification and decentralization shall be exercised, and the autonomy in running schools shall be expanded. In the field of basic education, responsibility shall be entrusted to local authorities, and the principles of local responsibility and hierarchical management shall be implemented in villages and towns. In promoting compulsory education, the central and 15

Fan Guorui, Sun Wenze. A Historical and Logical Analysis of the Reform of the Educational System in the 40 Years of Reform and Opening-up. in Education Research, 2018(7).

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local governments are required to increase their education allocations more than their regular financial income and to gradually increase the average cost of education by the number of students in schools. In the field of higher education, the enrollment plan and the distribution system for graduates of institutions of higher education shall be reformed, and the way in which all institutions of higher education recruit students according to the national plan and all graduates are assigned jobs by the country shall be changed. The three ways of enrolling students according to national plans, entrusted enrollment of students by employers, and recruiting a small number of students at their own expense outside the national plan shall be carried out. In the school leadership system, the school shall gradually carry out the principal responsibility system, the power and responsibility relationship between the school party branch, the principal, the school administration committee, and the faculty and staff congress shall be defined, and the basic structure of the modern school system shall be established.16 In 1986, the Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China was promulgated. (III)

Improving the management of graded schools and encouraging multientity and multichannel financing (1992–2002).

In 1992, the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that “governments at all levels should increase investment in education”, “multi-channel and multi-form public funds for running schools and nongovernmental schools shall be encouraged, and the practice of state-sponsored education shall be changed”. In 1993, the Outline for Educational Reform and Development in China pointed out to “gradually establish a system of raising education funds through various channels. It was mainly through state financial allocations, supplemented by collection of taxes and fees for education, the collection of tuition and fees for students in noncompulsory education stage, the income from school-run industries, the collection of social donations and the establishment of educational funds”. In 1994, the State Council issued the Implementation Opinion on the Outline for China’s Educational Reform and Development and pointed out that “enterprises and institutions and other social forces shall be encouraged to run schools in a multi-channel and multi-form manner in accordance with the laws and policies of the State. Where conditions permit, local governments may also provide assistance in the form of ‘governmental assistance for private schools’ and ‘private assistance for public schools’”. Some local governments have set up a number of transfer schools. A new system of combining government-run schools with the participation of all sectors of society has been formed. The reform of the education system at the middle and lower levels was to be deepened, and the system of running schools at different levels and of managing schools at different levels shall be improved. The reform of the higher education system was to be deepened; a system of macro-management by the government and independent running of schools for society shall be established. At the same time, a system whereby college students pay to go to school and most 16

Fan Guorui, Sun Wenze, A Historical and Logical Analysis of the Reform of the Educational System in the 40 Years of Reform and Opening-up, in Education Research, 2018(7).

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graduates chose their own jobs was to be gradually implemented. At this stage, the Education Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Teachers Law of the People’s Republic of China and other education administrative rules and regulations were promulgated. (IV)

Implementing comprehensive free 9-year compulsory education to promote the balanced development of compulsory education (2003–2009).

In 2002, the Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Improving the Management System of Rural Compulsory Education established a mechanism for guaranteeing funds for compulsory education. In 2005, the Notice of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of the Financial Guarantee Mechanism for Rural Compulsory Education gradually incorporated rural compulsory education into the scope of public finance and established a financial guarantee mechanism for rural compulsory education that is shared by the central and local governments in proportion to their respective projects. In 2006, the Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China was amended to incorporate the balanced development of compulsory education into the legal system and the implementation of quality-oriented education as a new historical mission of compulsory education and established a financial guarantee mechanism of compulsory education. In 2008, tuition and miscellaneous fees for students in the compulsory education stage were exempted. In 2015, a unified urban–rural financial guarantee mechanism for compulsory education was put in place with the division of central and local projects and shared in proportion. Students receiving compulsory education in urban and rural areas have been exempted from tuition and miscellaneous fees, textbooks have been provided free of charge, and living expenses have been subsidized for students with financial difficulties (collectively referred to as “two exemptions and one subsidy”). The construction of compulsory education schools for standardization was promoted, and the integrated development of urban and rural education was explored. An inter-school exchange system for teachers of compulsory education schools in the county areas and measures for the allocation of high-quality high school enrollment places to middle schools in the region was implemented. The education guarantee system of noncompulsory education for the children of nonlocal permanent residents who moved with their parents should be explored. The management system and mechanism of boarding schools were improved, and a balanced development mode of compulsory education in ethnic areas and economically underdeveloped areas was explored. A system of supervision, assessment, and evaluation for balanced development of compulsory education shall be established and improved. (V)

Deepening the reform of the education system in an all-round way and starting a new course of education reform in the new era (2010 to date).

In 2010, the State Council set up a leading group on the reform of the national education system. In the same year, 425 projects for the reform pilot of the national education system were launched in an all-round way. In 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC)

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proposed that comprehensive reform in the field of education had to be deepened, including the following aspects. First, the layout of the educational structure had to be optimized; the layout of institutions of higher education in the central and western regions had to be optimized, and the transformation of some local colleges and universities into application-oriented institutions of higher education had to be guided. The revision of the Interim Regulations on the Establishment of Common Institutions of Higher Education had to be promoted, and the classification system and establishment standards for institutions of higher education needed to be formulated. In 2014, the Decision of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of Modern Vocational Education was issued to guide the transformation and development of application-oriented education in common colleges and universities. Second, the examination enrollment system had to be reformed. In 2014, the Implementation Opinion of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of the Examination Enrollment System issued and explored the diversified admission mechanism and standardized all kinds of additional points and independent enrollment methods. Third, the modern school system needed to be reformed. All colleges and universities had to be promoted to complete the constitution-making work. The Regulations of the Academic Committee of Institutions of Higher Education, the Regulations of the General Council of Common Institutions of Higher Education (Trial) and the Regulations of the School Faculty Congress had to be promulgated to improve the principal responsibility system. This had to be under the leadership of the Party committees of common institutions of higher education, strengthen the construction of parent committees of primary and secondary schools, promote the appointment of general accountants of directly affiliated universities and directly affiliated units, and improve the management system of general accountants. Fourth, the education management system needed to be reformed. The overall planning of education by provincial governments had to be strengthened; the coordinated development of urban and rural education by provincial governments had to be promoted, and investment in education had to be ensured. Fifth, the education supervision system had to be reformed. The State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Supervision of Education, set up the Education Supervision Committee, established the system of supervision on the listing of responsible supervisors, brought into play the function of public supervision of information, and established the system of information disclosure covering the administrative departments of education, universities, and primary and secondary schools. Sixth, the teacher management system needed reformation. Nation-level training for teachers in primary and secondary schools and kindergartens had to be promoted. In September 2015, the reform of the system of titles for teachers in primary and secondary schools had to be comprehensively pushed forward; a unified system of titles for teachers in primary and secondary schools had to be implemented, senior

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posts in primary and secondary schools needed to be set, and this necessitated the launch of a support program for teachers in rural areas.17 Seventh, the system of private education needed reformation. In November 2017, through the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Promotion of Privately Run Schools, the development of private education had to be encouraged and standardized, the system of for-profit and nonprofit classified management of private schools had to be implemented, and the establishment of for-profit schools at the stage of compulsory education shall be explicitly prohibited. In November 2018, the Several Opinions of the State Council on Deepening the Reform and Standardizing the Development of Preschool Education was issued to standardize the development of preschool education, explicitly prohibiting the listing of preschool education for capital operation and encouraging social capital to set up universal kindergartens. In August 2018, the Ministry of Education called for the special management and rectification of out-of-school training institutions. Eighth, the reform of the separation of management, establishment, and evaluation needed to be pushed forward. In 2010, the Outline of the National Program for Medium- and Long-Term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020) outlined the goal of the reform of the education management system, which was to form an educational management system in which government functions were separated and powers and responsibilities were clear. The overall planning was coordinated and standardized in order and initially put forward the separation of management, establishment and evaluation. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), “the separation of management, establishment and evaluation” has been integrated into the larger national governance background of promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity”. In 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning the Comprehensive Deepening Reform. It was further pointed out that it was necessary to “further promote the separation of management, establishment, and evaluation, expand the right of education overall planning of provincial government and the autonomy of running schools, improve the internal governance structure of schools, strengthen the supervision of national education and entrust social organizations to carry out education evaluation and monitoring”. In 2015, the Ministry of Education issued the Several Opinions on Deepening the Separation of Management, Establishment and Evaluation of Education and Promoting the Transformation of Government Functions and has made clear the roadmap for the separation of management, establishment, and evaluation of education, the construction of a quality reporting system for institutions of higher education shall be promoted, a nationwide quality monitoring project for compulsory education had to be launched, evaluation in vocational colleges and common universities needed to be carried out. The field of social participation in education

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Song Xiaowu, Building a Shared Society: 40 Years of Social System Reform in China, pp. 20–22, Guangzhou, Guangdong Economy Publishing House, 2017.

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evaluation needed expansion, and third parties to participate in education evaluation had to be entrusted.18

5.3 Problems Facing the Reform of Education System The essence of education system reform is the adjustment of interest relations among educational entities. At present, education system reform mainly faces the following eight core issues. (I)

Issues of governance and management ideas.

The difference between education governance and education management mainly originates from the difference between governance and management. First, the main body of education governance is diversified, including government, society, schools, organizations, individuals, and so on, while the main body of education management is only the government. Second, the power direction of education governance is horizontal, parallel, and multidirectional, while the power direction of education management is unidirectional from top to bottom. Third, the mode of education governance is equal consultation and democratic decision-making among diverse entities, while the mode of education management is the administrative orders of the upper and lower levels of the single entity. Fourth, the goal of education governance is good governance of education, and the goal of education management is to obey orders. Fifth, there is an equal and cooperative relationship between the entities of education governance, and between the entities of education management is the relationship between the superior and subordinate and leaders and followers. The education system in the past mainly serves the education management idea, and the future education system should serve the education governance idea. Therefore, the future development of education systems is bound to develop along the direction of education governance. (II)

Issues of central and local responsibility.

In 1985, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of Education System met the requirements of the financial system reform and placed the responsibility for holding basic education at the local government. This kind of “delegation of power” to the local government is actually a burden relief for the central government, but it increases the pressure of the local government, resulting in education inequality caused by regional differences and aggravating regional differences in education. In 2005, the new mechanism of compulsory education funds guaranteed, according to the financial and administrative power following the reform of the tax distribution system, split funding for rural compulsory education by project and shared proportionally, and the central government began to 18

Ou Mei, Yi Xin. Breakthrough the Bottleneck of Education Management System, in China Education Daily, 2018-11-14.

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take more responsibility for compulsory education in rural areas. The responsibility for providing compulsory education had to be shifted from the local governments to the joint responsibility of the central and local governments. At present, the issue of the relationship between the central and local governments, and even more deeply among governments at all levels, has not been fundamentally solved.19 (III)

Issues of the relationship between efficiency and fairness.

The Outline of the National Medium-and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010–2020) issued in 2010 clearly states that balanced development is the strategic task of compulsory education. The 18th CPC National Congress stressed the balanced development of 9-year compulsory education and began to pay attention to the issue of educational equality. However, in the course of policy implementation, the phenomenon of one-size-fits-all appears, regarding educational equality and educational balance as educational egalitarianism, preferring to sacrifice excellent education resources to realize education resource equalization and discouraging the enthusiasm of some educators. In the college entrance examination admission system, to pursue the absolute fairness of the college entrance examination, only relying on the score of the examination paper to distinguish and select talent is not conducive to the selection of a group of talented people with special skills. Therefore, the relation of fairness and equality and the relation of commonality and free shall be distinguished. Education equality ought not to be simply interpreted as “everyone is the same” or, more simply, as “money is the same”, and the concept of “differentiated equality” must be recognized. (IV)

Issues of the relationship between centralization and decentralization.

At present, the power relationship between governments at higher and lower levels has realized hierarchical school running, hierarchical management, and classified management. However, the government has changed from direct administration of schools to the use of legislation, funding, planning, information services, policy guidance, and necessary administrative means for management and has made little progress in promoting the reform of macro-management. In the power relationship between the government and the school, the power centralization issue is very serious. Especially under the modern school governance system with principal responsibility system, the principal does not have the right of personnel and finance of the school, which causes the principal to lose his management power and seriously affects the effective management of the school. In higher education schools, the phenomenon of school administration is serious, and academic freedom and academic independence are restrained, which is not conducive to academic innovation. (V)

Issues of the relationship between strip and block.

The strip–block relation is decided by the administrative management system of our country, but this system shows some institutional defects in the education department. 19

Du Yuhong, Liang Wenyan. The Highlights and Prospects of 30 Years of Education System Reform, in People’s Education, 2008(19).

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The public nature, public welfare, and nonprofit nature of education undertakings determine the lower status of education departments in the government administrative system. In contrast to financial departments, planning departments, natural resource departments, and industrial and commercial departments can bring financial revenue to the government. Education department is basically financial expenditure. Therefore, in practice, the education department is easily squeezed into the administrative system. As a result, the education department has a weak resource scheduling ability in the horizontal relationship of the administrative system at the same level. At the same time, within the education system, there is no direct administrative powers among the higher-level and lower-level educational administrative departments, rather their relationship functions as a kind of faciliating guidance and collaboration. This means that the higher level education administrative departments do not have the administrative power to directly administrate the lower level education administrative departments, which weakens the direct administrative strength of the higher- and lower level education administrative departments. Therefore, how to address the strip–block relationship and improve management efficiency is still an important problem in the strip–block relationship of the education system. (VI)

Issues of the relationship between public and private schools.

In general, the reform of the school-running system, from the initial breakthrough of the taboo to allow the establishment of private schools to clearly put forward to change the pattern of government-sponsored school running, has gradually established a system with government-run schools as the main body, and all sectors of society run schools together. However, in the course of practice, there exists the phenomenon of policy instability and implementation inadequacy. The issue that private education cannot receive the same treatment as public education is still the fundamental problem that restricts the reform of the school-running system. The development of privately run schools has been restricted to varying degrees both in concept and in system. In particular, local education administration departments are more conservative in the process of policy implementation. There is no institutional basis for the proportion of public-run and private-run education, the status relationship between public and private education has not been clearly defined, and the specific system of classified management between public and private education has not been formulated so far. (VII)

Issues of the relationship between quantity and quality.

After the reform of the education system over the past 40 years of reform and openingup, China has reached a relatively complete state in preschool education, primary education, secondary education, higher education, continuing education, vocational education, and special education. To popularize 9-year compulsory education in an all-round way, balanced development of education has begun to be promoted, a modern vocational education system has been established and breakthrough on development of higher education has been achieved. However, the quality of education in our country is not proportional to the quantity, and the development of education quality is not balanced and sufficient. For example, the examination-oriented and unitary tendency of education is still serious, and the innovation and diversity of education are not enough.

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Education has only solved the problem of “having chance to learn” and has not yet achieved the goal of “learning well”. In particular, the quality of vocational education lags behind relatively further. Therefore, in promoting the quality of education, education innovation development lacks institutional guarantees and still has a long way to go. (VIII)

Issues of unitary and diversified financing.

Since 1985, a diversified financing system has been proposed. It should be said that the diversified financing system has become an important support for the development of education. However, the diversified financing system actually faces many policy obstacles, and many local governments always think that the education investment is entirely the government’s own business, which still stays in the thinking of ruling and management and has not changed into the thinking of governance. In 2017, the revised Law of the People’s Republic of China on Promotion of Privately Run Schools clearly implemented the for-profit and nonprofit classification management system, and the establishment of for-profit private schools was prohibited at the stage of compulsory education. In November 2018, the Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on the Deepening Reform and Development Standardization of Preschool Education required the safe implementation of classified management and that social capital shall not control kindergartens run by state-owned assets or collective assets or nonprofit kindergartens by means of mergers and acquisitions, entrusted management, join chains, use of variable interest entities, and agreement. Although these regulations guarantee the publicity of education to some extent, they hinder the enthusiasm of social capital as the main body of diversified investment to participate in education investment and increase governments’ financial pressure on the whole, which is not conducive to diversified financing and the development of education.

5.4 Development Trend of the Education System The development of the education system must follow the following three basic laws. (I)

Adapting to the major social contradictions.

“Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and the major social contradictions in our country have been transformed into the contradictions between the people’s ever-increasing needs for a better life and the uneven development”, Xi said in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. In the field of education, this contradiction is manifested as the contradiction between the people’s increasing demand for quality education and the imbalanced and inadequate development of current education. Therefore, the future educational system should be designed mainly to solve this contradiction. This imbalance is mainly manifested in the following ten aspects.

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First, the overall social development is not balanced, such as the relatively improved social and economic development in the past 40 years of reform and opening-up and the insufficient education development. Second, urban and rural education development is not balanced, such as the imbalance of urban and rural education infrastructure and teacher strength, and the insufficient rural education development. Third, the development of education content is not balanced, such as one-sided development of exam-oriented ability, neglect of all-round development, and the insufficient development of quality-oriented education. Fourth, the development of education stage is not balanced, such as the better development of compulsory education stage, the insufficient development of pre-school education and higher education. Fifth, the development of the education structure is not balanced, such as better general education development and the insufficient development of vocational education, continuing education, special education, and network education. Sixth, the development of schools of different natures is not balanced, such as the better development of public education and the insufficient development of private education. Seventh, the education regional development is not balanced, such as the better eastern region education development and the insufficient development of central and western region education. Eighth, the development of the classroom teaching mode is not balanced, such as the better development of offline teaching and the insufficient development of a high-efficiency classroom teaching mode with students as the main body and online education and artificial intelligence education. Ninth, teachers’ quality development is not balanced, such as the better development of teachers’ teaching skills and the insufficient development of teachers’ moral quality. Tenth, the development of education is not balanced, such as the better development of socioeconomic conditions of education and the insufficient development of poor family education. Therefore, in the top design of educational system development, the strategic layout of education in the report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC shall be taken as a guide. It gives priority to the development of education, carrying out the fundamental task of building virtuous people, developing quality education, promoting education equality, and cultivating socialist builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, and aesthetically. It also emphasizes promoting the integrated development of compulsory education in urban and rural areas, attaching great importance to compulsory education in rural areas, providing preschool education, special education, and online education, and popularizing high school education so that every child can enjoy a fair and high-quality education. It aimed to improve the system of vocational education and training, deepen the integration of industry and education, and cooperate with schools and enterprises. The speeding up of the construction of first-class universities and firstclass disciplines and realizing the internal development of higher education were part of the guidelines. The need to improve the student aid system so that the vast majority of new urban and rural workers can receive high school education and even higher education was part of the guidelines. Another guideline related to supporting and standardizing social forces in setting up education; strengthening the construction of

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teachers’ ethics, training high-quality teachers, and advocating the whole society to respect teachers; providing continuing education, accelerating the construction of a learning-oriented society, and greatly improving the quality of our people. (II)

Adapting to the national development strategy.

The 19th National Congress of the CPC has formulated the stage of national development strategy for the next 30 years; that is, the first stage, from 2020 to 2035, is to realize socialist modernization. The second stage, from 2035 to the middle of the twenty-first century, is to build socialist modern power … and achieve modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. Therefore, the development of the education system should be in line with the development strategy of these two 15 years, and a set of modern education governance systems and governance capacities should be built to support the realization of the goals of these two stages. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) pointed out that the construction of a strong education country is the basic project for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The education undertakings shall be given priority, the reform of education shall be deepened and the modernization of education shall be sped up. A modern educational governance system under the leadership of the Party committee, with government in charge, school as the leading role, social coordination, public participation, and legal guarantees, should be built. At the same time, the institutionalization, scientization, legalization, democratization, socialization, intelligentization, and refinement of education governance capacity should be promoted. 1.

Strengthen the Party’s Leadership in Education.

In March 2018, to strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee on education work, the government departments set up the Central Leading Group on Education Work, which acts as the coordinating institution for the Party Central Committee’s decision-making and deliberation, to further strengthen and improve the Party’s leadership over schools. Public institutions of higher education adhere to and improve the principal responsibility system under the leadership of the Party committee; in primary and secondary schools and private schools, the political core role of basic-level Party organizations shall be given full paly, and the construction of basic-level Party organizations shall be strengthened. 2.

Accelerate the process of legalization of education.

Under the system of promoting the rule of law in an all-round way, it is necessary to speed up the process of legalization of education. The system of laws, regulations, and rules in the field of education shall be improved so that laws can be followed. Law enforcement in the field of education shall be strengthened so that law enforcement is strictly enforced, and the system of judicial supervision in the field of education shall be improved so that violations of laws and regulations can be investigated. The process of legalization of education shall continue to push forward, unreasonable laws and regulations shall be cleaned up, and the education legal system shall be improved.

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Improve the education administration system.

Straightening out the relationship between strips and blocks should be a focus. In the four-level management system of central, province, city, and county, the administration system of the leadership of the State Council, the responsibility of the local government, the management at different levels, and the county-based administration shall be improved, so as to clarify their respective responsibilities and power relations. Among the government departments at the same level, except the administration departments of education, other relevant departments have corresponding education management responsibilities. In the strip–block relationship, the subdomain, sublevel vertical management system can be explored in the future. 4.

Improve the modern school governance system.

The right of schools to run schools independently in accordance with the law shall be expanded, and the vitality of schools to run schools shall be stimulated. The school charter shall be improved, the school system shall be built, the leadership of the Party shall be strengthened, the principal’s responsibility system shall be improved, a diversified participation of school council shall be set up, the democratic decision-making process, various congresses. The internal governance structure of the school, the democratic supervision system, the open system of school affairs, and the protection system of teachers and students’ rights and interests should be improved, and a third-party evaluation system should be introduced. 5.

Construct social participation governance mechanism.

Social forces shall be given play to participate in direct school running, education purchase service shall be provided, and education supervision and other functions shall be participated in. Social organizations, with their own professional advantages, shall participate in educational governance through market mechanisms. The government purchase service system and the government purchase education service mechanism should be improved. Government purchase services in areas such as decision-making consultation, school management, provision of compulsory education and preschool education degrees, teacher training, special group service, education quality, and school performance evaluation should be promoted, and the quality and efficiency of public education services should be improved. In other words, a modern education governance system with scientific leadership of the Party committee, responsibility of the government according to law, school as the leading role according to law and participation of society according to law shall be constructed. (III)

Response to core issues in the education system.

Contradiction is the driving force of the development of things, and the development of the system must respond to the problems in the system. The reform and development of the educational system, in terms of governance and management ideas, shall develop along the education management idea. In terms of central and local responsibilities, it shall adhere to the principle of taking charge of their respective functions,

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taking responsibility at different levels and making clear the proportion in terms of the relationship between efficiency and fairness. It shall adhere to the principle of education equality and efficiency, pay attention to distinguishing the relationship between equality and egalitarian, and avoid mistaking education equality for education egalitarianism. In terms of the relationship between centralization and decentralization, it shall implement the principles of stratified running, hierarchical management, and classified management vertically, and the principles of simplified administration and decentralization, governance according to law and self-governance according to law on the relationship between government and school. In terms of the relationship between strips and blocks, it shall strengthen the relationship between the upper and lower levels of power, explore appropriate vertical management, and set up a coordination committee to improve the coordination efficiency in the horizontal relationship. In terms of the relationship between public and private schools, it shall make it clear that private schools are a beneficial supplement to public schools and are an important part of socialist education, which should be treated equally and fairly, and shall encourage the development of private schools. In terms of the relationship between quantity and quality, it should strengthen the development of quantity, pay more attention to the development of quality, and make the development of education more completed and balanced. Unitary and diversified fundraising should encourage diversified investment and financing channels, lighten the burden of government and protect the rights and interests of investors according to law.

6 Medical and Health System 6.1 Medical and Health System Medical and health services are closely related to everyone’s life and health. With the improvement of the economic level and the quality of life, more and more countries regard improving the health status of their citizens as one of the main objectives of governance, and the medical and health system plays an important role in safeguarding and promoting the health of their citizens. In general, the medical and health system refers to the sum of a range of institutions, organizations, services, and actions of financial arrangements that affect the medical and health system. Due to different national conditions, there are great differences in the course of action, strategies and measures adopted. In March 2009, the Opinion of the State Council of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Deepening the Reform of Medical and Health System made it clear that the principle of solving outstanding problems and improving the system in accordance with public welfare, accessibility, fairness, and efficiency shall be unified and taken into consideration. There should be reforms in the four aspects of promoting and improving the basic healthcare security system, establishing a national basic

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medicine system, improving the medical and health service system at the basic level and promoting the equalization of basic public health services.

6.2 Content and Reform of China’s Medical and Health System After the founding of New China, with the poor condition of the nation, the Party and the government put forward social development strategies for departments to run communities, industries to run communities, and enterprises to run communities. All government organs, institutions, and enterprises began to set up their own staff dormitories (or family buildings), affiliated kindergartens, affiliated schools, hospitals or clinics (health rooms, infirmary), etc. The income of retired employees mainly came from the unit’s benefits or financial appropriations. As a result, China’s medical and health system has gradually taken shape and gone through the reform of the all-round government-led “great health” model and the market-oriented basic medical service model. (I)

Health and epidemic prevention system.

In the early days of the founding of New China, corresponding to the administrative divisions of the central, provincial, municipal, districts and counties, health and epidemic prevention stations at the national, provincial, municipal, and district levels were established. In the case of the spread of infectious diseases, epidemics, and endemic diseases, from provinces to districts and counties, administrative departments at all levels have also established specialized disease prevention and control systems. These include the Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control Hospital, Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Hospital, Leprosy Prevention and Control Hospital, Parasitic Disease Prevention and Control Institute, Schistosoma Prevention and Control Center, Skin Disease Prevention and Control Center, etc. In the 1990s, affected by the United States, the government changed the health and epidemic prevention station to the Center for Disease Control and later separated some of its operations and personnel and set up the Health Supervision Administration. The functions of the CDC are mainly disease prevention and control, while the functions of the Health Supervision Administration focus on the supervision and enforcement of food hygiene, environmental hygiene, workplace hygiene, school hygiene, radiation hygiene, medical markets, etc. The services provided by the Centers for Disease Control and the Specialized Centers for Disease Control became the main content of the public health service system. (II)

Medical service system.

After the founding of New China, the people’s governments at all levels established the general hospitals owned by the governments at the corresponding levels, commonly known as “provincial (city, county) people’s hospitals”. Under Comrade Mao Zedong’s instructions to develop traditional Chinese medicine, most local

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governments also established “provincial (city, county) traditional Chinese medicine hospitals”, creating a situation of the co-existence of “people’s hospital” and “traditional Chinese medicine hospital” from the state to the provinces, cities, and districts. In the 1980s, in the rush of hospital grade evaluation vigorously promoted by the administrative department of public health, the general hospital was built according to three levels (one to three levels) and 10 grades (each level hospital was further divided into three grades of “A, B, and C”, and the third-level hospital also set up the highest-grade “special grade”). At the same time, traditional Chinese medicine hospitals at all levels have also conducted hospital-grade evaluations and lists. In addition, the “Maternal and Child Health Station”, which originally performed the functions of maternal and child health care, gradually changed its name to “Maternal and Child Health Hospital” or “Women and Children’s Hospital” under the influence of the Women and Children’s Health Department of the Ministry of Health at that time. Public health service institutions were changed from providing public and semi-public products such as women and children health care to the development direction of providing medical services of private products and grade evaluation. Thus, the present pattern has taken shape. Each level of government has at least one general public hospital, one public traditional Chinese medicine hospital, and one public maternal and child health hospital (or women and children’s hospital). However, in the content of the service provided, the service provided by the general hospital and the traditional Chinese medicine hospital had no large difference. The service of the traditional Chinese medicine hospital includes Western medicine diagnosis and treatment. The general hospital also has the traditional Chinese medicine department; the service provided by the maternal and child health hospital (or the women and children’s hospital) and the service provided by the obstetrics and gynecology of the general hospital and the traditional Chinese medicine hospital also have no essential difference. In addition to the above three types of typical hospitals, there are a series of prominent specialty hospitals, such as oncology hospitals, children’s hospitals, thoracic hospitals, cardiovascular hospitals, orthopedic hospitals, cerebrovascular hospitals, and other comprehensive hospitals with a specific specialty. At the same time, there are also hospitals and outpatient clinics established by themselves in different industries, enterprises, government agencies, institutions, and schools, such as navy hospitals, air force hospitals, artillery hospitals, and armed police hospitals, as well as coal mine hospitals, railway hospitals, transportation hospitals, aerospace hospitals, and aviation hospitals at all levels. After the reform and opening-up, private hospitals gradually appeared and developed, but on the whole, most private hospitals are small in scale, and the medical system is still dominated by public hospitals. In fact, in different stages of development, the government has repeatedly advocated and encouraged social forces to run hospitals, especially in the late twentieth century. Driven by the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, many hospitals in state-owned enterprises or industries have been transformed into share, joint stock, or private hospitals. To date, the number of nonpublic hospitals has exceeded the number of public hospitals, but these nonpublic

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hospitals only account for approximately 18% of the total number of hospital beds in society as a whole, and the number of patients treated also corresponds to this. (III)

Health services at the primary level.

In the early days of the founding of New China, the government set up township or street health centers at the level of rural townships and urban streets, performing both medical and public health services. Township health centers are in two property right forms of public ownership and collective ownership. In 1997, after the implementation of the country’s community health service policy, almost all street health centers in urban areas and some township health centers in rural areas were renamed “community health service centers”, and outpatient departments (clinics) and health rooms in urban areas and village health rooms in some rural areas were renamed “community health service stations”. The name of primary health institutions changed to community health service centers (stations), meaning that the staff of primary health service institutions shall not sit in the workplace waiting for patients but shall go out into the community and the family to provide integrated and comprehensive health services such as prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and health care. Since 1998, under the influence of the shareholding reform policy of state-owned enterprises, township health centers in some areas have begun to implement joint-stock cooperative systems or private ownership. After the introduction of the new medical reform policy in 2009, it happened frequently that the government bought back township health centers that had already been sold. After 2014, the phenomenon of private institutions buying large quantities of urban community health service centers (stations) also appeared in some areas. In addition, under the rural collective economic system, some farmers have been trained to become “barefoot doctors” who rely on a part of the collective economy to buy basic medicines and provide simple services, and farmers can go to the village health room to receive free medicines when sick. The system, known as the “cooperative medical care system”, was introduced in rural areas across the country since 1966. After the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the barefoot doctors and cooperative medical care system, which originally relied on the collective economy, fell apart because of the loss of the economic base on which they existed. The original rural barefoot doctors became rural individual doctors (they could not reach the qualification of practicing doctors, but the policy allowed them to practice medicine). Under the background of chaotic medical market management, individual medical practitioners became the primary medical service providers, and farmers were more inclined to go to the nearest door to village doctors. If the disease that village doctors cannot handle, the patients will go directly to the county hospital to see a doctor. Township health centers in most areas were not running well because of limited financial subsidies and technical capacity. In the late 1990s, the Ministry of Health popularized the practice of rural integration throughout the country. The village health rooms were put under the management of the township health centers, all the medicines were purchased through the township health center, the income of the business was turned over to the township health center, and the township health center kept part of the medicines and returned the rest to the

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village health room. As a result, the village health room has lost its independence in the economy, and its operation is bleak. The new medical reform, which began in 2009, stipulates that primary health institutions can only handle basic medicines and implement the policy of a zero-difference rate of medicines. The township health center is included in the government’s financial guarantee, and the village health room, which mainly sells medicines, is difficult to maintain. (IV)

Basic medical security.

The medical security system of our country is born in the planned economy period, and its remarkable characteristic is to divide according to the group. Before the reform and opening-up, China’s population according to household registration was divided into an agricultural household registration population and a nonagricultural household registration population. The nonagricultural household registration population in accordance with the employment relationship is also divided into four categories of government organs and institution staff. State-owned enterprise staff, collective enterprise staff, and the nonemployment population enjoy the corresponding medical security items: government organs and institution staff corresponding to public medical care, enterprise staff corresponding to “labor-protection medical care”, and nonemployment people as the family members of the abovementioned two categories of staff are covered by public medical care and “labor-protection medical care”. The rural population’s medical care security level is relatively low and mainly depends on the “cooperative medical care” system. After reform and opening-up, with the reform of state-owned enterprises, “laborprotection medical care” relying on enterprises gradually evolved into a “society as a whole plus individual account” mode of basic medical insurance for urban enterprise workers. The public medical care of government institutions has also gradually been integrated into medical insurance for employees. The medical insurance of urban enterprise workers takes employment workers as insurance protection objects but does not cover their nonemployment family members or other urban nonemployment personnel. For uncovered groups, the country began to establish basic medical insurance for urban residents in 2007, with residents participating voluntarily and raising funds through government subsidies and individual contributions. In rural areas, with the collapse of the people’s communes, the old cooperative medical care system gradually collapsed. To provide medical security for rural residents, the government began to establish the New Rural Cooperative Medical Care System (NRCMCS) in 2003. Rural residents who participate in the new rural cooperative medical care system on a voluntary basis shall apply the principle of government subsidies and individual contributions. In 2013, the three systems of medical insurance for urban workers, the new rural cooperative medical care system, and medical insurance for urban residents achieved full coverage of the population, and medical insurance coverage was more than 95%. With the separation pattern of the new rural cooperative medical care system covering rural residents and medical insurance for urban residents, covering the urban nonemployment population is becoming increasingly unsuitable for the rapid development of urbanization in China. Coupled with the large-scale rural–urban population movement, since 2013, various regions have

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begun to integrate the new rural cooperative medical care system and medical insurance for urban residents. In 2016, the State Council proposed integrating the new rural cooperative medical care system and medical insurance for urban residents according to the principle of “six unification” and establishing unified basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents. In 2018, the State Council’s institutional reform integrated the management system of medical insurance for urban workers, medical insurance for urban residents, and medical assistance and set up the National Healthcare Security Administration. So far, China has formed a unified healthcare security system, which includes two medical insurance systems of the medical insurance for urban workers covering employed workers, the medical insurance for urban and rural residents covering rural residents and urban nonemployed residents, and the medical assistance system for all citizens, and has realized the full coverage of healthcare security.

6.3 Problems Existing in the Medical and Healthcare System With the development of the economy and society and the improvement of living standards, people’s demand for medical care is increasing and diversifying. Although medical reform measures are constantly being pushed forward, the problems in medical services are becoming increasingly acute. (I)

The overall level of basic medical service is low, and there is a large gap between groups and regions.

For more than a decade, although the government has been encouraging the development of community-based basic medical services, generally speaking, first, basic medical services have been weak and have had poor results in disease prevention, disease monitoring, primary medical care, and graded medical care. Second, the allocation of medical resources is unequal, and the accessibility, fairness, and quality of medical services are all lacking. High-quality medical and health resources and services are mainly concentrated in economically developed southeast regions and large- and medium-sized cities. Hospitals are overcrowded, it is difficult to have an appointment, doctors work under pressure, and doctor–patient relations are strained. Basic-level medical institutions in rural and underdeveloped areas not only have limited hardware facilities but also lack professional medical staff. The diagnosis and treatment level and service level of doctors are generally low. (II)

The medical security system cannot meet the needs of the sick.

First, the regional segmentation of the medical security system is not suitable for the normalization of large-scale population flow. China’s medical security is established in accordance with the principle of localization, medical insurance funds are mainly coordinated at the prefecture level, and it is difficult to transfer and replace the fund due to the system design. Worker medical insurance in our country stipulates that retirees do not need to pay medical insurance, which causes worker medical

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insurance to have the characteristic of a “semiaccumulative system”, making the policy of transregional transfer in actual implementation in vain. Second, there is a regional imbalance in the medical insurance fund. Staff medical insurance and resident medical insurance are managed locally, the overall planning level of the fund is mainly at the municipal level, and it is difficult to adjust the surplus and shortage of funds among the coordinated areas. At the national level, the income and expenditure of medical insurance funds do not have the problem of income and expenditure imbalance. However, the regional difference is large, the eastern coastal areas and some large cities and other areas of population inflow accumulated a large balance, while the central and western regions and the northeast old industrial base and other areas of population outflow are facing greater pressure of expenditure, or even the situation of the income unable to cover the expenditure. Third, the design of the medical insurance system does not match the new employment model. With the emergence of new technology and new industries, a large number of new employment models without employers or with uncertain employers have emerged; therefore, the worker medical insurance system relying on the unit’s “unit-worker” co-contribution cannot be maintained. Even though the urban employees did not have worker medical insurance with the identity of flexible employees, they needed to pay the insurance premium that unit undertook, and high individual contributions made a large number of employees with uncertain employers choose to attend resident medical insurance, or not participate in insurance. In addition, because the individual contribution of resident medical insurance is low and contains government subsidies, some urban workers who should participate in medical insurance have turned to resident medical insurance. Moreover, the development of commercial health insurance is slow and does not play a supplementary role in social medical insurance. (III)

The pharmaceutical industry is still in the primary stage of development.

At present, the scale of China’s pharmaceutical industry accounts for approximately 4% of the global market, which is the fourth largest in the world after the United States, Japan, and Germany.20 However, overall, the pharmaceutical industry is still in the primary stage of development, mainly manifested as follows: First, the competitiveness of pharmaceutical enterprises is weak, the innovation ability is insufficient, product homogenization is serious, the drugs produced are mainly generics, accounting for more than 97% of the drugs on the market, and most of them are general drugs. Second, the market concentration is low, and the competition is fierce. There are few large-scale enterprises (less than 5%), while small-scale enterprises without standards exist everywhere (more than 75%). Third, the competition mechanism is not perfect; the regional development of the pharmaceutical industry and local protectionism is serious, and the market mechanism cannot play a good role in the allocation of resources. Fourth, the new drug examination and approval system and control measures such as drug pricing and centralized

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Southern Medicine Economic Research Institute of China Food and Drug Administration: Blue Book on the Development of China’s Pharmaceutical Market in 2015.

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bidding and procurement systems are not conducive to the development and innovation of drugs. Fifth, unfair competition in the pharmaceutical industry and marketing is obvious, and the cost of competition is finally passed on to patients. (IV)

Modern technical means are used less in medical and health management.

First, the country has not established a medical technology assessment system. From the point of view of medical insurance, the management of clinical medical technology is actually blank. Medical technology assessment mainly evaluates the feasibility and economic effect of a clinical technology, measures the incidence of new drug-targeted diseases, compares with the differences in function and cost of existing drugs to assess whether they can be included in the list of medical insurance, eliminates unsuitable drugs and technologies, and improves the compensation mechanism of medical insurance. In addition, medical quality information is not open and transparent, and neither patients nor the public, nor public policy researchers, can obtain relevant information. In the age of big data, this is the hidden danger of social problems.

6.4 Future Development of the Medical and Health System The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward carrying out the strategy of healthy China and clarified the main contents and measures of the strategy of healthy China. This includes improving the national health policy, providing all-round and full-cycle health service for the people, deepening the reform of the medical and health system, and comprehensively establishing the basic medical and healthcare system with Chinese characteristics. Among others are improving the medical security system and the high-quality and high-efficiency medical and health service system, improving the management system of modern hospitals, and strengthening the medical and health service system at the basic level and the construction of the general doctor team. Completely abolishing the practice of using pharmaceuticals to pay for medical care, improving the medicine supply security system; giving priority to prevention, carrying out a patriotic health campaign in depth, advocating a healthy and civilized way of life, preventing and controlling major diseases. Additionally, a food safety strategy should be implemented so that people can eat with confidence, adhere to both traditional Chinese and Western medicine, inherit and develop traditional Chinese medicine, support society in establishing hospitals and developing the health industry. The development of medical and health systems needs to pay attention to the following aspects. (I)

At the macro-level, the government and market responsibilities should be divided.

The realization of the macro-goal of medical services requires the joint push of government, society, and the market. Fundamentally speaking, the social and economic benefits of medical services can be unified; social benefits are the value

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goal of medical services, and economic benefits are the means to realize social benefits. Leaving social benefits to simply pursue economic benefits, medical services will lose their value objectives; however, the pursuit of social benefits without economic benefits is bound to lose the impetus and means for the development of medical service, which is not conducive to the healthy development of medical and health care in our country. Governance in the field of medical and health care shall make more use of economic means and guide stakeholders to better combine and cooperate with each other through legal systems, regulations, agreements, and contracts to achieve functional complementarity, to provide different medical services to different demand structures and to better serve people’s livelihoods. The future development of the medical and healthcare system needs to reasonably divide the responsibilities of the government and the market. There is the need to strengthen the top-level design of the government, do good jobs of overall coordination, strengthen performance guidance, guarantee the basic medical needs, and promote the hospital to improve the service level. Additionally, there is a need to explore the socialized governance mode of basic medical insurance and allow the market to play a decisive role in the allocation of resources. (II)

From the cooperation mechanism, the personnel of public health institutions shall be freed.

First, the close relationship between the doctor and the hospital should be loosened so that doctors in the second- and third-level hospitals can move freely or compulsively and practice in different areas. The employment relationship between doctors and hospitals is established through labor contracts, which can be long-term, short-term, or temporary (one can work in medical institutions a few days or hours a week), and doctors can negotiate with the hospital about income and remuneration. Second, legally, doctors licensed by the country shall be allowed to practice freely and open clinics within the territory of the People’s Republic of China (mainland China), with the district- or county-level health administration department where they practice playing a supervisory and administrative role. Third, the pricing system of medical services should be improved. Medical insurance agencies negotiate pricing with medical institutions, and the government only stipulates the basic price or price range of medical services. Fourth, doctors with professional quality should be encouraged through economic means to make regular or irregular diagnoses and treatments at the grassroots level. This shall be done through the establishment of high-level clinics at the basic level and by opening high-level clinics and small community general diagnosis and treatment centers at the basic level. The majority of residents can obtain high-quality medical services at the basic level or in the community to promote the rational and orderly flow of medical resources and patients. Releasing personnel management is the core content of invigorating and improving the quality of basiclevel medical personnel in our country at present; otherwise, it is very difficult to keep qualified medical personnel at the rural basic level and urban community health institutions under the situation of great differences in economic and social conditions between urban and rural areas.

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From the technical level, economic and information technology means shall be of more use.

First, the provision of medical services should be affected more by economic means than by administrative orders. For example, through the cooperation of medical institutions at different levels and technical cooperation, doctors with high professional standards should be encouraged to visit rural and urban communities for consultation or service. Second, information technology and means should be vigorously developed to set up big data systems in the pharmaceutical and health industries. This is because scientific decision-making comes from complete and real data support, and policies on medical reform, medical insurance, medical quality, pharmaceutical industry, medical service, public health, etc., should be based on scientific data analysis. Third, the payment methods that encourage the overuse of medical services shall be reformed, and new payment methods such as case-by-case and disease-type payment for inpatients shall be introduced. (IV)

From the security mechanism, the role played by the National Healthcare Security Administration shall come into force.

In 2018, the establishment of the National Healthcare Security Administration means that healthcare security-related affairs should be separated from all departments and put under the unified management of the National Healthcare Security Administration. This is an institution directly under the State Council. This highlights the prominent position and role of healthcare security affairs in national governance and shows the will and determination of the Party and the country to solve people’s disease and medical problems and raise the level of health care for all. This reform will play a role in many aspects while optimizing the medical security management system. For example, promoting the further deepening of the reform of the linkage of the medical insurance system, healthcare system, and pharmaceutical system is conducive to the medical and healthcare system. This is because the establishment of the National Healthcare Security Administration has unified the right to administer medical insurance, thus strengthening the ability of medical insurance as a thirdparty payment and supervision of medical services. More importantly, the unification of drug procurement, pricing, and management functions is a breakthrough in the current reform of drug prices. Medical insurance, which is the largest payer of medical expenses, has the right to intervene in the pricing of drugs, such as the mechanism for controlling drug costs through price negotiations between medical insurance and drug manufacturers. The newly established National Healthcare Security Administration, which integrates drug payment, procurement, pricing, and management, can further enhance the right of medical insurance, increase the “jetton” in the game between the paying party and the service party, change the passive payment into active payment, and fundamentally promote drug price reform. At the same time, the establishment of the National Healthcare Security Administration will promote the further optimization of the universal medical insurance system, which is beneficial to the construction of the multilevel medical insurance system. However, these roles must be played on the basis of correct and full play of the role of the National Healthcare Security Administration itself.

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7 Social Security System 7.1 Social Security System and Its Development Course Social security is the safety net of people’s livelihood, an important basic system of social governance, and a general term of all kinds of economic welfare and socialized national life security systems. The implementation of the social security system is to provide security for the basic right of life of the social members. This is to ensure that they do not fall into the living dilemma due to the occurrence of certain events, to make up for the deficiency of the market economy, to safeguard social fairness and justice, to realize the benefits of development shared by the people, and to promote the stability and harmonious development of the whole society. In the history of the development of human society, social security is mainly in the form of disaster relief and poverty relief, including government-organized disaster relief and poverty relief, as well as various charities organized by religious organizations. The Poor Law promulgated by Britain in 1601 is regarded as an important milestone in the history of social security, which initiated the intervention of the state in the affairs of poverty alleviation through legislation. In 1883, the promulgation of the German Disease Insurance Law marked the emergence of the modern social security system. The social security law adopted by the United States in 1935, and the social security system determined accordingly made the modern social security system take a big step from the social security system to the comprehensive social security system. After World War II, as the British government announced the establishment of a welfare state, the social security system began to mature. Since the late 1970s, some Western countries began to think about various problems in previous social security policies, which led the modern social security system into a period of reform, development, and improvement. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese government established a “state-unit” security system covering all people at a low level. In the past 40 years, with the reform and opening-up and changes in the social and economic structure, the “state-unit” security system has gradually changed to a “state-society” security system, with the government, enterprises, and individuals sharing social security responsibilities. Especially after entering the twenty-first century, with the sustained growth of the economy and the acceleration of social construction, the concept of fairness, justice, and sharing is deeply rooted in people’s minds. The social security system of our country has entered the golden development period under the guidance of the government and a series of laws and regulations, such as the Regulations on Unemployment Insurance. There are also Regulations on Work-Related Injury Insurance, the Social Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Interim Measures of Social Assistance, and the Charity Law of the People’s Republic of China. There are a series of social security systems, including the minimum living security system for urban and rural residents, the old-age insurance system for urban and rural residents, and the medical insurance system for urban and rural residents. The institutional framework has been gradually improved. The report of the 19th

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National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in October 2017 clearly stated that “promoting the well-being of the people’s livelihood is the fundamental goal of development”, and that “the all-round development of the people shall be continuously promoted” and “the security and improvement of the people’s livelihood in development shall be upheld”.

7.2 Contents and Functions of the Social Security System A sound social security system includes two parts: the basic social security system and supplementary social security measures. The former consists of three different systems: government-led social assistance, social insurance, and social welfare, which constitute the main body of the social security system; the latter is the concrete embodiment of the multilevel social security system, which includes philanthropy and commercial insurance, which are solved by the people and the market under the support of the government. It constitutes a supplement to the basic social security system and plays the role of promoting the improvement of people’s livelihood. China’s social security system is also composed of social assistance, social insurance, social welfare, and other systems. In this system, the current social assistance system includes minimum living security in urban and rural areas, support for people in extreme poverty, disaster relief, medical assistance, education assistance, housing assistance, employment assistance, temporary assistance, and so on. The social insurance system includes the basic old-age insurance system, the basic medical insurance system, the occupational injury insurance system, the unemployment insurance system, and so on. Among them, the basic old-age insurance system includes the basic old-age insurance system for urban workers, the basic old-age insurance system for government organs and institutions, and the old-age insurance system for urban and rural residents. The basic medical insurance system includes the basic medical insurance system for urban workers, the medical insurance system for urban residents, and the new rural cooperative medical insurance system. The social welfare system includes the welfare of the disabled, the welfare of the elderly, the welfare of children, the welfare of education, and the housing welfare system. The supplementary security system includes enterprise annuities and supplementary medical insurance for employees, charity, and commercial insurance, which embody the multilevel characteristics of the social security system. In addition, the basic social security system of our country also includes the military security system established by the state for military personnel and their families in view of their occupational risks. Traditional military security in our country is often referred to as social special care or special care resettlement, which consists of special care and preferential treatment security, retirement security, and resettlement security. In the modern social security system, military security, including military personnel special care and preferential treatment, military personnel insurance, military personnel resettlement, and the military personnel welfare system, constitutes a subsystem that is relatively independent but also linked to other social

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security systems. It has unique significance in relieving military personnel’s worries, stabilizing the army’s heart, strengthening national defense, and so on. The social security system is very important to the construction of a harmonious society, which is determined by the function of the social security system. (I)

Social security has the function of promoting social stability and harmony.

First, the social security system can help members of society who are trapped in difficult life eliminate the survival crisis and solve the worries of people’s lives so that they can prevent and handle possible social crises. Effectively alleviate or even eliminate the potential risks that cause the shock and out-of-control of society and create a stable environment for the harmonious development of society. Second, the social security system can alleviate the contradiction between labor and capital. Generally, the interest difference between labor and capital exists objectively, but through the establishment of a compulsory social insurance system, the employer must bear the legal obligation to pay all kinds of social insurance expenses for the laborer. The laborer can maintain and realize his or her welfare rights and interests through this system, thus effectively adjusting the interest relationship between the labor and capital. Third, the social security system, through the social assistance system and the social welfare system, helps socially disadvantaged groups and special groups eliminate their living difficulties and safeguard their basic rights and interests. It will also alleviate the contradiction between the rich and the poor and enhance harmony among all social groups. Finally, breaking the boundary between urban and rural areas and the development of philanthropy in different regions provide a way for rich classes and regions to pay back to society. This will help those in need get help from all walks of life, which carry forward the spirit of social mutual assistance, and effectively lubricate the relationship between the social members. (II)

Social security has the function of promoting the rights and interests and welfare of the people.

The process of establishing and improving the social security system is the process of improving the rights and interests and welfare of the people. Before the establishment of the social security system, especially in agricultural society, the rights and obligations of the individual were confined to the family in which the individual was located. The personal risks could only be borne by the individual and the family members, and the relief provided by the state and society was only temporary, with a benevolent and compassionate tinge. When the state established the social security system in the form of laws and regulations, it became the legal obligation of the state to give necessary help to the social members when needed and the legal right of the social members to get help and care. Moreover, with the development of the social security system, a series of rights and interests with the core of people’s right to subsistence and development have entered into the scope that must be maintained, and national rights and interests are an ever-expanding process. At the same time, the level of national welfare will continue to develop with the development of the economy and society, from nothing to the security child-rearing, education, work, medical care, old-age support, living, and weak support, from the lowest level of

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living security to basic security, from basic, single security to multi-level, all-round security, and so on. In short, the establishment and development of the social security system will enable the realization and enhancement of the rights and interests of the people. (III)

Social security has the function of promoting social development.

On the one hand, the social security system, by resolving the survival crisis of difficult groups and relieving the worries of the laborer, can enhance the sense of security of social members so that people can devote themselves wholeheartedly to production and labor. It promotes the economic and social development. On the other hand, the social security system can adjust the various interests of all classes and groups, especially the contradiction between labor and capital, making the two sides of the contradiction having more common interests, and thus create a stable social environment and build the foundation for the sustained and healthy development of the country’s economy and society. (IV)

Social security has the function of safeguarding social equity and justice.

The social security system will be of great need; adjusting various relations, creating a stable social environment, establishing harmonious social relations, safeguarding the rights and interests of the people, and improving the welfare of the people can play the role of maintaining social fairness and justice. Thus, social members can realize the fairness of the starting point and process to varying degrees and narrow the unfairness of results through social security programs.

7.3 Achievements and Problems in the Reform of China’s Social Security System21 China’s social security cause has entered a comprehensive and profound period of institutional change since the mid-1980s. The reform of the social security system took the gradual reform way that is similar to the economic system reform and has undergone the change from passive reform to active reform. This is from bottomup to top-down, from pilot and single promotion to top-level design and all-round promotion of the central government, from the serving and subordination to economic system reform to self-contained influence, maintenance, and promotion of social justice and economic development. At present, China’s social security system has basically completed the system transformation, that is, from the planned economy era of state responsibility, unit contracting, overall security, plate structure, closed operation of the social security system to a government-led, responsibility sharing, socialized, multi-level new social security system. The increasingly sound social security system and the continuous improvement of the level of social security have 21

See Zheng Gongcheng: Social Security Reform and Economic Development in China: A Review and Prospects, in Journal of Renmin University of China, 2018(1).

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created a relatively stable social environment for economic restructuring and social transformation, shaping a unified labor market that can flow freely throughout the country. At the same time, it has directly increased the welfare income of both urban and rural residents and substantially alleviated the worries of the people’s lives. Thus, the consumption desire and consumption ability of urban and rural residents have been greatly promoted. However, in general, there are still some problems in China’s current social security system, such as system division, unclear rights and responsibilities, multilevel insufficiency, and short supply, which restrict the healthy development of the whole social security system. (I)

The division of the system between regions and groups damages the fairness of the system.

At present, the regional division of basic old-age insurance makes the fundraising burden of different regions different. The surplus and shortage of pension funds coexist, and the gap is widening, which not only damages the equity of the insured but also damages the equity of market economy competition. The gap in medical insurance between the fundraising and treatment of different groups, such as urban workers, urban residents, and rural residents, still exists; although the social assistance system breaks the boundary of the urban–rural division, there is still inertia of the urban–rural division in practice. In terms of old-age welfare, children’s welfare, and related services, there also exists the phenomenon of system or policy division. Different families and different classes of people enjoy different security treatments. This kind of different system arrangement, based on factors such as region, household registration, and occupation status, is bound to bring the result in an imbalance of interests and a lack of fairness. (II)

The ambiguity of rights and responsibilities leads to the ambiguity of the boundary of the entities of liability and the imbalance of liability.

It is the fundamental principle of the sustainable development of modern social security that all parties share responsibility. The social security system needs to mobilize the power of the government, the market, society, the individual, and the family to jointly realize the benefits sharing of national development for all. However, at present, the responsibility boundary of government, society, market and enterprise, individual and family as the main body of social security responsibility is not clear enough, the power and responsibility relationship between the central government and local government is not matched, the role of individual and family is limited, and the social and market forces are not fully exerted. (III)

The imperfection of the security system leads to the inadequacy of the public’s needs.

The establishment of a multilevel social security system is the consensus of the world today because the multilevel social security system is the reconstruction of the social security responsibility sharing mechanism and is a rational and sustainable institutional arrangement to address the aging of the population. Since 1990s, China has

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clearly put forward the policy orientation and development goal of multilevel social security, but it is still based on the legal basic security provided by the government, and the supplementary security provided by the market and society has not been developed. This not only restricts the expansion of the material base of the whole social security system but also affects the supply of social security resources and services. The social security system, which cannot satisfy the social security needs of the people, especially the elderly, the disabled, children, and other special groups, needs to be improved and perfected. (IV)

Social services such as providing for the aged, raising children, and helping the disabled are relatively lagging behind.

After our country enters an aging society, the aging speed is accelerating, and the degree is deepening. However, at present, various old-age service institutions, facilities, and beds are far from meeting the needs of the elderly. In terms of raising children, the public kindergarten quantity is small, which cannot satisfy the needs of school-age children. In terms of helping the disabled, the protection and services for the disabled mainly depend on family care.

7.4 The Way to Further Improve the Social Security System (I)

adhere to the principle of equity in social security rights and interests.

Safeguarding social equity and justice is the proper meaning of social security. To promote the realization of social equity and justice, the traditional practice of urban– rural division and group division must be broken through, the value orientation of the equity of social security rights and interests of all citizens should be firmly established, and the perfection of the social security system should be measured more by the index of social equity. (II)

Improve the medical security and old-age care service system.

At present, China has not established a perfect public health medical security system. There are still great differences between the public in enjoying public health services. Therefore, efforts should be made to improve medical security in rural and povertystricken areas. The accelerated population aging process is bringing serious challenges to China’s current old-age security system. Expanding the coverage of basic old-age insurance to all social members as soon as possible and fully mobilizing public and social resources to promote the development of various old-age welfare undertakings should become an important direction for the construction of the social security system covering urban and rural residents at the present stage. (III)

Make clear and implement the responsibilities of the government.

The social assistance system is the last safety net to guarantee the basic life of poor groups. The social welfare system provides a channel for the elderly, disabled,

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women, children, and other special social groups to share the country’s development achievements. Therefore, the government shall bear the main responsibility. The social insurance system should embody the combination of rights and obligations, make its own system and develop according to its own law. The government shall create conditions to support the development of supplementary security measures such as charities and enterprise annuities. For the historical debt formed by institutional transformation, the government shall also take responsibility based on clarifying responsibility. The financial and supervisory responsibility of the central and local governments in different social security programs shall be clearly defined, and corresponding systems shall be established. Strictly according to the division of functions of the government, competent departments should fulfill the supervision and administration responsibility of the relevant social security system and implement a strict supervision and accountability system. (IV)

Mobilize and integrate social resources and jointly promote the sustainable development of social security undertakings.

Mobilizing social resources can not only supplement the shortage of social security public resources but also expand the universality of social security and promote the improvement of public morality and mutual-aid consciousness. The government shall, through the corresponding system design, encourage and guide the social forces to participate in the development of social security and, under the precondition of protecting the rights and interests of the national welfare from being harmed, introduce the market mechanism, develop various forms of projects oriented by demand, and promote the growth of the national welfare.

8 Income Distribution System 8.1 The Connotation and Development Course of the Income Distribution System The distribution system is the sum of how labor products are divided and distributed in the social main body. It is an important part of a country’s relations of production and basic economic system, as well as the basic system of social governance. In the primary stage of socialism, our country implements the income distribution system with distribution according to work as the main body, and multiple distribution modes coexist. Since the reform and opening-up, the proportion of laborer remuneration in the distribution of national income has decreased in the field of initial distribution. In the field of redistribution, the proportion of expenditure on economic construction has declined gradually, the proportion of expenditure on people’s livelihood and public service has increased daily, and public expenditure has focused on strengthening and improving people’s livelihood. Efforts should be made to synchronize the growth of residents’ income with the development of the economy and the growth of labor

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remuneration with an increase in labor productivity. At the same time, the relationship between efficiency and fairness should be addressed in both the initial distribution and redistribution, and more attention should be paid to fairness in the second distribution, which is the basic principle that must be applied in the field of income distribution at present in China. During the planned economy, the most prominent problem in income distribution was equalitarianism. Under this distribution system, the income distribution lacks a sufficient incentive mechanism, so the laborer cannot achieve more with more work, which discourages their enthusiasm and initiative and results in low economic efficiency and slow improvement of the people’s living standard. In fact, the reform of China’s economic system began with the reform of the income distribution system. In the 1980s, the “contract responsibility system” was implemented in both enterprises and rural areas to improve economic efficiency and increase labor incentives. After the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1992, the pace of economic reform was accelerated. In the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Issues Concerning the Establishment of a Socialist Market Economic System adopted at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 14th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1993, it was made clear that the goal of China’s economic reform was to establish a socialist market economic system. In terms of the income distribution system, it was clearly pointed out that individual income distribution shall adhere to the principle of distribution according to work as the main body and multiple distribution modes coexist. There were multiple distribution modes, other than distribution according to work, were raised from the supplementary status to the institutional level, allowing capital, technology, and other factors of production to participate in income distribution. Since then, with the rapid development of the socialist market economy, the role of various factors of production in economic and social development has gradually increased, and distribution according to factors of production has become an important part of the income distribution system. The 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward more clearly that the distribution according to work shall be combined with the distribution according to factors on the basis of adhering to the system of distribution according to work as the main body and multiple modes of distribution coexist. To date, the socialist income distribution system with Chinese characteristics has taken shape. The 16th National Congress, 17th National Congress, 18th National Congress, and 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) all stressed improving the income distribution system in which distribution according to work is the main body and multiple modes of distribution coexist. Distribution, according to work as the main body, is mainly reflected in two aspects. On the one hand, distribution, according to work, plays a major role in the whole social scope of the income distribution. On the other hand, the income distribution according to work is the main source of income of the public sector of the economy in the total income of workers. Multiple distribution modes coexist, which mainly refers to the distribution system in which capital, technology, and

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other factors of production participate reasonably and legally in the income distribution. The distribution system, with distribution according to work as the main body and multiple distribution modes coexisting, essentially reflects various factors of production, such as labor, management, capital, technology, and land, all of which participate in distribution according to their contributions.

8.2 The Core of the Income Distribution System is to Give Consideration to Both Efficiency and Fairness Income distribution is generally divided into two processes: initial distribution and second distribution. The initial distribution refers to the distribution of gross national income (i.e., gross national product) directly related to factors of production, specifically includes the proportion of factors of production such as labor, capital, land, and technology in the distribution of national income. Redistribution (also called social transfer distribution) refers to the distribution within the scope of the whole society based on initial distribution results. The country redistributes national income through taxation, fiscal budgets, and other measures, such as policies and laws, and is the process of readjusting the income of various factors of production. Since reform and opening-up, the reform of China’s income distribution system has mainly focused on how to deal with the relationship between efficiency and fairness. At the beginning of reform and opening-up, the report of the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1982 put forward that “at this stage, we must adhere to the system of distribution according to work and other socialist systems in our economic and social life”. In fact, it proposed that the egalitarian practice of “eating from the same big pot” in the distribution of income shall be corrected and the “absolute fairness” shall be broken. The report of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1987 put forward “embodying social equity on the premise of promoting efficiency”. The report of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1992 put forward “to give consideration to both efficiency and fairness”. The report of the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1997 emphasized the need “to insist on efficiency first and give consideration to fairness”. The report of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2002 made a new exposition on the issue of fairness and efficiency and put forward “paying attention to efficiency in the initial distribution” and “paying attention to fairness in the redistribution”. The report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2007 put forward that “the relationship between efficiency and fairness shall be dealt with in the initial distribution and redistribution, and more attention shall be paid to fairness in the redistribution”. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012 put forward that “efforts shall be made to ensure that the growth of people’s income keeps pace with economic development. This is done such that

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the increase in labor remuneration keeps pace with the increase in labor productivity, that the proportion of people’s income in the national income distribution is increased, and that the proportion of labor remuneration in the initial distribution is increased. Both the initial distribution and the redistribution shall take into account both efficiency and fairness, and the redistribution shall pay more attention to fairness”. It stressed the need to “standardize the income distribution order, protect the legal income, increase the income of low-income earners, regulate excessively high income and crack down on illegal income”. Additionally, “increase the intensity of the readjustment of redistribution, focus on solving the problem of income distribution gap, make development achievements shared more by all the people, and progress in the direction of common prosperity”. The 19th National Congress of the Party in 2017 put forward to “adhere to and improve China’s socialist basic economic system and distribution system”; “adhere to the principle of distribution according to work, improve the system mechanism of distribution according to factors, promote the income distribution more reasonable and orderly”; and “adhere to the economic growth at the same time to achieve the synchronous growth of people’s income, while the increase in labor productivity at the same time to achieve a synchronous increase with labor remuneration”. Obviously, in the primary stage of socialism, it is an important principle to correctly understand and deal with the reasonable relationship between efficiency and fairness in the field of income distribution. In summary, “both initial distribution and redistribution shall consider efficiency and fairness, and redistribution shall pay more attention to fairness”. Only by addressing the relationship between efficiency and fairness in the field of income distribution can we promote fairness that is a more efficient and sustainable development of the economy as a whole and gradually move all people toward the goal of common prosperity.

8.3 Challenges to the Income Distribution System (I)

The proportion of laborer remuneration in the initial distribution is relatively low.

The proportion of labor remuneration in the initial distribution of national income is of great fundamental significance. To explain the current proportion of the laborer’s remuneration in the national income distribution, there are two kinds of relevant results. One is the change in the proportion of the laborer’s remuneration in the total national income distribution; the other is the change in the proportion of labor remuneration in the benefit of national income in the enterprise sector. The first is the change in the proportion of the laborer’s remuneration in the total national income. In the 1980s, due to the adoption of various policies of “delegating power and transferring profits” to invigorate the economy, the proportion of the laborer’s income in the national income rose slightly and remained above 50%. Since 1990, the proportion of the laborer’s remuneration has declined slowly, falling

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to 46.16% in 2003; in 2004, due to statistical adjustment, the proportion of laborer’s remuneration plummeted to 41.55%. Since then, it has fallen to 39.74% in 2007.22 Since 2009, when the statistics were reinstated as before 2003, the proportion of laborers’ remuneration has been 46.62% and has declined slowly since then. Obviously, excluding the impact of statistical adjustment, until 2010, the proportion of laborer remuneration gradually declined. However, after 2010, and especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the proportion of laborers’ remuneration has started to pick up again slowly, but the rise is still small.23 The second is the change in the proportion of the laborer’s remuneration in the enterprise sector to national income. The laborer’s remuneration of the workers in the enterprise sector usually accounts for approximately 50% of the total labor remuneration of the institutions and departments (the whole society),24 and its changing trend directly affects or influences the trend of the proportion of the laborer’s remuneration in the whole society to the GDP. By measuring the proportion of laborers’ remuneration to the benefit of the department in the enterprise sector, we can grasp the variation of the proportion of laborers’ remuneration to GDP of the whole society.25 Research shows that the proportion of laborers’ remuneration in the enterprise sector has also been declining steadily since 1992, from 50% to approximately 35% of the lowest level in 2009 and has rebounded slightly since 2010, but at a very small amount.26 Clearly, since the 1990s, the proportion of individual residents in the distribution pattern of national income has decreased, and almost all links of income distribution have declined. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the proportion of laborers’ remuneration in the initial distribution of national income has risen slightly but is still at a small amount. Therefore, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward “insisting on the synchronous increase of resident income and economic growth and realizing the synchronous increase of labor remuneration with labor productivity”. This is proposed to address the obviously lower amount of labor income in the income distribution. 22 Bai Chong-en, Qian Zhenjie: Factor Distribution of National Income: Stories Behind Statistics, in Economic Research, 2009(3). 23 Lyu Guangming, Yu Xueting: Re-study on the Determinants of the Proportion of Labor Remuneration in China Based on Provincial Data Correction, in Statistical Research, 2018(3). 24 In accordance with the United Nations system of national accounts standards, the main body of national income distribution in China is divided into enterprise sector (non-financial enterprise sector and financial enterprise sector), government sector, household sector, and foreign sector. The activities of each sector create the added value of its own sector. The sum of the added value created by each sector in a year is the GDP of that year. To discuss the proportion of labor remuneration to GDP is to analyze the proportion of the total labor remuneration of each sector in the total value added created by each sector every year. 25 Xin Weiping: A Study on the Proportion of Labor Remuneration to GDP in the Initial Distribution of Enterprise Sector, in Journal of China University of Labor Relations, 2013(2). 26 Zhou Zhuo, Quan Heng, Chen Taoran: Export of Manufacturing Industry, Effect of Deepening Division of Labor and the Proportion of Labor Income of Enterprises, in Journal of International Trade, 2017(2).

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The proportion of public service expenditure in the redistribution is low, and the regional and urban–rural development is unbalanced.

National fiscal expenditure is the main part of national income redistribution and an important means to adjust the individual income gap and regional development difference. Since the reform and opening-up, great changes have taken place in the field of national fiscal expenditure, among which the largest change is that increasing attention has been paid to strengthening and improving people’s livelihood. According to relevant data,27 the proportion of economic construction expenditure decreased from 64.1% in 1978 to 26.5% in 2006. Social education expenditure continued to rise, rising from 13.1% in 1978 to 26.6% in 2006 and 36.4% in 2011, of which, from 2006 to 2008, it exceeded the proportion of economic construction expenditure. To date, China’s fiscal expenditure structure has presented a “double-strong” pattern of economic construction and public service. Obviously, since the reform and opening-up, the proportion of economic construction expenditure has gradually declined, the proportion of people’s livelihood and public service expenditure has increased, and remarkable achievements have been made in the construction of public finance. However, compared with developed countries (economies), China’s current public expenditure structure is still very different. The absolute main body of public expenditure in developed countries is public service expenditure represented by social insurance, education, and medical care. In China, the proportion of public service expenditure represented by social insurance, education, and medical care in fiscal expenditure is much lower. Therefore, in the fiscal expenditure structure of our country, public services and economic construction expenditures present a “double strong” pattern, and our country not only faces very strong public service expenditure pressure. It also faces very strong economic construction expenditure pressure, and the basic level government in the central and western regions even faces pressure to maintain administrative operation and wage distribution. At the same time, in the process of national income redistribution, there are regional and urban–rural imbalances. Since reform and opening-up, China’s regional development gap has obviously widened, and the income gap between urban and rural residents has also widened significantly. After the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2002, China increased its financial transfer payments to the central and western regions and rural areas, and the gap between regional and urban–rural development eased somewhat. After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the central government further strengthened its efforts to regulate the imbalance of development between regions and between urban and rural areas and especially strengthened efforts to combat poverty in povertystricken areas, and the imbalance between regions and between urban and rural areas was further alleviated. However, the imbalance between regions and between urban and rural areas in China is still one of the most prominent contradictions in the process of redistribution. There is still a large gap between regions and between 27

Song Aiwu, Finance Yearbook of China (2007), pp. 383–384, Beijing, China State Finance Magazine, 2007.

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urban and rural areas in terms of per capita fiscal expenditure, equalization of basic public services, and improvement of the living environment. It is necessary for the central government to further strengthen the balance of public finance to promote balanced development between regions and between urban and rural areas.

8.4 Development Trend of Income Distribution System At present, the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and our country will continue to carry out the income distribution system with distribution according to work as the main body and multiple distribution modes coexist. In the new journey toward building a socialist modernized country, we should correctly recognize and deal with “the initial distribution and redistribution with efficiency and fairness being both taken into account” and realize two “synchronization” in the initial distribution. That is, “the simultaneous increase of residents’ income and the economic growth, and the simultaneous increase of labor remuneration and the labor productivity”. At the same time, we should correctly understand and deal with the relationship between distribution according to work and other modes of distribution, adhere to the principle of distribution according to work, and improve the system and mechanism of distribution according to factors. Promote more reasonable and orderly income distribution, encourage law-abiding workers to become rich, expand middle-income groups, increase the incomes of low-income earners, regulate excessive incomes, clamp down on illegal incomes, broaden the channels for residents’ income from labor and property, gradually narrow the personal income gap and gradually move toward the goal of common prosperity. Moreover, we should further fulfill the government’s redistribution adjustment function, accelerate the equalization of basic public services, and narrow the income distribution gap between urban and rural areas and between regions. These are not only the basic direction of improving the income distribution system in China but also the basic requirements of building a well-off society in an all-round way and building a socialist modern country in an all-round way. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4.

Explain the following concepts: employment system, social security system, income distribution system. Talk about your views on the “open two-child” policy. Briefly describe the relationship between the social security system and the medical security system. Why should we pay more attention to fairness in the redistribution of national income?

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References Chen J, Li L, Hu J (2017) Policy and implementation of China’s population development. Economic Science Press, Beijing Han J (2009) A survey of rural land problems in China. Shanghai Far East Publishers, Shanghai Li Q (2014) Study on the change of functional distribution pattern in China: 1978–2008. Social Sciences Academic Press (China), Beijing Yuan G (2013) Education in China. Beijing Normal University Press, Beijing Zheng G (2000) Social security—idea, system, practice and conception. The Commercial Press, Beijing

The System of Social Governance in China Liqun Wei

Overview This chapter discusses the basic contents and development of the social organization system, public service system, public safety system, social security prevention and control system, disaster prevention and relief system, environmental safety system, emergency management system, social credit system, and social-psychological service system. Throughout the study of this chapter, readers will have a basic understanding of the structure and development of the social governance system.

1 Social Organization System 1.1 Basic Categories and Classifications of Social Organizations (I)

The Concept of social organization

Since the end of the twentieth century, social organizations have become a new form of organization in global economic and social development. Due to the differences in countries’ historical, cultural, and language habits, social organizations have different appellations in different countries and regions, and there are more common nonprofit organizations, nongovernmental organizations, civil organizations, charity organizations, public welfare organizations, and third-sector organizations. Unified use of the concept of “social organizations” is adopted in our country. The definition of the concept of “social organization” mainly involves four ways: law, source L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_7

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of organization funds, organizational “structure—operation” and organization characteristics, but each has its own priorities, and there are large differences among them. Generally speaking, social organization refers to the organization form which provides social services to a certain area of society in addition to the government and enterprises, and has the characteristics of organization, non-government, nonprofit, public welfare, autonomy, voluntariness, and so on. In China, the concept of “civil organization” is widely used by governments at all levels for a fairly long period of time. The Ministry of Civil Affairs set up a “civil organization administration” to take charge of the management of civil organizations. In October 2006, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning the Construction of a Harmonious Socialist Society and formally put forward the concept of a “social organization”. With a systematic discussion on the cultivation, development, management, and supervision of social organizations, “social organization” has been established as an important category. In October 2007, the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward a report to strengthen the social construction focusing on improving people’s livelihood and pay more attention to the construction and management of social organizations. Since then, the concept of “social organization” has been unified in Party and government policy documents. In August 2016, the National Civil Organization Administration was renamed as the National Social Organization Administration. (II)

Classification of social organizations

Scholars at home and abroad classify social organizations from different perspectives. However, there are no unified standards. As far as the international classification of social organizations is concerned, most of them take the field of economic activity as the standard and form several main classification systems: one is the United Nations International Standard Industrial Classification System (ISIC). The system divides the main economic activities and fields of various organizations into 17 categories and 60 subcategories. Social organization is one of them, including three subcategories of education, health and social work, community and personal service activities, including 15 economic activities. The second is Eurostat’s General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities (NACE). Depending on whether the organization operates on donations, the system is an improvement on ISIC, which divides social organizations into 18 activities in five categories education, health care, research and development, other public services, leisure, and culture. The third is the International Classification of Non-Profit Organization (ICNPO). According to the five criteria based on the economy, significance, accuracy, integrity, and strength of organizations, the system divides social organizations into 12 categories and 27 subcategories. The 12 categories are cultural entertainment, educational research, health, social services, environment, development and housing, legal advocacy and politics, charitable intermediaries and voluntary services, international activities, religion, business and professional associations, and others.

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Because of its simplicity, comprehensiveness, and systematisms, the classification system has been widely accepted and approved by academic and practical circles.1 The development of social organizations is closely related to the political system, economic conditions and cultural background of various countries and the activity fields. The scales and forms of social organization are diverse. Therefore, the classification of social organizations in practice varies from country to country. According to the current laws and regulations in China, social organizations are mainly divided into social groups, foundations, private nonenterprise units (social service organizations), charitable organizations, and overseas nongovernmental organizations. Social groups are social organizations voluntarily formed by citizens, enterprises, or institutions to carry out activities according to the objectives of the group, including industrial groups, academic groups, professional groups, and joint groups. Foundations are social organizations that use donated assets for public welfare, including public and nonpublic foundations. People-run nonenterprise units (social service institutions) are social organizations organized by enterprises, institutions, social groups, and other social forces as well as individual citizens using nonstate-owned assets to engage in social service activities, which are divided into ten categories: education, health, science and technology, culture, labor, civil affairs, sports, intermediary services, and legal services. With the Charity Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in the Mainland of China coming into force in 2016 and 2017, the concept of “social service organizations” instead of “private nonenterprise units” has come into being, and the concepts of charitable organizations and foreign nongovernmental organizations have also emerged. Charitable organizations refer to nonprofit organizations established in accordance with the law and based on the purpose of carrying out charity activities for society. Charitable organizations can take the form of foundations, social groups, social services organizations, and other organizations. Foreign nongovernmental organizations refer to nonprofit and nongovernmental social organizations such as foundations, social organizations, and think tanks established legally outside the territory of China. Social organization theory mainly includes civil society theory, corporatism, government failure theory, third-party management, and administrative absorption society theory. The theory of social organization with Chinese characteristics is the critical supersession and scientific integration of these theories.

1.2 The Development of Social Organizations in the World Social organizations have a long history of existence and development, but their emergence as a major social force in the world began in the 1970s and 1980s. There are three main reasons for the emergence of social organizations in the world. First, 1

Wang Ming: Introduction to Social Organization, pp. 15–17, Beijing, China Social Publishing House, 2010.

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under the condition of a market economy, the division of labor becomes increasingly thin, social, and economic relations become increasingly complicated and diversified, and communication, coordination, and supervision among market subjects become increasingly important, which inevitably results in the emergence of social organizations with communication, coordination, and supervision of market entities as its main functions. Second, in the market economy, the government, enterprise, and individual are the market entity, and contacts are needed between government and enterprise, enterprise and enterprise, enterprise and individual, government and individual, individual and individual. When some things beyond the administration of the government and the court, the social organization emerges at the right moment. Its emergence is advantageous to protect each market entity’s interest and causes each market entity to obtain good service. Third, the development of international economic integration requires that international practices be followed, and a large number of social organizations provide market entities with international practices they are not familiar with. Overall, the development of global social organizations has always followed two main lines: first, the development of charitable public welfare, especially the development of public welfare organizations such as education, health, and charity services; second, the development of civil rights, especially the protection and care of the rights of vulnerable groups, which also constitutes two core values of civil society: civil rights and social autonomy. Since the 1970s, social organizations have flourished all over the world and played an increasingly important role. According to statistics, the average size of social organizations in the world accounts for 4.6% of gross national product in each country, 5% of non-farm employment and 10% of service sector employment, equivalent to 27% of public sector employment, of which approximately one-third of the total population of social organizations are volunteers. Among developed countries, the United States had 1.41 million social organizations registered under the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) by the end of 2013, 500,000 in Germany, 500,000 in Britain, and 400,000 in France. In terms of social organizations per 10,000 people, there are 110 in France, 97 in Japan, 52 in the United States, and 14.5 in Singapore.2 Such large social organizations have become increasingly influential, particularly in public issues such as animal rights, global effects, and racial discrimination. In some developed countries, the activities of social organizations include not only active participation in social governance and regional public affairs such as community building, regional autonomy, and the formulation and implementation of public policies but also active participation in international decision-making and solutions to various global problems. As a result, social organizations have increasingly become an indispensable and important force in international governance in the era of globalization.

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Sun Yan: An Analysis of the Main Characteristics and Management Experience of the Development of Social Organization in the West, in the Society, 2012(3).

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1.3 Development of Social Organizations in China With the rapid development since reform and opening-up, China’s social organizations have reached new heights in terms of quantity, form, activity, and influence. The first is the ever-increasing quantity. By the end of 2017, the national civil affairs system had registered 755,800 social organizations, of which 352,000 were social groups, 397,000 were social service institutions, 6,323 were foundations, and more than 3 million were community social organizations under the self-administration of grassroots people in urban and rural areas. According to incomplete statistics, as of June 30, 2017, 916 charitable organizations were recognized nationwide, of which 107 were approved by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and 809 were approved by the province authorities. The Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Domestic Activity Administration of Foreign Nongovernmental Organizations came into effect on January 1, 2017. By the end of 2017, 259 foreign nongovernmental organizations had registered 305 representative offices, and 224 foreign nongovernmental organizations had registered 487 temporary activities.3 It should be pointed out that these data only reflect part of the number of social organizations in our country because at present, only social groups, private nonenterprise units (social service institutions), foundations, and foreign nongovernmental organizations can be registered according to law, and there are a large number of social organizations not registered in the Civil Affair Department and the Public Security Department in our society, and they actually outnumber the number of registered social organizations. The second is the various forms and categories of the organizations. At present, the social organizations in our country are not only large in quantity but also in many kinds and various forms. There are three categories of social groups, private nonenterprise units (social service institutions) and foundations registered legally in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Among them, social groups can be divided into 14 categories industrial and business services, science and technology and research, education, health, social services, culture, sports, law, religion, ecological environment, agriculture and rural development, and professional and employment organizations. International and foreign-related organizations, and other; private nonenterprise units (social service institutions) can also be divided into 11 categories of scientific and technological services, ecological environment, education, health, social services, culture, sports, business services, religion, international and foreign-related organizations, and other; foundations can also be divided into public and nonpublic foundations. Foreign nongovernmental organizations shall register or record activities in public security departments. In addition, China’s social organizations include nonprofit organizations, urban community social organizations, rural grassroots civil organizations, and other new community organizations registered in Industrial and Commercial Administration Authorities. 3

The Registration of Foreign Representative Institutions of Non-governmental Organizations Broken Through 300, in the Public Welfare Times, 2018–01-16.

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The third is the enhanced service capacity. With the rapid development of the construction of the basic public service system and the government’s purchase of social organization services, the capacity and role of social organizations in the field of social services, such as public services, have gradually increased, and the trend of cooperation between the government and social organizations has become obvious. Public finance has gradually become one of the most important sources of funds for the development of social organizations, and an increasing number of social organizations have become suppliers of public services. On the basis of purchasing services, deep cooperation between the government and social organizations and the new mode of cooperation between the state and society with Chinese characteristics have gradually become the mainstream trend in the development of social organizations in China.

1.4 Proposals and Practice of Modern Social Organization Systems in China In November 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward “to speed up the formation of a modern social organization system with separation of government and society, clear power and responsibility and selfgovernment according to law”. In March 2013, the Notice of the General Office of the State Council on the Implementation of Tasks Division of the “Plan for Institutional Reform and Functional Transformation of the State Council” was required to gradually advance the decoupling of industrial and trade associations and administrative organs, and strengthen self-discipline in industry, to make the industrial and trade associations truly the main body of providing services, reflecting demands and standardizing behavior, and gradually forming a “modern social organization system with separation of government and society, clear power and responsibility, and self-government according to law”. In July 2015, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council promulgated the General Plan for the Decoupling of the Industrial and Trade Associations with the Administrative Organs, which requires active and steady promotion of the separation of the industrial and trade associations from the administrative organs, clarification of the functional boundaries between the administrative organs and the industrial and trade associations, strengthening of comprehensive supervision and Party building, and promotion of the industrial and trade associations to become social organizations established in accordance with law, that are self-hosting, service-oriented, standardized in governance, and self-disciplined in conduct. In October 2017, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China further emphasized the process of promoting consultation among social organizations and playing the role of social organization. In February 2018, the Third Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China included the reform of social organizations into the reform system of Party and state

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institutions, highlighting the strengthening of party building in social organizations and “stimulating the vitality of social organizations“. The modern social organization system is the basic part of the modern social operation system. One of the important tasks of social system reform is social organization system reform. The modern social organization system is the resource, mechanism, and rule configuration of various social organizations in modern society, and it is an important part of the social governance system. To sum up, the connotation of modern social organization system includes six aspects: (1) modern social organization party building system, including party building system, support and safeguard system; (2) modern social organization supervision system, including registration, record-keeping and supervision; (3) modern social organization supporting system, including cultivation, incubation, preferential taxation and financial subsidy of social organization; (4) the system of cooperation and interaction between modern government and social organization, including the system of service purchase and entrustment, the system of interaction between policy advocate and policy, the system of dialog and consultation between government and social organization, and the system of common action, etc.; (5) the system of modern social organization governance, including co-governance, common governance and internal democratic governance of social organization; (6) the system of modern social organization operation, such as social organization specialization, enterprise-oriented, and market-oriented operation system. There are three main types of social organizations in the world. The first is philanthropy. Based on citizen groups and civil charity, the state and society develop in parallel, such as the United States and South Korea. The second is corporatism. The coordinated development of the state and society is characterized by the national encouragement and supervision of the development of social organizations, which participate actively in public services and receive large amounts of public resources, such as Germany and the United Kingdom. The third is regulation. With this system, public welfare constitutes the main component, civil nonprofit as a supplement, and the state regulates social development. It is characterized by social organizations and divided into government-run and private-run organizations and that the government administers and supervises them according to their categories; such an example is Japan.4 The practice exploration of the modern social organization system in China has found its way of developing China with Chinese characteristics by drawing lessons from the successful experiences of other countries in the world, basing on China’s national conditions and adhering to starting from reality. Specifically, it is embodied in the following three aspects. First, the relationship between the government and social organization: from unity to separation. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China established a highly centralized and government-managed social organization system in a planned economic system in which all people were organized in certain units. This 4

Wang Ming, International Comparison of the Modern Social Organization System and China’s Strategy, in China Institutional Reform and Management, 2015(4).

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kind of social organization system is characterized by a “unit system + street residence system”, which promoted the power of the state to go to the countryside and to the grassroots level. This kind of social organization system formed under the planned economic system greatly enhanced the ability of the state to organize, mobilize, and control society and played an active role in establishing a highly unified social order and promoting the economic and social development of our country. However, this kind of social organization system regulates society too strictly and lacks the necessary social mobility, which makes society lack self-organizing ability, self-regulating mechanisms, vitality, and creativity. With the development and growth of social organizations and the increase in social inclusiveness and openness, people are increasingly dissatisfied with the excessive “administrative” nature of social organizations and increasingly less satisfied with the subordinate status of social organizations. Therefore, the separation of government and social organizations is the direction of the development of social organizations in China. Second, the relationship between authority and responsibility: from vagueness to clarity. For a fairly long time in the past, our country’s management of social organizations was scattered over different departments. The establishment of social organizations was examined and approved by various departments, with supervision lacking unified and standardized management rules. The authority and responsibility of different management departments were not clearly distinguished, as they would contend for the authority of favorable things and blame each other for adverse things, and the management of social organizations was in a state of disorder and dispersion to some extent because there were many loopholes, blank spots, and blind spots in the management of social organizations. Therefore, in July 1998, the State Council established the Management Division of Social Groups in the Ministry of Civil Affairs as a government agency for the unified registration and management of social organizations. To standardize the management of social organizations, the State Council promulgated the Measures on the Administration of Foundation in September 1989 and the Regulations on the Administration of the Registration of Social Groups in October 1989, which gradually formed a system of dual management of the registration administration department and the administration unit. A newly established social organization shall first obtain prior permission from the affair administration unit and then apply for registration to the registrar administration authority. Since then, with the promulgation and implementation of the Notices of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council on Strengthening the Administration of Social Groups and Private-run Nonenterprise Units, the Interim Regulations on the Registration and Management of Private-run Nonenterprise Units, and the Regulations on the Administration of Foundations, as well as the amendment to the Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Social Organizations, the dual administration system of social organizations has been confirmed and further strengthened. Comparatively speaking, the dual administration system of social organization has its progressiveness, which is the administration system under the condition that the socialist market economy of our country is not fully developed and the government function is not completely transformed. At the same time, the dual administration

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system has also affected the benign development of social organizations to a certain extent. In view of the shortcomings of the dual administration system, the Plan for Institutional Reform and Function Transformation of the State Council proposed by the Second Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of Communist Party of China and approved by the First Session of the 12th National People’s Congress, as well as the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Certain Important Issues on Comprehensive Deepening the Reform at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, all explicitly put forward and promoted the implementation of the four kinds of social organization categories of industry and trade associations, science and technology, public welfare and charity, and the urban and rural community service, and can directly apply to the Ministry of Civil Affairs for registration according to law, and no longer be examined and administrated by the affair authorities. At present, our country’s social organization administration has entered the dual administration and the direct registration simultaneous existence administration system stage. Third, the mode of administration: from movement-style governance to law-based governance. With the deepening of China’s economic and social development and reform and opening-up, as well as the rapid development of social organizations, the state has gradually strengthened its standardized administration of social organizations. In June 1990, the Notice of the General Office of the State Council Circulating the Requests of Ministry of Civil Affairs on Clean-up and Rectification of Social Organizations called for standardized administration of social organizations in an effort to eliminate the negative effects of political disturbances. In April 1997, the Notice of the General Office of the State Council Circulating the opinions of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Clean-up and Rectification of Social Organizations called for the clean-up and rectification of social organizations. Although clean-up and rectification have solved some problems, they are only temporal- and policy-oriented. In 1998, the Regulations on the Administration of Registration of Social Organizations that predate 1989 were revised, and in 1998, the Interim Regulations on the Registration and Management of Private-run Nonenterprise Units were first promulgated. In 2004, the Measures on the Administration of Foundations promulgated in 1988 were substantially revised, and the Regulations on the Administration of Foundations were promulgated. In 2016, the Charity Law of the People’s Republic of China was promulgated. In 2017, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in the Mainland of China came into force. In 2018, the Regulations on the Administration of Registration of Social Organizations was listed in “the Legislative Work Plan of the State Council in 2018”. The change from the focus on clean-up and rectification to focus on legal regulation reflects the historic change of our country’s concept of social organization administration. Many social organizations in China are borne out of government departments, and at each stage of their establishment, growth, and maturity, they are closely linked with the government, and inevitably have natural dependence on the government. The malpractice of such dependence is obvious, which is manifested in the serious lack of self-governance and self-determination, which leads to the existence and

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development crisis of some social organizations once weaned and separated from government departments. In view of this, the government began to promote and guide social organizations to achieve legal self-governance. The construction of a modern social organization system, as a basic top-level design, aims to speed up the pace of government reform, functional transformation, and social reconstruction. On the other hand, it enriches and improves the regular development pattern of social organizations. A modern social organization system with Chinese characteristics will be gradually constructed, including the Party building system, the rule of law system, the supervision system, the support system, the cooperation system, the governance system, and the operating system.

2 Public Service System Public service refers to the corresponding material infrastructure or public policy institutional arrangement provided by the government to guarantee the realization of the basic right of people’s survival and development. Public service is an important part of social governance. Public service and social order administration are important tasks and necessary ways to realize good government governance. The main contents of public services are ensuring and improving people’s livelihood, ensuring the realization of people’s basic right to subsistence and development, ensuring the equality of people’s right to basic public services, and ensuring people’s enjoyment of the fruits of reform and opening-up. Increasing efforts to further promote the equalization of basic public services is the inevitable requirement and significance of building a co-construction, co-governance, and shared social governance pattern.

2.1 Basic Theory and Policy Change of Public Service The definition of the scope of public service can be divided into two main categories. One is public service defined on the basis of “the nature of goods”. From this perspective, “public service” and “public product” are regarded as equivalent and mutually substitutive concepts, and the other is public service defined on the basis of “mode of behavior”, which mainly refers to the definition of public service from the perspective of public administration and public management. The public service discussed in this section refers to the former, namely, “the nature of goods”. The theoretical study of “public service” in the modern sense can be traced back to the 1890s and has gone through four stages of creation, development, austerity, and regression. The process of exploring the theory of “public service” is a historical process in which human society constantly ponders over the right to existence, the public interest, and the responsibility of the government. The focus of public service research in different stages of social development is very different, from the initial pursuit of human well-being and the nature of

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public service to the definition of government responsibility and then to the more micro-operational level of the principal relationship, supply performance, and fiscal expenditure system design. Historical changes in the “public service” policy reflect changes in various social thoughts in different political and economic situations. The development of public service theory provides ideological guidance and strengthens support for government public service decision-making. The idea of the German school of social policy led the Bismarck government to enact the world’s first Disease Social Insurance Law (1883). Keynesianism had a huge impact on Roosevelt’s New Deal. The neo-liberalism and supply schools pushed the Thatcher government in Britain and the Reagan administrations in the United States to slash spending on public services. In Britain Blair’s government is a clear-cut advocate of a “third way”. Social welfare policy is an endless political struggle, an ongoing political struggle related to poverty and inequality and other social problems in society. From the global horizontal comparison, the great difference in the level of economic development makes the development level of public services in different countries vary significantly. Different cultural backgrounds and political systems make countries around the world choose different public service policy systems and supply modes. Public service policy has undergone four stages of change in our country. The first stage is from the founding of New China to 1978. The characteristics of public service supply in this stage are consistent with the planned economic system. The government is the only supplier, and the level of public service equalization was relatively high, but the capacity of public service supply was relatively weak, and the gap between supply and demand was relatively large. The second stage is from the implementation of reform and opening-up in 1978 to the establishment of a socialist market economy in 1992. In this period, although the commodity economy flourished gradually, the economic life still presented a dual-track system, and the government was still the only responsible person for the supply of public services. The third stage was from 1992 to 2004, which was characterized by the rapid advance of market economic system reform. The concept and mode of public service supply have been greatly impacted, and some people argue that public service should be provided by market economy organizations, and the government should not be the main supplier. The fourth stage was from 2004 up to now. Some scholars and government departments have begun to reflect on the serious consequences of the industrialization of education and the marketization of medical and health system reform and have started to re-emphasize government responsibility in the area of public services. They think that the government should be the arranger of public services and policy systems, and public services can be provided by multiple subjects. Generally, complete marketization obviously does not conform to the essential requirements, attributes and characteristics of public services. However, it is neither realistic nor scientific to require the government to assume “unlimited responsibility” in the supply of public services. How to reasonably delimit the boundary of government responsibility and carry out government responsibility efficiently is an important problem to be studied and solved in the future public service system design of China.

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2.2 The Main Contents and Institutional Framework of the Basic Public Service System According to the characteristics of China’s current stage of development, the government has designated the supply emphasis of public services as “basic public services”. The basic public service is a public service that is led by the government to guarantee the basic needs of the survival and development of all citizens and conform to the level of economic and social development. The guarantee of basic public services is basic, extensive, urgent, and feasible, which is more in line with the requirements of social development. Equalization of basic public services refers to the access of all citizens to roughly equal public services, and its core is to promote equality of opportunity, with the emphasis on ensuring people’s access to basic public services, rather than simple equalization. It is the basic right of citizens to enjoy basic public services, and it is the important duty of the government to ensure that all people enjoy basic public services. In 2012, the State Council officially promulgated the 12th Five-Year Plan of the State’s Basic Public Service System, raising the realization of the equality of basic public services to the level of the state system. On this basis, in January 2017, the State Council issued the 13th Five-Year Plan to Promote the Equalization of Basic Public Services, further defining the system and basic content of the country’s basic public services system. The basic public service system of the state, with the orientation of people, revolves around the stages and different areas from birth to death, takes basic public services list covering areas such as education, employment and entrepreneurship, social insurance, medical and health care, social services, housing security and cultural and sports as the core, takes the equalization promotion of basic public services of urban and rural areas, regions and populations as the main line, takes key tasks and safeguard measures in various areas as the support, and it is an institutional arrangement for the government to guarantee the basic survival and development needs of all people, based on the key tasks and safeguard measures in various fields and supported by the five implementing mechanisms of overall coordination, financial support, talent construction, multi-supply and supervision, and evaluation. During the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, China’s basic public service system mainly included the following: The first is the state’s basic public education system. The balanced development of compulsory education shall be accelerated to ensure that all children and adolescents of the right age receive education on an equal footing and constantly improve the national cultural quality, which specifics include free compulsory education, rural compulsory education students nutrition improvement, boarding students living subsidies, universal preschool education subsidies, secondary vocational education state grants, secondary vocational education exemption from tuition and miscellaneous fees, ordinary high school state grants, exemption of ordinary high school students in financial difficulties with school records and files from tuition and miscellaneous fees.

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The second is the basic employment and entrepreneurship system. Vigorous promotion of mass entrepreneurship and innovation shall be carried out to encourage entrepreneurship, to promote employment, improve the public employment and entrepreneurship service system covering urban and rural areas, strengthen vocational training, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers and enterprises, build a harmonious labor relationship, and promote the realization of more adequate and high-quality employment, which specifics include: basic public employment services, entrepreneurial services, employment assistance, employment apprenticeship services, joint recruitment services in large and medium-sized cities, vocational skills training and skills appraisal, “12,333” human resources and social security services hotline consultation, labor relations coordination, labor and personnel disputes mediation, and labor security supervision. The third is that the state shall establish a social insurance system with full coverage, basic protection, and multilevel and sustainable conditions. The national insurance plan will be implemented to ensure that citizens receive material assistance from the state and society in accordance with the law under the circumstances of old age, disease, work-related injuries, unemployment, and childbearing, which specifically include basic endowment insurance for workers, basic endowment insurance for urban and rural residents, basic medical insurance for workers, maternity insurance, basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents, and unemployment insurance and employment injury insurance. The fourth is the state shall establish and improve the basic medical and healthcare system covering urban and rural residents and promote the construction of a healthy China. We must adhere to the basic state policy of family planning, focus on the grassroots level, take reform and innovation as the driving force, give priority to prevention, pay equal attention to both traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and improve people’s health. Specific items include residents’ health archives, health education, vaccination, reports and treatment of infectious diseases and public health emergencies, children’s health management, maternal health management, elderly people’s health management, management patients with chronic diseases, management of patients with severe mental disorders, health planning supervision and comanagement, health management of tuberculosis patients, health management of traditional Chinese medicine, follow-up management of HIV-infected persons and patients, community AIDS high-risk behavior group intervention, free prepregnancy health check, basic drug system, family planning technical guidance consultation, part of rural family planning family rewards and assistance, special assistance of family planning family, food and drug safety guarantee. The fifth is that the state shall establish and improve the basic social service system. This shall support urban and rural residents, corresponding basic public products and other basic assistance, with the focus on ensuring the basic rights of certain groups and disadvantaged groups toward subsistence and equal participation in social development shall be provided, which specifically include: minimum living security, assistance and support for people in extreme poverty, medical assistance, temporary assistance, assistance for disaster victims, legal aid, welfare subsidies for the elderly, protection for children in distress, care and protection for left-behind

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children in rural areas, basic funeral and burial services, preferential treatment and pension, resettlement of retired servicemen, and centralized support for key entitled groups. The sixth is the state shall establish and improve the basic housing security system. The construction of affordable housing projects shall be set up, efforts to solve the basic housing problems of urban residents and the housing security problems of people with rural difficulties shall be sped up, so as to better ensure that they have adequate housing, which specifically include: public rental housing, urban shantytowns housing renovation, rural dilapidated housing renovation. The seventh is that the state shall build a modern public cultural service system and a nationwide fitness public service system. The standardization and equality of basic public cultural services and basic public fitness services for the whole nation shall be promoted to better meet the people’s spiritual and cultural needs and physical fitness needs, and improve the cultural and physical quality of the whole people, which specifically include: free opening of public cultural facilities, delivery of local opera, broadcasting, TV watching, movie watching, book and newspaper reading, cultural services for ethnic minorities, cultural heritage visiting, opening of public sports venues, and fitness services for the whole people. The eighth is the state shall provide basic public services suited to the special needs of the disabled. A convenient and friendly environment for disabled people to participate in social development on an equal footing shall be created, so that disabled people can live and work in peace and well-being, and live a more fulfilling, happier, and more dignified life, which specifically include: difficult disabled person living allowance and severely disabled person care allowance, unemployed severely disabled person minimum living security, disabled person basic social insurance individual pay aid and insurance treatment, disabled person basic housing support, disabled person foster care service, disabled person rehabilitation, disabled person education, disabled person vocational training and employment service, disabled person culture and sports, and barrier-free environment support.

2.3 Achievements and Problems in the Construction of China’s Public Service System (I)

Major Achievements

Since the “12th Five-Year Plan”, China has initially established a national system of basic public services covering all the people, with continuous improvement of all kinds of basic public services facilities at all levels, comprehensive implementation of national basic public services projects and standards, and further improvement of the security capacity and mass satisfaction. By 2015, the balanced development of compulsory education had advanced greatly, with a significant increase in the educational opportunities of the people, the nine-year compulsory education rate reached 93%, and the proportion of the children of migrant workers in the

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public schools of their working places was more than 80%. The priority strategy for employment has been implemented, and continuous strengthening of employment and entrepreneurial services and vocational training has been promoted. The number of people employed nationwide was 774.51 million. The average rate of employment after workers receiving vocational skills training was more than 70%. The social security system covering urban and rural areas has been further improved, the old-age insurance system for urban and rural residents has been integrated, the level of security has been steadily improved, the social service system has continued to improve, the temporary assistance system has been fully implemented, and the well-off process for the disabled has been accelerated. Basic public health services have been increased to 12 categories, the universal medical insurance system has been improved, the basic medical insurance coverage has been more than 95%, the major disease insurance has covered all urban and rural residents, state funds for basic public health services and subsidies for basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents have been raised to 40 yuan per person per year and 380 yuan per person per year respectively, and the health level of the population has generally reached the average level of the middle-and high-income country. Urban security housing projects and rural dilapidated housing reconstruction have intensified, with 40.13 million units of affordable housing under construction throughout the country, of which 21.91 million units of shantytown housing have been renovated and 17.94 million units of dilapidated rural housing. The construction of the modern public cultural service system has been actively promoted, the capacity of rural public cultural services has been strengthened, and the health-building activities of the entire population have been vigorously developed, with the overall coverage of the radio and television population reaching 98%. (II)

Major problems

There are three major problems in the development of public service systems in China. First, the equalization of basic public services is low and cannot guarantee the relative equality of the people in the right to subsistence and development. The nonequalization of basic public services is mainly manifested in urban-rural inequality, regional inequality, and the inequality enjoyed by social groups. Second, the development between different categories of public services is not balanced. According to the provisions of the “13th Five-Year Plan” to promote the Equalization of Basic Public Services, basic public services can be divided into eight categories. Among them, basic public education services are the main service with a high level of development and high public satisfaction. Public demand is very urgent, and public health care and social security are the main ones with relatively low levels and speeds of development. Third, the public service supply pattern is extensive. Since the 21st century, the construction of basic public services in China has been in a state of all-round development. This extensive supply pattern quickly fills a critical shortage of public service facilities and projects at some stage. As long as there is input, regardless of which field of investment, it can bring great improvement to the lives of all people. However,

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survey data in recent years show that as the scale of public expenditure continues to expand, the public service system continues to improve, but the satisfaction with public services does not increase as the supply of public services increases. According to the survey, public satisfaction in public services averaged 66.38 points from 2005 to 2010 and 66.12 points from 2011 to 2015, showing no improvement but a slight decline. This shows that the development of public services has gone beyond the extensive stage in which the public can be satisfied as long as there is investment, the effect of relying solely on the expansion of supply scale has begun to decrease, and efforts must be made to improve the quality of public service supply.

2.4 Improve the Public Service Supply System and Public Service Quality (I)

The supply pattern of basic public service must change from “supply oriented” to “demand oriented”

The main reason for the low efficiency and low public satisfaction of public service supply in our country is the mismatch between supply and demand. Local governments, when setting targets for the public service supply, consider more of the higher authorities’ target requirements, decide arbitrarily, and seek less advice from the groups concerned. The government’s top-down supply content does not match people’s real demand, which leads to the waste of social resources and hinders the public from enjoying the effective results of public services. With the scarcity of public service resources and the increasing pluralism of public demand, the supply mode of public service must change from top-down “supply oriented” to bottom-up “demand oriented”. The key to the change of supply mode is to impose “rigid constraint” on government public service decision-making. The so-called “rigid constraint” refers to the full exercise of the voting right of public opinions and even the veto right in the decision-making stage to institutionalize the right of public opinion expression and realize the rigid constraint on government decision-making. In February 2016, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinion on the Comprehensive Promotion of the Openness of Government Affairs, which clearly stipulated that openness of government affairs includes five aspects: open decision-making, open execution, open management, open service, and open results. Among them, the openness of decision-making is the primary part, which identifies “public participation, expert argumentation, risk assessment, legitimacy review, and decision-making after collective discussion” as legal procedures for major administrative decision-making and proposes to “explore a government conference system with the attendance of stakeholders, the public, experts and media to enhance transparency in decision-making”. At the same time, it is proposed that citizen awareness of the public’s active participation and self-service should be cultivated, the modern mass communication mode should be made full use,

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and the public’s rational participation and right protection according to law should be encouraged. (II)

The transformation of public services from “extensive” supply to “targeted” supply should be promoted

“Extensive” supply mainly refers to the supply mode of cross-sweeping, “targeted” supply refers to that content of the service is accurate and meets the public demand, the service object more focuses on the special group, and the phenomenon of the public service with co-existence of excessive consumption and insufficient supply can be eliminated. The premise of the targeted supply of public services is to fully grasp the public’s demand for service type and quantity. The progress of modern information science provides strong technical support for the transformation of basic public services from extensive supply to targeted supply. Taking the “Weaving Network Project” of Shenzhen City as an example, the “Weaving Network Project” database can accurately observe the distribution scale and changes of the floating population, elderly population, childbearing age population, preschool-age and school-age children, disabled people, and other groups in all communities in the city and can set up community health centers, public kindergartens, and primary and secondary schools, disabled people service facilities, etc. according to the type of population distribution characteristics. “Number-tracing supply” can greatly improve the asymmetric pattern of supply and demand of public services, reduce the waste of social resources, and improve the efficiency of public services supply. “Targeted” supply must also be the precise service of the object. In recent years, although the overall level of public services has greatly improved, the gap in public services enjoyed by groups and regions has been widening. The core of promoting the equality of basic public services is to “make up the short board”, not to go neck to neck. Taking preschool education as an example, in the Outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan for the National Economy and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China, it is pointed out that at the end of the planning period, the gross enrollment rate of preschool-age children reaches 85%, but in the actual investigation, it is found that although the enrollment rate of children in urban areas in eastern China was as high as 90.3%, while in poverty-stricken areas in western China, such as Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, the enrollment rate of children in rural areas was less than 20%. A lack of education and emotional attachment are the main causes of left-behind children’s psychological problems. The equalization of basic public services is by no means the gentrification of urban kindergartens but rather the equalization of basic public services for poverty-stricken and vulnerable groups. The key to making up the short board of public services lies in supporting the reform of the fiscal system. The “guarantee” function of central finance should be given full attention, the proportion of central finance in basic public services and social security should be raised, the proportion of transfer payments to public services in underdeveloped areas should be expanded, and the most urgent demand for basic public services and social security in underdeveloped areas should be ensured to be effectively provided. (III)

The transformation of basic public services from “unientity supply” to “multientity collaborative supply” should be promoted

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The traditional government-oriented uni-supply mode is facing increasing challenges in social development. On the one hand, the limitations of the government’s economic resources and management capacity continue to be obvious; on the other hand, the scale of demand for public services has been gradually expanded, the quality of demand has been improved and the categories of demand have been diversified. Clearly, it is no longer realistic to rely solely on the government to meet the everincreasing demand for public services. The government can only undertake “limited liability” in the supply of public services. The government should directly and mainly undertake the most basic, urgent, and broad-based guarantee-type public services. Its responsibility is to “stick to the bottom line, highlight the key points, improve the system and guide the expectations”. Public services should be a cooperative supply based on a certain cooperation mechanism and rational division of labor, which includes two aspects: coordination among the relevant functional departments within the government and coordination among the government, the market, and society in the supply of public services. Cooperative supply is mainly based on informatization and coordinated with public service-related government agencies to achieve overall planning, separate implementation, close cooperation, and efficient operation. Another aspect of “cooperative supply” is cooperation among the government, the market, and society. Such coordination cannot simply be equated with government purchases of public services. The government purchase of public services is just one of the ways for the government to cooperate with social forces to improve the supply of public services. The core of promoting the multi-supply of public services lies in how to stimulate social vitality. Without the active participation of market economy organizations, social organizations, and the public, more government purchases are still wishful thinking of the government’s one-man show. In recent years, mega-cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen have carried out practical and effective innovative exploration in the aspects of “hub-type social organization”, “social mobilization”, “social organization incubation” and “community fund” and have also encountered the constraints of many institutions and mechanisms. The stimulation of social vitality needs more top-level design and systematic system construction to support and promote in an all-round way. (IV)

The strategic transformation of public services supply should be promoted in phase, step by step and sub-region

At present, there are great differences in the level of equalization of basic public services among different regions in China. To improve public services, the principle of starting from reality and adjusting to local conditions must be followed. The eastern region of China, with a good material base and institutional guarantees, has begun to transition to a precise, efficient, and selective supply mode. The greatest problem facing these places is no longer money or resources but institutions and mechanisms, which should be encouraged to innovate. With informatization, especially big data, as the technical means, a public service platform should be built, relevant departments should be integrated, government functions should be transformed, organization structure should be optimized, and overall coordination and

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accurate and efficient supply of public services should be realized. In the economically underdeveloped areas of western China, the supply level of basic public services is low. At present, the main problem affecting the supply of public services is the supply of funds and resources. The central government should increase the support of funds and continue to strengthen its guarantee function. In the critical period of building a well-off society in an all-round way, the construction of equalization of basic public services in the western region and such projects as “Targeted Poverty Alleviation”, “Education Poverty Alleviation”, and “Fight Against Poverty” should be systematically designed, overall planned and improved the efficiency of social resource allocation.

3 Public Security System Public security, which is linked to thousands of families, is an important embodiment of social stability and good social order, an important guarantee for people to live and work in peace and well-being, and a major concern for the stability of reform and development. The tasks of improving the public security system in China mainly include food and drug safety, work safety, disaster prevention and relief, public security prevention and control and above all, the environmental security system, which are closely related to the safety of people’s lives and property. The goal is to weave an all-round and three-dimensional public security net.

3.1 Food and Drug Safety Supervision System Food and drug safety relate to people’s lives and health and is one of the important fields of the public security system. The Party and the state attach great importance to the administration of and the production and circulation of food and drugs. In April 1998, the National Medical Products Administration was established to take charge of the administration of the production and circulation of medical products throughout the country. In April 2003, the China Food and Drug Administration was established to take charge of the overall administration of and the production and circulation of food and drugs. To further strengthen food and drug administration, the State Council established the Food Safety Commission in 2010 as a high-level coordinating institution for food safety work under the State Council. It is responsible for analyzing the food safety situation, researching, deploying, overall planning, and guiding food safety work; putting forward major policies and measures for food safety administration; and urging the implementation of the responsibility for food safety administration. In March 2013, the China Food and Drug Administration was established to reform the food and drug administration system. As food and drug safety involves multiple stakeholders, such as production enterprises and the general public, the multivariate co-governance system in the field of

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food and drug safety has been improved. First, the relevant government departments are based on the China Food and Drug Administration, in accordance with laws and regulations and policy documents, which comprehensively use administrative licensing, supervision and inspection, monitoring and inspection, information disclosure, and other means of administration to explore innovative sources of governance, market supervision, risk prevention and control, supervision and sampling inspection and other work mechanisms, develop the special governance of various links in-depth, and punish illegal and criminal acts in accordance with the law. Second, food and drug production enterprises undertake the main responsibility for food and drug safety, and the food and drug production and management control process system, product traceability system, risk prevention system, responsibility implementation system, strengthen information disclosure and information sharing have been gradually established and improved, which ensure food and drug safety from the source. Third, the role of industry self-discipline should be given the needed attention in food and drug industry organizations. Through policy guidance and support, the government should foster a batch of food and drug industry associations to participate in the formulation and implementation of relevant policies, regulations, and standards, give full attention to the leading role of industries’ associations in selfsupervision, self-management, and self-restraint, and guide food and drug producers and operators to abide by the law and standards. Finally, social entities should be encouraged to participate in food and drug safety supervision. It should be encouraged that consumers carrying out the social responsibility of rational consumption, protecting their rights according to law and participating in co-governance, and the role of public prevention and governance should be given full attention. The media should bear the public opinion propaganda responsibility of food and drug safety, on the one hand, it can play the role of public opinion supervising, expose and disclose the illegal and criminal acts of food and drug safety according to law; on the other hand, through scientific and rational communication of food and drug safety risk, it can create the social environment of food and drug supervision. The supervision of food and drugs cannot be separated from the guarantee of the relevant legal system. China has always attached great importance to the legal system construction of food safety administrations. In 1995, the Food Hygiene Law of the People’s Republic of China was promulgated. On this basis, on February 28, 2009, the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People’s Congress adopted the Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China, which established a scientific administration system based on food safety risk monitoring and evaluation and specified the results of food safety risk evaluation as a scientific basis for formulating and revising food safety standards and supervising and administering food safety. In March 2018, the Institutional Reform Plan of the State Council decided to integrate the duties of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the China Food and Drug Administration, the price supervision and inspection, and anti-monopoly enforcement functions of the State Development and Reform Commission, and the duties of the operator centralized anti-monopoly enforcement of the Ministry of

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Commerce and the Anti-monopoly Commission Office under the State Council, and establish the State Administration for Market Regulation as a direct agency of the State Council. At the same time, the National Medical Products Administration was established and administered by the State Administration for market regulation. The Food Safety Commission of the State Council is retained, and the specific work is undertaken by the State Administration for market regulation. The State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the China Food and Drug Administration are no longer retained. At present, the government departments related to food and drug safety administration also include the “National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China” (hereinafter referred to as the “National Health Commission”) and the “Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China”. The National Health Commission undertakes the responsibilities of food safety risk evaluation and standard formulation, while the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is responsible for the supervision and administration of the quality and safety of agricultural products and the supervision and administration of the slaughtering of live pigs in assigned places.

3.2 Work Safety Administration System With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization in China, the layout of production enterprises and residential areas intersects, and the potential risk at production centers and accidents increases. At present, China has established a work safety system with the leading body, the comprehensive administration body, the industry supervisory body, and the government’s permanent emergency agency as the main body of work safety administration, which plays an important role in our country’s work safety administration and accident rescue. In October 2003, the leading body for the administration of work safety in China was the Work Safety Commission of the State Council (hereinafter referred to as the “Safety Commission”). Under the leadership of the State Council, it was responsible for research, deployment, guidance, and coordination of the work of safety throughout the country; it was responsible for the study of the major principles and policies for the implementation of work safety throughout the country. It was responsible for analyzing the situation of work safety throughout the country and studying and solving major problems in work safety. If necessary, it was responsible to coordinate relevant parties to participate in the emergency and rescue work of exceptional work safety accidents and complete other work of work safety assigned by the State Council. The agency of the Safety Commission was the office of the Work Safety Commission of the State Council and was located at the State Administration of Work Safety.

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The comprehensive department for work safety supervision and administration is the State Administration of Work Safety (hereinafter referred to as the “Administration of Work Safety”). It is the agency directly under the State Council and is responsible for organizing the drafting of comprehensive laws and regulations on work safety, drawing up policies and plans on work safety, undertaking the state comprehensive supervision and administration of work safety, the supervision and administration of work safety in industrial and mining trade, the comprehensive supervision and administration of the work safety of hazardous chemicals and the supervision and administration of the work safety of fireworks and firecrackers. To effectively deal with sudden production accidents, the “National Work Safety Emergency Rescue Command Center” has also been established. It is a public institution under the leadership of the office of the Work Safety Commission of the State Council and under the administration of the State Administration of Work Safety; it performs the administrative functions of the comprehensive supervision and administration of work safety emergency rescue throughout the country; coordinates and directs the emergency rescue activities for work safety accidents and disasters in accordance with the provisions of the emergency plan for work safety emergency under the State Council; it is included in the scope of administration in accordance with the national civil servant system. In addition, due to the particularity of technical supervision and administration, work safety administration in specific areas is undertaken by different government departments. Fire safety is closely related to the production and life safety of the public. The fire control department of the Ministry of Public Security is responsible for the supervision and administration of fire control work throughout the country. The public security institutions of the local governments at or above the county level are responsible for the supervision and administration of fire control work within their respective administrative areas, and the fire control institutions of the public security institutions of the people’s governments at the same level are responsible for the implementation. Traffic safety belongs to different administrative departments according to different domains. The public security department is responsible for road traffic safety. The Ministry of Transport bears the responsibility for water traffic safety supervision and administration: control of water traffic, inspection of vessel and related water facilities, registration and prevention of pollution, fire protection of water, navigation support, rescue and salvage, communication and navigation, security of vessels and port facilities, and supervision and administration of transportation of dangerous goods; the work related to crew management; the emergency handling of water traffic safety accidents in the waters under central administration and pollution accidents of vessels and related water facilities, the organizing or participating in accident investigation and handling according to law, and the guidance of local water traffic safety supervision and administration. The National Railway Administration is responsible for the supervision and administration of railway safety and production, formulating and implementing measures for the safety supervision and administration of railway transportation, engineering quality and equipment quality,

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organizing and implementing the administrative license established according to law, and organizing or participating in the investigation and handling of railway work safety accidents. The Civil Aviation Administration of China undertakes the responsibility of the supervision and administration of civil aviation flight safety and ground safety. Other industries involving safe production include water conservancy, electric power, construction, defense industry, and special equipment and are under the administration of the departments of water conservancy, electrical administration, construction, defense science and technology, and quality control. China has built up a comprehensive and fully functional supervision and administration system for work safety.

4 Prevention and Control System for Public Security Public security refers to a stable and orderly state of social life (including public order) under certain laws, regulations, and systems. In the domain of public security, there are not only traditional criminal acts of public security but also new risks such as mass incidents and terrorism. The public also reported strong public security problems, including gang crimes, abduction, and human trafficking, robbery, prostitution, gambling, drugs, telecommunications fraud, illegal access to citizens’ personal information, illegal pyramid selling, illegal fundraising, endangering the safety of food and drugs, environmental pollution, and involvement in cult activities. China’s prevention and control system for public security defines the principles of the Party committee leadership, government leading, comprehensive governance and coordination, concerted efforts by various departments and active participation by social forces, the aim of ensuring public security, enhancing the people’s security and satisfaction, the emphasis on public security issues as the guide, and improves the combination of point-line-plane, the combination of online and offline and the combination of human defense, physical defense and technology defense, so as to build a three-dimensional prevention and control system for public security combining prevention and control. In our country, public security emphasizes comprehensive governance, that is, under the unified leadership of the Party committee and the government, while giving full attention to the role of the backbone of the political and legal departments, especially the public security institutions, organize and rely on the strength of various departments, organizations, and the people, make comprehensive use of political, economic, administrative, legal, cultural and educational means, through strengthening the crackdown, prevention, education, administration and construction, reform and other aspects of the work, achieve the fundamental prevention and control of illegal and criminal activities, eliminate destabilizing factors, maintain public security and stability of a systematic project. The main objectives of comprehensive governance of public security are as follows: public security, major malfeasance cases, and multiple crime cases have been brought under control and gradually reduced. Social evils have been greatly reduced. Areas and units with public security

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disorder have been completely improved. The public order is good, and the masses have a sense of security. In 2005, China took the construction of Safe China as a new measure to strengthen the comprehensive governance of public security. Under the unified leadership of party committees and governments at all levels, China organized and mobilized forces from all walks of life to carry out the construction of safe areas and units to ensure people’s well-being and ensure social stability and the country’s longterm stability. The construction of safe China revolves around the overall goal of modernization of the state’s governance system and governance ability. In accordance with the overall requirements of running the country according to law in an allround way, it brings into attention the leading and guarantee role of the rule of law, insists on systematic governance, administration by law, comprehensive governance, headstream governance, adheres to problem-oriented, thinking by law, reform and innovation, further strengthens the foundation construction, and improves the threedimensional prevention and control system for public security. The construction capacity and level of safety in China have risen significantly, and the problems affecting social stability have been effectively prevented, defused, and controlled. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward “to speed up the construction of a prevention and control system for public security, to crack down on and punish illegal and criminal activities such as prostitution, gambling, gang crimes, abduction and fraud according to law, and to protect people’s personal rights, property rights and personality rights”. Since 2015, China has strengthened the construction of a prevention and control system for public security from the following three aspects. First, the construction of prevention and control networks for public security is strengthened. The public security of key public places and time nodes has been strengthened, and violent terrorist attacks and individual extreme cases against public transport and densely populated places have been strictly prevented. Second, the network construction of public security prevention and control in key industries is enhanced. The administration of public security in key industries, such as the hotel industry, official seal engraving industry, and entertainment service industry, has been strengthened. With the booming development of online shopping, the potential risks of express delivery, logistics and other industries have also increased, which also needs further enhanced prevention and control. Third, township (street) and village (community) public security prevention and control network construction have been strengthened. Through network management and socialized service, public security prevention, and control strength has been promoted to move down into lower tier places to prevent and control social conflicts and defuse social risks from the grassroots level. To strengthen the source of governance and prevent the risk of public security, China has also set up a risk assessment mechanism of social stability. The risk assessment of social stability refers to the systematic investigation, scientific prediction, analysis, and assessment of factors that may affect social stability before the formulation, implementation, or examination and approval of major decisions, important policies, major reform measures, major engineering construction projects that are closely related to the interests of the people and major activities related to social

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public order, and the formulation of risk response strategies and preplans. To effectively avoid, prevent, and control the risk of social stability that may arise from the implementation of major events and to ensure the smooth implementation of major events, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued in April 2015 the Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of a prevention and control system for public security, which specifies the standard of operational procedures on the implementation of the social stability risk assessment system for major decisions, the actual assessment with full efforts, the strengthen on improving pre-decision risk assessment, risk control in implementation and post-implementation effect evaluation, feedback correction and decisionmaking fault liability investigation. The investigation and handling of conflicts has been implemented, the system of meeting minutes and monthly reports has been coordinated, the work system of people’s mediation, administrative mediation, and judicial mediation has been improved, a comprehensive mechanism for resolving contradictions and disputes has been set up, and major mass incidents caused by improper decision-making, investigation, and resolution of contradictions have been focused toward prevention.

5 Disaster Prevention, Reduction, and Relief System Natural disasters are a traditional risk that endangers public safety. China has a wide variety of natural disasters, with high frequency and serious post-disaster consequences. After the founding of New China, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to disaster prevention and reduction and established corresponding institutions. In the field of natural disasters, the Central Flood Control Headquarter was established in 1950 and was renamed the National Flood and Drought Control Headquarter in 1992; the Central Forest Fire Prevention Headquarter was established (cancelled in 1998) after the Greater Khingan Range Mountains Forest Fire in 1987; and the National Forest Fire Prevention Headquarter was established in 2006. The China International Commission for the Decade was established in 1989, renamed the China International Commission for Disaster Reduction in 2000, and renamed the National Commission for Disaster Reduction in 2005. The Earthquake Relief Headquarters of the State Council was established in 2000. Over the years, affected by the coupling of natural and economic social factors such as global climate change, pre- and post-extreme weather incidents and their secondary derivative disasters have increased, destructive earthquakes are still occurring frequently, and the sudden, abnormal and complex nature of natural disasters has increased, posing serious challenges to public safety administration in the disaster domain. Our country adjusts the overall strategy for disaster prevention, reduction and relief in time, adheres to the people-centered development idea, correctly deals with the relationship between man and nature, correctly handles the relationship between disaster prevention, reduction and relief and economic and social development, and

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puts forward the guiding ideology of “two adherences and three transitions”, i.e., adhering to the principle of prevention and combining prevention and relief, and adhering to the unity of regular disaster reduction and non-regular disaster relief, making great efforts to transit from focusing on post-disaster relief to focusing on pre-disaster prevention, from coping with single disasters to comprehensive disaster reduction, from reducing disaster losses to mitigating disaster risks, and focusing on building a disaster prevention, reduction, and relief system and mechanism appropriate to the new stage of economic and social development, so as to improve the overall comprehensive prevention ability of the whole society to withstand natural disasters. China’s original disaster prevention, reduction, and relief system can be divided into leading institutions, disaster management departments, and local disaster relief institutions at different levels, which constitute an integrated management system, strengthen the principle of taking responsibility at different levels and give priority to local management. The National Disaster Reduction Commission (hereinafter referred to as the “NDRC”) is the leading institution for disaster prevention, reduction, and relief. Its main tasks are to study and formulate the guidelines, policies, and plans for national disaster reduction work, to coordinate major disaster reduction activities, to guide local disaster reduction work, and to promote international exchanges and cooperation in disaster reduction. The specific work of the National Disaster Reduction Commission shall be undertaken by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. According to the different types of disasters, the various functional departments at the national level assume disaster management functions. In March 2018, the National Disaster Reduction Commission, the National Flood and Drought Control Headquarter, the Earthquake Relief Headquarter of the State Council, the National Forest Fire Prevention Headquarter and the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the disaster relief functions were integrated into the newly established Ministry of Emergency Management, further strengthening the comprehensive disaster prevention, reduction, and relief capacity. In dealing with natural disasters, China has adopted the principle of “taking responsibility at different levels and giving priority to local management” and defined the division of affairs rights of the central and local governments to deal with natural disasters. In the case of natural disasters that have reached the corresponding level of the state, the central government shall play the role of overall guidance and support, and the local Party committees and governments shall play the main role and bear the main responsibility in the response to disasters. Therefore, provincial-, municipal-, and county-level governments have gradually established a unified leading institution for disaster prevention, reduction, and relief and coordinated the work of disaster prevention, reduction, and relief. This kind of vertical hierarchical responsibility system is important for defining responsibility and responding in time. To give full attention to the initiative of social forces and integrate all social resources to participate in disaster prevention, reduction, and relief, China has also gradually improved the mechanism of social force participation, providing favorable conditions for social organizations, volunteers, and other social forces to participate on the basis of encouraging support, standardized guidance, efficiency priority, and

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voluntary autonomy. Through the establishment of an insurance system for catastrophes, the positive role of market mechanisms in risk prevention, loss compensation, and recovery and reconstruction is strengthened. China’s disaster prevention, reduction, and relief system is developing toward the modernization of multicoordinated governance.

6 Environmental Security System Environmental security refers to the maintenance of the state’s environmental quality and natural resources at normal levels and is not subject to interference and destruction within or outside the country. Environmental risk poses a threat not only to people’s survival and health but also to environmental mass events, thus threatening the harmony and stability of society. Therefore, the environmental security system is an important part of the social governance system. Since the 1970s, our country’s environmental security system has gone through the process of starting up, forming, developing, and improving continuously. In May 1974, the State Council established a leading group of environmental protection with more than 20 officials at the ministry and commission level to supervise and coordinate national environmental work. After the promulgation of the Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China (Trial Implementation) in 1979, relevant departments under the State Council established environmental protection supervision institutions. Many governments at the provincial and municipal levels have also set up environmental protection supervision institutions. This is the initial stage of China’s environmental supervision and administration system. At the closing of meeting of the Twenty-third Session of the Standing Committee of the 5th National People’s Congress in 1982, the Resolution on the Implementation Plan for the Reform of the Ministries and Commissions of the State Council of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress was adopted. In accordance with the resolution, the Ministry of Environmental Protection for Urban and Rural Construction was established, under which the Environmental Protection Bureau was established to be the competent authority for environmental protection throughout the country. In May 1984, the Decision of the State Council on Environmental Protection was proposed to establish the Environmental Protection Commission of the State Council. In December of the same year, the Ministry of Environmental Protection for Urban and Rural Construction was changed to the National Environmental Protection Bureau to become an independent national institution. This was the formation period of China’s environmental supervision and administration system. In 1989, the promulgation and implementation of the Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China established China’s current environmental supervision and administration system, which is a kind of administration system combining unified supervision and administration with graded subdepartments. The unified administrative department is the competent administrative department of environmental protection, while the sub-administrative departments are the national

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department of marine administration. The harbor affair administration, the fishing affair and port administration, the military environmental protection department, and the administrative departments of public security, communications, railways, and civil aviation at all levels are responsible for the supervision and administration of pollution prevention and control. The relevant departments of the people’s governments at or above the county level, such as land, mineral resources, forestry, agriculture, and water conservancy departments, have also successively set up environmental protection supervision agencies to supervise and administer the protection of natural resources. In 1998, the National Environmental Protection Bureau was upgraded to the National Environmental Protection Administration at the ministerial level in the institutional reform of the State Council and merged the relevant administrative departments, such as the Ministry of Land and Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources. This is the development period of China’s environmental supervision and administration system. The environmental supervision and administration system, which is led by administrative means and combines the unified supervision and administration and the supervision and administration of different subdepartments, has made an important contribution to eco-environmental protection in China. However, after more than 30 years of rapid development, China’s economic construction has made historic achievements but has also accumulated a large number of eco-environmental problems, which has become an obvious shortfall. Various environmental pollutants are on the rise, becoming concerns about people’s livelihoods and heart pain. People’s demands for clean water, fresh air, safe food and beautiful environments are increasing, the status of the ecological environment in the happiness index of people’s lives is becoming increasingly prominent, and environmental problems are becoming an important issue of people’s daily livelihood.5 In the face of increasingly complex ecological environmental problems and people’s new expectations for ecological environment construction, the traditional environmental administration system with the government as the main body shows great inadaptability, which shows mainly as follows: the cost of administration is increasing, the difficulty is increasing; the property rights of environmental resources are not clear; the price formation mechanism is not improved; and the market mechanism is unable to allocate environmental resources effectively. Some people’s participation in environmental governance is in a certain disorder. At the same time, the existing system arrangement has difficulty guaranteeing the public’s right to participate and supervise completely. On the whole, the main problem of environmental governance in China is that the boundary between the government, market, and society is not clear, and the system of co-governance needs to be established and improved step by step. Guided by the “Five-Sphere Integrated Plan” and the “Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy” of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Integrated Plan for 5

Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, Series of Important Speeches of General Secretary Xi Jinping, p. 123, Beijing, Learning Press, People’s Publishing House, 2014.

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the Reform of the System for Ecological Civilization in September 2015 to establish an overall framework of the modern environmental security system, which consists eight systems, such as the system of property rights for natural resources, the system of protection for land and space development, the system of space planning, the management system of total resources and comprehensive conservation, the system of paid use for resources and ecological compensation, the system of environmental governance, the market system of environmental governance and ecological protection, the system of ecological civilization performance evaluation and accountability, and to put forward to “build a system of environmental security that is oriented to the improvement of environmental quality, unified supervision, strict enforcement of law, and participation by all parties”. In March 2018, to integrate the dispersed responsibilities of ecological environmental protection, to unify the supervision and administrative law enforcement functions of ecological and urban and rural pollution emissions, to strengthen the prevention and control of environmental pollution, to ensure national ecological security, and to build a beautiful China, the Ministry of Ecological Environment decided to set up in the new round of the institutional reform plan of the Party and the state. Its main functions are to formulate and organize the implementation of eco-environmental policies, plans, and standards, to take charge of ecological environmental monitoring and law enforcement work, to supervise and administrate pollution prevention and nuclear and radiation safety, and to organize the deployment of central environmental protection inspections. The establishment of the Ministry of Ecological Environment is conducive to further implementing the basic national policy of environmental protection, implementing the strictest eco-environmental protection system, forming a green development mode and lifestyle, and focusing on solving outstanding environmental problems. At the same time, the Ministry of Natural Resources has also been established to uniformly exercise the function of the ownership of natural resource assets of the whole people, to uniformly exercise the function of controlling the use of all territorial space and ecological protection and restoration and to resolve the problem of the inadequacy of the ownership of natural resources and the overlap of space planning. Its main functions are to supervise the exploitation and protection of natural resources, to establish a space planning system and to supervise the implementation, to perform the duties of ownership of all kinds of natural resources assets, to unify the investigation and registration of property rights, to establish a system for paid use of natural resources, and to be responsible for the administration of surveying, mapping, and geological exploration industries. The establishment of the Ministry of Ecological Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources is conducive to the overall planning of mountain, water, forest, field, and lakes and grass governance, solving the outstanding problems in environmental safety, and promoting the construction of ecological civilization. In the process of environmental safety protection, China also pays great attention to adopting a modernized governance mode. In a pluralistic and co-governance environment security system, the government integrates the original administrative power, “adjusting the environmental protection responsibilities of each department

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to one department, gradually implementing the system of unified supervision and administrative law enforcement of urban and rural environmental protection work by one department”, and the government undertakes important responsibilities such as necessary financial input and guidance of environmental planning. At the same time, in terms of stimulating market forces, China has improved the market system of environmental governance and ecological protection by fostering market entities of environmental governance and ecological protection, promoting the trading system of the rights to use energy and carbon emissions, the rights to discharge pollutants and water rights, establishing a green financial system a unified system of green products, etc. Finally, due to the wide range of environmental problems in our country, social organizations and public participation make up for the inadequacy of environmental supervision information to a great extent, and social forces become an important part of the environmental security system.

7 Emergency Management System An emergency management system refers to the sum of the organization, system, behavior, resources, and other related emergency factors and the relationships among them when responding to public emergencies. It is an integrated network for responding to emergencies formed by the government and other various social organizations. It includes national laws and regulations, institutions (both public and private), mechanisms and rules, capabilities and technologies, environment, and culture. The establishment and evolution of emergency management systems determine a country’s ability and efficiency in dealing with emergencies. Only by establishing a relatively perfect emergency management system can we ensure a quick, efficient and orderly response in various aspects of emergency management, such as prevention, prediction, early warning, command, coordination, disposal, rescue, evaluation, and recovery, prevent the occurrence of sudden public events, or reduce the negative effects of sudden public events.

7.1 Formation and Development of China’s Emergency Management System China’s 5,000-year-old history is a history of fighting against all kinds of hazards and disasters. The management of disaster response is an important component of social management in all dynasties. After the founding of New China, the state established the first generation of an emergency management system, which is characterized by a highly centralized emergency management system with the government as the main body and by political mobilization and other means to complete the emergency response of emergencies.

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Since the implementation of reform and opening-up in 1978, great changes have taken place in China’s economic and social field: the transformation of the economic system from a planned economy to a socialist market economy, with sustained and rapid growth of the economy; the transformation of the industrial structure from a predominantly agricultural to a large industrial country, with the rapid development of the service industry; and the transformation from a traditional agricultural society to a modern industrial society, with the acceleration of urbanization. At the same time, from a relatively closed society to an open society. With the economic transition and social transformation, there is an increasing number of all kinds of public emergencies, and new challenges have been put forward to the construction of emergency management systems. After 2003, the construction of China’s emergency management system began to develop and upgrade to the second generation. In the spring of 2003, China experienced a sudden public incident, from public health to society, economy, and life, caused by the SARS epidemic. Under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the State Council, the people all over the country achieved success in fighting the SARS epidemic. The process of fighting SARS has fully exposed many weak links existing in China’s economic and social development and emergency management, especially the inadequate preparation for emergency, inadequate information channels, and various institutional and systematic deficiencies in the handling of major emergencies in the initial stage of the epidemic. The Party and the State summarized the existing problems in time and put forward the important task of strengthening the construction of emergency management in an all-round way. The emergency plan is the important foundation of emergency management and the primary work of the construction of the emergency management system in our country. In November 2003, the General Office of the State Council established the work group of the emergency plan. 2004 was the year of the preparation of the emergency plan of our country, the preparation and revision of the emergency plan, and the establishment of various early warning and emergency mechanism have become important tasks of the government. On January 26, 2005, China formulated the National General Emergency Plan for Public Emergencies and released and implemented the plan on January 8, 2006. By the end of 2005, the preparation of the national emergency plan was basically completed, including the overall national emergency plan, 25 special emergency plans, 80 department emergency plans, and a total of 106, covering the main aspects of China’s frequent emergencies. At the same time, the resources of the government administration have been made full use, and the Office of Emergency Management (hereinafter referred to as “the Office”) has been established under the General Office of the Government, which founded a top-down emergency management system to give full attention to the pivotal role of emergency duty, information collection and comprehensive coordination. A new comprehensive and coordinated emergency management system involving a number of deliberative coordinating bodies and joint meetings was initially established. The Opinions of the State Council on the Comprehensive Strengthening of Emergency

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Management, promulgated in June 2006, put forward that “the emergency management system with the features of classified management, taking responsibility at different levels, line and section combination, and giving priority to local management should be improved, and the responsibility system of administrative leadership under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee should be implemented“. In 2007, the Emergency Response Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Emergency Response Law), adopted at the 29th plenary session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People’s Congress, clearly stipulates that “the State shall establish an emergency management system featuring unified leadership, comprehensive coordination, classified management, responsibility at different levels, and local management“. As of the end of 2007, all provincial and municipal governments and 92% of the county-level governments had set up or defined emergency management leading institutions; all provincial governments, 96% municipal governments, and 81% of the county-level governments had established or defined emergency management affair institutions. The construction of an emergency management mechanism takes the whole process of emergency management as the main line, covering various time periods before, during, and after the incident, including prevention preparation, monitoring and early warning, emergency treatment, and recovery. In July 2006, the Opinions of the State Council on Comprehensive Strengthening of Emergency Management pointed out that China should “build an emergency management mechanism featuring unified command, quick response, orderly coordination, and high efficiency”. The CPC Central Committee, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission have also issued documents concerning the construction of specific emergency management mechanisms, such as monitoring and early warning, information reports, decision-making and command, information dissemination, investigation and evaluation, rehabilitation, and reconstruction, which have promoted the construction of emergency management mechanisms. The legal system of emergency management is the basis for a country to implement the rule of law in an unconventional state and is the basis for a country to carry out the act of emergency management. In August 2007, the 29th plenary session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People’s Congress reviewed and approved the Emergency Response Law, which came into force on November 1 of the same year. This is the first comprehensive law in China to address all kinds of emergencies. The State Council has also formulated special laws and administrative regulations on responding to natural disasters, accident disasters, public health emergencies, and social security incidents, such as the Contingency Rules of Paroxysmal Public Health Events and the Regulations on Contingency Rules to Major Animal Epidemic Diseases, which have initially formed a legal system for emergency management. The formation of the “One Plan and Three Systems” constitutes the core framework of the second generation of emergency management systems (see Fig. 1). In 2008, the national emergency management system was basically established.

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Emergency management system Overall emergency plan Special emergency plan Departmental emergency plan

Emergency response Emergency response system mechanism

Local emergency plan Emergency plan of enterprises

Emergency plan

and institutions

Emergency legal system

Emergency plan for large-scale activities Emergency support system

Emergency management technology

Fig. 1 Emergency Management System of “One Plan and Three Systems”

7.2 The Situation and Problems of Emergency Management in China At present, China’s emergency management is facing a new situation. First, new risks are on the rise. The accident risk of super-high-rise buildings, new technology risk, urban underground space risk, and so on appear continuously. Second, the complex nature of incidents is strengthened. A small range of infectious diseases can form worldwide infectious events and cause economic recession; a freezing disaster can lead to large-scale power outages, and large-scale power outages can cause paralysis of the entire city and regional society to a certain extent; heavy rain can submerge the city into the sea; and a production accident can interrupt the entire industrial chain under certain conditions. Third, the emergency events expand from inside to outside, with the acceleration of our country’s “going out“ pace, our people’s entry and exit number increased rapidly, which reached 598 million people in 2017, thus the occurrence of foreign emergencies affect domestic, such as Malaysia Airlines MH370 incident and Libya’s Chinese withdrawal incident, which not only needed to be dealt with abroad, but also domestic disposal task is very heavy. Fourth, the emergency management changes from response to prevention. With the rapid development of technology and the constant change of social formation, human society has entered the risk society, and it has become an important content of emergency management to guard against all kinds of risks more consciously. In the process of advancing to post-industrial society, the risk and emergency events in modern society show a high

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degree of complexity, correlation, coupling, and cross-bordering. In particular, largescale emergencies tend to appear as systemic crises. An emergency often causes chain reactions, producing secondary and derivative events, forming a chain of disasters or a chain of disasters, which requires the cooperation of multiple departments. Facing these new challenges, our country has problems in the following four aspects in past emergency management. First, the “single disaster” emergency management mode has not adapted to the high-risk characteristics of modern society. All along, our country practices “single disaster” type emergency management system, that is, different professional departments manage different types of disasters and emergency events, such as the civil affairs department is responsible for natural disaster relief, the fire department is responsible for fire incidents rescue, the safety supervision department is responsible for disaster and incident rescue of industrial and mining enterprise. The advantage of this “classified management” mode is that it can give full attention to the professional and technical advantages of the responsible departments, but at the same time, it also causes the pattern of too many lines, too fine division, the lack of effective linkage and coordination between the departments, the decentralization of resources, the division of sections, the separation of various departments, and so on, which restricts the overall ability and comprehensive effect of the government’s emergency response. Second, in risk prevention, the data from “department wall” and “industry wall” are relatively serious, the risk information is incomplete, and the risk prevention ability is weak. Third, in emergency preparation, there are problems of division of departments and repetition of low-level construction of various emergency resources, and lack of coordination between professional department management and localized management. Fourth, the construction of emergency plan systems is inadequate in targeting and practice, and the connection of emergency plans is especially difficult.

7.3 Task to Strengthen the Construction of an Emergency Management System in the New Era Facing the severe situation of emergency management and people’s high expectations for safety, the construction of emergency management systems has been further strengthened in the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. In order to prevent and eliminate major security risks, improve the public security system, integrate and optimize the emergency forces and resources, and promote the formation of a Chinese-style emergency management system with unified command, combination of special and regular command, sensitive response, linkage between the upper and lower levels and the integration of combat readiness duty elements, so as to improve the ability of disaster prevention, reduction and relief, and ensure the safety of the people’s lives and property and social stability. China has strengthened the integration of emergency systems in the reform of government institutions.

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In March 2018, the Institutional Reform Plan of the State Council put forward to integrate the duties of the administration of work safety, the emergency management responsibilities of the General Office of the State Council, the fire control responsibilities of the Ministry of Public Security, the disaster relief responsibilities of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the prevention and control responsibilities of geological disasters by the Ministry of Land and Resources, the prevention and control responsibilities of floods and droughts by the Ministry of Water Resources, grassland fire prevention responsibilities by the Ministry of Agriculture, and forest fire prevention responsibilities by the State Forestry Administration, earthquake emergency and rescue responsibilities of China Earthquake Administration, as well as the duties of the National Flood and Drought Control Headquarter, the National Disaster Reduction Commission, the Earthquake Relief Headquarter of the State Council, the National Forest Fire Prevention Headquarter, and establish the Ministry of Emergency Management as a component ministry of the State Council. Due to the close relationship between the China Earthquake Administration and the National Coal Mine Safety Administration and disaster prevention and relief, they are under the administration of the Ministry of Emergency Management. The establishment of the Ministry of Emergency Management signifies that the construction of China’s emergency management system has entered a new stage of development, meets the need to modernize the national governance system and governance capacity, is conducive to the realization of the whole process and all-round management of the disaster, and enhances the capacity of public security protection. The Ministry of Emergency Management shall be responsible for organizing the compilation of the overall national emergency plans, directing various departments in various regions in dealing with emergencies, promoting the construction of the emergency plan system and the pre-plan exercises. Establishing a disaster reporting system, issuing the disaster situation in a unified manner, coordinating the construction of emergency forces and the reserve of materials at the time of disaster relief, organizing the construction of disaster relief system, guiding the emergency rescue of work safety and natural disasters, undertaking the task of responding to special major disasters, guiding the prevention and control of fire, flood, drought and geological disasters, and responsible for the comprehensive supervision and administration of work safety and the supervision and administration of work safety in industrial and mining trade. The new emergency management system strengthens the construction of the professional emergency rescue team. After the institutional conversion of the public security firefighting force and the armed police forest force, they are integrated with the emergency rescue team, such as the safety production as a comprehensive standing emergency rescue force under the administration of the Ministry of Emergency Management, with the implementation of special management and policy guarantee and the formation of duty rank sequence and management method which conform to its own characteristics, which has raised the professional sense of honor, and maintained the life strength and the fighting power. After the establishment of the Ministry of Emergency Management, the operation of the emergency management system still adheres to the principle of taking

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responsibility at different levels and giving priority to local management. The general disaster is handled by the local governments at all levels, and the Ministry of Emergency Management represents the central government to provide unified response and support. In the case of special major disasters, the Ministry of Emergency Management acts as the headquarters to assist the leading comrades designated by the central government in organizing emergency handling work to ensure that the administrative orders are unimpeded and that the command is effective. The Ministry of Emergency Management is responsible for managing the relationship between disaster prevention and disaster relief, clarifying the division of responsibilities with relevant departments and localities, and establishing coordination and cooperation mechanisms. The establishment of the Ministry of Emergency Management is conducive to further improving the efficiency and effectiveness of China’s comprehensive emergency response, which show mainly in the following four aspects: first, it is conducive to the solution of the disaster risk information isolation, the development of integrated disaster risk management, and the raising of the risk management capacity for the emergency; second, it is beneficial to optimize our country’s emergency plan system and to promote the pre-plan exercises, which will change the original situation that joint training and joint exercises are not convenient because of different jurisdiction, help to coordinate the joint training and joint exercises, coordinate and uniformly dispatch the construction of emergency forces and the reserve of materials at the time of disaster relief, organize the construction of disaster relief system, and improve the ability of emergency preparedness; third, it is conducive for rescue cooperation and on-site command. The rescue forces used to belong to different departments, and the problem of improper cooperation and unclear on-site command jurisdiction easily appeared when working together. Now a unified department has been established, coordination problems can be greatly reduced, the efficiency of the emergency response of the whole country can be greatly improved, and the speed of emergency response of the whole country can be improved in response to complex emergencies; fourth, it is beneficial to integrate emergency relief teams of firefighting, various disaster relief armed police and work safety to become a comprehensive and regular emergency backbone force, which makes it possible for overall plan and the training of emergency rescue personnel, to avoid duplication of construction, to be conducive to professional development, and to improve the handling capacity of emergencies. The new emergency management system should continue to strengthen the whole process of emergency management tasks. In the general public’s understanding, emergency management is the “active response to natural and man-made disasters”. In fact, emergency management is a system project. The Emergency Response Law divides the process of emergency management into four stages (see Fig. 2) of prevention and emergency preparation, monitoring and early warning, emergency handling and rescue, and post-disaster recovery and reconstruction, which is circular and integrates the whole management process. After the new emergency management system is integrated, various stages such as prevention, preparation, handling, evaluation, improvement, and mitigation have been linked up in the process, and the closed-loop

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Emergency

Post-disaster

response and

recovery and

rescue

reconstruction

Hazard source identiϐication

Monitoring system construction

Command and decision-making

Restoration of living facilities

Risk assessment Straightening

Early warning system construction

Comprehensive coordination

Restoration of public facilities

emergency plan

Monitoring system construction Information reporting system ......

Rescue, dispersion, evacuation, resettlement

Recovery of production

Emergency exercise Emergency capacity construction Emergency material preparation Emergency team construction ......

Information reporting and communication Information release and public opinion guidance ......

Post-disaster assistance Targeted support and construction ......

Fig. 2 Emergency management process

management system is formed that links end to end, circulates, and improves continuously, so as to enhance the forward-looking and initiative of emergency management, promote the source governance of risk, and guarantee the people’s life and property safety fundamentally. The establishment of the Ministry of Emergency Management has absorbed the international advanced experience of emergency management. The United States is one of the countries with the most complete emergency management system in the world today. Its modern comprehensive emergency management mode began in 1979. Its federal government integrated the functions of emergency management in 11 departments and formed the Federal Emergency Management Administration. After the “9/11” event of September 11, 2001, the focus of emergency management practice in the United States turned to counterterrorism, and the Department of Homeland Security was established, integrating the functions of 22 federal departments, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The establishment of China’s Ministry of Emergency Management has provided an impetus for exploring China’s comprehensive emergency management mode. China’s emergency management mode, together with the comprehensive emergency management mode in the

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United States, will become two practical modes of emergency management in large countries.

8 Social Credit System The person with no credit is not reliable, the family with no credit is not harmonious, the business with no credit is not prosperous, and the country with no credit is not strong. Credit is the basic element of social governance at home and abroad. Accelerating the construction of the social credit system is an important means to improve the socialist market economy system and strengthen and innovate social governance. It is of great significance to strengthen the credit awareness of the members of society, build a good credit environment, enhance the overall competitiveness of the country, and promote social development and civilization progress.

8.1 Social Credit System In accordance with national laws and regulations and social conventions, the social credit system is based on the credit records and information sharing of members of society and the credit service industry. Through government supervision and administration, social organization supervision, and credit entity self-management, the social credit system realizes the standardized operation of all kinds of credit activities, forms the mechanism of encouraging and keeping credit, punishing the breach of credit, and promoting the construction of a harmonious and honest society. It is the important system arrangement of the socialist market economy system and social governance system. The social credit system has a broad sense and narrow sense. Social credit system in a broad sense is a social-oriented credit system, which includes credit record, credit collection, credit investigation, credit evaluation, credit guarantee, credit system, and credit management. The social credit system in a narrow sense refers to the socialized credit system, which takes the independent intermediary as the main body, collects and analyzes the credit information of individuals and enterprises, and provides clients with the concerned party’s credit status and other evidences within the scope permitted by law. The main function of the social credit system is to regulate the credit activities of a country or region. A sound and effective social credit system can promote market economy transactions, means of the country or region, facilitate the transition and achievement from the original mode of payment to the mode of credit, create and standardize a sound credit environment for the development of a market economy, expand and create market demand, maintain market prosperity and promote sustained economic growth, promote the maturity of a market economy in that country or

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region and provide system support and a social foundation for the health and orderly development of a market economy. According to different criteria, the content of the social credit system is also different. On the basis of credit entities, social credit systems can be divided into public credit (government credit), enterprise credit, and individual credit. In the government credit system, government credit is dominant and plays a pillar role. The government is representative of social credit and has a demonstration effect in society. The government’s role in the construction of credit system includes planning and overall coordination; promoting the establishment of credit service-related legislation; being responsible for the construction of social credit database, disclosing the credit information held by government departments according to law; strengthening the construction of penalty mechanism for breach of credit; and strengthening the management of credit industry. Enterprise credit, also known as commercial credit, refers to the economic behavior in which contracts are used as the payment guarantee of expected monetary funds in commodity trade between industrial and commercial enterprises. Its material content can be the credit sales of commodities, while its core is capital operation and direct credit between enterprises. The enterprise is the largest demander and supplier of credit. Enterprise credit is a comprehensive reflection of the enterprise management level, technical level, and moral level. Enterprise credit plays a lubrication role in the production and circulation of the commodity economy. The main form of credit instrument of enterprise credit is commercial paper. Enterprise credit is concerned not only with investors or lenders in the financial market but also with many parties in the general transaction market. With the development of economic contracts, enterprise credit will become the precondition of cooperation and transaction. Therefore, the construction of an enterprise credit system is the key to the construction of the whole social credit system. Individual credit refers to the economic behavior in which an individual obtains the expected capital or consumption payment ability that he or she does not have through credit from a bank or other financial institution. It makes the individual no longer rely solely on personal capital accumulation for production investment or consumption expenditure, but on obtaining the expected capital or consumption payment ability from a bank or other financial institution through credit. Individual credit is the foundation of social credit system. It is the main content of individual credit construction to standardize the establishment and management system and mode of individual credit evaluation institutions, define the open scope of individual credit data, protect individual privacy rights, guarantee the authenticity of data and legal responsibility of breach of credit, and establish scientific individual credit evaluation standards.

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8.2 Operation of Social Credit System Due to the different historical cultures, economic levels and social environments of all countries in the world, the mode of social credit operation is also different. Globally, there are three main modes of social credit system operation. (I)

Public Mode

This is a government-led mode of social credit operation. The government sets up a special institution to be the builder, supervisor, and administrator of the credit system, which is responsible for registration and data collection, controlling consumers’ individual credit records, not engaging in business activities and providing the required information free of charge to credit granting agencies in need of individual credit status when necessary. The advantage of this mode is to bring the individual credit system directly into the jurisdiction of the government, which will not cause interregional credit record confusion and has a high degree of legal guarantees. Most countries in Europe and America, such as France, Italy, Germany, and so on, adopt this mode of social credit operation. Under the public mode, the credit information and data sources of the database are mainly the credit registration data of financial institutions, which have not been extended to important information such as unpaid taxes, unpaid correspondence fees, and unpaid premiums. The establishment of single credit agencies and a lack of competitive credit agencies result in lower coverage of the registration system. In the second half of the 1990s, for example, France, which adopted the public credit mode, had a coverage rate of just 2.2% of the country’s total population. These factors will affect the preloan review of borrowers by financial institutions, thus affecting the development of consumer credit. According to the statistics of the European Credit Institute, throughout the 1990s, France’s consumer credit accounted for only 8% to 15% of private consumer spending, a slower growth in European countries. The advantages of the public mode: first, the use of administrative and legal means to collect individual credit information to ensure the integrity and accuracy of individual information; second, the establishment of credit agencies by the central bank, which facilitates the government in a timely manner to grasp the operational situation of the market economy and take targeted regulatory measures; third, the public credit collection charges are low, reducing the cost of users. The disadvantage of the public mode: first, the system is not flexible, the data structure with individual credit as the main body is not comprehensive, and it is difficult to reflect the individual credit in reality; Second, the object of service is mainly banking and other financial institutions, other areas (trade and services) of demand cannot obtain credit services; third, lack of interest incentives, low enthusiasm for work, and poor service quality; fourth, the need for public servants is relatively big, the country’s financial expenditure is large, and it is easy to feign interest-seeking behavior, resulting in corruption. (II)

Market-oriented Mode

This is a market-oriented commercial operation mode, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and so on. In the US, for example, there were more

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than 2,200 credit agencies at the peak, and after decades of full competition, the three dominant individual credit agencies of Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax have come into being. The continued growth of consumer credit in the United States has given rise to huge demand for credit. Market-oriented credit collection is its first choice. In turn, a wide variety of market credit collection services has stimulated an increase in consumer credit and made the United States the largest consumer credit country in the world. These independent credit companies in the United States are corporate legal entities with profit-making purposes. Their operation mode is to collect customers’ individual credit data and use the FI-CO score model to process the data to obtain customers’ credit ratings. There are five main factors concerned by the FICO score model: customers’ credit repayment history (35%), credit account number (30%), years of credit use (15%), credit use type (10%), and newly opened credit account (10%). Banks, insurance companies, and other credit granting agencies are willing to pay fees to buy credit products from credit companies to be able to make scientific and accurate judgments when making credit businesses with consumers. Thus reducing mistakes and increasing profits. Credit products of credit companies not only provide for the financial industry but also health care, labor insurance, and other sectors. Conversely, when banks, insurance, and other credit granting agencies engage in credit business with consumers, they will promptly feedback their latest consumer credit information to credit companies in exchange for a discount on future purchases of credit products. This addresses the source of data for the credit department. The business exchanges between credit granting agencies and credit agencies are based on individual credit to consumers, who of course cannot be passive receivers. The laws of the United States clearly stipulate that consumers have the right to know the evaluation and basis of their credit status for the purpose of sale by any credit institutions; consumers have the right to complain that the institution has provided untrue negative information; consumers have the right to obtain their own investigation report and copy. In this way, under the protection of the law, the consumers have certain supervision over the credit agencies, while the credit agencies have some restrictions on the credit activities of consumers. In this way, there is a mutual restriction between consumers, credit agencies and credit granting agencies. In the United States, the existence of many credit companies promotes industry development through competition, and the industry can constantly be self-improved. The advantages of the market-oriented mode are as follows: the first is that the credit agencies actively collect individual information, which is comprehensive and wide-ranging; the second is that the credit service style is diversified; and the third is that all the participants in demand can obtain services within the scope permitted by law. The disadvantages are as follows: the first is that it is difficult to protect individual privacy; the second is that the collection channels of different credit agencies are different, so it is difficult to ensure the accuracy of the data. (III)

Industry Association Mode

This is a banking association-oriented membership mode. Banks and other financial institutions as members can share customer credit information of other members

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within the association, and their own information must also be freely available to other members. The coverage of the membership mode is so narrow that it usually supports only intraindustry use, not multiple industries of society as a whole. Japan’s individual credit development and individual consumer credit development are basically synchronous. To solve the credit risk in consumer credit, credit agencies will require financial institutions with credit demand to become members, provide the corresponding credit information and data, and aggregate the data for the use of all members. At present, there are three major individual credit agencies in Japan: National Bank Individual Credit Information Center, National Federation of Credit Information Centers, and Japan Credit Card Information Center. These three agencies share individual credit information and data. Compared with the public mode and the market-oriented mode, the industry association mode has advantages: member organizations will provide individual credit information according to the standard format, and the data are stable and accurate, which reduces the cost of credit collection. The disadvantages: one is that such credit reports are more professional and narrower in demand; the other is that they are only open to members, and other areas (commerce and services) in demand are not able to obtain credit services.

8.3 Development of China’s Social Credit System Construction China’s social change and the establishment of a modern market economy have inherent particularities, so the construction of our country’s social credit system also has a special background, which is the common need for social governance and the reform of the modern market economy. Since the early 1990s, China’s social credit system has gone through three stages: germination, starting, and development. (I)

Germination stage

In 1990, the Notice of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China on the Work of Clearing up “Triangle Debts” across the Country was issued, which was the first time that the State Council document raised the issue of social credit in China. At this stage, the relevant legal system was established. The Company Law, the Commercial Bank Law, the Guarantee Law, and the Contract Law stipulate credit problems from different aspects. At the same time, credit intermediaries represented by credit ratings began to appear, such as Shanghai Fareast Credit Rating Co., Ltd. The credit awareness of society begins to sprout. Most market operators carry out credit activities spontaneously according to their own needs, and credit service institutions were also set up spontaneously. Therefore, spontaneity is the main characteristic of the construction of the social credit system of China in the germination stage. (II)

Starting Stage

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In the first decade of the twentieth century, the construction of China’s social credit system was launched in an all-round way, and the central and local governments accelerated the pace of the construction of a social credit system. In 2002, the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that “we should rectify and standardize the order of the market economy and improve the social credit system of the modern market economy”. In the same year, the State Council initiated legislation on the credit collection of enterprises and individuals and the comprehensive investigation of national credit guarantee agencies. The Enterprise Credit Registration and Consultation System of the People’s Bank of China was connected across provinces and cities, and local governments launched pilot projects for the construction of a social credit system. In 2003, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the Decision on the Improvement of Issues in the Socialist Market Economic System, which further pointed out that “a sound social credit system shall be established. A social credit system based on morality, property rights, and law are a necessary condition for the construction of a modern market system, as well as a fundamental policy to regulate the order of the market economy“. In 2005, the Proposal of the CPC Central Committee on the formulation of the 11th Five-Year Plan for National Economy and Social Development put forward that “focusing on improving the credit record of credit loans, tax payment, contract performance, and product quality, the construction of a social credit system shall be accelerated and the punishment system for breach of credit shall be improved“. In 2007, an interministerial joint meeting system for the construction of a social credit system under the State Council was established. At this stage, credit activities were increased, the number of credit intermediaries was raised, the scale was enlarged, the business category was expanded, the credit information disclosure system that takes the government department as the main body and the joint credit collection system that takes the social intermediary as the main body started and continued to advance, the punishment mechanism for breach of credit was gradually formed, and credit behavior became gradually restricted. (III)

Development Stage

In 2011, China’s social credit system construction entered a stage of development, and the central and local governments accelerated the construction of a social credit system. Credit field had been expanded. The 6th Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward that “we should put the construction of credit in the prominent position, vigorously promote the construction of political, commercial, social and judicial credibility, set up a sound credit system to cover the whole society, intensify the punishment of breach of credit, and form a broad atmosphere of honorary for credit and shame on breaching of credit in the whole society”. The session stressed that during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, we should focus on the record, integration, and application of credit information of members of society, establish and improve a credit system covering the whole society and promote the construction of social credit system in an all-round way. In June 2014, the State Council issued the Outline of Social Credit System Construction Program (2014–2020) and proposed the overall requirements and main tasks

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for accelerating the construction of a social credit system. In June 2016, the Guidelines of the State Council on the Establishment and Improvement of Credit-Keeping Joint Incentive and Credit-breaching Joint Punishment System to Speed up the Social Credit Construction put forward the establishment of a credit-keeping joint incentive and credit-breaching joint punishment coordination mechanism. At the same time, various localities and industries have also strengthened credit construction. The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Deepening the Reform of Party and State Institutions issued on March 4, 2018, requires strengthening credit system construction, improving credit supervision, increasing information disclosure, speeding up the construction of credit information platforms for market entities, and giving attention to the role of industry and social supervision. In other words, at this stage, the construction of China’s social credit system was promoted in a comprehensive way; in particular, the government vigorously promoted the construction of a social credit system and directed and deployed the construction of a social credit system, and industry associations and nongovernmental organizations began to construct the social credit system of their respective industries or regions under the guidance of the government.

8.4 Key Areas of Social Credit System Construction in China At present, China’s social credit system construction has four key areas, namely, government credit, business credit, social credit, and judicial credit. (I)

Government Credit

Government credit is the capital of the government to gain the trust of the public, which mainly manifests in three aspects: the basic quality of the government, the level of its own credit in the social administration, and the ability and result of commitment in economic activities. Government credit has the role of demonstration, and its core is administration by law, practice by faith, and trust to the people. Government credit is the key to the construction of a social credit system, and the credit level of various administrative entities plays an important role in the construction of other social entities for demonstration and guidance. Government credit is not only an inevitable requirement of government under the rule of law but also an important foundation of credit society construction. Promoting the construction of a social credit system and taking government credit as the “top credit” to promote the whole society credit construction are important forces for the promotion of the healthy development of the market economy and the construction of a harmonious society. In December 2016, the Guidelines of the State Council on Strengthening the Construction of Government Credit proposed that strengthening the construction of government credit is “an inevitable requirement for deepening the reform of streamlining the government, delegating power, improving government services and speeding up the transformation of government functions and improving the efficiency

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of government”. We must adhere to the administration according to law, the administration of openness and strengthen supervision, establish credit-breaching records in government affairs, implement punishment measures against credit breaching, constantly raise the awareness of credit in the performance of civil servants and the level of credit administration of people’s governments at all levels, build a clean and upright social atmosphere and foster a good environment for economic and social development. The core of the construction of government credit is the construction of compliance, that is, standardization and regularization. On the one hand, the government should set an example, promote business credit and social credit by government credit, take the style of party and government with a clear sense of integrity, so as to ensure that policies and systems are scientific, rational and effective, avoid the “day-to-day change”, create an atmosphere of “honorary for credit-keeping, shame on credit-breaching” and an honesty, self-discipline, credibility, trust-based social environment; on the other hand, the openness of government affairs in an all-round way should be promoted to make the power run toward the sun, enhance the credibility of the government, and truly obtain the credibility from the people. At present, in the world, one of the accepted rules of government credit construction is openness, which includes openness of government affairs, financial affairs and personal property. Only by the implementation and openness to the public can we avoid black-box operation to the maximum extent, which also includes establishing the civil servant’s credit file and making it public.6 (II)

Business Credit

Business credit is the capital that enterprises and entities in the field of business can gain as they trust the public. Business credit mainly manifests in the credit status, operation mode, borrowing ability and repayment, reputation in the market, and public image of enterprise entities. All economic transactions in the market belong to the business sector, and all enterprises are in the business sector, including industrial and commercial enterprises, financial institutions, social organizations, and so on. The ultimate goal of the construction of a business credit system is to ensure the security of market entity transactions, to serve the market and enterprises, consumers, and other market entities, to create a good market environment, to improve the security and efficiency of market transactions and to reduce transaction risks and costs. The Opinion of the Ministry of Commerce on Accelerating the Construction of Business Credit put forward that the “promotion of the construction of business credit is an important content of perfecting the social credit system, an important foundation of improving the market economic system, a fundamental policy of rectifying and standardizing the market order, an inherent requirement of speeding up the transformation of government functions and the innovation of administration means, a basic prerequisite of realizing the trade transformation of our country, implementing the circulation driving strategy, promoting the optimal allocation of resources and

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Wu Xue’an: Government Credit is the Top Credit, in the Procuratorial Daily, 2015–02-10.

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establishing a modern market system, a necessary condition for strengthening international cooperation and exchanges, establishing international brand and reputation, and enhancing national soft power and international influence“. It is required that all regions take commercial circulation enterprises as the main body, establish government-led administration information sharing mechanism as the foundation, set up a market-oriented platform of enterprise comprehensive credit evaluation mechanism as the core, establish a third-party leading professional enterprise credit evaluation mechanism for support, focus on building a sound credit environment of “benefit for credit-keeping and restriction for credit-breaching”, and build a business environment of legalization, internationalization and marketization. This plays an important guiding role in promoting the construction of business credit. (III)

Social Credit

Social credit refers to the credit of all social entities participating in social activities, including individuals, enterprises, governments, and various social organizations. Social credit is the capital that one social entity obtains the trust of other social entities. At present, our country’s social credit level is not high, and various kinds of discredit situations frequently occur, which face the crisis of serious lack of credit. This has affected the normal production and life order of society and has caused serious harm to the economic construction and harmonious society construction of our country. Therefore, speeding up the construction of social credit and establishing a credit system covering the whole society has become the inevitable choice of today’s society. The Guidelines of the State Council on the Establishment and Improvement of Credit-Keeping Joint Incentive and Credit-breaching Joint Punishment System to Speed up the Social Credit Construction calls for speeding up the construction of social credit system, strengthening the open, and sharing of credit information, using the means of credit incentive and constraint according to law, constructing a cross-regional, cross-sectoral and cross-field credit-keeping joint incentive and credit-breaching joint punishment system with the participation of the government and society, promoting the market entity to operate with credit in accordance with the law, maintaining the normal order of the market, and creating a credit social environment. Youth are the main force of future social construction, and the youth period is also the key period of life value formation. If the youth keeps credit, his or her life keeps credit, and society keeps credit. Building up the youth credit system, cultivating youth credit awareness, and grasping youth credit construction are the meanings of promoting the construction of the social credit system. In July 2016, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the People’s Bank of China issued the Youth Credit System Construction Plan (2016–2020) to promote youth credit system construction in an all-round way. The key to the construction of the youth credit system lies in the construction of the system, the improvement of the top-level design, the strengthening of the overall planning, and the improvement of the system mechanism, which are the premise of the systematic promotion of the youth credit system construction; the core

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is the application of the credit, whether the credit products and services effectively applied to the key areas of the youth development. The promotion of youth credit awareness and making young people have a sense of gaining are the core standards to test the effect of youth credit system construction. The foundation lies in culture cultivation, which not only depends on the system to standardize and restrain but also relies on the culture to guide and educate, making credit idea internalization to the heart and exteriorization to the shape. The emphasis lies in pattern innovation. Youth credit system construction needs to carry out a top-level design plan and pay attention to the basic-level initiative spirit, taking the lead in the attempt and exploration. In September 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission, the People’s Bank of China, and the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League and 48 other departments jointly signed the Action Plan on the Implementation of Outstanding Youth Volunteers Credit. Keeping Joint Incentives to Accelerate the Construction of the Youth Credit System to implement credit-keeping joint incentives on outstanding youth volunteers covering areas like education service and management, employment and innovative entrepreneurship services, social security services, financing and leasing services, cultural life services, outstanding individual appraisal, and election. This is China’s first credit-keeping joint incentive policy for natural persons, which is conducive to setting up a value orientation for encouraging credit keeping among young people, creating a social atmosphere for promoting credit keeping and giving the honest and credit-keeping young people a sense of gaining. In April 2017, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Long-term Youth Development Plan (2016–2025) to promote the construction of the youth credit system and advocate and cultivate the credit of youth into the overall layout of youth development. (IV)

Judicial Credit

Judicial credit is the ability of judicial organs to gain public trust in accordance with their own faithfulness to laws and facts. It is a kind of public credit established by judicial organs in social life through judicial activities. As far as “judicature” is concerned, the definition of its entity scope exists in the broad sense of the court, the procuratorate, the public security organ, the state security organ, the judicial administrative organ, the mediate sense of the court and the procuratorate, and the narrow sense of the court. The establishment of “credit” has its own clear path, that is, by the judge’s self-confident judgment, which causes the trust of a certain entity, and when trust accumulates and expands to a certain scale and degree, public trust can finally be realized. Therefore, judicial credit refers to the general trust evaluation of the judiciary as a means of final adjudication of contradictory disputes obtained by the courts through the fair application of the law on the basis of the impartiality of the law itself.7 The acquisition of judicial credit objectively requires the judicial organs themselves to achieve judicial justice and authority and requires the public’s subjective perception, both of which are indispensable.8 7 8

Jiang Wei. What is Judicial Credit? In Guangming Daily, 2014–02-13. Yang Jun, Judicial Confidence and Judicial Credit, in Guangming Daily, 2015–05-20.

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Since the reform and opening-up, China’s legal construction has made brilliant achievements. In recent years, people’s courts have handled more than 10 million cases each year. Increasing contradictions and disputes have been properly resolved through judicial channels, and the credibility of the judiciary has been improving. However, there are still many problems in judicial credit. For example, there are many cases in which the concerned party refuses to accept the judgment and appeals; cases in which the effective judgment refuses to be enforced occur frequently; cases in which there is no trust in some judicial personnel; and cases in which cases are partially treated with the phenomenon of “as soon as the case is accepted by the court, both parties are looking for people in the judicial system for special treatment of the case”. “People prefer complaint reporting to believing the law”, and then the quantity of complaint reporting cases involving the law and the complaint increases. The causes of the abovementioned problems include not only internal problems of the judicial system but also external problems such as the level of the rule of law, the social environment, and the media’s public opinion. The 6th Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee for the first time clearly proposed that “vigorously promote the construction of judicial credit“. The 4th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee again stressed that “ensuring justice and improving the credibility of the judiciary” is one of the important tasks of promoting the rule of law in an all-round way. Judicial credit is an important criterion to measure the stage at which a country has entered into a society of the rule of law. The improvement of judicial credibility needs a long-term process, should stick to the path of reform with Chinese characteristics and in line with the law of judicature. Under the unified leadership of the Party, we should proceed from the basic national conditions, respect the law of justice and strive to create a higher level of socialist judicial civilization. We must have firm confidence in roads, theory, systems, and culture.

8.5 Future Trends in China’s Social Credit System Construction As an important part of social governance, the construction of a social credit system is bound to develop with the participation of multiple entities and the integration of big data technology. Through the cooperation between government and enterprise, the government-enterprise integrated governance network shall be realized, the advantages of different entities shall be brought into play, and a social credit system based on big data shall be established, which is intelligent, informationbased, and covers the whole society. The government shall do a good job in the construction of a social credit system, including establishing the moral foundation of credit through credit education, improving legal system construction, constructing a credit guarantee system, cultivating a credit market, and establishing a long-term credit mechanism. The market shall play its due role in promoting the construction

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of a social credit system, including unifying industry standards, establishing a data sharing mechanism, strengthening industry self-discipline, and improving industry supervision. Credit government in the field of government credit shall be established, market rules in the field of business credit shall be improved, citizens’ self-discipline in the field of social credit shall be strengthened, and a social credit system with multientity participation and multi-field development shall be established. In this way, the process of China’s social construction will be greatly accelerated.

9 Social-Psychological Service System At present, human society has entered a high-risk period. Our country is in a rapid economic and social transformation period, and along with people’s life rhythms, competition pressure intensifies unceasingly, public mental health and social mentality imbalances become increasingly prominent. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed that “the construction of social-psychological service system shall be strengthened to foster self-esteem, self-confidence, rational, peaceful, and positive social mentality”, which is the key to building a pattern of social governance featuring joint efforts, common governance, and shared benefits.

9.1 Social-Psychological Service System The social-psychological service system refers to a set of organizational structures and institutional arrangements that are based on the theories and methods of psychology and medicine. It is comprehensively combined with the measures of psychological counseling and psychological intervention, to prevent and reduce psychological problems, to calm social mentality, to guide value orientation, and to construct social-psychological defense lines. It includes not only the individuallevel mental health services that people used to talk about, but also the macrolevel social-psychological construction. Mental health and social psychology are two closely related concepts. Mental health refers to one’s well-being in the process of growth and development, such as cognitive rationality, emotional stability, appropriate behavior, interpersonal harmony, and adaptation to change. Social psychology refers to the social mentality that permeates society and the crowd in a period of time, which is the mood tone, the general opinion, and the value orientation of the whole society. Therefore, mental health services are individual-oriented, aiming at solving an individual’s mental illness, promoting mental health, and improving life satisfaction, including psychological health education, psychological consultation, psychological disease treatment, and psychological crisis intervention provided by the government, community, enterprises, and institutions. The perspective of socialpsychological service is fundamentally different from that of mental health service.

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More emphasis is placed on solving macrosocial-psychological problems to enhance overall social well-being and reduce the occurrence of social adverse events. The social-psychological service system proposed that it is based on China’s national conditions and practice. The report of the 17th CPC National Congress in 2007 first mentioned the importance of “psychology” and pointed out that “ideological and political work shall be strengthened and improved, humanistic care and psychological counseling shall be paid attention to, and interpersonal relationships shall be dealt with in the right way”. Since the implementation of China’s 10th Five-Year Plan, every Five-Year Plan has required strengthening of mental health, psychological counseling, and mental health education. In 2015, the 5th Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China formally put forward a “social-psychological service system”, emphasizing “improving the social-psychological service system, counseling mechanism and crisis intervention mechanism” to prevent the occurrence of extreme events, maintain public security, and build and guide a positive and healthy social mentality. The report of the 19th National Congress of the CPC mentioned “happiness” six times, raised the building of a social-psychological service system to a new height, and expanded it from a relatively narrow mental health service to a more systematic social-psychological construction oriented to the five-sphere integrated plan. To build a social-psychological service system, we should grasp two aspects: on the one hand, mental health service is the basis of the social-psychological service system and an important means to serve the individual and affect the individual’s mental health directly. On the other hand, understanding social-psychological problems at the macro level is the main focus. As far as the latter is concerned, the majority or a certain proportion of members in a certain society often scope and exhibit similar psychological characteristics and behavior patterns, that is, the social mentality of universality and collectivity. The social psychology is formed under certain spacetime, environment, and cultural background, also influence each social member’s value orientation and the behavior way, then the whole society’s well-being and the social economic development overall situation. However, it must be realized that the social-psychological service system, as a new thing, has seldom considered the social-psychological construction from the macro level, and in many cases, it has slipped into the original thinking of individual mental health service to different extend. In fact, most of the social-psychological problems cannot be solved by the mental health service system. It must not be confused with the individual’s mental health and must highlight the “society” and “social psychology” perspective.

9.2 Function of the Building of Social-Psychological Service System It is of great significance and social function to improve the level of public mental health, to promote the stability of social mentality, and to promote the well-being

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of the public, which affect the happiness and well-being of the general public and influence the harmonious development of society. It is mainly manifested in three aspects. (I)

The construction of a social-psychological service system is an important measure to meet people’s needs for a better life

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that “socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and the principal social contradictions in China have been transformed into contradictions between the growing needs of the people for a better life and unbalanced development”. The “need for a better life” includes not only material and cultural needs but also social and psychological needs. Individual mental health is the foundation of the socialpsychological service system. In the rapid economic and social transition period, the individual’s psychological behavior, problems, and the social problems caused by them are becoming increasingly serious. Especially in recent years, the number of abnormal psychological behaviors and common mental disorders has continued to increase. Malignant cases caused by individual extreme emotions occur frequently and have become an important factor endangering social stability and public security. With the rapid development of the economy and society and the rapid increase in people’s needs for a better life, as well as the increasing attention of the Party and the State to the construction of a social-psychological service system, the need for social-psychological services will be more urgent and diversified. Strengthening mental health and a perfect social-psychological service system, from the point of view of individual needs, helps to relieve psychological pressure, eliminate bad emotions, and guide individuals to establish positive attitudes toward life and good interpersonal relationships. From the perspective of society as a whole, the formation of a healthy mentality helps people’s sense of gaining, sense of happiness and sense of security become more fulfilled, secured, and sustainable. (II)

The construction of a social-psychological service system is an urgent need for the healthy development of social mentality

For China in a period of social transition, social psychology is dynamic because of the rapid change in the social environment, and it is also complicated because of the intersection and collision of diverse cultures in today’s world. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, with the sustained and rapid development of China’s economy and society, social governance has become more effective, people have shown a high recognition of the new concepts, new ideas, and new strategies of the CPC Central Committee to govern the country, and the current social mentality has generally maintained an upward trend. However, some adverse social and psychological problems still exist. It mainly includes: people’s life satisfaction score has a balanced distribution, but the well-being situation is not ideal; the problem of low security sense for food

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safety, information security, and environmental security is outstanding; social credit dilemma still does not show signs of reversal, and so on.9 At the group level, social mentality is the barometer of economic and social development and plays an imperceptible role in social stability and harmony. We must actively guide the healthy development of social mentality and provide good psychological support for social development. (III)

The construction of a social-psychological service system is an important foundation for innovation and the strengthening of social governance

An objective and accurate understanding of the social psychology of a period is the need for social construction, and good social psychology is the prerequisite for maintaining social stability.10 Social psychology is a major public health and social problem that affects economic and social development. Social psychology is the concentrated expression of social problems in a certain period of time. When social problems or contradictions are not solved for a long time, it is possible to produce a negative social mentality and spread to the whole society. Strengthening the socialpsychological service system construction is helpful to cultivate good morals and customs, promote the coordinated development of economy and society, cultivate and practice the socialist core values, which is a source and basic work to realize the long-term stability of the country. At the macro level, the construction of a social-psychological service system is the key measure to promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. When the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the idea of “strengthening the social-psychological service system construction”, the idea was also discussed under the background of “strengthening and innovating the social governance”. Social governance needs the consensus of the whole society, and the formation of social consensus cannot be separated from the social-psychological construction.

9.3 Development Process of China’s Social-Psychological Service System Construction Our country’s mental health and social-psychological service began in the mid-1980s and made a series of important measures in the aspects of policy construction, team building, social service, theoretical research, institution setting, and so on. In recent years, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the principles, policies, and major tasks of the Party and the state have been expanded

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Wang Junxiu, China Social Mentality Research Report (2017), pp. 2–16, Beijing, Social Science Academic Press (China), 2017. 10 Wang Junxiu, Social Psychological Construction is the Foundation of Innovative Social Governance, in Guangming Daily, 2015–09-07.

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from psychological counseling to health education and services and further expanded to social-psychological services with richer connotations and clearer objectives. In 2012, to develop mental health undertakings, standardize mental health services and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of patients with mental disorders, China promulgated the Mental Health Law of the People’s Republic of China. In 2015, the National Mental Health Work Plan (2015–2020) was issued to strengthen the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of mental disorders and promote the overall development of mental health undertakings. In his speech at the National Hygiene and Health Conference in August 2016, President Xi Jinping stressed that “basic research on mental health issues shall be strengthened, popularization of mental health knowledge and psychological diseases shall be done well, and mental health services such as psychotherapy and psychological counseling shall be standardized and developed”. In the same month, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Outline of the Plan for “Healthy China 2030” and again proposed to “strengthen the construction and standardized management of mental health services and promote the level of mental health of the whole people”. In December 2016, the National Health and Family Planning Commission and 21 other departments jointly issued the Guidelines on Strengthening Mental Health Services. This is the first macroguideline to strengthen mental health services, aiming to meet the needs of people’s mental health services to the greatest extent to help form self-esteem, self-confidence, rational, peaceful, and positive social mentality. According to the Guidelines on Strengthening Mental Health Services, the basic goals of China’s mental health services are divided into two stages: (1) by 2020, national mental health awareness should be significantly improved. Mental health education and mental health promotion should be carried out in all fields and industries, mental health service networks should be accelerated, mental health service capacity should be effectively improved, and mental health services should be incorporated into the basic public service system in urban and rural areas. Key crowded psychological health problems should be stressed and counseled in a timely manner, and the social-psychological service system should be set up initially. (2) By 2030, the mental health literacy of all people will generally be improved. The mental health service system conforming to the national conditions shall be basically sound, the mental health service network shall be covered in urban and rural areas, the ability of mental health service and the level of standardization shall be further improved, the prevention and treatment of common mental disorders and the identification of mental behavior problems and the level of intervention shall be significantly improved, and the increasing momentum of the occurrence of psycho-related diseases shall be alleviated. The construction of a social-psychological service system is an important task of strengthening and innovating social governance and an important aspect of building a harmonious socialist society. The implementation of these policies has continuously promoted the development of social mental health and social-psychological services and played an important role in raising the level of people’s mental health and socially harmonious and stable development.

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9.4 Strengthen the Key Areas of Social-Psychological Service System Construction Since entering the 21st century, increasing attention has been paid to mental health and social-psychological services. However, the existing social-psychological services cannot meet the needs of the people and the needs of the national modernization construction. The social-psychological service system is facing many challenges, which are the three main problems. First, the public’s understanding of the importance of mental health is not enough, the awareness and acceptance of social-psychological services are not high, and some people’s understanding of mental health and psychological diseases is wrong. The mental health of the elderly, women, children, and people with disabilities has attracted wide attention from people from all walks of life. Second, the professional social-psychological service talent team is in shortage, the supply and demand gap are huge and has a structural imbalance. In recent years, there are more and more people who are trained and qualified to be psychological counselors, but not many people who are able to carry out psychological service practice. Third, the mental health service system is not sound, policies, and regulations are not improved, the mechanism of social-psychological consulting has not been established, and the service and management capacity are seriously lagging behind. It is a new and challenging task to determine the cut-off point and breakthrough point of constructing a social-psychological service system, to rely on effective carriers, and to play an effective role. In the next step, we should focus on the following four aspects to strengthen the construction of the social-psychological service system. (I)

Mental health promotion and education in an all-round way shall be carried out

It is the basic goal and task of building a social-psychological service system to carry out mental health promotion and education in an all-round way and carry out source governance. Therefore, party committees and governments at all levels shall attach great importance to the publicity and popularization of social-psychological services, make full use of various communication methods such as the network and news media, advocate the public’s scientific understanding of psychological and behavioral problems, and the impact of mental diseases on health. Establish positive living values and concepts and guide abnormal psychological groups to actively seek professional psychological counseling and treatment. Mental health education for the elderly, women, children, disabled people, and special groups should be given attention and strengthened. To train part-time social workers and psychological workers, various social forces, such as the university for the elderly, the elderly activity center, the grassroots association for the elderly, the women’s activity center, the rehabilitation institutions for the disabled, and the qualified social organizations shall be made fully use. (II)

A sound mental health service system shall be established

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A sound mental health service system should be established. First, we should set up a sound mental health service network in all sectors, including various sectors, urban and rural communities, social-psychological institutions and psychological health service of medical institutions, and set up a platform for comprehensive treatment of social psychology to provide mental health services such as timely and effective psychological counseling, crisis intervention and psychological growth for people from all walks of life. Second, we should establish and improve the whole process of psychological crisis intervention and psychological assistance services, including mental health education, psychological hotline service, psychological assessment, psychological counseling, psychotherapy, and psychiatric treatment, which are connected and progressing step by step and closely cooperated. In the aftermath of the incident and in the process of recovery and reconstruction, psychological assistance services continue to be provided to high-risk groups. Third, we should set up a system of psychological counseling and crisis intervention for key groups, strengthen care and treatment for patients with mental illness, and provide targeted psychological counseling for those who are prone to psychological behavior problems. (III)

The construction of a mental service talent team should be strengthened

Although China has accumulated a certain scale of psychological service professional team, but it is far from meeting the needs of society. About 1,000 professionals in every 1 million people in the United States can provide mental health services, compared with 24 professionals in every 1 million people in our country. The professional teams of psychological services mainly include psychological counselors, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and social workers, who play an irreplaceable role in the social-psychological service system. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the effective supply of psychological services in our country. The training of psychological service professionals should be accelerated, the training, certification, and management of psychological service professionals should be strengthened, and a system of training of psychological service professionals with the combination of academic education, postgraduate education, and continuing education should be gradually formed. At the same time, research and investment in basic research on mental health shall be increased, the research and development of new technologies and the development of mental health industries shall be supported, the organizational role of mental health services shall be given full attention, technical support and guidance for the development of mental health services in various sectors shall be provided, the management of industry norms shall be enhanced and legislation shall be promoted in a timely manner. (IV)

A social mentality monitoring and early warning intervention mechanism shall be established

To strengthen the social-psychological construction in the social governance system, it is very important to carry out the social-psychological risk assessment in the process of making and implementing major policies, to accurately grasp the social public’s

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interests appeals and psychological needs, to gradually standardize the psychological evaluation mechanism in the decision-making process, to focus on counseling the sense of social unfairness, and to prevent and resolve the social contradictions from the source. A social mentality survey system shall be established, the special investigation and analysis of public opinion on people’s feelings, people’s livelihood and people’s plans shall be carried out, and effective intervention on problems with vulnerable occurrence shall be conducted, and a monitored, early warning and intervention mechanism shall be formed, which will help to remove public doubts in time, dispel negative social mentality and create a positive and healthy social atmosphere. To actively promote the construction of the social-psychological service system, we must fully realize the importance of the social-psychological service system, satisfy the people’s demand for mental health service to the maximum extent, form self-esteem, self-confidence, rational, peaceful, positive and upward social mentality, construct the social-psychological defense line, and effectively maintain the harmonious and stable development of society. At the same time, we should find the breakthrough point to solve the existing social-psychological problems in our country, rely on professional groups and experts, set up a platform for comprehensive treatment of social psychology, build and perfect the mechanism of social-psychological service, counseling and crisis intervention, and constantly improve the pertinence and effectiveness of social-psychological service. Strengthening mental health services and improving the social-psychological service system, in line with the urgent need for the development of society and the times, is a people-centered project that benefits the masses. It is an important way to strengthen and innovate social governance. Helps to form an effective social governance, a good social order, so that the people can have a sense of gaining, a sense of well-being, a sense of security in a more fulfilled, more guaranteed, and more sustainable way. 延伸思考. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Briefly describe the role of social organization. What is the main content of a public service system? Briefly describe the importance of the food and drug safety supervision system. What are the outstanding problems in China’s emergency management system? Discuss the key points of the construction of social credit system with practice. Briefly describe the necessity and key points of strengthening the socialpsychological service system.

References Xi J (2018) Talks on governing the country [M], vol. 1. Foreign Languages Press, Beijing Xi J (2017) Talks on governing the country [M], vol. 2. Foreign Languages Press, Beijing Wang M (2010) Introduction to social organization [M]. China Social Publishing House, Beijing

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[US] Ostrom E (2012) The governance of public affairs: the evolution of collective action system [M]. Yu X, Chen X, translation. Shanghai Translation Publishing House, Shanghai Xue L et al (2003) Crisis management: challenges for china in transitional period [M]. Tsinghua University Press, Beijing Shan C (2018) Public safety management research [M]. Science Press, Beijing Gao X (2008) Achievements and development of the construction of emergency management system with Chinese characteristics [J]. Chinese Public Admin 2008(11) Wu J (2013) Three-dimensional credit theory [M]. Contemporary China Publishing House, Beijing [US] Myers D (2016) Social psychology [M]. Yubo H et al. translation. Posts & Telecom Press, Beijing

National Security Construction Liqun Wei

Overview On the basis of expounding the connotation of the overall national security concept, this chapter discusses the internal relationship between national security and social governance and expounds on the national security system and national security tasks. Through the study of this chapter, readers can master the basic contents and main tasks of national security construction.

1 National Security and Overall National Security Concept National security is an important cornerstone of national stability. It is an objective state of a country in which there is no danger, that is, there is no external threat and violation and no internal disorder or disease. It is that the things including the state political power, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, the lives and property of people, the sustainable development of the economy and society, and other major interests of the state are relatively in a state free from danger and internal and external threats, as well as the ability to guarantee a state of continuous security. Safeguarding national security is the fundamental interest of the people of all ethnic groups. The national security system is an important prerequisite for economic and social development, which fundamentally guarantees the rights of survival and development of the country and people. Safeguarding national security is also an important task of national social governance. The national security concept is a country’s subjective understanding of its own security environment, and it is the theory and thought of guiding national security. The national security concept includes the cognition, evaluation and expectation of the L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_8

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history, present situation, development, law and essence of national security, and the issues related to national security. The concept of national security usually includes three aspects: the general situation and the source of threat to national security, the basic condition of national security, and the methods of maintaining national lasting security. The concept of national security depends on the objective situation at home and abroad, the subjective understanding of national policy-makers, and changes with changes in time and the environment. Our Party has always regarded the maintenance of national security and social stability as a basic work of the Party and the state and has maintained the overall social stability of our country. Under the new situation, China is faced with the dual task of safeguarding national sovereignty and security and developing interests externally, and maintaining various aspects of security and social stability internally. The number of predictable and unpredictable risk factors is obviously increasing, the connotation and extension of national security are richer than at any time in history, the space-time field is wider than at any time in history, internal and external factors are more complex than at any time in history, and the task of safeguarding national security is more arduous.1 Facing the new situation and new challenges, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has promoted national security construction to a new strategic height in a timely manner. On November 12, 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) made a top-level design to strengthen national security and clearly put forward the proposal of “establishing the national security committee, perfecting national security system and national security strategy, and ensuring national security”.2 As early as April 15, 2014, Xi Jinping put forward the idea of the “overall national security concept” and pointed out that “we must adhere to the overall national security concept, take people’s security as the purpose, take political security as the foundation, take economic security as the foundation, take military, cultural and social security as the guarantee, and take the promotion of international security as the basis to walk out a road of national security with Chinese characteristics”.3 He stressed that “to carry out the overall national security concept, we must pay attention to both external and internal security”, “both homeland and national security”, “both traditional and non-traditional security”, “both development and security issues”, and “both our own security and common security”.4 The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China listed “adhering to the overall concept of national security “as one of the basic strategies for upholding and developing 1

Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China: Readings of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Series of Important Speeches (2016 Edition), p. 226, Beijing, Learning Press, People’s Publishing House, 2016. 2 Decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Important Issues of Deepening Reform in an All-round Way, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2013. 3 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpts from Xi Jinping’s Exposition on Building a Well-off Society in an All-round Way, p. 143, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2016. 4 CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpts from Xi Jinping’s Exposition on Building a Well-off Society in an All-round Way, pp. 143–144, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2016.

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socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and it ointed out that we should adhere to the overall national security concept, “We must uphold the supremacy of national interests, take the people’s security as the purpose, take political security as the basis, coordinate external and internal security, homeland security and national security, traditional and non-traditional security, our own security and common security, improve the national security institutional system, strengthen national security capacity construction, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests”; at the same time, it made a series of strategic arrangements, such as “to improve national security strategy and national security policy”, “to perfect national security system, to strengthen the legal guarantee of national security”, “to strengthen national security education, and enhance the national security consciousness of the whole Party and the whole people, and promote the whole society to form a strong resultant force to safeguard national security”. Thus, the strategic overall layout of national security work in the new era will be basically formed, which will provide the basis and guidance for stepping out a road of national security with Chinese characteristics. The overall national security concept emphasizes that we must adhere to the two major issues of overall development and security. We should not only be good at using development achievements to strengthen the foundation of national security but also be good at shaping a safe environment conducive to economic and social development. We should firmly grasp the main line of upholding peaceful development and promoting national rejuvenation, safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, create a more favorable international environment for peaceful development, and maintain and prolong important strategic opportunities for China’s development. The overall national security concept emphasizes the organic unity of upholding people’s security, political security and the supremacy of national interests. National security should take people’s security as its tenet, political security as its foundation, and national interests as its principle to realize people’s well-being, the long-term administration of the Party and the long-term stability of the country. This is the inevitable requirement to step the road of national security with Chinese characteristics and the fundamental guarantee of maintaining and shaping the security of great countries with Chinese characteristics. The overall national security concept emphasizes strengthening the strategic and tactical nature of national security work. To improve national security strategy and national security policy, we must adhere to scientific overall planning, always put national security in the overall situation of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all aspects, and gather strong forces to safeguard national security; we must recognize the national security situation, grasp laws based on the great changes in international order, plan on the premise of risk prevention, and plan based on the background of the important period of strategic opportunities for China’s development; we should maintain strategic determination, strategic self-confidence and strategic patience, adhere to making layouts with global thinking, adhere to overall development and security, adhere to the bottom

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line thinking, adhere to the unity of principle and strategy, and firmly hold the strategic initiative to safeguard national security in our own hands, and so on. The overall national security concept also emphasizes “establishing a new, common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept”5 and upholds the path of peaceful development. The new characteristics and trends of the world security situation determine that global challenges must be solved by the concerted efforts of all countries. Peace, development, cooperation, and win-win are unstoppable historical trends, but the world is not peaceful. Terrorism, cybercrime, transnational organized crime, new-type crime, and other global security problems are becoming increasingly prominent. Threats in the security field are emerging endlessly, and human beings are facing many common challenges. In the face of increasingly complex and comprehensive security threats, China has put forward the idea of the global security concept, that is, “establishing a new, common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept”. “Common” means respecting and safeguarding the security of every country; “comprehensive” means maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional fields as a whole; “cooperative” means promoting the security of all countries and the region through dialog and cooperation; and “sustainable” means attaching equal importance to development and security to achieve lasting security. Cooperative security, collective security, and common security are the right choices to solve world security problems. The overall national security concept is significantly different from the traditional concept in three aspects: security threat cognition, security system construction and security strategy layout, which are important innovations in China’s national security concept, decision-making, and management. The overall national security concept scientifically answers the basic question of how to maintain and shape national security in China, a large developing socialist country, and raises the understanding of the basic law of national security to a new height.

2 Overall National Security Concept and Social Governance There is an inherent connection between social governance and national security. Good social order, a stable social environment, and a peaceful social mentality are all the basic conditions for national security. Therefore, strengthening and innovating social governance and safeguarding national security are the objective requirements of the socialist social development laws in China, as well as the important guarantee of people’s well-being, social stability and order, and the country’s long-term stability.

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Xi Jinping: Determine the victory to build a well-off society in an all-round way and seize the great victory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era–Report on the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, p. 25, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2017.

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Under the guidance of the overall national security concept, social governance should respond to the demands of the times in three aspects.6 The first is to respond to the new trend of social transformation and change. After 40 years of reform and opening-up, China’s social structure and interest patterns have undergone profound changes. There have been some new social contradictions between cadres and masses, between labor and capital, between the rich and the poor, and all kinds of interests. Relations have become more complicated and diversified. At the same time, the differences in lifestyles, behavior orientation, value concepts, and the appeals of small groups are constantly increasing. Social governance should study and pay attention to the changes in new levels, analyze the causes and development laws of various new social contradictions, grasp the new trend of social change, innovate the system of social governance, and theorize and institutionalize the effective and useful social governance methods summed up in practice. The second is to respond to the new expectations and demands of people. With the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, people’s expectations and demand for life and safety are not limited to matters of birth, aging, illness, and death but also not limited to living and working in peace and contentment. They expect better education, a more equitable distribution, a richer cultural life, a greener and fresher environment, safer food and medicine, faster and more efficient public service, and a more secure sense of security, gain, and happiness. Social governance should adhere to people-centeredness and take people’s yearning for a better life as the goal. The third is to respond to the new issues of social governance proposed by the new era. In the new era and social conditions, social governance faces a series of new challenges and issues. For example, in the virtual social space of the Internet, great changes have taken place in the forming ways and evolution laws of social events, the expression of online opinions and offline behaviors are intertwined, and many things are unpredictable and difficult to govern. For another example, social mentality and public opinion, in the rapid development of various self-media, are often changing and sometimes even experience ups and downs. An occasional event or a nonsurprising phenomenon may also become the fuse of social mentality reversal and public opinion ups and downs. For another example, unpredictable and rapidly spreading new social risks, an unknown disease, or rumored food safety may lead to widespread social panic. The overall national security concept broadens the horizon for the innovation of social governance and requires us to rethink the power of social governance, the field of social governance, the ways of social governance, and the mechanism of social governance from the height and breadth of building a peaceful China. From the point of view of the power of social governance, more emphasis was placed on the power of society, especially on the power of social autonomy in the past. However, from the perspective of the pattern of social governance, we must adhere 6

Li Peilin: Social Governance under the Guidance of the Overall National Security Concept, in Social Governance, 2017(5).

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to the leadership of the Party committee, the responsibility of the government, social coordination, public participation and the guarantee of the rule of law, and mobilize and bring into play the advantages and enthusiasm of all aspects. In addition to the power of the government and society, the former unit governance of our country can still play an important role in the new situation. Enterprises, organizations, and institutions should also bear social responsibility for social governance, forming a new situation of multigovernance. From the perspective of social governance, more emphasis was placed on handling public security and social contradictions, especially on the settlement of petitions and mass incidents arising from land expropriation, enterprise reform, and the resettlement of demobilized soldiers in the past. In view of the overall national security concept of building safe China, many non-traditional security issues should be brought into the field of social governance, such as social anxiety caused by food and drug safety, social discontent caused by smog and other environmental problems, Internet public opinion caused by social emergencies, social panic caused by abnormal fluctuations in the housing market and exchange rate, etc. In other words, all kinds of new social risks should be brought into the scope of social governance. From the perspective of the methods of social governance, we should adhere to source governance, comprehensive governance, systematic governance, and legal governance. We should neither rely solely on “movement-based stability maintenance governance” nor should we give up the problem orientation of social governance; we should adhere to comprehensive governance and systematic governance and should not give up effective special governance. We should not only adhere to the rule of law, think problems more with the rule of law thinking and solve problems with the rule of law thinking but also pay attention to playing the role of rural regulations, civil mediation, family education, and moral norms. From the point of view of the mechanism of social governance, we should organically combine the national mechanism, the market mechanism, and the social mechanism and establish an efficient, effective, and cost-saving social governance mechanism. In terms of issues that should be managed by the state, we should strengthen supervision. In terms of social services that can be supplied by the market, we should give full play to the role of the market. In terms of the problems that can be solved through social self-organization and self-regulation, we should play the role of social forces.

3 National Security System The national security system is the sum of the norms and behavior patterns of national security management activities. Its function is to provide institutional support for ensuring the state of security and capability of countries. The division of national security functions, the management system of national security institutions, the human resources management system of national security, the mechanism of national

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security rights and responsibilities, and legal guarantees constitute the basic content of China’s national security system. China’s national security administration has been carried out in an orderly manner under the leadership of the Party. In 1981, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to restore the Central leading group on foreign affairs and set up an office as the “Foreign Affairs Office of the State Council”. In September 2000, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to set up a “Central National Security Leading Group” to work with the “Central Foreign Affairs Leading Group”. One team is in charge of the two institutions. The Central National Security Leading Group (Central Foreign Affairs Leading Group) is responsible for making decisions on major issues in the field of foreign affairs and national security. On November 12, 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed “the establishment of the National Security Commission”. On July 1, 2015, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress adopted the new State Security Law of the People’s Republic of China (referred to as the State Security Law), which clearly stipulated: “Adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China in the work of national security, and establish a centralized, unified, effective and authoritative national security leadership system.“ China’s national security management system is set up under the guidance of the overall national security concept, with the goal of “centralization and unification” and “high efficiency and authority”, and is fully implemented in all central and government departments concerned with national security. Article 44 of the State Security Law stipulates, “The central national security leading agency shall implement the national security system and working mechanism of the combination of centralization and decentralization, coordination and efficiency”; Article 62 stipulates, “The state shall establish a unified-leading, coordinated and linked, orderly and efficient national security crisis management and control system”. As the decision-making and deliberative coordinating organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on national security work, the Central National Security Committee shall be responsible for the Political Bureau and the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and should coordinate the major matters and important work related to national security. After the establishment of the Central National Security Commission, it adhered to the overall leadership of the Party, initially established the main framework of the national security system in accordance with the requirements of the overall national security concept, formed the theoretical system of national security, improved the national security strategy system, established the coordination mechanism of national security work, solved many long-standing problems, and finished many events they had wanted to do but failed to do in the past. National security work has been strengthened in an all-round way, and the overall initiative to safeguard national security has been firmly grasped. Since 2014, the Counterespionage Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Counterterrorism Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in the Mainland of China, the Cyber security Law of the People’s

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Republic of China, the National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China, and other national security-related laws have been successively promulgated, and China’s national security legal system has been initially formed.

4 National Security Task The security in the overall national security concept includes 12 aspects: political security, homeland security, military security, economic security, cultural security, social security, scientific and technological security, network security, ecological security, resource security, nuclear security, and overseas interest security. Political security is the foundation of national security, and it occupies the core position and the highest level in the national security system. Political security refers to a state in which state sovereignty, political power, political system, and ideology are protected from all kinds of threats and hazards. The core of political security is the security of political power and the system. The most important thing is to safeguard the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the authority of the Party Central Committee, centralized and unified leadership, and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. Political security consists of three parts: national political thought security, national political system security, and national political activity security. Whether a country’s political system is in a state of security can usually be measured from the following aspects: independent national sovereignty, stable political power, prominent mainstream ideology, proper political system, consolidated position of the ruling party, and good political order. The political security of our country covers the concrete contents of state sovereignty, homeland security, national unity, and so on. The criterion of political security is to adhere to the nature of the people’s democratic dictatorship and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and to adhere to the dominant position of Marxist ideology, that is, to ensure the absolute consolidation of the leadership and ruling position of the Communist Party of China. Homeland security is the fundamental interest of the state. The supremacy of national interests is the criterion of national security. To safeguard national security is mainly to safeguard national interests, especially core interests, and to ensure the integrity of national territory and sovereignty. The Chinese people love peace and adhere to the path of peaceful development, but they must never give up their legitimate rights and interests and must never sacrifice the core interests of the state. No one, no organization, and no political party shall be allowed to separate any piece of Chinese territory from China at any time and in any form, and no one should expect us to swallow the bitter fruit caused by damaging China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests. We firmly oppose the “Taiwan independence” secessionist forces and have a firm will, full confidence and sufficient capacity to defeat any form of “Taiwan independence” secessionist plot. Any activity that endangers the security of China’s sovereignty challenges the authority of the central power and the basic law of the special administrative region and uses Hong Kong to infiltrate and destroy the mainland. This is a touch to the bottom line, which is not allowed. We

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should improve our ability to safeguard maritime rights, resolutely safeguard China’s maritime rights and interests, and build a strong maritime country. Military security is the military guarantee or force guarantee of national security. National defense and army construction are the strong backings of national security. It is a strategic task for China’s modernization drive to build a solid national defense and a strong military that is commensurate with China’s international status and in line with its national security and development interests. We must uphold the Party’s absolute leadership over the people’s armed forces, firmly grasp the Party’s goal of strengthening the armed forces under the new circumstances, and strive to build a people’s army that is under the direction of the Party, capable of winning battles and has a fine style of work. We should adhere to the unity of enriching the country and building a strong military, accelerate the formation of a deep development pattern of the integration of military and civilian forces with full elements, multi-fields, and high efficiency, and gradually construct national strategic system and capability of the integration of military and civilian forces, so as to provide strong impetus and strategic support for the realization of the dream of China and the dream of strong armed forces. Economic security is characterized by the stability of the national basic economic system and the orderly operation of the socialist market economy, the safety of important industries and key fields, key industries, major infrastructure and major construction projects, and other economic interests closely related to the lifeblood of the national economy. In the face of the development pattern in which China’s economic development is entering the new normal, the world’s economic development is entering the transition period, the world’s scientific and technological development is brewing a new breakthrough, we must adhere to taking economic construction as the center, adhere to leading economic development as the new normal with the new development concept, accelerate the transformation of the economic development mode, adjust the economic development structure, improve the quality and efficiency of development, and focus on promoting supply side structural reform, and promote the more efficient, quality, fair, and sustainable development of the economy. In the financial market system, economic security is important to prevent and resolve systemic and regional financial risks and resist the impact of external financial risks. With the development of Internet technology, the importance of network and information security has suddenly risen. It interweaves with many fields of national security, such as political security, economic security, and social security, forming more complex factors that threaten national security. The essence of cultural security is the maintenance and continuation of a country’s cultural tradition, and the substance is the maintenance and continuation of a country’s social characteristics. National cultural security is not only the organic composition of overall national security but also related to the value orientation, internal and external images, and lifestyle of the country. It is also the spiritual guidance of the overall national security, affecting the effectiveness of other security guarantees and showing the strategic position of permeability and the overall situation. The key to cultural security lies in strengthening the Party’s leadership over ideological work and strengthening the leading power and discourse power in the ideological

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field. We should consolidate the guiding position of Marxism in the ideological field and consolidate the common ideological basis of the unity and struggle of the whole Party and the people. We should vigorously cultivate and promote the socialist core value system and core values and accelerate the construction of a value system that fully reflects Chinese characteristics, national characteristics, and the characteristics of the times. We must maintain the advanced nature of our culture and continue to inherit and innovate China’s excellent traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and socialist advanced culture. Social security is generally understood as a comprehensive indicator reflecting public security, traffic safety, life safety, and production safety. Social security problems in the national security system not only refer to the harmony and stability of the society itself but also include the social factors affecting and endangering national security and the social security of national security. The degree of social security generally depends on the degree of social development and social equity of a country. To safeguard national security, we must do a good job in maintaining social harmony and stability, and do a good job in preventing and resolving social contradictions. We should put the maintenance of public security in the maintenance of the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people, and strive to weave a comprehensive and three-dimensional public safety net for the people to live and work in peace and contentment, for social stability and order, and for the long-term stability of the country. We should deepen the comprehensive management of public security, improve the three-dimensional prevention and control system of social security, curb the high incidence of serious crimes, resolutely crack down on violent terrorist activities and ensure the safety of people’s lives and property. We must always pay the most attention to the safety of people’s lives, firmly establish the concept of safe development, comprehensively improve the comprehensive prevention ability to prevent natural disasters, and ensure the people’s “safety on the tip of the tongue” with the most rigorous standards, the most strict supervision, the most severe punishment and the most serious accountability. Scientific and technological security is a kind of security situation of national science and technology development. The scientific and technological security situation of a country embodies four aspects of national abilities: First, the ability to protect national interests from the threat of foreign technological advantages and the threat of hostile and destructive forces by technological means. Second, the ability to protect national interests from the negative impact of scientific and technological development itself. Third, the state’s ability to safeguard national security through scientific and technological means. Fourth, the ability of a country to ensure the healthy development of science and technology and to rely on science and technology to improve its comprehensive national strength in the international and domestic environment. High-end technology is a modern sharp national weapon. Internationally, without the advantage of core technology, there is no political strength. As strategic support for national security, scientific and technological innovation must be placed at the core of national security development. Only by holding core technology in one’s own hands can we truly grasp the initiative of competition and development and fundamentally guarantee national economic security, national defense security, and other

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security. The importance of information-based core technologies and information infrastructure, such as computer operating systems, is obvious. We must solve the problem of being controlled by people in some key technologies and equipment as early as possible to provide a strong guarantee for ensuring information security and national security. Network security has become the strategic cornerstone of national security in the information age. Without network security, there will be no national security, there will be no stable operation of the economy and society, and the interests of the masses will not be guaranteed. Network and information security are the new comprehensive challenges we are facing. We should set up a correct view of network security, strengthen the network security protection of information infrastructure, strengthen the network security information coordination mechanism, means and platform construction, strengthen the construction of emergency command capacity for network security events, actively develop the network security industry, and make it possible to move forward and prevent accidents in advance. We should insist on managing the network according to law, running the network according to law, surfing the Internet according to law, making the Internet run healthily on track of the rule of law, and building a clear and positive network space. We should justly safeguard China’s network sovereignty and political security, establish a multilateral, democratic and transparent global Internet governance system, and build a destiny community of cyberspace. Ecological security means that the ecological environment needed for the survival and development of a country is in a state without destruction and threat. Once the ecological environment is destroyed, it will not only affect the development of the economy and society but also directly threaten the basic living conditions of human beings. A good ecological environment is the basic foundation of the sustainable development of humans and society. In recent years, the problems of the ecological environment, such as haze, biological invasion, destruction of forest resources, and water or soil pollution, have gradually increased into ecological security problems. If the ecological environment is not protected and restored in time, the ecosystem will face irreversible structural deterioration and functional degradation, thus threatening national security. We should focus on solving outstanding problems, such as atmospheric, water, and soil pollution, which are strongly reflected by the masses of the people, and strengthen the comprehensive governance of environmental pollution. We must adhere to the basic state policy of saving resources and protecting the environment, firmly follow the civilized development path with developing production, rich life and good ecology, build a beautiful China, and make new contributions to global ecological security. Resource security is the state in which a country or region can continuously, stably, timely, adequately, and economically acquire the natural resources it needs. Resource security plays a fundamental role in national security. Resources are the source of property and wealth and are an indispensable natural material for human existence and development. Resource security can be divided into strategic resource security and nonstrategic resource security; it can also be divided into water resource security, energy resource security (including oil security), land resource security

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(including cultivated land resource security), mineral resource security (including strategic mineral resource security), biological resource security (including genetic resource security), marine resource security, environmental resource security, and so on. Eco-environmental problems, in the final analysis, are caused by overexploitation, extensive utilization, and extravagant consumption of resources. To promote industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization, we must establish the principle of coordination between population and resources, and the environment. We should set up a resource concept of economy, intensive and cyclic utilization, implement the strictest cultivated land protection and water resources management system, strengthen the dual-control management of the total amount and intensity of energy, water resources and lands used for construction, and pay more attention to the efficiency of resource utilization. We should accelerate the establishment of the legal system and policy orientation for green production and consumption and establish and perfect an economic system with green, low-carbon, and circular development. Nuclear security is a serious global challenge. The development and utilization of nuclear energy has brought new impetus to human development. At the same time, nuclear energy development is accompanied by nuclear safety risks and challenges. Although strengthening nuclear security has become the consensus of the international community, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, confrontation among states with nuclear weapons, and the nuclear arms race still exist. Nuclear materials and nuclear facilities worldwide have risks of nuclear contamination, leakage, and even nuclear attack caused by nuclear accidents and nuclear crimes. Article 31 of the State Security Law of the People’s Republic of China stipulates: “The State adheres to the peaceful use of nuclear energy and nuclear technology, strengthens international cooperation, prevents nuclear proliferation, improves the anti-proliferation mechanism, strengthens the safety management, supervision and protection of nuclear facilities, nuclear materials, nuclear activities and the disposal of nuclear waste, strengthens the construction of emergency systems and emergency capabilities for nuclear accidents, prevents, controls, and eliminates the harm of nuclear accidents to the health of citizens’ lives and the ecological environment, and continuously enhances the ability to effectively respond to and prevent nuclear threats and attacks“. Nuclear security is a global issue, and nuclear terrorism is the public enemy of all mankind. To make better use of nuclear energy for greater development, mankind must deal with all kinds of nuclear security challenges well and safeguard the safety of nuclear materials and nuclear facilities. We must adhere to a rational, coordinated and hand-in-hand view of nuclear security, attach equal importance to development and security, rights and obligations, autonomy and cooperation, treat symptoms and root causes, and put the process of nuclear security on the track of healthy and sustainable development. Overseas interest security is an inevitable requirement of opening to the outside world. With the all-round progress of opening-up to the outside world, especially the accelerated implementation of the “Belt and Road” construction, the security of overseas interests is increasingly related to China’s overall development interests and national security. Safeguarding the security of overseas interests has become an important task. Accelerating the pace of going abroad is the general trend. We should

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step up research, increase investment, strengthen prevention, gradually improve the capability and level of overseas security guarantees, protect the safety of our citizens and legal persons overseas, and protect our overseas financial, oil, mineral, sea transportation, and other commercial interests. We should adhere to coordination and linkage, build an open and win-win cooperation model, share opportunities and benefits in opening-up and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. The national security mission proposed by the overall security concept is very extensive and covers all aspects of the above twelve key areas as well as the four new fields of space, deep sea, polar region, and biology. It is the basic principle of improving the national security system, strengthening national security capacity construction, and promoting national security in the new era as a whole. It is also a major task of strengthening and innovating social governance and promoting the modernization of social governance under new historical conditions. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Explain the following concepts: national security, national security concept. Describe the main contents of the overall national security concept. Describe the status and role of the Central National Security Council. Why should we attach importance to the security of overseas interests? Discuss the relationship between social governance and national security with reference to reality.

References CCCPC Party Literature Research Office (2018) Excerpt of Xi Jinping’s discussion on overall national security concept [M]. Central Party Literature Press, Beijing Li P (2017) Social governance under the guidance of overall national security concept [J]. Soc Govern 2017(5) Liu Y (2017) To construct the national security overall layout with the overall national security concept [J]. People’s Tribune 2017(34) Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (2016) Series of important speeches of secretary general Xi Jinping reading series (2016 Edition) [M]. Learning Press, People’s Publishing House, Beijing Yan W (2018) A powerful ideological weapon for guiding national security work in the new era— studying excerpt of Xi Jinping’s discussion on overall national security concept [N]. People’s Daily, 2018-05-04

Field of Social Governance in China Liqun Wei

Overview This chapter mainly explains the connotations, characteristics, developing veins, and inner mechanisms of the five fields of governance, namely the family, community, countryside, city, and network society, and analyzes the main problems and developing trends these are facing. Through the study of this chapter, readers can understand the important role and basic theoretical knowledge of the main field of Chinese social governance.

1 Family Governance “The root of the world is in the country and the root of the country is in the home”.1 The family is the basic unit of society and assumes the most basic social organization function of the country. Family order is also an important cornerstone and guarantee of the state order, and family governance is the foundation of promoting modern social governance. If the family is orderly, the country is stable; if the family is harmonious, the country is prosperous.

1 Translated

and annotated by Wan Lihua and Lan Xu: Mencius, pp. 144, Beijing, CHUNG HWA BOOK CO., 2006. L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_9

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1.1 The Connotation and Significance of Family Governance (I)

The view of family governance in traditional culture.

There are some related concepts of family governance in traditional Chinese culture, such as “making the family in good order”, “governing the family”, and “normalizing family relations”. Among them is The Book of Rites • The Great Learning, which puts forward, “If you want to manage your country well, you must first manage your family well; if you want to manage your family well, you must first cultivate your own character; if you want to cultivate your own character, you must first correct your mind; if you want to correct your mind, you must first make your mind sincere; If you want to make your mind sincere, you need to get knowledge first, and the way to get knowledge is studying everything”. The main idea of this passage is to manage the country well; by so doing, we must first manage the family affairs well and make the family members work together and get along well with each other. To manage the family well, the core content is self-cultivation, that is, to train the family members to become people with good character. But how can we become people with good character? This is done by straightening our hearts and making our minds sincere. To this end, we must acquire knowledge, that is, to explore the development law of things. This passage points out the important content of ancient family governance, which leads family members to explore and acquire knowledge to correct their hearts and treat people honestly and then become people with good moral character. The meanings of “governing family” and “normalizing family relations” are similar to that of “putting the family in good order”, but there are some differences. There were many family rules in the history of our country. For example, the core of Yan’s family rule is to discuss the way and the method of governing the family, that is, to restrict and cultivate the good characters and behavior of family members according to the family rules. Again, it was recorded in The Book of Changes • Family Members: “In a family, women are in the right place in the home, men are in the right place outside the home; both men and women are in right places, which is in line with the great principle of heaven and earth and Yin and Yang. The strict monarch of a family refers to the parents. If the father, the son, the elder brother, the younger brother, the husband and the wife can do their own duties, the family tradition will be correct, and then the country can be stable”. The “normalizing family relations” here refers to family governance, which emphasizes hierarchy in family relations. Straightening out the positions of family members, the family order will be normal. The stability of families is the foundation of the stability of countries and social governance. Family governance is an important way to realize traditional social governance. In the political ecology of the same structure of country and family in ancient China, the family not only assumed the basic functions of social reproduction and population

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reproduction but also was a political unit at the grassroots level and assumed important political functions.2 The Book of Rites • The Great Learning points out that “In ancient times, those who wanted to carry forward the moral integrity in the country must first manage their own countries well; to manage their own countries well, they must first manage their own families well; to manage their own families well, they must first cultivate their own characters”. There is a coherent logical connection from personal self-cultivation to family governance and then to govern the country and the world. Ancient family governance included a wide range of contents, such as inspiration, self-cultivation, encouragement of learning, virtue, family management, social life, making friends, etc. Among them, self-cultivation and virtue mainly refer to the formation and shaping of an individual’s moral cultivation, which requires family members to “be reasonable and be a man”. “Be reasonable” is to understand the principles of ethics and social life. “To be a man” is to be a virtuous person who observes moral norms, shows filial obedience, knows shame, and abides by the law. The cultivation and shaping of morality become the core and tenet of family governance. (II)

Connotation of family governance in modern society.

Family governance is an important cornerstone of modern social governance. Society is composed of each family member, who is not only the main body of family governance but also the participating force of social governance. The family is the original place of individual socialization, especially moral socialization. The family is very important to the formation and development of human moral character. It is through the cultivation of family members’ moral character and behavior habits that the family realizes social governance by constantly transforming social requirements into family requirements. The main features of modern society include democratization, rationalization, legalization, and informationization, while modern social governance is mainly embodied in democratic governance, ethical governance, legal governance, and information governance (see Footnote 2). Among them, ethical governance is mainly realized by families, which are important educational carriers. The so-called ethics refers to the moral norms and behavior norms for people to get along with each other, in which the original meaning of “Lun” is “generation”, and the extended meaning includes category, order, and so on, and the so-called “Li” has the meaning of “reason”, “norm”, and “morality”. Therefore, the combination of the two words refers to the norms of behavior and morality that regulate human relations.3 Among them, Wulun refers to five kinds of human relations and rules of speech and behavior in ancient China. These five kinds of human relations are monarch and minister, father and son, elder brother and younger brother, husband and wife, friend and friend. Among these five kinds of human relations and corresponding codes of conduct, there are three kinds of ethical relations within the family, which are the category of family ethics education. We still need to deal with these ethical 2

Nan Gang: Family Governance: An Important Basis of Modern Social Governance, in Journal of China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, 2015(3). 3 Hou Daojuan: Research on the Importance of Family Ethics Education, in Youthful Days, 2012(6).

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relationships in modern society. In modern society, it is still necessary to address the relationship between parents and children; children should be filial to their parents, and parents should raise and educate their children. In terms of the relationship of brothers and sisters, they should love each other. Husbands and wives should understand and tolerate each other. Two kinds of social relations still exist in modern society: the relationship between superiors and subordinates at work, which also needs obedience and loyalty, and the relationship among friends, which needs honesty and kindness. Democratic governance, rule of law, and information governance in social governance also need to rely on family governance to educate family members so that they can become social citizens who abide by democracy and law, exercise democratic rights, and master modern knowledge and information. Family is the basic unit and microcosm of a society. The moral level of family members is the main achievement embodiment of family governance. Only by improving the moral level of social members we can better promote the orderly and effective conduct of social governance and raise the level and degree of social governance as a whole.

1.2 Changes in Family Structure and Family Function in China (I)

Changes and development trend of family structure.

1.

The family and its structure.

Family is a social life organization established by marriage, consanguinity, or adoption and is the closest group. Family structure is the basis of family organization. From a static point of view, it refers to the combination of family members and the internal structure of the family, including the number of members in a family, number of couples, and number of generations.4 From a dynamic point of view, family structure refers to the composition of family members, the state in which they interact and influence each other, and the relatively stable relationship pattern formed by this state.5 2.

Type of family.

The family structures are mainly of following types: the core families, that is, the families composed of parents and unmarried children; the main families, that is, the families composed of parents and one pair of married children; the united families, that is, the families composed of parents and two or more pairs of married children, or 4

Sun Liyan: The Changes of Family Structure and Its Social Function in China at the End of the 20th Century, in Northwest Population, 2004(5). 5 He Yun: Analysis of the Rural Family Structure and Its Impact on Old-age Security, in Social Security Research, 2011(1).

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the families without family division after the marriage of brothers and sisters. In addition to the above types, there are other types of families, including next-generation families, which consist of two generations of grandchildren and grandparents, and single-parent families, which are families without fathers or mothers due to the loss of spouses or divorces and other reasons in core families. In addition, there are single families, the double income no kids (family of a couple without children), gay families, families bereft of their only child (the family in which an elderly couple lost their only child), the empty-nest family (the family in which the children are away from their parents), and so on. The traditional family structure patterns mainly include core families, single families, main families, and united families. The main families and united families are extended families. 3.

Changes in family structure.

First, family size tends to be small. The gradual reduction of family size is the most obvious characteristic of the family structure in our modern society. China has always favored large families with multiple children, but since the twentieth century, with the development of modernization, especially since the implementation of the family planning policy in the 1970s, the size of the family has been decreasing. The specific characteristics are as follows: the number of family populations is decreasing, the proportion of multigeneration families in the family structure is decreasing, and the proportion of double income no kids, single families, and single-parent families is increasing. Second, the number of generations of families decreased. The reduction of family size is the result of the change of family pattern and directly affects the family pattern. Over the past century, the number of two-generation households in China has risen rapidly, accounting for approximately two-thirds of all households and becoming the main family pattern. This is after a large increase in the proportion of onegeneration households, and it has remained basically unchanged in recent decades. The proportion of three-generation households has decreased, and multigeneration households account for approximately one-fifth of all households. Third, core families are dominant, and the other types of families are gradually increasing. From 1982 to 2000, China’s family form was very stable: the core families always accounted for approximately two-thirds of the total families, the main families and united families accounted for approximately one-fifth, the single families accounted for less than one-tenth, and other types of families accounted for less than 1% of the total families. Over the past 20 years, with the increase in population mobility in China, the number of next-generation families in which grandparents raise and care for their grandchildren due to their parents going out to work and the number of empty-nest families consisting of one pair of middle-aged or elderly couples due to their children going out to work or study have increased year by year. Due to the increasing divorce rate, the proportion of single-parent families has gradually increased, especially with the enhancement of young people’s consciousness of independence. Changes in the marriage concept, unmarried rate, and late marriage rate have increased, and the proportion of single families has also increased in recent years. Overall, the proportion of core families in the total number of families in

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the country has declined slightly, but it is still dominant; the proportion of nextgeneration families, single families, empty-nest families, single-parent families, and so on had an increasing trend. (II) 1.

Changes and development trend of family functions. Family functions.

It is generally believed that there are six aspects of family function: First, the economic production function, that is, the production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of the family as a unit; second, the reproductive function, that is, the population reproduction function of the family; third, the educational function, that is, the family is the original place for individuals to be socialized and educated, the educational function of the family is mainly the function of parents to educate and socialize their children; fourth, the function of emotional communication and companionship; fifth is the supporting function, that is, the function of adult children to care for, accompany, and support their parents; sixth is the function of sexual life, which is the biological basis of the marriage in the family. Society regulates sexual life through certain laws and morals and makes the family a basic unit to meet the needs of both sexes. Some scholars also generalize the basic functions of the family as follows: production function, consumption function, population reproduction function, raising children and supporting the elderly, and meeting the physiological and psychological needs of family members.6 2.

Changes in family function.

With the changes of family structure and society in China, the family function in China has changed obviously, which has the characteristics of modern Chinese society. The family function of our country is influenced by social development and individual values, including the views of marriage, procreation, and education. Some family functions have been weakened and atrophied, and some family functions have been strengthened. First, the change is of a family reproductive function. Family is the place where human beings give birth and reproduce, which is the most basic function of the Chinese family. After the implementation of China’s family planning policy, the number of children born to families has been greatly reduced, and the fertility rate has been reduced. In October 2015, the implementation of the policy of “opening up the second child in an all-round way” strengthened the reproductive function of Chinese families to a certain extent, and the number of families having a “second child” gradually increased. In addition, the reproductive function of the family is also influenced by individual views of marriage and reproduction. Since 1987, China’s marriage rate has continued to decline, and the proportion of singletons has increased, which has weakened the family’s reproductive function to a large extent. 6

Tang Can: The Changes of Family Structure and Function in China’s Urban and Rural Society, in Zhejiang Academic Journal, 2005(2).

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Second, the function of family education has been further enhanced. Family education refers to the self-consciousness and conscious activities with educational influence that parents and other elders exert on their children in their family life.7 Family education is the starting point and foundation of individual healthy development and an important part of national education. With the vicissitude of the times, the family education of our country has also changed to some extent, showing problems such as attaching importance to intelligence education and academic achievement, a high proportion of family education investment, prominent parent-child communication problems, obvious parent-child conflict, and the lack of fathers in family education. From the development trend of family education in our country, first, moral education is concerned. The educationist Mr. Tao Xingzhi said, “Moral education is the root to be a man”. “Without morality, the more one becomes learned, the more likely he is to do evil”. An investigation into the situation of family education in China shows that an increasing number of parents begin to pay attention to teaching their children how to deal with others, respect others, and be honest and trustworthy. Second, emotional education has become a hot topic. With the acceleration of modernization, the content of family education has been expanded. In addition to the traditional content of family education, parents pay increasing attention to children’s emotional education and pay more attention to children’s social development so that children learn to love themselves, love others, and better adapt to social life. Finally, sex education is valued in family education. In traditional Chinese family education, sexual issues were avoided. Some studies have found that parents are no longer “nervous when talking about sex”, and generally, their concepts and attitudes of sex education tend to be clear. Most parents in the city can directly give their children scientific answers when they ask questions about sex and guide them to understand this issue through healthy approaches (e.g., reading popular science books) or openly discuss the issue with them. On the whole, under the background of increasingly fierce social competition and the implementation of the one-child policy, China’s contemporary families continue the tradition to attach importance to family education, families’ expenditure and investment in education are increasing, and the educational function of families is further strengthened. Third, the supporting function of the family has shrunk. Traditional Chinese culture attached great importance to children’s filial piety and support to their parents. Therefore, Chinese families have always attached great importance to the care and support of parents. It is an important task for families to help elderly individuals who are old and disabled enjoy their old age. However, the acceleration and intensification of social aging and the miniaturization of family size directly impacted the family’s old-age care function, which made the family’s daily care ability decrease, the emotional comfort function weaken, and the economic support focus change. The family’s old-age care function shrinks sharply. The way for the aged in China 7

Hu Ying, Shang Hong. On the Function, Characteristics and Basic Requirements of Family Education, in Journal of Southwest Agricultural University (Social Sciences Edition), 2007(1).

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is to rely entirely on their children or other family members for support, which is becoming increasingly unrealistic.8 The family is an important source and pillar to provide support and care for the elderly, and family old-age care is the traditional old-age care mode in our country. Among the current old-age care models, whether in institutional old-age care, community old-age care, or home-based old-age care, family members play an irreplaceable role in meeting the needs of the elderly in terms of financial support, life care, and spiritual comfort. Due to the different economic sources of old-age care, there are differences in the old-age care patterns in rural and urban areas in China. The rural old-age care mode mainly includes the old man’s self-support, the son’s old-age care, the children’s common old-age care, the land old-age care, etc. The family old-age care model with children as the core still plays an important role. It has been found that in recent years, the supporting role of daughters in the rural family’s old-age care has been increasing, and the son’s support, care, and comfort to his parents have been reduced.9 The old-age care model of rural families has changed from the traditional model with sons as the core to the new model with sons and daughters as the core.10 The old-age care model of the urban family mainly includes the old people’s self-support, the children and other family members’ support for the old people, and the home-based old-age care model with the community providing the old-age service. Self-support of the old means that when the old is in good health and have enough pension, they depend on themselves or their spouse to support themselves, and do not need their children to provide financial support and life care. The traditional family old-age care model, that is, children and other family members live with their parents, provides financial support, life care, and spiritual comfort for the elderly. Home-based old-age care is an organic combination of family old-age care and social old-age care. Care is borne by the community, spiritual old-age care is borne by the family, and material old-age care is shared by the state collectively and the family.

1.3 Family Tradition Construction and Family Governance (I)

Connotation of family tradition construction.

Family tradition, which is inherited from many generations of a family, is a specific cultural style that reflects the spiritual outlook, moral quality, aesthetic style, and overall temperament of family members. Family tradition construction is a beneficial supplement and a powerful driving force for the modernization of national 8

Yang Juhua, He Zhaohua, Changes and Continues of the Family in the Process of Social Transformation, in Population and Society, 2014(2). 9 He Xuefeng. Changes in the Intergenerational Relationship of Rural Families and Their Effects, in Jianghai Academic Journal, 2008(4). 10 Zhu Mingbao, Yang Yunyan. The Changes of Rural Family Pension Model and the Strengthening of Low Fertility Level, in Chinese Journal of Population Science, 2016(3).

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governance ability with the contents of national moral construction, rule of law construction, and political construction. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) puts forward: “Adhere to the action of the whole people, and with the cadres taking the leading role, start from families and children. It not only inherited the traditional idea of putting the family in good order and governing the country but also innovatively expanded the concept and ideological connotation of governing a country”. The family tradition construction in modern society stimulates the functions of moral education, specification and restriction, and public spirit cultivation of families through family education and family governance. Therefore, the family tradition construction has the moral connotation, the rule connotation, and the public connotation.11 1.

Moral connotation of family tradition construction.

In essence, the construction of the family tradition belongs to the category of moral construction. Regardless of whether it is a traditional society or modern society, the construction of a family tradition includes the specific morality advocated by their respective times. The family plays a basic role in the cultivation and practice of social ethical concepts, and social moral norms are often inherited through the family carrier. The construction of the family tradition in ancient society paid attention to the moral cultivation of family members with close relationships; that is, personal ethics such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith played an important promoting role in regulating the relationship of family members and the relationship between family members and society. The moral content of modern family tradition construction has been endowed with new meanings. In addition to those private virtues in ancient society, social morality is also valued and advocated by the state and society. Social morality emphasizes a kind of selfless dedication, the care to others who are not related, and the feeling for the state’s public affairs. 2.

The rule connotation of family tradition construction.

The construction of the family tradition not only pays attention to the moral content of flexibility and sensibility but also contains the constraint elements of rigidity and rationality. Chinese traditional society was a society of propriety and law, and its family tradition construction attached great importance to the role of the informal system of “propriety” in the formation of social order. For example, “Without learning propriety, you can’t stay in the society”, “you can’t see, listen, speak and move things that don’t conform to the rules of etiquette” and other ethical contents all contain strong constraints, as well as the binding force of family discipline, family rules, and family law. In addition, family tradition construction also emphasizes the “rule consciousness” and “boundary consciousness” among family members. The cultural value of 11

Wang Shuqin, The Construction of Family Tradition: The Beneficial Nutrition of the Modernization of National Governance Ability, in Journal of North University of China (Social Science Edition), 2017(2).

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rule of law and rule of law society to be constructed in our country is to make people’s social relations “clear and reasonable”. This is not only conducive to the building of a harmonious family but also conducive to the building of a harmonious society. 3.

The public connotation of family tradition construction.

Family is not only the first place to cultivate moral norms but also an important place to cultivate public thinking and public spirit. The family tradition construction of the traditional society mainly conveyed the family relations within the small community with filial piety as the main factor, which belongs to the scope of “private field”. Because of the openness and fluidity of modern society, the social public life field that people enter is a “public field”, which requires them to enjoy both social and political rights as well as to fulfill their social obligations, so it is necessary to deal with the relationship between “the public and the private” and make their own civil characters. The public connotation in the construction of the family tradition includes the following: first, family members pay attention to their rights to avoid being infringed on illegally by other external forces. At the same time, they have a strong sense of public concern for public affairs involving the interests of other members of society and pay attention to the distribution or enjoyment of public interests; second, family members pay attention to the living conditions of socially vulnerable groups and pay attention to the future development of the most disadvantaged in society. They are keen to engage in public welfare and charity work, set up the spirit of voluntary dedication, practice “the world is the public”, and establish the concept of shared development. Family tradition is a family’s traditional customs. It plays a role in maintaining the operation of the family in spirit and embodies the national culture in the family. A series of important expositions of Xi Jinping on the construction of family tradition constitute his thought of family tradition. This is not only a scientific summary of the historical experience of the revolutionary construction of the Communist Party of China but also a profound reflection on the practical problems of the current anti-corruption. It reflected the overall and systematic planning of the Party Central Committee’s thought of governing the country, reflected the political logic and the ruling idea of governing the Party fully and strictly, and innovated the era connotation of the construction of family tradition.12 (II)

Ideological connotation of Xi Jinping’s family tradition construction.

First, family tradition is an important basis for social harmony. At the 2015 Spring Festival reunion, Xi Jinping stressed that the family is the basic cell of society and the first school of life. Regardless of how much the time changes and regardless of how much the life pattern changes, we should attach importance to the family construction, pay attention to the family, family education, family tradition, and make millions of families the important base point of national development, national progress, and social harmony. 12

Lu Wenjuan, An Analysis of Xi Jinping’s Idea of Family Tradition Construction, in Gansu Theory Research, 2017(6).

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Good family tradition has a subtle effect on the growth of family members. To create a clean and positive social environment, the role of the good family tradition cannot be ignored. It fully embodies the concept of mutual penetration and integration of family tradition, party conduct, and government style, which is the ultimate value pursuit of family tradition construction. Second, family tradition is the direct embodiment of core values. In a collective conversation with members of one new leadership team of the All-China Women’s Federation in 2018, Xi Jinping stressed that family tradition was the spiritual core of a family and the epitome of the value of a society. Good family tradition and family virtues are the direct embodiment of socialist core values in real life. This is a profound understanding of the relationship between family tradition and socialist core values. Family tradition, as the cell of the social atmosphere, is not only a cohesive civilization but also the source of the growth of one’s spirit and character, which has an irreplaceable natural advantage in cultivating and practicing the core values of socialism. Third, family tradition is an important manifestation of leading cadres’ style. Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that the family tradition of leading cadres is not a matter of personal affairs or family affairs but an important manifestation of the style of leading cadres. At the sixth plenary session of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Xi pointed out in particular: from the corruption cases investigated and dealt with in recent years, the bad family tradition is often the main reason for leading cadres to make serious violation of laws and regulations. When meeting with the first national representative of civilized families, Xi pointed out that the family tradition of leading cadres was related not only to their own families but also to Party conduct and government style. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), one of the best features of governing the Party fully and strictly is to take the construction of family tradition as an important content of the construction of leading cadres’ style. Its logical starting point is family tradition; although it comes from the family and is based on the family, it has an important impact on the moral standard and value orientation of the leading cadres of Party members. A good family tradition not only promotes the self-cultivation of leading cadres but also adds a “firewall” to the clean governance of leading cadres, thus forming a spiritual force with strong appeal. These discourses embody the idea of governing officials before running a country. The purpose is to cultivate the family tradition, strengthen self-cultivation, and be honest in politics under the guidance of this idea. Every leading cadre of Party member must take the necessary course of improving the family tradition and then improve the style of work.

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2 Community Governance 2.1 Community and Community Governance (I)

Definition of community.

The concept of community came into being in the turning period of capitalist society in the late nineteenth century. After 1870, with the rapid development of science and technology and industrial and agricultural production, the social and economic structure and social power pattern of the major capitalist countries in Europe and the United States changed greatly, and the definition of community changed accordingly. The concept and meaning of community were not the same in society, and here are the following three meanings. The first is society as a “community”, which emphasizes the difference between value orientation and social value orientation. The basic elements of the community included the homogeneous population, the common value orientation, the mutual-aid interpersonal relationship structure, and the “predetermined” nonselectivity of the plus group. The second is that regional elements were added to the meaning of “community” of communities as social integrations, and they were raised to the height of necessary elements of the communities so that the community had the function of social integration, which thought that “community refers to the movement of things around a group of people organized by daily communication in a geographical area”.13 The third is that the community, as the grassroots social governance unit, is the unit of action of community residents, the unit to carry out social work with theory, and the starting point of social governance. With the rise of social work, social management, social governance, and other applied studies, the community is not only the unit of applied research but also a place of practice and a starting point of social governance. In addition to the previous perspectives, there are also national administrative unit, grassroots organizations, and social governance unit perspectives. In summary, the three basic elements of community definition include crowd, region, and the “common style” relationship among people. With the application of social research theory and achievement, the connotation of the community has increased the meanings of regional organizations, social units, social governance fields, and so on. According to different standards, communities can be divided into different types. Generally, it can be divided into geographical communities, industry communities, interest communities, virtual communities, and so on. The geographical community refers to the geographical division of communities, which can roughly divide communities into urban communities and rural communities. Industry community refers to the communities formed according to the occupation and different jobs, such as unit system community, commercial community, agricultural community, the student community of university city, and so on. Interest community refers to the communities formed according to the interests of the residents, including the “painter 13

American sociologist Daeron Popenoe’s definition in his book Sociology.

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village” formed by the artists and studio living together, and the “rock community” where the rock musicians live together. A virtual community refers to a community that has no actual geographical boundary and relies on some kind of carrier (network, organization, etc.), such as network forums, WeChat circles of friends, mutual help groups of patients, etc. At present, the community “without region” tendency is obvious, which has become the community’s development trend. (II)

Functions of the community.

The community has a variety of functions, mainly including the following functions. First, the function of socialization. Socialization involves the two aspects of society and individuals. From the social perspective, socialization is the process in which society civilizes the individual, and from the individual perspective, socialization is the process in which the individual interacts with other members of society and becomes a qualified member of society. Socialization can be divided into early socialization (childhood and adolescence), continuing socialization (adulthood), and resocialization (social education of the next generation). Community is an important field of socialization that provides the interactive place, interpersonal relationship, social knowledge, and values that community members need to become members of society. Second, social services and social governance function. The most prominent function of community with the meaning of “community” is the sharing and cogovernance of community residents under the same value standard. With the development of modern industrial society, the community has become the grassroots unit of society and has become the basic place for the government, social organizations, and individuals to carry out social services. Taking the community as a unit, using various resources to carry out services has become an important function of the community. At the same time, as a grassroots organization, the community can not only be used by the government to provide social security and social welfare to community residents, organize related activities, integrate relevant forces, and implement relevant policies but also be used by social organizations to provide community services to community residents. In addition, there are individuals who carry out voluntary activities with the community as a unit. A variety of forces converge in the community, making the community’s co-governance and sharing function increasingly prominent. Third, social participation and social organization function. Social participation refers to the participation, intervention, and involvement of social members in national political life, economic life, social life, cultural life, and community public affairs in a certain way to affect social development. Social residents take the community as the unit to participate in all aspects of national and social life to realize the unity of their rights and obligations. In addition, the community is also an important social grassroots unit. It is the grassroots unit to elect, organize activities, transmit and implement social security and welfare, and has important social organization functions. Finally, social control and social support functions. Social control refers to the process of using social norms to restrict the social behavior of its members. The broad

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sense of social control refers to the control of all social behavior; social control in a narrow sense especially refers to the control over deviant behavior. It can coordinate the relationship between each system of social operation, revise its running track, control its running direction and running speed, make its functions coupled with its structures coordinating and supporting each other. It can also try to make all social operation systems synchronous with the same frequency and promote the benign operation and harmonious development of society. Therefore, as the most basic social unit, the community realizes its social control function mainly through community correction. At the same time, communities are also one of the main bodies of social support network construction. It constructs a social support network for residents through policy assistance and neighborhood mutual assistance and links social resources provided by community grassroots organizations. (III)

Connotation of community governance.

Community governance in China refers to the process and mechanism to meet community needs and optimize community order, which is based on public interests and developed by party organizations, governments, community organizations, residents and units under the jurisdiction, profit-making organizations, and nonprofit organizations. It is also the summation of a series of self-management or administrative management activities that meet the specific needs of the material and cultural activities of community residents. Community governance mainly includes four levels of meaning. First, the main body of community governance is pluralistic. Grass-roots Party organizations and governments play a decisive role in community governance. The main body of community governance is developing in a pluralistic way. Enterprises, nongovernmental organizations, owners, and so on establish a variety of cooperative relations with various institutions and, among them, carry out mutual consultation and cooperation to jointly decide and handle community public affairs, organize community activities, meet the needs of the community public, and make the transition from unified community management to community governance. Second, the goal of community governance is highlighted. In addition to the clear mission, the goal is the more important factor of community governance. Community governance should solve the concrete problems existing in the community and accomplish the specific tasks of economic and social development. At the same time, the community’s sense of belonging, cohesion, and the ability of self-management and self-governance of community residents are becoming increasingly important contents of community governance. The basic elements of cultivating community governance include mobilizing community residents to participate in community activities, paying attention to public affairs, cultivating and improving community organization systems, establishing formal and informal community system norms, and constructing interaction mechanisms of different actors in the community and other process goals of community governance. Third, the scope of community governance is expanded. The scope of community governance involves many aspects of the social life of community members and concerns the vital interests of community members, which includes community

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service, community security, community environment, community property service, community cultural construction, community social security, community welfare, and so on. At present, because the main power bodies of the community include the Party committee and the government’s grassroot agencies, the owner’s representative organization, and the property service organization, the community governance is also correspondingly expanded to the scope of the owners and the market outside the government affairs. The co-governance of the three major forces requires the integration of resources inside and outside the community, the mobilization of community residents to participate, and the standardization of community property services to achieve multicategory community governance. Finally, the interaction of community governance is multichannel. Community governance is different from administrative management. Its governance mode is not from top to bottom, which can achieve management goals by making and implementing policies. Community governance establishes and identifies common goals through consultation and cooperation, collaborative interaction and co-construction, and then relies on the participation of residents to complete community governance. The multidimensional and up-and-down interaction process of community governance guarantees community governance, and the validity of community governance comes from people’s consent and approval, not from coercion and pressure. In summary, community governance has rich multilevel, multidimensional, multicategory, and multichannel connotations. Its extension includes community management, which refers to the management participation and the service provided by the community functional departments, community units, and community residents under the leadership of the Party committee and the government. In our country, the concept of community management was earlier than the concept of community governance, which was put forward in the transition period of our country to the socialist market economy system, along with the deepening of the reform, the change of social structure, lifestyle, thought and culture, and behavior mode. With the full deepening of reform and opening-up, social services and community governance have gradually replaced community management. (IV)

Characteristics of community governance.

First, the self-consistency of the community. The operation of the community is a self-consistent process. In the traditional rural communities, especially in the ancient villages, there was a virtuous circle of economic life and social life, and social governance was to explore and enhance this self-consistency to embody the community governance characteristics of co-construction, co-governance, and sharing to the maximum extent. Second, the transcendency of community governance. Transcendency refers to the unconventional stage development; it goes beyond the whole development process from low-level form to the high-level form, that is, the development process from the initial simple form to the complex form. The transcendency of social governance refers to its superstage development with the diversity of community types. Improving only the self-consistency of the community itself cannot meet the needs

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of community governance, so the intervention of various resources from outside the community can meet the needs of community governance at present. Third, the pluralism of the main body of community governance. Grass-root Party organizations and government are the main bodies of community governance. In addition, there are other bodies of government that include enterprises, nongovernmental organizations, private organizations, and individuals. They have established a variety of relationships with party organizations and government agencies, as well as with each other. They jointly decide and handle community public affairs mainly through various forms of consultation and cooperation, which turns past community management into community governance. Fourth, the diversity of community governance goals. The goals of community governance can be divided into two categories: mission goals and process goals. The mission goal is to accomplish specific community governance tasks, including the establishment and improvement of community organizations, the improvement of community security and even the management of community vehicle parking spaces. The process goal is to cultivate the basic ability of community residents’ governance in the process of completing specific mission goals, including the concept, the skill, the organization, and the institutions when participating in governance, to establish residents’ recognition of community governance, promote the will of governance and achieve the behavior of governance. These process goals of community governance can only be cultivated gradually in the long process of community governance. Fifth is the universality of the content of community governance. The content of community governance involves many aspects of the social life of the members of the community and concerns the vital interests of community members. It not only has various contents but also is increasingly expanding development, including not only community services and spiritual civilization construction but also mobilizing community residents to participate to achieve good governance of community affairs. Sixth, the multidimension of community governance. Community governance is different from the administrative management of government. Community governance is not achieved by giving orders and making policies. It is a multidimensional cooperation and communication, multidimensional consultation and discussion, and multidimensional cooperation and construction. In the long run, a multidimensional interaction process promotes the achievement of community governance goals.

2.2 The Theory of Community Governance in Foreign Countries Since the concept of community was put forward by Ferdinand Tonnies, a German sociologist in the 1880s, very rich theories have been formed through long-term research, including the Chicago School’s humanistic location theory represented by Parker McKenzie, the community loss theory represented by Zimmer and Worth, the

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community survival theory represented by Lewis and Gans, the community liberation theory represented by Fagin, Wellman and Futon, the elite theory represented by Hunt, and the pluralistic politics theory represented by Dahl. From different perspectives of theory, it includes the governance theory perspective, public choice theory perspective, new public service theory perspective, and social support theory perspective. From different perspectives, these theoretical perspectives gave a comprehensive explanation of community formation, community relations, community operation, etc. (I)

The perspective of governance theory.

At the end of the twentieth century, the theory of governance emerged in the process of power structure adjustment of the central government and local government in the world, as well as the reorganization of social resource allocation by local governments based on certain regions. From the perspective of governance, the government is not the only main body; it should play the role of guidance and service more. The government’s management in the community should fully embody the characteristics of flexibility, dynamics, and diversification. Because no governance main body can obtain all resources unilaterally, a network system of mutual dependence, interaction, and cooperation should be formed among the multiple main bodies of community governance, and the coordination and management of community public affairs should be carried out voluntarily under the promotion of community development goals. At the same time, governance theory clearly points out that the joint participation of multiple main bodies needs to clarify their respective rights and boundaries; otherwise, it is easy to cause unclear rights and responsibilities and shift responsibility to others. There is also the question of who is responsible for the cooperative and interactive network system. Therefore, when we use governance theory for reference to carry out community governance, we should proceed from reality, straighten out the role of each government main body, determine its responsibility and authority, and prevent the dislocation of the governance main bodies and the internal consumption of resources. (II)

Perspective of public choice theory.

Public choice theory, represented by James Buchanan, a famous contemporary American economist, originated in the late 1940s and formed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is a comprehensive theory between economics and politics. According to the theory of public choice, the nonmarketization of government output led to the lack of competition among bureaucrats and the lack of motivation for the government to reduce costs, which led to inefficiency or low efficiency. Therefore, it needed to be changed to a flexible, cost-benefit symmetric market mechanism. For public service and social management and other affairs that can be provided by the government or society, we should break the boundary between the public and the private, break the government monopoly and administrative intervention, form a competition mechanism between the government and society, and give the public the opportunity to choose public service. With the deepening of China’s reform and opening-up, the

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government’s role is changing to the role of active government and effective government. We should use public choice theory for reference in community governance; let community residents, community organizations, and other social organizations become government main bodies and participate in community governance in a coordinated and efficient way. (III)

Perspective of new public service theory.

The new public service theory, represented by Janet V. Denhardt and Robert B. Denhardt, emphasizes the comprehensive governance mode of social coordinated operation, which sees citizens as the service object, multiple main bodies and multiple participation of government public management form the basis for the respect of civil rights and interests and realizes public interests as the goal. Its theoretical core is service-oriented public administration. The government’s first task is to help citizens express clearly and realize public interests, and the government’s role is to work with social organizations to find good governance countermeasures for social problems. The new public service theory also emphasizes that while introducing market mechanisms into public management, we should pay attention to the coordination of law, community values, government norms, professional standards, and citizen interests. It can be seen that the new public service theory highlights the humanism of management, as well as the social governance thought of upholding law, upholding justice, and upholding morality. (IV)

Perspective of social support theory.

The so-called social support theory “is that individuals get all kinds of care, support and help from others, groups, organizations and communities. Its essence is a kind of social behavior such as material assistance, life support and psychological Consolation”.14 It comes from Durkheim’s French sociologist research on suicide, “he found that the closeness of social ties is related to the suicide rate through his research on suicide phenomenon”.15 As a professional term, social support was formally put forward in the 1970s. Early social support was regarded as “general or specific support resources obtained by individuals from others or social networks to deal with problems and crises in life and work” (see Footnote 15). Many scholars at home and abroad have studied social support theory from different perspectives. The first is the study on the types of social support. Using the method of factor analysis, Wellman “divided social support into five items: emotional support, small service, large service, economic support and accompanying support”.16 “Cartner and Russell divided social support into emotional support, social 14

Fang Shuguang. Social Life Reconstruction of the Elderly in the Perspective of Social Support Theory, in Journal of Chinese Academy of Governance, 2013(4). 15 Li Ningning, Miao Guo. Social Management Innovation in the Perspective of Social Support Theory: The Transformation from Rigid Management to Flexible Support Paradigm, in Jianghai Academic Journal, 2011(6). 16 He Zhaiping, A Review of the Research on Foreign Social Support Networks, in Social Sciences Abroad, 2001(1).

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integration or network support, self-esteem support, material support, and information support” (see Footnote 16). According to foreign scholars, building a social support system requires four essential elements: material, emotion, companionship, and community participation.

2.3 Typical Model of Foreign Community Governance (I)

Community self-government model.

The mode of community self-government is mainly manifested as follows: the government and society are relatively separated, the government’s intervention in the community is mainly indirect management, the main function of the government is to provide legal and institutional support for community self-government, community self-government is dominant in the community, and the specific affairs of the community are completely handled according to the principle of autonomy and self-government. The United States is one of the typical countries with a community selfgovernment mode. The characteristics of its community governance mode are the government’s management according to law, society’s full participation, community self-government management, multisource fundraising, and the increasingly perfect division of labor. In the United States, there are five main types of community governance main bodies: government, community organizations, nongovernmental organizations, private enterprises, and citizens. The division of labor among these main bodies is increasingly clear. There are community committees, community service advisory groups, and other self-government organizations in the community, which are bridges and links to government and community residents: community committees are semi-official bodies. There are 50 members in each community committee, and they are appointed by the district head without salary and for a twoyear term. Their responsibilities are mainly to formulate plans to achieve community goals, hire community managers, and organize public hearings and public gatherings. The community service advisory groups are composed of representatives of various professional functional departments and local community representatives in the city council. Their duties are mainly to solicit and consult the opinions of the chairman of the community committee and residents and to formulate solutions and organize the implementation. Nongovernmental organizations are the mainstay of the effective functioning of the American community self-government model. They are mainly committed to community service and public opinion expression. Nongovernmental organizations in the United States are huge, including traditional community service agencies, government-supported organizations for staff training and other services, and organizations setup to meet the needs of neighbors and other communities. There is no subordinate relationship among them. They represent the different interests of main bodies and carry out activities independently. Their functions in community

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governance mainly include: first, providing comprehensive and diversified community services for the community to meet the needs of community residents; second, helping the government get away from the trivial community-specific affairs to make the social public service more effective and convenient; third, providing channels for the political participation of community residents to strengthen the communication between voters and elected officials; fourth, providing a large number of jobs to promote the development of various social services. Approximately 10% of the working population in the United States is engaged in community services. The enterprises involved in community construction mainly include communitybased small business development centers, small business investment companies, community development companies, community loan centers, etc. They often receive the support of the government in policy, funding, and so on and take part in community responsibility through their partnership with the government. A citizen is not only the taxpayer and consumer of public service but also the direct participant of community public affairs and an indispensable part of community governance. (II)

Government-dominant model.

The government-dominant model is mainly manifested as follows: the government and the community are closely combined, the government administers the community directly, and the government is dominant in the community. Singapore is one of the typical government-dominant model countries. The characteristics of its community governance model can be summarized by direct government management, residents’ response and participation, and the growing development of nongovernmental organizations. In Singapore, the community is basically the same as the constituency. At present, the country is divided into 84 constituencies. Community organizations are based on constituencies, and community activities are also based on constituencies. The government directly manages the community and directly and concretely intervenes in the community, which is mainly manifested in the following aspects: first, national community affairs are in charge of the special functional agencies established by the government (the community development agency under the Ministry of Social Development and Sports), and there are various forms of agencies in the community; second, the national housing development bureau is responsible for the planning and distribution of community public services. Full-time liaison officers are responsible for communicating with the resident’s committee, unifying the ideas of the organizers of community activities through a series of trainings for the leaders of the community and community organizations. Third, the government initiates some community activities or subsidizes some community activities, allocates funds to support the effective operation of the community, and grasps the direction of the community through guidance and material support to the behavior of community organizations. In Singapore, the funds for community activities are mainly government subsidies and social donations but more from government finance. According to relevant statistics, the government is responsible for 90% of the cost of community infrastructure

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construction and 50% of the cost of daily operation. Social donation mainly comes from the donation of enterprises and other organizations. In Singapore, the relationship between community organizations and the government is very close. Although community organizations have their own systems, they have a very important feature: the leading members of major community organizations are not elected by people but are appointed or recommended by members of Congress in their constituencies, so community organizations are highly politicized. The general body of national community organizations is the people’s association, and the government realizes the leadership of basic community organizations through cabinet members and government civil servants holding certain positions in the people’s association. Because of the dominance of government in community governance, Singapore’s approach to community governance is from the top-down. However, in recent years, community residents’ enthusiasm for all kinds of voluntary community activities is very high, and residents respond and participate as volunteers, which also makes nongovernmental organizations that attract volunteers to participate in community activities develop day by day, and their role in community governance has also been highly valued by the government. Under the influence of “communitarianism” in the West, the Singapore government began to devote itself to “Singaporean communitarianism”, trying to make all members of the community and the government fully listen to the views of all interest groups. (III)

Mixed government model.

The mixed government models are mainly shown as follows: the two models of government-dominant and community self-government are mixed with each other, and the government’s intervention in the community is relatively loose. Australia is a typical country with a mixed government model. The characteristics of this community government model can be generalized by a clear division of labor, a unique community government system, the combination of official color and independent color of community government, and multiple sources of funds. Australia’s mixed government model cannot be separated from the influence of Western developed countries’ cultural traditions and democratization tendencies. It is a federal country such as the United States, and it has the main political system and economic environment of developed countries. However, it is also a typical multiethnic and multi-immigrant country, and it is a country that develops increasingly on the basis of a colonial country. The mixed government model has become characteristic of its community operation mechanism. In Australia, the national management system implements the federal, state, and local three-level government system, of which the third-level local government is located below the state and collectively referred to as the city. The municipal government is Australia’s lowest level and the most important social affairs management organ, and it directly faces community residents. There is no other intermediary between community residents and the municipal government. Therefore, the geographical scope of the community in Australia is the same as that of the municipal

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government. There are more than 90,000 people in the large community and only a few hundred people in the small community. The municipal government mainly consists of mayors, city councils, councilors, general managers, and professional staff. The mayors and councilors are all members of the community from the people. The councilors are directly elected by the residents of the community. Mayors can be directly elected by residents or indirectly elected by councilors. The mayors and councilors are responsible to the residents of the community, and the city council is the highest decision-making body in the community. The real power of the municipal government is in the hands of the general managers who are nominated by the mayor and approved by the council and responsible to the mayor or the council. From the point of view of the operation mechanism of community government, the municipal government is a typical self-governing social organization whose function and mode of operation are quite similar to the residents’ committee of China. However, it is also a grassroots government with grassroots political power, and it is not the same as China’s residents’ committee. It is this unique community government system that makes Australia’s community government, which is the combination of official color and self-government color, show the characteristics of mixed government.

2.4 Evolution of China’s Community Government System The transformation from traditional administrative management to multisubject governance is the main line of the development and evolution of the community government system in China. China’s traditional urban management system was set up in the planned economy period. Its main feature is that the state, as the only subject of social management, exercised all-round governance and management through a highly centralized administrative management system and administrative intervention, which was the concentrated reflection of the national will and social needs at that time. It can be said that before the reform and opening-up, the state’s grassroots management of urban society was not “community governance” in the real sense but “regional management”. Since the reform and opening-up under the dual impetus of the reform orientation of the socialist market economy and the reform of government institutions based on the transformation of functions, the single administrative management system has been gradually broken, the intrinsic value of the community has been highlighted, and the need to create a modern community government system has been put on the agenda. Generally, the development of the urban community government system in China has mainly experienced three stages. (I)

Stage of “unit system”.

From the beginning of the founding of New China to the mid-1980s, the state administered urban grassroots through the form of a “unit system”. This urban grassroots management system is closely linked with the highly centralized planned economy and national unitary structure. To consolidate the basic position of the socialist system, the state has strengthened the administration of political power at

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all levels through a strong administrative power system and achieved the control of society. After the promulgation and implementation of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China and the Regulations on the Organization of Urban Street Offices in 1954, administrative power rapidly extended to all streets. The name, nature, task, and institutional setting of the street offices were unified in cities across the country. Street offices and resident committees have become an integral part of China’s urban social management system. Street offices were initially treated as a basic level of administrative management, and there was no concept of “community” for a long period of time. In the unit system stage, the community’s rudiment was naturally and gradually formed. At this time, the community was not only a regional society where people live together but also a grassroots area managed by the government. On the one hand, the government was the only representative of national interests, the only subject of organization, leadership, and management in various fields such as economic life, political life, and social life, and of course the only subject of community management. Therefore, the street office is in a weaker position. As the agency of the district government, the power of the street office is unified into the district government. The policy implementation of the district government is mainly carried out through its functional departments and then transmitted to the offices of streets by each bureau. The function of the street office is limited to transmitting an order from above. It reflects the situation at the grassroots level and cooperates with the concrete implementation of the work. It is basically in a passive and subordinate position. On the other hand, developed “unit systems” have replaced the functions of many streets. In the city, except that unemployed residents are managed by grassroots political power organizations and mass organizations, the resident’s committee, the social management, social welfare, and social security of the employees are undertaken by the units they belong to, and even the medical welfare, housing, and schooling of the children of the employees are also undertaken by the units to which the employees belong. This made the employees and their families have a high sense of identity and independence in the unit they work in, which made the employees pay more attention to their own unit attributes and ignore their own resident identity. This kind of identity of a unit person has seriously hindered the formation of residents’ community consciousness, community belonging, and community identity. During this period, the development of community self-government organizations was inhibited by the administrative system, which resulted in community atrophy, dysplasia, and dissimilation of function. (II)

Stage of “Street Residence System”.

After the mid-1980s, the economic system reform and the subsequent adjustment of social structure induced the weakening of the “unit system” and the rise of community. The social structure of our country has gradually changed from the unitary structure of the state to the ternary structure of “state, market and community”. Power and resources were moderately dispersed among the government, enterprises, and nonprofit organizations. In 1986, the Ministry of Civil Affairs put forward the

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requirement of “community service”, the concept of “community” for the first time, and gradually the idea of community construction in China. Under the condition of a market economy, the government needs an organization that can play the role of social integration and social stability. The development of social organizations also needs an organizational structure that can interact and develop. The self-governance, mass, and grassroots nature of the community decide that it can undertake this function. Therefore, the transformation from a unit system to a community system becomes a realistic choice to construct a new relationship between the government and grassroots society. During this period, community construction developed rapidly, and community service centers and other self-governing organizations played an irreplaceable role in meeting the increasing living needs of residents. However, because the understanding of the community was not enough, the community construction at this time was highlighted as a “street residence system”, the functions of the street offices have increased rapidly, and the burden has increased. After the disintegration of the “unit system”, its internal reform made the functions of the original unit overflow to society and concretely fall into the “street”. Street offices gradually formed social functions such as residents’ social welfare, social security, and social services, residents’ selfgovernment, self-help and mutual help, and professional community social work. From the perspective of administrative functions as the agency of the municipal or municipal district people’s government, although the street office is not the first-level government, it forms the first-level administrative organization of the urban community. However, due to the lack of clear provisions in the law and the lack of unified authority from the higher government in this period, the administrative order in the streets was very chaotic. It was specifically manifested as “the conflict of sections and pieces”, unclear responsibility and power, and “a needle under a thousand lines on the upper sides”. Many tasks of urban management were carried out in the streets, but the streets had no clear authority. Because of the limitation of manpower and material resources and less contact with the residents, the institutions on the “sections” gave the work directly to the streets. This kind of conflict in sections and pieces appeared at the beginning of the establishment of the street offices. During the period of the “street residence system”, both the street and the higher-level government tried to compete for more authority through their respective authority, which made them more prominent in behaviors. Therefore, although the self-government ability of the community in the stage of a “street residence system” had been developed to a certain extent, it was still severely restricted. The government was overwhelmed by the fact that it covered most of the affairs of street offices with higher administrative costs and lower administrative efficiency. This situation fully demonstrates that China’s community government system urgently needs to be reformed. (III)

The stage of the “community system”.

Since 1996, China started the experiment of “community system” reform, and the major cities set off a vigorous upsurge of community construction, especially after the Ministry of Civil Affairs launched the pilot work of the “National Community Construction Experimental Zone” in 1999. The different forms of community governance systems can be described as colorful. The community construction

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in this period mainly revolved around the adjustment of the authority relations of government organizations, economic organizations, community intermediary organizations, and community self-government organizations to find the breakthrough of system innovation. Among them, Shanghai, Qingdao, Wuhan, Shenyang, and other cities have formed different versions of community government systems and at the same time showed the development track of the innovation of the urban community governance system in China. With the improvement of the degree of community self-government organization, the street office was sandwiched between the grassroots government and the community, and the space for it to function decreased. Therefore, how the function of street offices should be located is a profound change in the community government system. The resident’s committee plays a leading, coordinating, and organizing role and brings the government institutions, community-based units, enterprises, community units, and community residents in the district into the ranks of community construction. It not only achieves the effect of comprehensive and coordinated management but also facilitates the integration of community resources and the exertion of community self-governance. In summary, the improvement of the urban community government system in China is a process of continuous exploration and deepening development, which needs to be coordinated with reform in other fields to make the community gradually return to the functional orientation of self-governing organizations.

2.5 Problems and Trends of Community Governance in China (I)

Problems in community governance.

1.

The color of community administration is too strong.

For a long time, the community has been like a big basket, all kinds of affairs have been poured into the community, resulting in the community administration burden being too heavy, and the neighborhood committee is overburdened and unable to unintentionally carry out the residents’ self-government activities. In recent years, under the reform of reducing the burden and increasing the efficiency of the community, a “strange phenomenon” in which the administrative burden after being reduced was increasingly heavy emerged even in some local communities; there were also some places that promoted the community neighborhood committee to have the status of civil servant or career establishment treatment, which made the organizational structure of the community neighborhood committee increasingly hierarchical, and its daily operation showed a strong administrative color. Under the background of community standardization construction, all kinds of standardized and quantified assessments also made the community have a stronger administrative dependence.

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Imperfect community participation mechanism.

Insufficient participation of community subjects is an important aspect of community governance. The enthusiasm of ordinary residents to participate in all kinds of voluntary public welfare activities in the community is generally not high. There are basically some old people to participate and very few young people. Some resident units’ co-construction awareness is not strong and does not actively support and cooperate with community work, which leads to some contradictions; struggles often occur among some business owners around real rights interests and often lead to more serious property dispute conflicts. The participation channels of the community residents are relatively scattered, the participation platform carrier lacks effective integration, and the participation motive force is also limited and lacks effective incentives. 3.

Undersupply of community public services.

In recent years, although all localities have made great efforts to promote the construction of community public service housing and support infrastructure, many communities are still faced with a serious shortage of office conditions. Public service facilities in some old neighborhoods lack a steady stream of funds for maintenance and renewal. The government’s purchase of community public services is becoming a general trend. It mainly adopts a project-based operation mode, and its implementation effect is uneven. The severe situation and challenge of the aging population are more prominent at the grassroots community level, and the gap in the community’s old-age service demand is larger. The construction of the old-age service system needs to be strengthened, and the multifundraising mechanism of the community’s public service needs to be improved. 4.

The structure of community governance needs to be straightened out.

At present, there are many governing subjects in urban communities, including community party organizations, community neighborhood committees, community public service stations, property companies, industry committees, and so on. Because some community subjects are relatively new things, people have an adaptive process to understand and grasp them, and the formulation and supply of relevant policies and regulations are lagging behind. The power and responsibility relationship among these government subjects has not been effectively straightened out, and multiple consultations and discussion mechanism among them has not been established accordingly, leading to the fragmentation of the grassroots community government structure and frequent conflicts of the interests of the community. (II)

Development trend of community governance.

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward: “Build the social governance pattern of co-construction, co-governance and sharing. Strengthen the construction of community government system”, “Promote the center of social governance to move down to the grassroots level”. This provides

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important guidance and direction for community governance in the new era. To raise the level of socialization, legalization, intelligentization, and specialization, community governance has become an important task in the reform of the social government system at present and in the future. 1.

Socialization of community governance.

Socialization means that we should give full play to the positive role of social forces in community governance. For community governance, we should not only adhere to relying on the leadership of the Party committee and the responsibility of the government but also adhere to the direction of socialized development, effectively integrate all aspects of community resources, and mobilize all aspects of community forces to participate to expand and strengthen the broad social foundation of community governance. At the same time, the socialization of community governance requires the coordination, participation, cooperation, and co-governance of multiple subjects. “One core and multi-elements” will become the basic development direction and trend of community governance in China. Among them, community party organization is the core of leadership and shoulders the important responsibility and mission of guiding and standardizing the development direction of community governance. Community social organization is an indispensable vigor factor and is an important bridge and link that provides various service resources. Property companies are important providers of community public services, and their role in community governance will be more important. In the final analysis, the socialization of community governance should enhance the community’s own subjectivity and sociality. 2.

Legalization of community governance.

The so-called “legalization” means that we should give full play to the guaranteed role of legalization in community governance and then effectively improve the legalization level of community governance. We should promote community governance to run on the track of legalization, solve the problem of community governance through the thinking and ways of legalization, and give full play to the positive role and effectiveness of the residents’ self-government convention and township regulations in the community governance at the grassroots level. At the same time, we should vigorously promote judges, prosecutors, lawyers, notaries, and so on to enter grassroots communities, provide legal services, carry out the publicity and education of the rule of law, create the community of the rule of law, constantly enhance community residents’ awareness and concept of the rule of law, and establish and improve a good atmosphere and fashion of community governance according to law. The construction of the legal system of community governance will help to resolve conflicts and disputes. 3.

Intelligence of community governance.

The so-called “intelligence” is that we should give full play to the catalytic role of information technology in community governance and then continuously improve

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the level of intelligence of community governance. With the rapid development of WeChat, microblogs, the Internet, the Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, and other information technologies, “the Internet Plus model” community governance has become an important way of grassroots social governance. On the one hand, information technology can promote the refinement of community governance and the realization of precise positioning, precise governance, and accurate service and make grid management, human-oriented services, and vigorously building smart communities a basic direction of development. On the other hand, information technology can also promote the convenience and flattening of community governance, help to realize the optimal allocation and transmission of information, services, organizations, resources, and other factors, and better meet the diverse and personalized needs of the community residents for a better life. 4.

Specialization of community governance.

The so-called specialization is that we should give full support to the role of professionals in community governance and then constantly improve the level of specialization of community governance. With the development of the market economy and the profound change in the pattern of grassroots interests, the composition of the community population is becoming increasingly complex, the demands of the community are becoming increasingly diverse, and the problems of the community are increasing daily, which all need to be solved by professional methods and means. Compared with traditional community residents’ committee cadres, modern professional social work is the indispensable professional power of community governance. The issue closely linked with professional social workers is the construction of a professional volunteer team. In the age of charity, the grassroots community will provide a broad platform for professional social workers and volunteers to play a greater role.

3 Rural Governance Rural society is a complex system. Different subjects have different interest demands in rural society. How to coordinate the relationship of these subjects and promote the effective governance of rural society (hereinafter referred to as “rural governance”) is related not only to the stability of rural social order but also to the overall development of rural areas and the progress of social civilization.

3.1 Rural Governance Rural governance means that, under the leadership of the Party, the rural grassroots government, villagers’ committees, various social organizations, farmers, and other subjects, in accordance with national laws, regulations, and policies, use a variety

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of formal and informal norms to organize, coordinate, serve, and manage all links in rural social fields to promote the sustainable and healthy development of rural society and promote rural modernization construction. (I)

Subject, method, and goal of rural governance.

1.

The subject of rural governance.

The so-called main body of rural governance is actually the question “who will govern rural society”. Western social governance theory pursues social centralism and citizens’ individual standards, so it is essentially a social self-governance theory based on rational economic man.17 Compared with the West, there are essential differences in the actual conditions of rural governance in China. First, although China’s civil society is growing, it is not a civil society in the Western sense. Historically, the state and society have maintained a relatively benign cooperative relationship. Therefore, the continuous growth of China’s civil society does not constitute a negation to state governance; second, the crisis of management does not exist in China. Although there are also situations in which the government is unable to meet the needs of people in rural society, it is overstated to call it a “crisis of management”.18 Moreover, because China’s rural market and social forces are relatively weak, the integration of different interests subjects of rural society and the adjustment of the original interests are inseparable from the power of the Party committee and the government. Therefore, as the main body of rural governance, the Party committee and the government assume the responsibility of the dominant side. Social organization is an important part of the main structure of rural governance. “Social organization” means all the organizations except the Party committee and the government in rural society. It includes the villagers’ committee, the clan family, the Red and White Council, and other organizations, and it also includes all kinds of enterprises, the peasant cooperative economic organizations, and other organizations related to the economic life of the peasants. Social organizations play an important role in the main structure of rural governance because they have their unique advantages, are more familiar with the interests of farmers, and can mobilize corresponding resources more flexibly and quickly to meet the material and spiritual needs of farmers. Therefore, in the process of rural governance, it is necessary to give full play to the advantages of the market and society in allocating resources and to absorb and mobilize the strength of social organizations to form coordination and supplement the role of the Party committee and the government in social governance. Peasants are the most important and basic main force in rural society and the main component of the main structure of rural governance. Peasants’ role as the main body of rural governance is not only the inherent requirement of new China to give the people the right “to be the masters of country” but also the rational 17

Wang Puqu: The Basic Meaning of State Governance, Government Governance and Social Governance and Their Interrelation Analysis, in Journal of Chinese Academy of Governance, 2014(3). 18 Zheng Hangsheng and Shao Zhanpeng, Perspective, Action and Implication of the Reform of China’s Social Governance System, in Jiangsu Social Sciences, 2014(2).

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choice to reduce government’s governance cost and carry out “minimalism”. Only by mobilizing farmers extensively and making them active participants in the process of maintaining the rural social order and serving rural society can rural society develop better. In the early 1960s, the cadres and masses in Fengqiao Town, Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province, created the “Fengqiao Experience” of “start and rely on the masses, stick to not handing the contradictions over and resolve them on the spot and realize the phenomenon with less arrest and good public security”. After that, “Dengqiao Experience” was unceasingly developed, and a new Fengqiao Experience with distinctive characteristics of the times that “Party and government implementing, relying on the masses, preventing disputes, resolving contradictions, maintaining stability and promoting development” was formed. It has been a good example of upholding the Party’s mass line and carrying it out in the new period. The essential characteristics of “Fengqiao Experience” are “the leadership of the Party committee, the responsibility of the government, the coordination of the society, the participation of the public and the guarantee of the rule of law”, which is adhering to the mass line and relying on the masses in everything and doing everything for the masses. 2.

The methods of rural governance.

The method of rural governance refers to the means and measures adopted by the main bodies of rural governance to realize the expected goals of social governance, which can be divided into three types: organizational means, institutional means, and cultural means. Organizational means is the way in which the governing subject uses the instructions and rules within the organization to govern. Since farmers are integrated into rural society through integration into specific social organizations (e.g., villages, families, and enterprises), their material and cultural needs are also provided by these organizations. Therefore, the main bodies of rural governance can use the instructions and the rules (including village regulations and family rules) of the organization to guide and restrict the behaviors of the members of the organization or the suborganizations of the organization. Compared with other means of governance, the biggest characteristic of organizational means is that the boundary of constraints is obvious and the scope is not large. Institutional means refer to the way to promulgate the code of conduct in the name of the whole society and to regulate and restrict the social behavior of the individuals, social groups, and social organizations of the whole society.19 In rural governance, the typical means of this system are national laws, regulations, and policies, such as the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security. Cultural means are ways to restrict and coordinate the behavior of people, groups, and organizations by behavior standards and value standards, which are formed by people in the process of long-term social interaction. Its prominent manifestations 19

Zheng Hangsheng, A New Edition of Introduction to Sociology, 3rd Edition, pp. 40, Beijing, China Renmin University Press, 2003.

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are beliefs, ethics, customs, and public opinion. Compared with the governance of urban society, cultural means play a more important role in rural governance. Mr. Fei Xiaotong pointed out in From the Soil—The Foundations of Chinese Society that rural society was a “society governed by propriety”, in which “propriety is a proper code of conduct recognized by the society”, “conforming to propriety means that these acts are done right”, and that the operation of propriety does not require a “tangible authority to maintain”, and “what maintains the norm of propriety is the tradition”.20 Of course, playing the roles of cultural means in rural governance is also based on certain social conditions, that is, “the possibility of ritualistic governance must be based on the premise that the tradition can effectively deal with life problems” and “in a fast-changing society, the effectiveness of the tradition cannot be guaranteed” (see Footnote 20), then it will need legal and other institutional means to promote social governance. At present, China’s rural society is in the process of rapid change. Although the original cultural means, such as etiquette and customs, and organizational means, such as village rules and regulations, can still play a certain role in rural governance, they are not enough to meet the needs of rural governance. Therefore, in promoting rural governance, the Party committee and the government should not only “adhere to the rule of law, strengthen the guarantee of the rule of law and use the thinking and the ways of the rule of law to resolve social contradictions” but also “adhere to comprehensive management and strengthen moral restraint”.21 3.

The goals of rural governance.

The goal of rural governance is to realize the benign operation, coordinated development, and modernization of rural society. Specifically, under the complex background of industrialization, urbanization, marketization, informationization, and globalization, on the basis of multi-subjects’ extensive participation and democratic consultation, it is to realize the harmony and stability of rural society and the sustainable development of the economy and society and then continuously improve the level of agricultural and rural modernization. To strengthen rural governance or to innovate rural social system mechanisms, we must face contradictions. According to Marxism, the difference of people’s production relations and social relations determines the difference of interests and different subjects of interests must have different demands of interests. Rural governance, which aims at harmonious society and sustainable development, is to establish an orderly society and set up corresponding interests appeal and “the public platform of interest game”22 so that people with different interests in this society can express their 20

Fei Xiaotong, From the Soil—The Foundations of Chinese Society: The Birth System, pp. 49–50, Beijing: Peking University Press, 1998. 21 Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Important Issues in Deepening Reform in an All-round Way, pp. 49, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2013. 22 Cai He. Social Management Innovation from the Perspective of Interests Appeals, in Sociological Studies, 2012(4).

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interests appeal through reasonable and effective ways, safeguard their rights and interests and be able to realize the harmonious stability and sustainable development of rural society through fair dialogue, communication, coordination, negotiation, and other ways. (II)

Historical evolution of rural governance.

Although rural governance is a relatively new concept, the things it refers to have existed for a long time. Only the specific governance mechanism has changed due to the difference between the internal structure and the external social environment in different periods of rural society. It can be seen from the historical evolution of rural governance. 1.

Rural governance in the traditional period.

Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, Chinese society has gradually formed a state governance mechanism characterized by hereditary bureaucracy. The establishment of this state governance mechanism was formed by the centralized government to address its unavoidable legitimacy of governance. Therefore, the central government has always tried to avoid direct involvement in the governance of local affairs, but when intervening in the governance of local affairs, it has relied on branch-level bureaucracy while at the same time limiting the number of such officials and their interference in local affairs as far as possible. Until the late Qing Dynasty, the power organs of the state had not directly touched the people at the grassroots level, and the lowest official administrative power organs of the state had been set up at the county level, that is, the so-called “imperial power does not exist below the county. There is only the squire below the county level”. In fact, the governance of rural society was accomplished by gentry classes using civil and nonpolitical means such as etiquette and customs. In this regard, Liang Shuming stated that “Since ancient times, the Chinese governments have paid very little attention to politics but have paid more attention to education. The reason why compulsory means were rarely used is that there were few classes that took the means of force as the main part. Education is necessary because it can inspire rationality and cultivate etiquette and customs, thus leading to self-management”.23 In ethics-based traditional rural society, ethics not only became the basic framework of the whole society but also shaped the “soft governance” characteristics of the rural governance mechanism. However, in promoting social integration aimed at promoting the stability of rural social order through the governance of ethical rules and the governance model relying on the gentry, it ignored or abandoned political integration at the national level, which was characterized by the maintenance of state sovereignty and administrative control. Although the Bao-jia system has been implemented since the Ming Dynasty, rural society was truly controlled by family elders rather than the Bao-jia chief. The power of the family elderly to control rural society is not only much broader than Bao-jia chief but also more effective. 23

Liang Shuming, The Essential Meaning of Chinese Culture, pp. 213, Beijing, Xuelin Press, 1987.

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In other words, this “minimalism”24 model, which relied on the gentry group, not only guaranteed the effectiveness of centralization but also realized the stability and order of the lowest levels of local society. The application of this social governance mechanism is not only in line with the Confucian political ideal of establishing a self-governing moral society but also related to the lower production surplus of agricultural society and the lower demand for resources of the agricultural government. However, at the end of the nineteenth century, the social foundation supporting this social governance model was destroyed as China was opened by Western powers. New internal and external environments made it necessary for the state to adjust the method of rural governance. Thus, new forms of social governance emerged. 2.

Rural governance from the early twentieth century to 1949.

After the entrance of the late Qing Dynasty was opened by the strong ships and guns of the Western powers, the crisis of national subjugation became the first crisis in Chinese society. Under this background, on the one hand, it is necessary to complete domestic political integration and to end the state of military independence to realize the unity of the country and the integrity of territory and sovereignty. On the other hand, it is necessary to realize the prosperity of the country through economic construction, especially industrial construction. At that time, both political power construction and economic construction needed to have strong social mobilization and resource extraction capabilities. It was based on this demand that the power of the state began to break through the restriction of “not going to the countryside” and gradually infiltrated into rural society. With the promotion of state power organizations to the rural grassroots level, the authority of the administrative officials in the system gradually replaced the gentry outside the system, and the number of resources drawn by the country from the rural society also gradually exceeded the scope that the gentry could “guarantee”. As the gentry “unloaded” the protection function, the evil gentry began to flood rural society. Overall, in the first half of the twentieth century, the stability of domestic order, the maintenance of national sovereignty, and promoting the development of national industrialization put forward new demands for social governance, namely the urgent need to strengthen the capacity of state-level control and mobilization and the ability to draw resources from rural society. The political reform and the decline of the traditional gentry in the late Qing Dynasty weakened and disintegrated the function of the traditional gentry to integrate rural society, but a new and effective governance mechanism and integration mechanism were not established, which led to much confusion in the governance of rural society during this period. 3.

Rural governance from the founding of new China in 1949–1978.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it is necessary for the state to maintain the strong mobilization and resource extraction capacities of rural society to 24

Huang Zongzhi, Centralized Minimalism: Semiformal Governance by Quasi Officials and Dispute Resolution in China, in Open Times, 2008(2).

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obtain the resources needed for the construction of industrialization. In the late 1950s, the government not only established a highly centralized planned economic system in the countryside but also managed the social life of the farmers in an all-round way through the people’s commune and established an all-round social governance system centered on the people’s commune. The rural governance system in this period changed the dispersed state of the old China’s rural society, established a highly unified social order, greatly enhanced the state’s ability to mobilize and control the rural society, and played a positive role in mobilizing resources to promote industrialization on a very weak economic basis. Since all the important resources were controlled and distributed by the government, the government used these resources to construct the organizational forms of the unit and the people’s commune in the city and the countryside, respectively, and integrated the rural areas through the people’s commune. Under the system of the people’s commune, what the peasants produced, how they produced, and how they distributed were ultimately decided by the people’s commune and the village collectively, and the villagers had less decision-making power, which dampened the peasants’ enthusiasm for agricultural production. At the same time, all members of rural society were managed in relatively closed areas, impeding normal social mobility and leaving society devoid of vitality and creativity.25 With the completion of national industrialization accumulation, the disadvantages of this social government system were increasingly obvious, which directly promoted rural reform in the late 1970s. 4.

Rural governance since reform and opening-up.

Since the rural reform was promoted in the late 1970s, a series of important changes took place in rural society: not only did the original planned economic system gradually give way to the socialist market economic system, but the Party and government also began to pay attention to adjusting the interest relations among different social strata and interest groups in the course of reform and development, and at the same time, the social mobility in urban and rural areas greatly changed the peasants’ occupation and values. This change in social foundation brought about corresponding changes in social governance in rural areas, that is, organizing production with family as the unit and allowing farmers to migrate and flow to mobilize the potential and creativity of farmers, improving the social security system and reforming public services systems such as education and medical care. As far as rural governance is concerned, although the effectiveness of the changes has made positive progress, great changes in rural society posed new challenges to the rural governance system. The increase of rural social mobility, the intensification of social differentiation, the enhancement of farmers’ heterogeneity, the increase of strangeness among villagers, the decrease of villagers’ dependence and identity on villages, and the weakening of the inner authority of villages all put forward new demands to the original social governance system. It was against this background 25

Li Peilin, Social Reform and Social Governance, pp. 192, Beijing, Social Sciences Academic Press (China), 2014.

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that the state proposed promoting the scientific modernization of rural governance and establishing and improving the rural governance system mechanism that was in line with the national conditions, standardized, orderly, and full of vitality.

3.2 External Conditions, Internal Mechanism, and Endogenous Basis of Rural Governance Fundamentally speaking, rural governance aims to maintain good order in rural society. The village order has the functions of construction and protection: the function of construction refers to the function of increasing the income of villages and villagers; the function of protection refers to the function of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of villages and villagers from encroachment. It can be roughly divided into five aspects: obtaining economic cooperation, maintaining public order and good customs, ensuring internal basic harmony and stability, resisting the invasion of external forces, and the fairness and integrity of village cadres in village affairs. The maintenance of village order and the performance of village governance are determined by the external conditions, internal mechanism, and endogenous foundation of rural governance. (I)

External conditions for rural governance.

The external conditions of rural governance determine the objectives and tasks of rural governance and the capacity and status of governance resources available to rural governance. Without understanding the external conditions for rural governance, we cannot comment on the quality of rural governance. Rural governance in contemporary China is under the background of promoting modernization. Modernization has at least three implications for rural governance. First, to realize modernization, agriculture should undertake the task of providing primitive accumulation of capital. After industrialization has been to a considerable extent, it will be necessary to feed agriculture, and cities will be needed to drive the countryside. Second, the process of modernization is also the process of transformation from traditional society to modern society. During this transition, new institutional arrangements will be introduced into rural society. Under the impact of modernity, the rule system of rural governance has changed greatly in the constant collision between a large tradition and a small tradition. Third, modernization is often the process of urbanization. With the continuous outflow of rural people, property, and resources, rural areas will become increasingly decadent, while traditional rural ethics and value systems will be impacted or even on the verge of subversion. This will have a fundamental impact on the order base of rural society. The three dimensions that the modernization factor can influence rural governance from top to bottom and from outside to inside constitute the three macrohistorical conditions to develop rural governance. The external conditions of rural governance constitute the structural constraint conditions under which the rural governance system can play its roles and the rural

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governance system can only play a role under the restriction of this structural condition. China is a country with a large number of farmers, and the urbanization of farmers will be a long process. Under the condition of a market economy, it is an irreversible process for rural people, property, and resources to flow to cities at present. Before most of the farmers transfer from the countryside, how to maintain the governance state of the countryside, promote the prosperity and development of the countryside, and enable the farmers to live in good social order has become a matter of great concern of the theoretical realm and policy departments. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward the strategy of building a new socialist countryside, and the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the strategy of rural revitalization, which is the strategic deployment of promoting rural modernization at the national level. (II)

The internal mechanism of rural governance.

The inner mechanism of rural governance is the internal operation logic of rural governance, which includes two aspects: one is the process, mechanism, and consequence of the top-down relevant laws, systems, and policies in rural practice. The other is the endogenous order mechanism of rural society. 1.

Formulation and practice of rural governance system and policy.

The formulation of any institution or policy is premised on the object of administration. The practice process of the rural governance system and policy is the process of the intersection of the national will and the social structure at the grassroots level and even the game among the various subjects of interest. When the institution and policy of rural governance come into practice, the expected goals of the country can be achieved in most cases. However, under a specific timeframe, the conditions and complexity of the countryside often exceed the expectation, which deviates from the practice of the system and policy. For example, the state imposed a slaughter tax on many places based on the number of live pig farmers raising before the agricultural tax was lifted in 2004. However, in the collection process, because of too many peasant households and human relations in rural society, cadres at the grassroots level were unable and unwilling to spend too much energy on this work. This resulted in the number of each peasant household’s live pig stock not being accurately counted. Finally, some places had to fall on the basis of “human head count”. The story of “the pig’s head tax turned into the human head tax” shows us that the collection of taxes and fees requires costs and that the transaction cost is extremely high when the country deals with thousands of farmers. In a rural society based on the small-scale peasant economy, we have to follow a relatively simple governance model. After the abolition of the agricultural tax in 2004, the state allowed all rural areas to collect a “one thing, one discussion” fund; that is, no more than 20 yuan was collected from each peasant within the scope of the village for the public use in the village. At the same time, with the development of new rural construction, many national

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project funds continued to be put into the countryside, some of which required the village to raise corresponding supporting funds. As a result, “some places with strong cohesion could form collective action, and these “one thing, one discussion” funds were relatively easy to raise but in some places with weak cohesion, they could not be realized at all”. 2.

The internal order mechanism of rural society.

In addition to the system and policy of the state, there were many spontaneous internal order mechanisms in rural society, such as the mutual assistance and cooperation of farmers in production and life and the internal resolution of disputes and conflicts among farmers. They were mostly endogenous orders left over by tradition. These orders constituted the living habits and “customary laws” of farmers. This kind of customary law is very different from written law and its practice, but it also constitutes a part of the rural governance mechanism. These endogenous order mechanisms have solved most of the problems that farmers have to solve in their production and life and have become the power of rural areas to take over external legal and institutional arrangements from the bottom-up. The situation of farmers’ mutual assistance and cooperation is closely related to the traditional system and habits. On the one hand, farmers have the requirement of mutual assistance and cooperation in production and life. On the other hand, this practice has existed in villages since ancient times. The village and even the family, as a kind of social construction, overcame the free-rider behavior in human interaction, reduced the cost of interpersonal communication, and gave birth to orders in the village. The inner-order mechanism of rural society depends on the social structure inside the countryside, especially the situation of the interlinking organization inside the village. It directly influences the value and rule system and behavior logic of the village and makes the same policies and systems have different practice mechanisms and consequences in different rural areas, which constitute the difference of the ability to take over the top-down system and policy within the village. It has caused the difference in the practice and the consequences of system and policy.26 When we pay attention to the inner mechanism of rural governance, the core questions to be answered are what the real logic of rural governance in China is? How the rural society operates and why in this way? How do various laws, systems, and policies from top to bottom and from outside to inside affect the logic of rural governance? Additionally, how should we understand the real mechanism of rural governance to form a scientific and effective theoretical system? (III)

The endogenous basis of rural governance.

The so-called endogenous basis of rural governance is the specific space-time conditions of rural governance. Rural governance does not happen out of thin air but in 26

He Xuefeng. Regional Differences between Farmer’s Action Logic and Rural Governance, in Open Times, 2007(1).

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specific time and space and on the basis of specific groups and society. The endogenous basis of rural governance constitutes the conditions for the top-down system and policy implementation. The process, mechanism, and consequences of top-down policy practice in specific rural societies constitute most of the content of rural governance. In addition to the consequences of the top-down system and policy in rural social practice, there will be spontaneous endogenous order within a rural society, which constitutes another part of rural governance. Research on the endogenous basis of rural governance focuses on the micro basis of rural governance rather than on rural governance itself. The endogenous foundation of rural governance is closely related to the external conditions and the mechanism of rural governance, but it is not exactly the same thing. They need to be distinguished in the investigation and analysis. The way to distinguish is to regard the endogenous basis of rural governance as an independent variable but not a dependent variable, although the endogenous micro-basis of rural governance is constrained by macro external conditions and is the dependent variable of some external conditions in fact. If analyzed, the endogenous foundation of rural governance should be involved in three aspects: the first is a human condition, the second is a material condition, and the third is the social and cultural condition. The so-called human condition refers to the situation of people living in the countryside and their ideas, beliefs, hobbies, habits, morals, knowledge, preferences, etc. The so-called material condition refers to the material basis for the development of rural governance, such as geographical location, public facilities, planting structure, economic development level, economic type, etc. The so-called social and cultural conditions refer to the social stratification and local consensus that constitute the social and cultural characteristics of specific villages, such as the situation of rural capable people, the public opinion of villages, the strength of communities, the living habits, and customary laws of villages. The content of people’s conditions about the endogenous foundation of rural governance is very rich and can be analyzed from the following aspects. The first is the level of human subjective value or the level of human belief. This level should answer questions about the meaning and value of farmers’ lives, which is the basis of their lives. The second is the level of people’s social value, that is, how people think of others and how to deal with the relationship with others. This level answers the question of the farmer’s position in a social group and his views on that group. The third is people’s quality, such as the so-called stupid, poor, weak, private issues, and people’s ability to cooperate. Due to the continuous impact of modernity factors, the noumenal value of farmers’ traditional pursuit of “carry on the ancestral line” has been shaken, and the social value of villages is changing. The villagers’ fierce competition for social value is often not to integrate the unity of the village but to destroy the unity of the village and break up the village community. The material basis content of rural governance is also very rich. It is the specific material conditions that constitute the prerequisite for the development of rural governance. The research in this field can be greatly inspired by the disciplines of physical geography, human geography, regional social history, and agricultural economy. For

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example, the high demand for water conservancy for growing rice has made farmers in rice-growing areas more inclined to cooperate internally, which is why communities and clans come into being. Village identity is also more likely to be produced in communities. The cultural and social aspects of the endogenous foundation of rural governance mainly include the structure of the family, the identification of specific units of action, the power of village public opinion, the situation of specific local consensus, the situation of rural social differentiation and its impact on rural governance, and the impact of rural resource changes (such as the mobility of human and property) on rural governance. Rural governance is always carried out on the basis of specific personnel, material, and sociocultural bases. Without understanding the specific space-time conditions in rural areas and the personnel, material, and sociocultural basis on which rural governance can be carried out, it is impossible to truly understand the internal mechanism of rural governance. In this study, the anthropological “holistic perspective” is very important. This perspective emphasizes the maintenance functions of parts of the whole society for the whole; that is, it emphasizes the significance of the interrelation of social factors for forming a whole. In rural life, any factor of the human, material, social, and cultural factors may constitute the endogenous foundation of rural governance and constitute the conditions under which rural governance can be carried out.

3.3 Structure and Types of Rural Governance The performance and status of rural governance not only depend on the relevant systems and policies of the country but also depend on the structure and nature of rural society, and rural grassroots cadres are the hinge between the two. Based on this, the basic structure that impacts rural governance can be divided into three aspects: the basic situation of village order and its maintenance mechanism, the role and motive mechanism of grassroots cadres, especially village cadres, and the relationship situation between the state and the countryside (in particular, the relationship between township and village organizations). Different governance structures make the patterns of rural governance present different types. (I)

Basic structural elements of rural governance.

1.

The independent production order ability of villages.

At present, quite a few villages in China have the ability of independent production order, and village public affairs can be handled better. At the same time, there are some villages with low capacity of independent production order, even if the state has injected a lot of resources into the villages, it is difficult to reach the concerted action of the villagers, so it is difficult to deal with public affairs involving the interests of

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the whole villagers. That is, because of the differences in the social nature of the villages, there are different ways of order in the villages. According to whether the village mainly relies on the top-down national system and policy forces when the order comes into being, it can be divided into two types: (i) primary order type and secondary order type and (ii) endogenous order type and exogenous order type. The primary order is mainly based on the power of informal organizations within the village to produce village order, such as relying on village public opinion and consanguineous organizations to achieve cooperation and obtain an order. The secondary order is to organize the village order by the external system; a typical order is to achieve the villagers’ self-management and self-service through the villager’s self-governance system. The secondary order often needs not only an external system text but also to be connected with the situation of the countryside itself and based on it. As far as the current research is concerned, there are two factors that can form the basis of the effect of foreign institutions. The first is the power of the endogenous order in the villages mentioned above, which not only forms the basis of the endogenous order but also the basis for the external system to play a role. It is in this sense that it can be said that not only modernity and tradition are opposed to each other but also modernity is based on tradition. The second point is that a strong state power guarantees the implementation of the system, and this state power must have the means to intervene in the villages. The typical village in this aspect is villages with a developed collective economy. Because the village collective has the economic ability, the villagers are actively concerned about the village affairs, and various forces intervene in the distribution of village interests through the arrangement of a formal system. To reduce their own responsibility, village cadres are willing to operate village affairs according to the formal system arrangement. When the production modes of the above two endogenous orders of villages cannot be carried out normally, the production and life of villagers will fall into a disorderly predicament, so the maintenance of the village order will have to rely on the coercive force of the state, that is, the exogenous order. A responsible township government will try to avoid further deterioration of the situation when facing the villages caught in the dilemma of endogenous orders: they have to help villagers mediate disputes, intervene in the old-age support issue that may only need public opinion and moral force before with the power of administration and even law, organize villagers to cooperate in building water conservancy projects and prevent villains from doing evil in the villages, and investigate and punish village cadres who seek personal gains through power, and so on. Thus, the following village order frame diagram is listed:

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The types of the relationship between the two levels of organizations in the countryside.

In addition to the ability of independent production order of villages, the state’s influence and control over the countryside is very important to rural governance, so the relationship between the state and rural society is one aspect that we must pay attention to. It is often manifested in the relationship between the township and village organizations in actual rural governance. Although in theory, the relationship between townships and villages is defined as the relationship of guiding and being guided, the actual situation is much more complicated. Even from the perspective of institutional arrangement, the relationship between the township party committee, township government, and village committee is guiding and being guided, while the relationship between the township party committee and village party branch is leading and being led. The village committee and the village branch are often sets of staff with two functions. The village branch is in the leading position in the village, and the secretary of the village branch is the leader. The relationship between the village branch and the village committee often becomes the relationship between the decision-maker and the executor. The actual situations of township-village relationships can be divided into three main types of township-village relationships. The first type is a strong township and a weak village. In the distribution of village resources, the township occupies a stronger position. The township team can smoothly implement government affairs at the village level, such as family planning, special projects, and various upgrading tasks required by the superiors. As long as there is room for the village to maneuver, most villages will actively complete various tasks assigned by the township. The second type is a weak township and a strong village. Because of the strong economic strength or the strong cohesion, the village is too large to be commanded and dispatched. It is difficult for the township team to smoothly implement government affairs at the village level. The third type is a weak township and weak village. The township team cannot smoothly request the village level to assist in the smooth completion of government affairs. The village level has neither the initiative to assist the township in completing government affairs nor care about village affairs. In contrast, in the absence of township restrictions and villagers’ supervision, village cadres do nothing or reap the benefits.

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If we make a further comparison of these three types of township and village relations, we will find that the three types of township and village relations are often closely related to the ability of the village’s independent production order. Specifically, a village with a strong capacity for independent production order must be a village with a high degree of relevance. Such a village will certainly be a strong village in the relationship between the township and the village. Under the pressure of a strong village, if there is a lack of financial revenue from industry and commerce or transfer payments from the state, the township will become weak, and its result will be similar to the aforementioned type of weak township and strong village. In addition, a village with poor independent production order ability has difficulty taking the initiative in the relationship between the township and the village because the villagers do not cooperate. In contrast, powerful townships can often aid village-level cadres in completing top-down government affairs through the resources at hand. Villagers’ self-governance in these places shows the color of overadministration. There are some villages with insufficient capacity for independent production orders. Because of the limited resources of the township, they cannot effectively mobilize the enthusiasm of the village cadres, and the village-level organizations are in a negative or even idle state. Without the active coordination of the village cadres, the township is unable to carry out government affairs in the villages. Regardless of what they do, unless the township cadres themselves come out and take responsibility to the end, they will receive a temporary response from the village cadres. The force of the township cannot be effectively used and is not in place. Eventually, the township will become a weak township, thus becoming a type of weak township and weak village. 3.

The role of village cadres.

In the practice of rural governance, the role of village cadres is very important. Only in terms of the system, under the background of villagers’ self-governance system, village cadres are not only the agents of the villages and towns but also the leaders of the villagers. When village cadres are viewed as actors, their dynamic mechanism and role types are more complex. As actors, village cadres have two reasons for their behavior: first, they can obtain economic benefits, that is, as village cadres, they can obtain functional benefits, especially legitimate or nonlegitimate economic income; second, they can obtain social benefits, that is, as village cadres, they can obtain respect for others, good interpersonal relationships, more extensive social communication networks and expressive benefits, such as pleasure, face, decency, a sense of self-fulfillment, and achievement of political ambition brought by this kind of communication network. As an actor, the reason for the behavior of the village cadres is related to the ability of the endogenous order of the village. The prestige and face of the village cadres come from the close cultural network within the village and the evaluation system arising thereof. Villages with endogenous order ability are often villages that can independently produce value. In such villages, public opinion and moral force can play a role.

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Villagers, including village cadres, care much about the evaluation of others. It is the evaluation of others in villages that determines the reputation and face of village cadres. Under this evaluation system, the role played by village cadres cannot be biased toward the village and becomes the protector of the village. If there is a problem in the value production system in the village, the prestige and face of the village cadres are not enough to form a sufficient reason for the roles of the village cadres. Whether village cadres can obtain economic benefits has a very basic role in the roles of village cadres. Village cadres tend to be accountable to the system to maintain their access to such economic benefits when they can receive legitimate economic rewards. In this way, village cadres tend to be the agent of township administration. The relationship between the village branch and the village committee may be interpreted as a part of the relationship between the township and the village. Village cadres, on the other hand, are likely to be passive and lazy to deal with administration. (II)

Types of rural governance.

According to the production capacity of village value, the types of rural governance can be divided into three categories. The first kind is the areas with strong independent production value ability. Regardless of whether the village cadre has enough legitimate reward, the village must have a strong endogenous order ability, which means that the overall face of rural governance is the original endogenous order type. However, in the areas with a weak capacity of independent production value, there are two kinds of situations due to the difference of the motive mechanisms and roles of village cadres: one is the situation that the village cadres have enough reward and motivation. Because village cadres have legitimate rewards, they are sensitive to the formal system, and the rural order can be maintained normally. In this case, rural governance can be called the secondary order type of rural governance. The other kind is that village cadres have neither the social benefit nor the economic benefit, so they have difficulty engaging in enthusiasm to deal with the system and may become passive and inactive slackers of government. In this case, rural governance can be called disordered rural governance. 1.

Primary order type rural governance.

In other words, the village has a strong primary order ability, which is reflected not only in the ability to provide public goods but also in the ability to produce value. Because the village has the ability to produce value, the capable people in the village are willing to serve as village cadres to obtain social benefits. These village cadres who serve to gain prestige and face must be willing to serve as the protector of the village. It is impossible for the organizational behavior that obviously impairs the long-term development of villages to appear in such villages. Because village cadres care about social benefits, their formal salary will not be too high, and there is almost no gray income. The relationship between townships and villages is more moderate, and the relation between the cadres of villages and townships is more equal. There are fewer township leaders with that kind of arbitrary, rough-and-tumble temperament.

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In such villages, the traditional moral and ethical norms are maintained well, the people’s customs are relatively simple and the village’s public nature is strong. Village cadres are often not only outstanding elements in the system but also folkcapable people. They can often effectively borrow the village’s endogenetic moral opinions and ethical norms when dealing with village affairs, and disputes among villagers are often handled out of the village. The village has a strong collective action ability. The villagers can cooperate to supply certain endogenous public goods and can well undertake external public goods resources. 2.

Secondary order type rural governance.

Simply put, it means that the village lacks the ability of primary order, and the situation of village governance is mostly determined by the system in place. The village lacks the production value ability, and the capable people in the village cannot obtain enough social benefits (prestige and face) from the position of the village cadre. However, because village cadres can obtain considerable legitimate economic income, the capable people in the village will compete for the position of village cadres. Under the background of villagers’ self-government, some of the village capable people take the lower level line directly elected by villagers and try their best to obtain the support of villagers. When assisting the township administration, they are not willing to offend the villagers, nor will they excessively damage the interests of the village because of the requirements of the township. While the other part of the capable people in the village take the upper line and obtain the positions of village cadres through the support of the township team, there are some differences between these village cadres and the really elected village cadres in the decisionmaking and implementation of a number of affairs, but even the capable people in the village who take the upper line are not willing to take the risk of villagers’ strong protest to do something harmful to the interests of the villagers. In this sense, the conflict between the village cadres who take the upper-level line and those who take the lower-level line will also be more moderate. Because village cadres have a considerable and stable income, when the township team asks the village cadre to deal with government affairs, as long as it is not too difficult, the village cadre will generally follow suit. Leaders of the party and government in the township are in a more active position in the relationships of the township. The behavior of village cadres is stable because of long-term expectations. In such villages, the order is formed by self-management, and the ability to provide corresponding public goods is weaker. It needs more help from external forces, mainly the power of the state. Disputes among villagers sometimes need to be resolved at the national level (such as township judicial offices or courts). 3.

Disorderly type rural governance.

Once village cadres cannot obtain social benefits and economic benefits, their position is no longer attractive. A system such as the Organic Law of the Villagers’ Committees of the People’s Republic of China is a mere formality because there are no more villagers actively pursuing the position of village cadres.

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In the face of passive and inactive village cadres, the township party and government team have no effective ways to make the village cadres work actively except by making repeated requests. Unless the leaders of the township do everything by themselves, they will not be able to achieve any valuable government affairs in the villages. A large number of public affairs in the village will not be presided over by village cadres. In the face of villagers’ complaints, the only response of village cadres is to ignore or delay indefinitely. The relationship between the township and the village is similar to that between the village cadres and the villagers, and there will be no fierce conflict between the two committees because there are no interests to speak of. Such villages are often so-called “empty-shell villages” or even “paralyzed villages”. The interior of the villages is disorderly, public affairs are difficult to operate effectively, and contradictions and disputes among villagers sometimes even need “private relief” to solve. The above three types of rural governance, especially the latter two types, can be transformed into each other. As far as the reality of the current rural governance type in China is concerned, the three types are basically distributed as follows: primary order rural governance, such as the clan villages in Jiangxi and Fujian, and the rural areas in Huizhou; the secondary order rural governance, including the rural areas where the collective economy is more developed, or the rural areas where the state can transfer more funds to the villages, such as the rural areas along the Yangtze River in Wenzhou, rural areas on the outskirts of the city, rural areas that occupy a large amount of resources (coal resources, tourism resources, etc.), rural areas in the poverty-stricken counties designated by the state, etc.; disorderly rural governance, such as the rural areas in some central areas after the reform of rural taxes and fees.27 As far as the overall situation of China’s rural areas is concerned, with the development of the market economy, the large-scale movement of farmers, and the opening of the borders of villages, the ability of independent production value of villages is rapidly declining, more and more villagers are freeing from the village community and facing the national laws and systems, and the village community itself is rapidly disintegrating. For the villagers who are free from the village community and face the country, although the village is still the place for their production, life, and entertainment and the foundation for them to obtain the value of life because the external value and system dominate the village and cut the village, the value production of the village is less determined by the external factors. This shows that villagers are less concerned about other people’s evaluations and that the village morale and public opinion force are increasingly weaker. In this case, there were fewer villages in primary order. When the endogenous order power of the village is weak, it needs the country’s power and resources to step in time to ensure the effective management of the village. Otherwise, an increasing number of villages will fall into disorder because of the lack of resources, authority, and normative systems and become disorderly rural governance. 27 He Xuefeng and Dong Leiming, Rural Governance in China: Structure and Type, in Comparative Economic & Social Systems, 2005(3).

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3.4 Rural Governance in the Strategy of Rural Revitalization (I)

Structural changes in rural society and the weakening of governance power.

After the 1990s, a large number of rural populations went out to work and do business. With diversified employment and income and the opening of the border of villages, the complexity of the villages increased greatly. The change in farmers’ livelihood modes led to profound changes in farmers’ lifestyles, communication modes, and values and changes in rural social structure and rural governance models. As the focus of family economic income has shifted to nonagricultural industries, the traditional ways of life of farmers based on agricultural production have also changed. Their sense of time, timely cash, and settlement of money have been formed, and their life orientation has turned to the outside of the village. At the same time, the ways of communication among the villagers were also gradually different from the past. Mutual aid and cooperation among villages decreased daily, the public space of the village shrank, and the private space expanded. In this way, the countryside changed from an acquaintance society to a “society of half population”, and the village communities tended to disintegrate.28 At the same time, in the context that a large number of farmers had not truly realized urbanization, industrial, and commercial capital to the countryside and intensive land management have increased the difficulty of maintaining the former family livelihood model with half work and half plough based on the intergenerational division of labor, making it difficult for peasant households that rely on the spontaneous transfer of land to continue to exist. In the original rural social structure, on the one hand, it was old people’s agriculture, on the other hand, it was the peasant households whose income relationship and social relationship were all in the village. They constituted the stability strength in rural society and were the basic carriers of the rural social order, public goods, and cultural maintenance. Now, the entry of exogenous forces, such as capital and family farms, which are almost completely unrelated to farmers, is aimed at a profit; such exogenous forces cannot form a stable force with other rural residents and may even become a powerful deconstructive force of rural social structure, social order, and powerful social culture. This is bound to lead to the accelerated disintegration of the grassroots social order. It can be said that the factors for marketization and industrialization have fully and deeply immersed in today’s rural society, and “unprecedented change” has formed. At the same time, a series of institutional changes in the field of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” objectively make some new variables appear in rural governance. The Land Contract Law of the People’s Republic of China issued in 2002 clearly stipulates that the land contract will remain unchanged for 30 years. Ten years after its operation, there was an obvious dislocation of the human-land relationship in rural society; that is, those who have lands go out of rural areas and those who cultivate 28 He Xuefeng: On the Society of Half Population, in Cass Journal of Political Science, 2000(3); Dong Leiming, Chen Baifeng, Nie Liangbo: Structural Disturbance and Greet Law in the Countryside, in Social Sciences in China, 2008(5).

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land have no land. Rural collective organizations lost the right to allocate lands, and the distribution of land interests was solidified, which made the construction of infrastructure and public goods very difficult—the farmers had to bear extremely high transaction costs if the construction of infrastructure and public goods involved anyone’s land; as a result, many public goods construction had to run aground and was finally halted. After the abolition of agricultural taxes in 2004, grassroots government organization resources were scarcer. In recent years, although the state’s funds and resources for supporting agriculture have increased, almost all resources go down through “departments” and “regions” and are unable to mobilize resources. Trust in the whole society down to grassroots cadres has decreased, and the resources that village groups can fall on are very few. Thus, the space for corruption among grassroots cadres has been limited, and the ability and enthusiasm to do things are lost. At the same time, to reduce expenses, all localities have combined villages and groups, reduced the number of village cadres, and abolished the heads of village groups. At present, there are many administrative villages with a population of more than 3,000 and 4,000 in the plain areas. With such a large scale and large population, only approximately five non-full-time village cadres are required to carry out daily management and service, while most of the township governments are in a state of “suspension”, which is bound to weaken grassroots organizations. The “socialization of half population” of the countryside and the disintegration of the village community weakened or even lost the endogenous mechanism of the rural social order and public goods supply; the lack of the organization of resources of the grassroots government, the decline of identity, and low ability weakened the governance power of rural society. Grassroots government organizations are less trusted, and there is a lack of confidence in them, which further weakens their governance ability and forms a vicious circle. The weakening of the power of governance makes the people in the current rural society slack and lose the ability to solve problems. When the governance ability of grassroots government organizations is weakened, there is no situation that “the official power will retreat and the civil rights will advance”, which some people expect. In fact, what people see is that internal disputes in rural areas cannot be solved by themselves, public goods cannot be supplied independently, and it is not only impossible to recollect resources from farmers but also very difficult to allocate resources. Without the collective power and the public opinion of the village, all kinds of marginal forces, hitchhiking requirements, and unreasonable voices suppressed by the collective power before have come out. Therefore, the weakening of governance power directly leads to the disorder, insufficient service, and the follow-up of the powers of “unruly people” and “mobster” in some places, that is, the gray or even absolute deterioration of rural society. With the deepening of modernity, farmers’ right consciousness is increasing, but they have not formed the belief for the rule of law, more so, is the use of rights and interests among emotions, reason, law, and force. At present, the state’s support for “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” is basically through the project system and top-down resource input. To compete for top-down

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resources, the individual groups in rural areas have their own tactics, which even causes the phenomenon of irrationality. To maintain stability, the main task of many local grassroots government organizations is to deal with these people’s crying, pestering, making trouble, and visiting. What are the appeals of ordinary villagers and how to better provide effective public services for most people are often ignored by grassroots political power? As a result, conventional governance in rural areas has been disrupted, and a normal order has not yet been established. There are two direct reasons for this situation: first, the resources are not allocated to the village for collective democratic decision-making; second, under the pressure-type system, the superior government organization lacks responsibility, does not ask reasons for unreasonable petitions and other disturbances, does not talk about principles and the right and the wrong, as long as there is a problem, it will blame the lower level and punish the lower level, which makes stability the primary task of the grassroots level. From another point of view, it is because leaving the local resources of social governance and relying solely on the state power for social management is bound to cost high and has low efficiency. Under the background of great changes in rural society, the traditional endogenous resources of rural orders have been basically lost or cannot participate in rural governance effectively, while the resources of modern countries are still limited and cannot effectively carry out independent social management. The “rule of the rules” that people expect is far from coming. (II)

Promoting rural revitalization through governance and revitalization.

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, rural development has been highly valued. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has issued 15 consecutive No. 1 documents concerning rural areas. The income of farmers has increased significantly, and rural life has improved significantly, but the current situation of rural decline continues. Against this background, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward the strategy of rural revitalization and elaborated it in the 2018 No. 1 document Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Implementing the Strategy of Rural Revitalization, which described the grand blueprint for speeding up the modernization of agricultural rural areas and taking the road of socialist rural revitalization with Chinese characteristics. In document No. 1 of the Central Committee of the CPC in 2018, the overall requirements and main tasks for the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy were summarized as “five new” and “one enhancement”, that is, focusing on industrial prosperity, improving the quality of agricultural development, and fostering new momentum of rural development; taking ecological livability as the key point, promoting the green development of rural areas, and creating a new pattern of harmonious and symbiotic development between man and nature; and taking township-style and civilization as the guarantee, making rural culture prosperous, and making township style and civilization glow with new atmosphere. On the basis of effective governance, we should strengthen the basic work at the grassroots level in rural areas and build a new system of rural governance; on the basis of living well-off, we should improve the level of people’s livelihood security in rural areas and create a new style

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of beautiful rural areas; on the premise of getting rid of poverty, we should fight a precise battle to get rid of poverty and enhance the sense of access of the poor. To implement the strategy of rural revitalization, we should highlight the “four enhancements”, namely to focus on improving the rural property rights system and market-oriented allocation of factors and strengthen the institutional supply; to unblock intellectual, technical, and managerial access to the countryside, bring up more local talent, and strengthen the support of talent; to improve the investment guarantee system, open up investment and financing channels, and strengthen the investment guarantee; and to formulate the national rural strategic plan and strengthen the leading role of planning. To implement the strategy of rural revitalization, we should give full play to the political advantages of the Party’s leadership, compact the responsibilities, improve the mechanism, and strengthen the assessment. We should take the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy as the common will and common action of the whole Party and realize the unity of understanding and the consistent pace. We should embody the principle of giving priority to the development of agriculture and rural areas in all aspects, give priority to the allocation of cadres, the allocation of elements, the investment of funds and people, and the public service, and we should ensure that the Party always takes the overall situation and coordinates all parties in rural work, and provides a strong political guarantee for rural revitalization. On the surface, the 20-word policy of rural revitalization, which is characterized by prosperous industry, liveable ecology, civilized countryside, effective governance, and rich life, mainly involves various aspects such as economy, ecology, society, and governance, but in essence, the main connotation of rural revitalization is governance. In the new 20-word general requirements, in addition to the bright economic color of industrial prosperity and life prosperity, ecological livability, rural civilization, and effective governance can be said to be governance. At the same time, the main path of rural revitalization is governance. The development of the rural economy needs to be carried out on collectively owned land and in complicated interpersonal relationships. Therefore, the development of the rural economy also has governance attributes. In this sense, we can say that the revitalization of governance is the basic mechanism and long-term mechanism of rural revitalization. Under the background of weak governance rights, the revitalization of rural governance reconstructs the “chassis” of the benign operation and development of Chinese society. The core proposition of the revitalization of rural governance lies in the reconstruction and optimization of the social order and how the party’s leadership system and traditional social ethical order connect with the trend of marketization and urbanization. Because the power order and moral order in Chinese society are highly social, they are realized in the process of straightening out the interpersonal relationship, which makes the revitalization of governance an important proposition in the construction of rural society. To solve the problem of social order through social construction, it should be implemented in the production and life of the masses. With the shrinking production function in the village, the production and life of the masses will become more detached. Therefore, the grassroots party and government must

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play a governing role in the process of helping the masses “live a life”. Combining the construction of the party with the construction of rural society, grassroots party organizations can more effectively undertake the social and cultural functions of traditional social elites and establish and strengthen the governance network of power so that grassroots party organizations will be more active and effective in rural society, which is necessary for maintaining the rural social order and necessary for the ruling party itself because good relations between the Party and the masses should be based on good relations among the masses. Therefore, the path of the revitalization of rural governance can be expressed as to promote the construction of governance system around social construction in structure, do well in the construction of new countryside around improving the life quality of farmers in function, and constantly improve the ability to help the masses create a better life. Furthermore, the governance system includes the community system, the organization system, the institutional system, and the relationship between politics and the economy. The governance ability includes the function orientation, the management idea, the team construction, and the financial guarantee. Therefore, the revitalization of rural governance is the focus of rural revitalization. We should re-establish and optimize rural social order through the revitalization of governance and promote rural social governance or social construction through the construction of the Party. Rural revitalization is necessarily a long-term exploratory process. In this process, whether there is a good system and a team of clean leaders is the key to all problems. The key to the revitalization of rural governance lies in how Party organizations at all levels can improve the leadership ability and level in rural society and realize the effective and deep integration of the Party’s leadership and the local ethical order.

4 Urban Social Governance 4.1 Definition and Content of Urban Social Governance (I)

Definition of urban social governance.

Urban economics introduces regional space into governance and puts forward the concept of urban governance. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme gives the following definition: “Urban governance is the planning and management of urban public affairs by individuals and institutions, and public sectors and private sectors”. At present, the concept of urban governance mainly includes three perspectives. The first is that urban governance is an ability. Urban governance is not only the ability to integrate and coordinate local interests and organize social groups but also the ability to represent local interests and organize social groups to form strategies that are relatively consistent with the market, state, city, and other levels of government. The second is that urban governance is a process. Urban governance is a new form of public action. Characterized by a more complex actor system, it is the process

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to emphasize negotiation, cooperation, voluntary participation, and flexibility in the construction of new institutions. 城市地理注重的是过\31243. What urban governance focuses on is the process, that is, the process in which local governments work together with private interest groups to achieve collective goals. The third is that the key to urban governance is to treat citizens as one of the main bodies of urban governance. Urban governance is not only different from the urban government but also different in connotation. The key lies in the fact that social forces are involved in urban governance. The different understandings of urban governance show the two main points of urban governance. First, urban governance should be a dynamic process, which “is both a decision-making process and an implementing process”. The emphasis is on the process of maximizing the overall interests of the city on the basis of mutual restriction and balance of the powers of the various interest subjects in the city. Second, urban governance is a new thinking of urban management, which is related to and different from urban management. In a broad sense, the content of urban governance covers urban social governance, but from the perspective of governance mechanisms, urban governance is consistent with urban social governance. Urban social governance is a process in which multiple subjects participate in the continuous integration of various conflicting interests through coordination and cooperation. (II)

Contents of urban social governance.

The content of urban social governance mainly includes six aspects. First, the construction of a basic system. The first is to establish the basic system norms and operational rule system of the city. The second is to inherit the historical culture, historical evolution, local customs, and practices of urban development. These constitute the prerequisites for urban development. In addition, when the city develops to a certain stage, it also needs the “top-level design” of the state as the overall planner. On the one hand, it actively encourages urban governance, on the other hand, vigorously promotes the local urbanization process and implements the state’s sustainable development goals. Second, creating a democratic governance environment. The “governance” of urban governance is embodied in integrating stakeholders, including all levels of Party committees, governments, enterprises and institutions, social organizations, and individuals within the scope of the city, to participate in and govern together. Third, establishing an accountability mechanism. Party organizations and governments should be supervised by accountability agencies. Citizens’ accountability is a part of performance accountability, and it deepens administrative accountability. This responsibility is not only to deal with public affairs or disputed events but also includes public policies and budget-making. In addition to a transparent mechanism of government openness, there must also be a multiparty interactive mechanism with strong responsiveness. Fourth, the mechanism for consultation and deliberation should be improved. Consultation democracy requires a transparent process of governance that enables

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citizens to manage themselves and conduct deliberation and consultation on public affairs. The process of consultation allows participants to pool their ideas, seek common interests, and establish a mechanism for sharing knowledge, information, and social capital. Fifth, attracting stakeholders. From the perspective of the city as a whole, stakeholders include the city government, other local governments, citizens, floating population, and so on. From the perspective of a city’s business, stakeholders include only the persons or institutions concerned. Sixth, achieving sustainable development. The sustainable development of the city can be regarded as the process of mutual cooperation and co-evolution in the fields of economy, politics, culture, society, and ecological environment. In this process, we should, on the one hand, ensure the improvement of the well-being of the residents. On the other hand, ensure that the inner and outer environment of the city will not be endangered and help to prevent the destruction of the urban ecological environment.

4.2 Changes in Urban Social Governance Since the second half of the twentieth century, China’s urban society has undergone a sustained and profound transformation, which was mainly embodied in the transformation to grassroots society by continuously downward extending state power and the formation of new grassroots governance subjects. Modernization means the development of traditional society to modern society. Urbanization is an important symbol of the modernization process. China’s urbanization rate rose from 7.3% in 1949 to 58.5% in 2017. At different stages of social development, urban grassroots social governance presents different structural characteristics and institutional models. (I)

Cancelling the Bao-Jia system and implementing the street residence system.

In the period of the Republic of China, state power failed to enter the urban grassroots system, and the urban grassroots governance structure was the Bao-Jia system. BaoJia chiefs, generally three generations of elderly people, became a special force in the streets. After the founding of New China, the first task of urban social governance was to reform the old Bao-Jia system. The urban grassroots society has established two administrative organizations of the street and alley. It changed the original Bao into the street and changed Jia into the alley. The street was set with a head and a deputy head, and the alley was set with a head and a deputy head. In 1950, cities set up residents’ organizations to replace alley organizations, but their names were different. Some were called resident groups, and some were directly named resident committees. In 1953, Peng Zhen, the mayor of Beijing, in view of the existing problems of urban governance at that time, submitted a report, Street offices and Residents Committees Should Be Established in Cities, to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, saying that “The organization of the residents committee

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needs to be established. Its nature is that the mass self-government organization is not a political power organization. Its main task is to organize the residents in the streets outside the factories, shops, government offices and schools”. In 1954, the Fourth Session of the First National People’s Congress adopted the Regulations on the Organization of Urban Street Offices and the Regulations on the Organization of Urban Residents Committee, which confirmed the name and nature of the urban residents’ committee: its name was officially designated as the “urban residents committee”. Its nature was “the mass self-government resident organization”, “when carrying out its work, the residents committee shall fully promote democracy in accordance with the principles of democratic centralism and people’s voluntariness”. According to Peng Zhen’s suggestion, taking grassroots area management as the main, through the street office and the residents’ committee, the effectively organized management systems of urban grassroots people were called the street residence system. The establishment of the street residence system was the base point of the newborn political power construction, which enhanced the mobilization and organization ability of the state to society and promoted the orderly development of the economy and society. (II)

Reform of the “Street Residence System”.

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1978, with the comprehensive promotion of economic system reform, a series of reforms were carried out at the urban grassroots street residence system, including the separation of government and community, the abolition of the urban people’s commune, the street reform committee, and the revolutionary residents’ committee, and the restoration of the name and organizational models of the mid-1950s. In 1980, the state promulgated and implemented four new laws and regulations concerning the street residence system: The Regulations on the Organization of Urban Residents Committee, the Regulations on the Organization of Urban Street Offices, the Provisional Organizational Regulations of the Public Security Committee, and the Provisional Organizational General Principles of the People’s Mediation Committee. Since then, the Eleventh Session of the Seventh National People’s Congress in 1989 has adopted the Organic Law of the Urban Residents Committee of the People’s Republic of China, which further put the work of the residents’ committees on the track of legalization and institutionalization. The governing structure of residents’ committees in this period included residents’ meetings and residents’ committees. In addition to secretaries and directors, it also included party branches committees, people’s mediation committees, social security committees, family planning committees, letters and visits committees, and social security service stations. The state began to focus on a stable and forward-looking legal system to safeguard citizens’ rights and interests and public interests. From the perspective of the actual operation of the residents’ committee, the community democratic election, democratic decision-making, democratic management, and democratic supervision with the residents’ committee as the carrier are the proper paths to realize democratic governance at the grassroot level in our city.

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Transformation of urban social governance.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the overall urban governance pattern was mainly based on the unit system, supplemented by the street system, but this governance system began to loosen after the 1990s. Along with the gradual deepening of the market-oriented reform, a large number of state-owned enterprises’ bankruptcy auctions and the transformation of ownership caused the sudden overflow of the functions of unit-run society. The overall sense of the unit society tended to disintegrate, and the focus of urban governance began to shift from the unit to the street office and residents committee. Originally as a supplement to the unit system, the street residence system was unable to bear the burden of governance, which posed an important challenge to urban governance. The traditional overall social governance system based on the unit system was difficult to survive, and urban governance had to “transform and upgrade”. China’s urban governance is changing “from management to governance” and from a “unitary subject” governance model to a “multicenter” governance model. In response to the transformation and adjustment of the overall structure of urban governance, China has begun to carry out the transformation of urban social governance oriented by community self-governance. The transformation of community governance objectively requires the construction of a modern community governance structure based on China’s national conditions and oriented by community needs. Generally, the community governance structure includes a complete community governance organization system, cooperative and co-governance community governance mechanisms, institutionalized and diversified community participation channels, and a demand-oriented community public service system.

4.3 Social Governance in Mega-cities Urban social governance needs to solve three core problems: the balanced and effective supply of public goods, maintaining the stability of social order, and promoting the harmony of social relations. Under the background of China’s current social transformation, the speed of population flow is speeding up, social resource allocation is not balanced and social contradiction is sharp, which poses a new challenge to urban social governance. With the expansion of the city scale, all kinds of challenges have been upgraded. Therefore, the governance of mega-cities is the primary problem in China’s current urban governance. The exploration of social governance innovation in mega-cities also provides a model reference and experience reference for improving the level of social governance in an all-round way. With regard to the criteria for mega-cities, countries have different sizes. The United Nations Regional Development Centre defines cities with populations of more than one million as mega-cities. According to the standards of the United Nations, in 1980, the Provisional Regulations on Urban Planning Rating Indicators designated cities with a population of more than one million in the built-up area as

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mega-cities. In 2014, the Circular of the State Council on Adjusting the Standard for the Division of Urban Size put forward new standards for the division of urban sizes, defining cities with a permanent population of 5–10 million as mega-cities and cities with a permanent population of more than 10 million as giant cities. According to the new standards, there are 11 mega-cities with a population of more than 5 million in urban areas in China, including Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan, Dongguan, Zhengzhou, Shenyang, and Nanjing; among them, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou are the giant cities with a population of more than 10 million. (I)

New challenges to social governance in mega-cities.

Compared with ordinary cities, mega-cities face more severe challenges. First, the continued expansion of population size has brought about resource and environmental pressures. From 1978 to 2014, Beijing’s permanent resident population grew 1.47-fold, while Shanghai and Guangzhou grew 1.20-fold and 1.71-fold, respectively, which was mainly due to an increase in the number of foreign permanent residents. The supply of urban infrastructure and other public services is limited by land, space, and funds and cannot grow at the same rate and on the same scale. Air quality is declining, traffic is seriously congested, public safety hidden dangers are increasing, medical education resources are insufficient to supply, and the bearing capacity of cities is not sustainable. Although the goals of “strictly controlling the population scale of mega-cities” and “controlling the total population and promoting the optimization of population structure” were clearly put forward, mega-cities concentrated the most high-quality resources in politics, economy, culture, and other aspects of our country. The siphon effect and magnetic field effect will continue to exist for a long time, and the more unbalanced the social development and the greater the difference in the allocation level of social resources, the more significant the siphon effect will be. Therefore, the possibility of population expansion and the limitation of resource-bearing capacity are the greatest challenges to urban development in the future. Second, the interests of different social groups are divided seriously as the social structural strain. “Structural strain”, first proposed by American sociologist Merton, is also known as “social structural strain”. It mainly refers to the relationship between social groups being in a state of opposition, contradiction, or conflict due to the incongruity of social structure or the social relationship being in a very strong tension. In such a state, social contradictions tend to intensify, and social problems and social crises are more likely to occur. Due to the rapid influx of the foreign population and the shortage of social resources in the city, disputes and conflicts may arise between the household registration population and the foreign population, between different occupational groups, different income groups, different educational levels, and different ethnic groups (ethnic minorities and foreign groups, etc.) due to the dissatisfaction of public services, identity, cultural traditions, religious beliefs, and other reasons, endangering public security and social order. Third, governance pressure is brought about by mobile society. Since the reform and opening-up, the social structure has changed rapidly, and the speed of social

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mobility has accelerated. China’s floating population increased from more than 6 million in the early 1980s to 245 million in 2016. Employment social security, children’s education, and social integration of the floating population are the heavy tasks of social governance. As the main gathering places of the floating population, mega-cities are facing greater challenges and pressures. Fourth, under the background of a network society, social self-organization ability develops rapidly, which challenges the traditional governance model. In recent years, social organizations in mega-cities have developed at a much faster rate than the national average. New-type social organizations have begun to play a role in the fields of social interest expression, social mobilization, and rights protection and have shown a pluralistic position of opinion. The level of netizenization in megacities is also rising rapidly. This means that the possibility of “association” and social mobilization of the urban public by using the Internet is increased. The network public opinion stratification is obvious, and the professional group’s opinions are increasingly outstanding. Social contradictions such as the relationship between the government and the people, the gap between the rich and the poor, the contradiction between doctors and patients, and the dispute over rights and interests have become important sources of public opinion pressure. Under the new background of the continuous improvement of social self-organization ability and the formation of a network society, it is increasingly urgent to explore a new social order maintenance mechanism based on vitality. (II)

Exploration of the innovation of Beijing’s social governance.

Beijing is the capital and an important area for promoting the modernization of the state governance system and capacity. In December 2007, Beijing took the lead in setting up a specialized agency for social construction, the Social Work Committee of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (Beijing Social Construction Work Office). Over the past decade, Beijing has strengthened the toplevel design of the system, attached importance to consolidating the foundation of the grassroots units, actively promoted social participation, and initially established a hub-type social governance innovation model led by the Party committee and the government. 1.

Guiding social governance innovation with institutional innovation.

Institutional innovation is not only the beginning of social governance innovation but also the summary and promotion of social governance innovation. One of the characteristics of Beijing’s social governance innovation work is to attach importance to top-level design and system construction. In 2008, the Beijing Municipal Social Construction Congress issued a series of documents “1 + 4” (Implementation Outline of Strengthening Social Construction in Beijing, Opinions on Further Strengthening and Improving the Work of Party Building in Social Field, Opinions on Accelerating the Reform and Development of Social Organization, Beijing’s Community Management Measures (Trial) and Beijing’s Community Workers Management Measures (Trial)). The system framework of the social construction of capital was

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preliminarily defined. In November 2011, the Outline of the Social Construction Plan for the “12th Five-Year Plan” of Beijing was issued, and the goals and tasks of the social construction in Beijing during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period were put forward. This was the first five-year plan for social construction at the provincial level in China. In 2016, the Social Governance Plan of Beijing during the “13th Five-Year Plan” was formulated. The basic framework was designed from the two dimensions of the social governance system and modernization of governance capacity. Efforts were made to build the “six governance systems” of party organizations, government organizations, social organizations, market organizations, street grassroots organizations, and community self-governance organizations and to improve the “four governance capabilities” of system governance, legal governance, source governance, and comprehensive governance. Thus, the forward goals of the modernization of social governance in mega-cities with the characteristics of the times, China and the capital, were further defined. 2.

Grasp the leadership of party building and strengthen the foundation of community governance.

We should attach importance to the construction of the Party in the social field and carry out the “point, line and surface system promotion project”. At present, the coverage rate of party organizations to be built in nonpublic enterprises in the city is 99%. To ensure the timely follow-up and leading role of the Party’s work, a regional Party building work system has been set up, which includes the leading group of the Party building work in the district, the coordination committee of the Party building work in the street, and the platform of the Party building work in the community. After consolidating the foundation of community construction and promoting the standardization of community construction, we have basically realized the “three having and one tending” (having full-time personnel, financial support, and fixed places, one tending of the standardization of work). To improve the fine degree of social governance, Beijing quickened the construction of the grid system, issued the Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening the Construction of the Grid System of Urban Service Management in Beijing and other “1 + 3” documents, and implemented the “Grid+” ten-action plans. By 2018, the city was divided into 33,562 grids, with more than 90% grid system coverage in districts, streets (townships), and communities (villages). 3.

Serve the people’s livelihood well.

In order to make the life of the community residents more convenient, we strive to achieve the “within a 15-min walk distance” for the residents to meet the needs of their own business, lifestyle, sports and entertainment and other aspects of service; “not need to go out of the community when having small needs and not need to be far away from the community when having big needs”. Beijing has vigorously promoted the construction of a “quarter-hour community service circle” and has built a 1,352 “quarter-hour community service circle”, covering 87.5% of the urban community. The “quarter-hour community service circle” is one of the practical projects for the

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people run by the Beijing Municipal Party committee and municipal government, which is known as the “happy circle” for people’s lives by residents. 4.

Promote social coordination and expand public participation.

At present, the framework of a “hub-type” social organization system at the three levels of city, district, and street has been formed. The coverage rate of hub-type social organization services linking social organizations reached more than 95%, and more than 30,000 various social organizations at various levels were included in the main channel of the work of the Party and the government. We should issue the government’s policy of purchasing services from social forces and increase the government’s efforts to purchase services from social organizations. The service provision mechanism led by the government and widely participating by enterprises, institutions, and social organizations will be gradually improved, and the enthusiasm and participation of social forces will be significantly improved. In recent years, the city’s special fund for social construction has invested approximately 100 million yuan every year, purchased thousands of projects and nearly 3,000 posts for social organization services. We should establish community home demonstration sites and guide resident units to participate in co-construction, consultation, and co-governance. (III)

Practice of Shanghai’s social governance innovation.

In 2014, when Xi Jinping attended the deliberations of the Shanghai delegation to the second session of the 12th National People’s Congress, he pointed out that the core of social governance is people, the focus is on urban and rural communities, and the key is institutional innovation. We should pay more attention to system governance, governance according to law, comprehensive management, and source governance and hope that Shanghai will work hard to find a new way of social governance that conforms to the characteristics and laws of mega-cities. In 2015, during the deliberations of the Shanghai delegation to the third session of the 12th National People’s Congress, Xi Jinping again asked Shanghai to “continue to be in the forefront in four aspects”, including innovating social governance. In 2014, the central government entrusted Shanghai with a new mission to move forward to a science and technology innovation center with global influence. Under such circumstances and background, Shanghai has carried out the strategic plan of the Party and the state. Guided by the spirit of Xi Jinping’s series of important speeches, Shanghai actively promoted social construction and social reform and worked hard to create a social construction model with the characteristics of the times and the characteristics of Shanghai. Shanghai’s social construction work started at the earliest. In 2003, the Shanghai Social Work Committee of the Communist Party of China was established, and its original functional orientation was to guide the party construction work of the new economic organizations and the new social organizations. In November 2009, the leading group of the city’s social construction work and its office were set up, and its work orientation was extended to the fields of social construction and social

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management. At present, Shanghai has established a three-level party organization leadership system of “municipal Party committee for social work, district (county) Party committee for social work, and streets and communities(comprehensive) Party committee”, and gradually formed a social construction work system unifiedly guided by Party committee and led and borne by social construction office, which is the combination of sections and pieces, based on the sections and hierarchical responsibility. The main contents and working methods of social governance in Shanghai can be divided into three stages. The first stage (2009–2013) is mainly the construction stage of the basic system. The core content of social governance during this period was to construct the “six major systems”, that is, to construct a multilevel public service system, a basic, broad-coveraged, and multilevel social security system, a modern community governance system, a social organization development system, a social conflict management system, and the social construction advance system. The second stage (2014–2017) was mainly to innovate social governance and strengthen grassroots construction. It focused on the three areas of urban communities, urban-rural junctions and large residential areas, and the areas with relatively concentrated rural floating populations. It focused on researching the problems that urgently need to be solved in the organizational system and management system at the grassroots level, the problems that existed at the grassroots level in serving the management resources and social governance resources at different places, and the outstanding contradictions among the branches and various forces at the grassroots level. The purpose was to determine the grassroots situation and the specific situation and perform a general analysis of grassroots development in the city. After a year of investigation and research, the final result of “1 + 6” policy documents was formed, including the opinions to further innovate social governance and strengthen grassroots construction, as well as the six supporting implementation opinions on the reform of street systems, the improvement of residential area governance systems, the improvement of village-level governance systems, grid management, the participation of social forces and the construction of community workers’ teams, and mainly solving the outstanding problems of the allocation of governance resources, such as the street mechanism system, the construction of grassroots team strength, management and law enforcement, and the “supporting” guarantee of basic funds for grassroots organizations. Because there was solid grassroots research, advanced management concepts, and scientific top-level design, with the implementation of this series of documents in the field of social governance in Shanghai, the pursuit of Shanghai’s social governance “walking in the forefront” was realized. The third phase, starting in 2018, mainly focused on upgrading the city’s energy level and core competitiveness and striving to fulfill the new mission of creating a high-quality life. To achieve this new goal, Shanghai has proposed several working ideas. First of all, adhere to the construction of the leadership of the party as a red line throughout, improve the grassroots governance structure with the Party committee of the streets and towns and the party organizations of the residents and villages as the core of leadership, deepen the transformation of the functions of the streets,

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strengthen the primary function of the neighborhood Party Working Committee to strengthen the party’s construction, clarify the four levels of responsibilities orientation, and move the focus down. Streets and towns have greater discursive power in integrating resources and coordinating forces. Gather all kinds of people’s livelihood resources and projects to be implemented into the villages and get through the last kilometer of serving the masses. Second, we should improve the fine level of urban governance, with a focus on the rule of law, socialization, intelligence, and standardization, to make the city more interesting, safer, and cleaner. We should improve the level of rule of law and strengthen comprehensive law enforcement and industry management. Law enforcement departments, urban areas, and towns should be connected in an orderly manner to consolidate the achievements of regional environmental improvement. We should strictly control food safety in accordance with the law and create a national food safety demonstration city. We should strengthen the coordinated management of socialization, adhere to the principle of downward focus, downward resources, and decentralization of power, and optimize the institutional setting of urban management in cities, districts, and towns. We should improve the intelligence level of social governance, set up large data centers in Shanghai, and realize data sharing and exchange across levels, departments, systems, and services. We should strengthen the process of re-engineering and effectively improve the efficiency of examination and approval. We should improve the predictability of social governance and improve emergency management mechanisms such as urban security and early warning. We should accelerate the establishment and improvement of a standard system for urban governance and promote fine governance with fine standards. Finally, we should strive to build a co-construction, co-governance, and sharing social governance pattern. We should adhere to the principle of consulting more with the masses about their affairs, involving everyone in their affairs, and handing over more social affairs to society. We should widely arouse the masses and all social parties to participate in social governance, innovate the ways of mass participation, and form the self-government structure of residential areas with residents committee as the leader, residents as the main bodies, multi-party participation, and benign interaction. We should promote the integration of self-government, co-governance, moral governance, and the rule of law.

5 Network Social Governance The emergence of the Internet has greatly promoted the productivity of human society, opened up new social activities space for human existence and development, and formed new ways of life and communication. It involves not only the information dissemination forms of society and people’s social communication forms but also the economic operation forms of society as well as the public’s social participation and political participation forms, and it will involve the deep organizational structure and inner operating mechanism of social life. In 1994, China was fully connected to

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the Internet. By December 2017, the number of Internet users in China had reached 772 million, and the Internet penetration rate had reached 55.8%. These figures show that China has formed a network society covering all fields of production and life.

5.1 Network Society (I)

Concept of the network society.

It is a common classification method to define network society from static and dynamic perspectives. In the static sense, a network society is a special form of a realtime and online human life community. In the dynamic sense, the network society presents the behavior process of people as the main bodies of network behavior in the electronic network space to realize the communication and interaction among them by controlling the transmission, exchange, and nonstop circulation of the digital electronic signal, and thus to condense the social groups, form the social relations and the social culture phenomenon.29 In view of the high integration of the network society with the traditional nonnetwork society and the emergence of a new highly integrated and mixed state between the virtual society and the real society, network social governance can neither govern the virtual space alone nor govern the network society completely according to the principle of entity social governance. Instead, we should, in view of the development characteristics of the network society, adopt the strategy of virtual-real combination to promote the common role of the state, the market, and society. (II)

Characteristics of the network society.

Understanding the basic attributes of the network society is the premise of grasping the governance of the network society. Specifically, the network society has the following characteristics. 1.

High complexity.

The high complexity of a network society contains two levels of meaning. First, the composition of the network society itself is highly complex. Its main bodies are huge in quantity and diverse. It includes not only a large number of netizens but also market subjects and social organizations with various forms; it includes not only stable organizational forms but also temporary communities agglomerated by a certain topic or event. Second, the operation of the network society is highly complex. Because of the rapid dissemination and interaction of information, a complex evolution mechanism emerged in the network society, which is characterized by mutability, chaos, agglomeration, and uncertainty. Network group events and network public opinion events are the concentrated embodiment of this kind of complexity. 29

Li Yi: The Logical Starting Point, Operation Mechanism and Boundary Direction of Network Social Governance, in Journal of the Party School of CPC Hangzhou, 2015(3).

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Anonymity.

There are three meanings of anonymity. First, from the perspective of the dual relationship between the virtual and real, anonymity refers to the network users’ use of codes from network technology partly or fully to replace social identity characteristics in the real world. It is an important source of network virtuality and even illusions and falsehood. Second, from the perspective of role-playing theory, anonymity is the way and means of role-playing in Internet interaction. People use nicknames, signature files, and other pseudonym mechanisms on the Internet to participate in games exploring self-identity in both secrete and open ways. Finally, from the perspective of structuralism, the network can be regarded as a unique space different from the real world. The anonymity of Internet users is not only the anonymity of personal identity but also the hiding of rules, meaning system, and social relations, which is a kind of hiding of social structure. It leads to the separation of meaning systems of the network world and the real world. 3.

Equality.

In traditional society, the government has obvious resource superiority and authority characteristics; therefore, it has absolute superiority. However, in network society, due to the inherent empowerment function of network technology, the original social structure, capital structure, geo-structure, and cultural structure have been re-adjusted. In the new fields of network society, there are new channels and new rules of equal dialogue among network subjects. The mode of social governance based on the monopoly of information resources in traditional society has undergone a fundamental transformation, which has become the dominant force that influences the pattern and rules of social governance. 4.

Openness and pluralism.

The use of the Internet is characterized by a low threshold. The weakening of this kind of technical barrier makes the network society have almost unlimited openness, and its participants also have great openness. This nature has greatly increased the likelihood of network participation. Netizens not only participate more freely in the interaction and communication of the network society but also the social network involved is more complex. The virtual network society also has extremely complex pluralism, which is mainly manifested in the pluralism of participators and governance content. 5.

Liquidity.

Due to the transtemporal nature of network information spread and communication, virtual individuals in a network society have a high degree of fluidity. In a very short time, a large number of network individuals will gather in a network virtual community or hot topic, resulting in an extremely strong public opinion effect and mobilization ability. This fluidity, on the one hand, leads to the looseness of the

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basic organizational structure; at the same time, it also shows the convergence of ideas in the network. Therefore, the social structure of the original level is absorbed and dissolved by the nonhierarchical chaotic form, and the whole presents a more complex and nonfixed structural characteristic.

6 Issues Existing in the Network Society (I)

Political security issues.

In the network era, people’s behavior modes and ideas are changing greatly. The “digital space without borders” with the Internet as its core is developing in an all-round way. The concept and connotation of national political security are also changing greatly, and there are many new forms of endangering national political security. For example, parties with technical advantages on the network are more likely to attack the network, and individuals with technical disadvantages are more likely to attack it. On this basis, various economic, social, scientific, military, and other activities related to national security are also highly dependent on the network, so they become more vulnerable.30 (II)

Social security issues.

Security factors in the network society are also increasingly diversified and complicated. In recent years, the frequent occurrence of network emergencies has posed a serious threat to social stability. Computer virus and hacker attacks have caused serious damage to the people’s livelihood system with a high degree of informatization and have become a new threat to social security in China. After the emergency, because of the untimely inadequate and unscientific information disclosure, rumors, extreme views, and panic will be extreme through Internet users. Due to network communalization and the difficulty of network supervision, network public opinions will produce the butterfly effect after being fermented and turn into realistic group events, which will cause social harm. Network rumors, network terrorist activities, online pornography, citizens’ privacy rights, and intellectual property protection have become social security issues that must be faced. (III)

Economic security issues.

Profound changes have taken place in the economic subjects and economic models in the Internet era. With the constant maturation of the network economy, network crimes (including money crime, cyber-espionage, hacking, etc.) have become very rampant, which seriously threatens national economic security. At present, there are still many problems in the construction of network economic security in China, 30

He Zhe. Some Key Theoretical Problems and Governance Strategies of Network Social Governance, in Theory and Reform, 2013(3).

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including incomplete planning and design, imperfect overall planning mechanisms, loopholes in product equipment, nonconfidentiality of economic information, innovation in business models, lack of interaction in chain links, strengthening integrity construction, and improving laws and regulations. In addition, the self-protection and prevention awareness of the main bodies of China’s network economic activities is not strong, and there is a lack of risk awareness and anti-risk ability to take precautions against security problems and various risks of system operation. This also makes the economic security problem very serious. (IV)

National security issues.

On April 19, 2016, at a forum on the work of network security and informationization, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that “there is no national security without network security”, “We should set up a correct view on network security, accelerate the construction of a security guarantee system for key information infrastructure, apperceive the situation of network security all-round, and enhance the capability of network security defense and deterrence”. As the “fifth space” after territory, territorial sea, airspace, and space, the network has been and will continue to be an important resource for national development. Globally, computer viruses, cyberattacks, spam, system vulnerabilities, network theft, network false information, network crimes, and other issues are becoming increasingly prominent, which may adversely affect China’s national security if they are not handled properly. Cyberspace security with network technology as its core has begun to have a comprehensive and subversive impact on national security, becoming the most powerful changer of national security system, the most sensitive area of national security innovation, the most cutting-edge area of national security competition, and the most unpredictable factor of national security reform.31 Network social governance is imminent.

6.1 Network Social Governance (I)

The concept of network social governance.

Network social governance refers to a practical type of real-world social governance for the Internet and network society, whose main referent is the Internet and network society, which is based on drawing lessons from and appropriately following the value concept, system design, system construction, and means of modern social governance, which is participated by the government, enterprises, social organizations, individuals, and other multiparty subjects and a variety of social forces.32 It 31 Ni Liang, On the Subversive Influence of Network Security on National Security, in China Information Security, 2016(9). 32 Li Yi, The Goal Orientation and Action Principle of Network Social Governance, in Zhejiang Social Sciences, 2014(12).

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can be expressed as “the governance of network society” or more exactly as “the social governance of network society”. (II)

The theoretical paradigm of network social governanceThe theoretical paradigm of network social governance.

One of the important ideological sources of network social governance is governance theory. Since the 1990s, with the rise of governance theory and its introduction into the academic circle of China, three theoretical paradigms of social governance have also been widely used in the research of network social governance.33 Three theoretical paradigms have formed. 1.

Multicenter governance theory.

Multicenter governance theory brings many kinds of social behavior subjects into the scope of governance subjects, overcomes the dilemma caused by a single social governance subject, and emphasizes the self-governance and cooperative governance of society. At the same time, it also pays attention to the cooperative relationship of multiple governance subjects. In the process of China’s network social governance, we should promote multicenter co-governance and give full play to the governance role of the government, market and society, and multiple other subjects. The government, social organizations, citizens, families, communities, and enterprises should cooperate in the process of governance to form the network social governance pattern and system of the participation and cooperation of multiple subjects, which is the embodiment of multicenter governance theory. 2.

Networked governance theory.

Networked governance theory holds that the process of governance is full of the characteristics of the conflict and cooperation of interest, and the achievement of governance objectives is the result of the interaction among multiple actors and advocates establishing an interdependent cooperative network through government departments and nongovernment departments as well as the private sector. To achieve the action mode of public value and avoid the fragmentation of management, an agreed contract and rules are reached among the participants through mutual combination and cooperation under the established institutional framework, through faceto-face cooperation, sharing public power, assuming public responsibility, and taking collective action. It places more emphasis on the partnership of interaction and cooperation among multiple governance subjects. In the process of mutual dependence and mutual benefit of public resources, the rationality, sense of responsibility, and sense of cooperation of self-action are gradually improved, community knowledge and collective memory are generated and accumulated, and the growth and evolution of network community mechanisms and the improvement of public efficiency are promoted. In this theory, there is an equal relationship between government and other subjects. Through dialogue, partnership, and the resources of other subjects, they can achieve goals that cannot be achieved by themselves. 33

See Xie Yungeng, A Review of Research on Network Social Governance, in New Media and Society, 2014(4).

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6.2 Goals of Network Social Governance The goals of network social governance in our country can be expressed as promoting the construction of network social order, alleviating network social conflict, optimizing the network social environment, and realizing network subjects’ freedom. (I)

Constructing the network social order.

The primary goal of network social governance is to construct an orderly network social operation order and life order. Order is one of the basic values of law, which emphasizes the establishment and maintenance of order in the state. The open characteristic of a network society makes the behaviors of multiple subjects mixed. The existence of the phenomena of online water armies, Internet rumors, and so on disturbs the order of network space and reduces the quality of information exchange and communication among multiple subjects in a network society. Social order is established through structure and culture. The new order in cyberspace means that the actions among individuals and end-to-end are predictable, patterned, and rule-based. People’s actions are managed by mutual expectations and contracts, thus promoting the cooperation and interaction of the whole society. To establish a good network social order, various network subjects should interact with each other in order, form the basic behavior norms in the network social life, and establish a necessary order in the state for the network social community life. The evolution of the civilization of a network society ultimately depends on whether all kinds of activities of people can be carried out normally and orderly in the electronic network space. This requires the combination of the rule of law and the rule of virtue, the combination of heteronomy and self-discipline, and the joint efforts of websites, netizens, and national authorities to achieve the “beauty of order” in the network society. (II)

Relieve of network social conflicts.

It is also one of the goals of network social governance to relieve network social conflict. Conflict is a common and complex phenomenon in an organizational action. The conflict of the network society is compounded. It includes not only the inherent interest contradiction and the social conflict in the network virtual space, such as the network violence and the network privacy infringement but also the interest contradiction and the social conflict in the offline society which extends from the network space to the entity life. They are closely related and interact with each other, which makes the nature of the conflict more complex and the governance more difficult. Network social conflict not only encroaches on the legitimate rights and interests of cyberspace subjects but also challenges and endangers the operation order of the network and the social life under the network, resulting in social instability factors. Therefore, to effectively relieve all kinds of network social conflicts, it has become a major goal of network social governance.

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Optimizing the network social environment.

Regarding human beings, the subjects of network behavior that the network creates are a specific behavior field and social and cultural environment. Therefore, people’s social life is naturally divided into “online” and “offline”. It can be argued that the Internet in the sense of “hardware” and “material entities” is more about its “technical support”, and the problems discussed here to improve and optimize the network environment should be located at the social and cultural level rather than at the purely technical level. (IV)

Realizing the freedom of network subjects.

Network social governance should realize people’s network freedom and all-round development under national laws and regulations. The problems of network social governance arise from the need to maintain the order of social operation in electronic cyberspace. However, forming and maintaining the normal operation order of the network social life community is only a tool. The fundamental purpose of network social governance is to provide supporting elements and guarantee conditions for the realization of human network freedom and comprehensive development. The emergence of the network society provides the conditions for human’s free development, the development of the network economy creates the material conditions for human’s freedom, the network makes people more free in the social relations, the development of the network provides more multiple choices for human’s freedom, and the construction of the network space provides more exhibition space and opportunities for human’s development. (V)

Model of network social governance.

The models of network social governance in China are divided into two types: government-led governance under the leadership of the Party committee and multigovernance under the leadership of the Party committee and the government. The top-down management mode, which is dominated by party committees and governments and based on laws and regulations, is the most important part of network social governance. At the same time, under the social governance model led by the party committee and the government, network enterprises, network media, and other multisubjects also participated in network social governance. The joint model of the participation of market and social forces and other multigovernance models led by party committees and the government have become one of China’s network social governance models. (I)

Models led by party committees and government.

From the original meaning of governance theory, the status between the subjects and subjects, the subjects and the objects, and the objects and the objects is equal. The multiple subjects in the network society are more equal in information acquisition and interactive communication than before, but the status and interest demand of each subject are still different. To realize the fundamental goal of social governance, it is

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necessary to regulate the functions and behaviors of all kinds of subjects according to law. Compared with other subjects, the party committee and the government bear the main responsibility for national security, social stability, economic development, and cultural prosperity. Therefore, they occupy a central position in the governance network, and the leading role of the Party committee and the government can only be strengthened and cannot be weakened. The government is the executive organ of state power and has the coercive power of the state. It relies on the legal system to carry on social management, and the cost is relatively small. At the same time, the network social governance model led by the Party committee and the government not only conforms to the systematicness of the information transmission in the network operation but also realizes the information resource sharing through the centralized management and control of the Party committee and the government and prevents the repetitive construction. At the same time, the governance of cyberspace at the national level can also fully maintain national sovereignty. The governance model dominated by the Party committee and government is mainly embodied in guidance, coordination, and supervision in network social governance, and the main means are legal means and administrative means. To promote the sustained and healthy development of the Internet, the state has issued a series of laws and regulations on network information security and service-oriented management. It mainly includes the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Protecting the Safety of Computer Information Systems, the Provisional Regulations of the Administration of International Networking of Computer Information in the People’s Republic of China, the Provisional Regulations on the Administration of the Confidentiality of Computer Information Systems, the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the Protection of Internet Security, the Measures on the Administration of the Prevention and Control of Computer Viruses, and the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Telecommunications, the Regulations on the Administration of Internet Electronic Announcement Service, and Regulation on Internet Information Service of the People’s Republic of China, and so on. China mainly regulates the content of the Internet through the Internet content provider (ICP) and gradually moves toward the detailed management of the content of ICP services. The establishment of the Central Committee on Network Security and Information Technology is also a major event in the field of network social governance in China. In March 2018, the Plan for Deepening the Reform of Party and State Institutions proposed that the management of state computer networks and information security management centers should be adjusted from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to the Office of the Central Committee on Network Security and Information Technology, which will be responsible for the top-level design, overall layout, overall coordination, overall promotion, supervision, and implementation of major work in related fields. In addition to the management model of applying laws and regulations, the Party committee and the government also manage other social subjects by means of education. For example, by educating people not to believe and spread rumors, rapidly

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identifying telecommunications fraud, using civilized network language, and participating in love voluntary activities, Internet authorities encourage Internet enterprises to adjust the market behaviors damaging the interests of Internet users through interviews. (II)

The multiple governance system under the leadership of the party committee and government.

Governance theory emphasizes the pluralism of governance subjects and advocates that the Party committee, the government and the related departments, the network service provider, and the network behavior participants jointly promote the effective governance and development of the network society. In the face of the high quantity and low quality of the information content of the network society, the entertainment and commercialization of the information use, the risks caused by the market disorder to the public interest and the network order, we must let more governance subjects participate in, pay attention to the roles of the industry organizations, network operators, and netizens in the network social governance so as to realize the real “governance”. Therefore, the governance model of the network society in China should turn to the multigovernance models led by the party committee and the government. By virtue of their comparative advantages, cooperation among governance subjects is more effective, which greatly improves the capabilities of providing public goods and services, formulating industrial policies, and assuming social responsibilities and other aspects. Under the multigovernance models dominated by the Party committee and the government, the governance subjects also include the multisubjects such as Internet enterprises, network media, and netizens, and the main governance means including legislation, administration, and technology. As a possible means of market governance, industry self-discipline plays an important role in restraining the bad behaviors of market subjects, maintaining market order, and promoting the transformation of government functions. Compared with national direct governance, industry management is more direct and efficient. By establishing industry self-discipline rules, we can use more technical means synthetically and realize the aims of governance directly. China’s Internet industry self-disciplinary organizations include the Internet Society of China, China Internet Development Foundation, Chinese Culture Institute of Internet Communication, China Internet Network Information Center, Association of China Internet Finance Industry, and so on. These industry organizations belong to the industrial exogenous type in the way of growth and development. The Internet is the product of technology, and technology governance is also an important dimension of network social governance. Social problems arising from Internet technology will ultimately be solved by Internet technology. As Xi pointed out, “We should use technology to face technology and use technology to manage technology, so that we can solve problems”. China’s Internet control technology can be divided into network security technology, content monitoring technology and network behavior control technology.

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Among them, network security technology mainly includes firewall technology, encryption technology, and access control technology; content supervision technology mainly includes supervision technology of network public opinions, content security control technology, gateway filtering control technology, network monitoring technology, bad information detection technology, and content filtering system; the behavior control technology mainly includes the network copyright protection technology and the network user behavior real-time monitoring technology, and so on. In essence, the Internet is a kind of technology protocol. The social problems caused by Internet technology, such as network false advertisements, network rumors, network fraud, and network gambling, have to be solved and dealt with by the further development of technology. From this point of view, the technology governance of the network society has tool value and is the means and carrier of other governance methods. In general, after the initial exploration stage, network social governance in China has established a multigovernance model led by the Party committee and the government, which is in line with China’s national conditions and meets the needs of national development. However, at the same time, we should also pay attention to the problems of higher cost, weaker industry self-discipline, and low public media literacy in China’s multigovernance model. We urgently need further efforts from the state, society, and the market to realize healthy and orderly network space and the comprehensive development of network subjects. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Explain the following concepts: community, community governance. What are the means of rural social governance? Briefly describe the relationship of main bodies in rural social governance. Briefly describe the content of urban social governance. Discuss the characteristics and governance goals of the network society in light of reality.

参考文献

References [America] Manuel Castells (2006) The rise of the network society [M]. Social Sciences Academic Press, Beijing, China Dahai W (2012) Community management [M]. China Renmin University Press, Beijing Weizhi D, Rong X (2006) Introduction to family sociology [M]. Shanghai University Press, Shanghai Xiaoping Z (2012) Community governance—the dilemma and the way out in mode transformation [M]. Social Sciences Academic Press, Beijing Yi L (2014) Network social governance [M]. China Social Sciences Press, Beijing

Chinese Social Governance Modes Liqun Wei

Overview This chapter mainly discusses the main ways of social governance by expounding the connotation, functions, and forms of four kinds of governance, including governance by law, moral governance, cultural governance, and scientific and technological governance. Through the study of this chapter, the readers will grasp the important characteristics of the operation of social governance.

1 Governance by Law 1.1 Significance of Governance by Law Governance by law refers to carrying on social governance in accordance with the national laws that embody the will of the people and reflect the law of social development; implementing scientific legislation, democratic legislation, and legislation by law to promote development by means of good law; and safeguarding good governance. This is the basic basis and means of social governance. Promoting the building of a society ruled by law in an all-round way is of great significance. In 1997, the report of the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China established the “rule of law” as the basic strategy for the Party to lead the people to govern the country. In the Amendment to the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China adopted at the second session of the Ninth National People’s Congress on March 15, 1999, the “rule of law” was transformed from the will of the Party to the will of the state for the first time. In 2013, for the first L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_10

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time, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee put forward the concept of “construction of a society ruled by law”, insisting on the integration of construction of a country ruled by law, a government ruled by law, and a society ruled by law, emphasizing the rule of law, strengthening the safeguard of the rule of law, and using the thinking of the rule of law and the way of the rule of law to resolve social contradictions. In 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, standing at the height of the overall situation of the Party’s administration of a country and governance and the modernization of the country, put forward the general goal of “building a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics and building a socialist country ruled by law” and emphasized the promotion of multilevel and multifield governance by law. In 2017, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China adhered to the rule of law in an all-round way as one of the basic strategies for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. From “social management” to “social governance”, the “rule of law” to “ruling China by law”, and from “improving the level of social governance” to “improving the level of legal governance of social governance”, it reflected the continuous deepening of our Party’s understanding of the law of socialism development, as well as put forward new requirements for promoting the legalization of social governance in an all-round way. Therefore, to promote the construction of a society ruled by law in an all-round way is the internal requirement to carry out the basic strategy of ruling the country by law, the inevitable choice of promoting the modernization of national governance, and the fundamental guarantee to safeguard the rights and interests of the people in an all-round way and to realize the long-term stability of the country.

1.2 Connotation and Characteristics of Society Ruled by Law “Society ruled by law” refers to a social operation status that the law is universally recognized and complied with in the whole society. The system, concepts, and ways of behavior established by national legislation can be effectively implemented, and all citizens and social subjects can enforce the rule of law. The state can coordinate social forces, balance social interests, regulate social relations, and regulate social behavior on the track of the rule of law and rely on the rule of law to solve various social contradictions and problems. The construction of a socialist society ruled by law with Chinese characteristics has six important characteristics: people’s character, universality, systematicness, comprehensiveness, equality, and impartiality. People’s character refers to the construction of a society ruled by law that adheres to the people’s dominant position. This is determined by the social nature of contemporary China, the purpose of the Party, and the nature of the Constitution. China is a socialist country, and the people are the masters of the country and society, which determines that the rule of law in China is the rule of law by the whole people. The construction of the rule of law is for the sake of the people, to protect the people, to rely on the people, to benefit the people, taking safeguard the people’s fundamental

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rights and interests as the starting point and the objective point, to ensure that the people enjoy extensive rights and freedoms and undertake their due obligations by law. People widely participate in the construction of a society ruled by law through various forms and channels to maintain social fairness and justice and to promote common prosperity. The socialist system of China ensures the dominant position of the people as masters of the country and ensures the dominant position of the people in promoting the rule of law in all-round ways and the construction of a society ruled by law, which is the fundamental difference between the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics and the capitalist rule of law. Universality refers to the construction of a society ruled by law that should make the law the basic criterion of the whole society, and the whole society should operate according to legal norms. All organizations, institutions, units, and individuals must operate within the framework of the Constitution and the law. Take the Constitution and the law as the code of conduct, uphold their rights and powers, and perform their obligations or duties in accordance with the Constitution and the law. Systematicness refers to the construction of society ruled by law and runs through every link of legislation, law enforcement, judicature, and law-abiding. Through scientific legislation, we should pay attention to the leading and promoting role of legislation; through strict law enforcement, we should ensure the effective implementation of the law; through impartial justice, we should enhance the credibility of the judiciary; through law-abiding by the whole people, we should enhance the concept and awareness of the rule of law in the whole society. These four elements are closely connected and complement each other and constitute the main structure of the construction of society ruled by law together. Comprehensiveness refers to the construction of the society ruled by law that not only includes all around and three-dimensional rule of law enforcement including the construction of economy, politics, culture, society, ecology, and the construction of the Party but also includes the spirit of the rule of law, the norms of the rule of law, and the requirements of the rule of law embodied by mind, value, behavior, order, and system in an all-round way. The construction of society ruled by law means that the concept of the rule of law, the spirit of the rule of law, and the belief of the rule of law are continuously deeply rooted in people’s hearts, infiltrate people’s hearts, and internalize people’s hearts, and then realize the governance of people’s minds. It also means that the norm of law has become the basic criterion of all people’s conduct and the construction of perfect social norms and legal systems, which makes it the fundamental guarantee for various market subjects and social subjects to maintain the basic social order. Equality refers to the construction of a society ruled by law. This insists that all people are equal before the law. Equality is the basic attribute of socialist rule of law. Any organization or individual, any social subject or market subject, must respect and safeguard the authority of the Constitution and the law, must exercise their functions or rights, perform their duties or obligations in accordance with the Constitution and the law, must not have the privilege to go beyond the Constitution and the law, and no citizen who is in a weak position in society can be discriminated against.

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Impartiality refers to the construction of a society ruled by law and is based on the promotion of fairness and justice. Justice is the lifeblood of the rule of law. Safeguarding fairness and justice is the inherent requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics. China carries out the construction of a society ruled by law, fundamentally, to construct a fair and just good society. To govern the country by law in all-round ways and promote the construction of a society ruled by law, we must closely focus on ensuring and promoting social fairness and justice and effectively achieve good law and good governance. On the whole, a sound and mature society ruled by law will be a society characterized by clear politics, a democratic legal system, social justice, vitality, peace and order, harmony, and friendliness. The whole society is full of awe and faith in the law, and the constitution and the law are effectively implemented and generally complied with. Social life is legalized and standardized, and society as a whole is full of vitality and orderly operated by law. The legitimate rights and interests of the people have been conscientiously respected and guaranteed, and society is full of fairness and justice.

1.3 Major Progress of the Construction of the Rule of Law in Social Governance Since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening-up, the Party and the state have always attached great importance to the construction of the rule of law in social governance, carried out active exploration and practice to form and develop the legal system of social governance adapted to China’s national conditions, and made remarkable achievements. (I)

Established a normative system for improving people’s livelihood and innovating social governance.

The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, promulgated and implemented in 1982, clearly stipulates the political system, economic system, civil rights and obligations, the establishment of state institutions and the scope of their duties, and the fundamental tasks of the state of China. Since then, legislative work throughout China has been restored and developed in an all-round way. In the field of social governance, we have established basic public service, legal norms such as public education, labor and employment, social insurance, social security, medical and health care, population and family planning, housing, culture, and sports, laying a foundation for the rule of law in social governance with Chinese characteristics. To adapt to the development and changes of China’s economy and society, the National People’s Congress revised and improved the Constitution in 1988, 1993, 1999, 2004, and 2018. In terms of ensuring and improving people’s livelihood, cause of education has formed a legal system with the Education Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Teachers Law of the People’s Republic of China, and the like as the core; the labour

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and employement has formed a legal system with the Labor Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Labour Contract Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Employment Promotion Law of the People’s Republic of China, and the like as the core; social security and social services has formed a legal system with the Charity Law of the People’s Republic of China, Interim Measure of Social Assistance of the People’s Republic of China, Social Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China, Interim Measures for Social Assistance of the People’s Republic of China, and the like as the core; medical and health care has formed a legal system with Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China, Pharmaceutical Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, and the like as the core; in terms of population, it has formed a legal system with the Resident Identify Card Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Population and Family Planning Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Law of Succession of the People’s Republic of China, and the like as the core; and housing security has formed a legal system with the Land Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Urban Real Estate Administration, and the like as the core. There are also Civil Codes of the People’s Republic of China General Part and other important laws and regulations. In terms of strengthening and innovating social governance, in March 1991, the 18th Session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People’s Congress adopted the Decision on Strengthening the Comprehensive Management of Public Security, which marked that the comprehensive management of social security has been on the track of standardization and institutionalization. In July 2015, the State Security Law of the People’s Republic of China, adopted at the 15th Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress, established the guiding position of the overall national security and the leading system of national security and laid an important legal foundation for the construction of the national security system with Chinese characteristics. We have also promulgated the Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Counterterrorism Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Counterespionage Law of the People’s Republic of China, the National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Nuclear Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, the People’s Mediation Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on State Compensation, and the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Letters and Visits. Law includes both substantive law and procedural law, both of which are interdependent and mutually guaranteed. The promulgation and revision of the three procedural laws of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Civil Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, and the Administrative Litigation Law of the People’s Republic of China have provided an important basis for ensuring the smooth development of democratic politics and standardizing the normal operation of the market economy. (II)

Strive to promote strict law enforcement.

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In the construction of the rule of law in social governance, strict law enforcement is the difficulty as well as the key. Administrative law enforcement is the largest daily administrative activity of administrative organs, the main way to implement laws and regulations and manage economic and social affairs by law, and the important way to realize functions of the government. Approximately 80% of China’s laws, 90% of the local regulations, and almost all of the administrative regulations are implemented by administrative organs. Whether administrative law enforcement is strict and fair directly reflects the level of the construction of the rule of law of China. In recent years, the state has stepped up the inspection of law enforcement, promoted the constitutional review of local legislation, rectified the disorder of child care, punished “village tyrants” and combated telecommunications fraud across the border, etc., and made some gratifying achievements. For example, after the occurrence of the “problem vaccine incident”, the State Council revised the Regulations on the Administration of Vaccine Circulation and Preventive Vaccination and made great efforts to improve the legal system of the sales channels, cold chain storage, and circulation of the Class II vaccine. The State Food and Drug Administration revised the Good Supply Practice for Pharmaceutical Products accordingly, which strictly stipulated that effective quality control measures should be taken in the process of purchase, storage, sale, and transportation of drugs. For example, after the occurrence of the “Lei Yang case”, the 24th Meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Continuing Reform adopted the Opinions on Deepening the Standardization Construction of Public Security Law Enforcement and called for strengthening the ability of law enforcement subjects to perform their duties by law and solve outstanding problems of law enforcement, and the Ministry of Public Security held a video demonstration training conference on the standardization of law enforcement by public security organs throughout China. (III)

Actively promote judicial justice.

Justice is the lifeline of the rule of law. As a constituent element of the rule of law, the basic function of justice is to make the final authoritative treatment of various legal disputes with the help of public power and resolve social contradictions by the means of rule of law. In the judicial practice of social governance, giving attention to the important leading role of judicial justice in social justice and preventing and resolving social contradictions is the key to improving the level of the rule of law in social governance. In recent years, judicial organs have assumed the functions of legal protection, legal service, and governance by law have played an increasingly important role in the innovation of social governance, and have made significant progress in public interest litigation to safeguard national interests and social order. On June 27, 2017, the 28th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress adopted the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Amending the Civil Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Administrative Litigation Law of the People’s Republic of China and incorporated into the law pilot projects of the public interest litigation system in the fields of ecological environment and resource protection, food and

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drug safety, state-owned property protection, transfer of state-owned land-use rights, etc. initiated by the procuratorial organ in the past two years. At the same time, the promulgation of the Regulations on Letters and Visits, the Opinions on Handling Law Related and Litigation Related Letters and Visits Problems by Law, Opinions on Establishment of a Working Mechanism for Introduction of Law Related and Litigation Related Letters and Visits Matters into Legal Proceedings, the Guiding Opinions on the Establishment of Correction and Defect Supplementation Mechanism of Law Related and Litigation Related Letters and Visits Law Enforcement and the Implementing Opinions on Perfecting the System of Conclusion of Law Related and Litigation Related Petitioning by law provided a system guarantee for promoting the separation of litigation and petitioning and governing the petitioning by law. (IV)

Co-governance by pluralistic subjects ruled by law.

The co-governance by pluralistic subjects based on the rule of law is the internal requirement of improving the social governance system of “Party committee leadership, government responsibility, social coordination, public participation and guarantee of the rule of law”, and also the urgent need of improving the social governance system. To implement the basic strategy of ruling the country by the rule of law in allround ways, the first requirement is that the Communist Party of China, which is in the ruling position, should hold power by law. The Party not only leads national legislative work but also governs national laws, especially the Constitution. At the same time, it should constantly strengthen the Party’s own system construction. In recent years, the institutionalization of Party building has been constantly strengthened, which is mainly embodied in five aspects. The first is to clarify the core role of the leadership of the Party in taking charge of the overall situation and coordinating all parties. The Regulations on the Work of the Party Groups of the Communist Party of China (Trial Implementation) clearly require the establishment of Party groups in the leading organs, including central and local state organs, people’s organizations, economic organizations, cultural organizations, social organizations, and other organizations. The second is to highlight pluralistic co-governance. In 2017, the Constitution of the Communist Party of China was revised from “strengthening and innovating social management” to “strengthening and innovating social governance” in general, which further highlighted the joint participation and benign interaction of multiple social subjects under the leadership of the Party committee and the responsibility of the government. The third is to strengthen the governance function of the intraparty laws and regulations. The public promulgation of the Regulations on the Formulation of Intraparty Laws and Regulations of the Communist Party of China and the Regulations on Putting the Intraparty Regulations and Normative Documents on Records of the Communist Party of China has enabled the Party to have the first formal and public “legislative law” within the Party. The fourth is the systematization of supervision and accountability. The Regulations on Intraparty Supervision of the Communist Party of China, the Regulations on Accountability of the Communist Party of China, and the Regulations on Openness of Party Affairs of the Communist Party of China (Trial Implementation) have further improved the supervision

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system and promoted the publicity of Party affairs. The fifth is the normalization of ruling the party and managing the party. The 6th Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party adopted some principles of intraparty political life in the new situation, which put forward the objective requirements and specific provisions for strengthening and standardizing the intraparty political life in the new situation. All of these are of great significance for the Party to give full attention to the leading core role of the Party in the new situation and to improve the level of scientific, democratic, and legal governance of the Party. The key to carrying out the basic strategy of ruling the country by law in an all-round way is to rule by law. In recent years, the construction of a government ruled by law in China has been advancing continuously. It is mainly embodied in three aspects. First, strengthen the top-level design. The Outline for Promoting Lawbased Administration in an All-round Way (2004) issued by the State Council and the Implementation Outline for Building a Government Ruled by Law (2015–2020) issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council clearly defined the plan for the basic establishment of a government ruled by law by 2020. Second, strengthen the government affairs publicity. From the initial circular on the General Implementation of the Village Affairs Publicity and Democratic Management System in Rural Areas (1998) to the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Disclosure of Government Information (2007), to the Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the Publicity of Government Information in the Field of Public Resources Allocation, the Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting Publicity of Government Information Disclosure in the Field of Approval and Implementation of Major Construction Projects (2017) and the Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the Publicity of Government Information in the Field of Social Public Welfare Construction (2018), the publicity of government affairs has been continuously promoted in-depth. Third, carry out the multiassessment of the government ruled by law. The Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening the Construction of the Government Ruled by Law clearly stipulated the contents that we should adhere to scientific and democratic decision-making by law and strengthen and improve system construction. Local governments at all levels should actively carry out the exploration and practice of the administration ruled by law. All of these factors have promoted the construction of the government ruled by law from different angles. The basic strategy of ruling the country by law in an all-round way is based on the grassroots level. China’s legal guarantee to push the focus of social governance down to the grassroots level has been constantly strengthened, mainly from four aspects. First, strengthen and standardize the legislation of social organizations. At present, the basic laws in the field of social organization include the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Domestic Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations, at the regulatory level, and there are the Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Social Organizations, the Provisional Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Private Non-enterprise Units, the Regulations on the Administration of Foundation, and the like. The General Principles of the Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China has established a new type

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of legal person, “nonprofit legal person”, which is in line with the development of nonprofit undertakings with foundations, social organizations, and private nonenterprise units as the main body. Second, the construction of urban and rural communities should be promoted as a whole. China has successively promulgated Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Strengthening and Perfecting Community Governance in Urban and Rural Areas, the Opinions on Strengthening Community Consultation in Urban and Rural Areas, and the like. Third, promote the “three societies linkage”. The relevant departments of China have formulated Opinions on Strengthening the Development of Professional Posts in Social Work and Guarantee of Talent Incentive, Opinions of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Cultivating and Developing Community Social Organizations, and the like to promote the formation of a new pattern of social governance that is interconnected, interactive, and complementary between the government and the society by standardizing the system of community construction, social organization cultivation, and social work modernization. Fourth, importance should be attached to the building of a family ruled by law. In December 2015, the 18th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress adopted the Anti-Domestic Violence Law of the People’s Republic of China to prevent and stop domestic violence and protect the legitimate rights and interests of family members, marking the initial formation of a legal system for the prevention and control of domestic violence in China based on the constitution of the People’s Republic of China and the law of the People’s Republic of China on domestic violence as the main body. In December 2016, the State Council promulgated the National Population Development Plan (2016–2030), which emphasized that “it is necessary to rationally allocate public service resources and improve the family development support system”. The FiveYear Plan on Guiding the Promotion of Family Education (2016–2020) formulated by the relevant departments of China is of great significance to help parents establish a scientific concept of family education and promote the healthy development of family education. In addition, over the years, China, through the formulation and implementation of the law popularization program, has determined the national legal publicity day and produced and broadcasted columns, special editions, special programs in newspapers, radio, television, internet, and other media. The activities of popularizing law in various forms have played a positive role in increasing the public’s general knowledge of law, enhancing the awareness of the rule of law, and creating an atmosphere of learning and application of the law. (V)

Promote the legalization of consultative democracy.

“Consultative democracy” is a unique form of socialist democratic politics in China. It has expanded from the political field to the economic, social, and other fields, from a working method ascending to a system. Article 27 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that all state organs and state functionaries must rely on the support of the people, maintain close contact with the people, listen to the opinions and suggestions of the people, accept the supervision of the people and work hard to serve the people. In November 2012, the report of the 18th National Congress of the

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Communist Party of China proposed to “improve the socialist consultative democracy system” and “improve the consultative democracy system and working mechanism, and promote the extensive, multilayer and institutionalized development of consultative democracy”. The Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China further positioned “consultative democracy” as “the unique form and unique advantage of China’s socialist democratic politics, which is an important embodiment of the Party’s mass line in the political field.” On February 9, 2015, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the Opinion on Strengthening the Construction of Socialist Consultative Democracy, which is the programmatic document for guiding the construction of socialist consultative democracy. In October 2017, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward that “we will advance the extensive, multilevel and institutionalized development of consultative democracy and adopt a coordinated approach to promoting consultations carried out by political parties, people’s congress, government departments, CPPCC committees, people’s organizations, communities and social organization” and emphasized that “we will strengthen the institutions of consultative democracy system and develop complete procedure and the practice to enable the people’s broad, continuous, and intensive participation in day-to-day political activities”.

1.4 Challenges to the Construction of the Rule of Law in Social Governance The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the 16-Chinese-character policy of “making laws in a scientific way, enforcing them strictly, administering justice impartially, and ensuring that everyone abides by the law”, which indicates that the construction of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics has entered a new stage and that the benign interaction among the four has become an important goal and starting point of promoting the rule of law in an all-round way. Of course, the construction of law-based social governance still faces many challenges. In general, the law-based governance pattern of pluralistic subjects in China is not perfect yet, and the multilevel and multifield governance pattern has not been fully formed. The main manifestations are as follows: it is more common to attach importance to the government’s participation and neglect the participation of pluralistic subjects; there is a shortage of talent in grassroots social governance, especially the serious shortage of professional social work talent. The ability and independence of grassroots social organizations are poor, and it is difficult for them to undertake government-transferred functions effectively, and it is difficult for them to become an independent force. The system and mechanism of equal cooperation and democratic consultation among various governing bodies are still not smooth enough; there are

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many historical arrears and gaps in the resource guarantee and allocation for grassroots governance. Pluralistic-subjects law-based governance is a systematic project and is a broad or profound revolution in the field of social governance. To strengthen the Party’s leadership and construction in all-round ways, promote the construction of government ruled by law, and push the center of social governance down to the grassroots level, unremitting efforts must be realized. In terms of legislation, in the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, legislation in the social field is more difficult and demanding. At present, the total amount of legislation in the social field is insufficient. Some basic laws in the social field are still in a blank state, such as the social organization field; some social fields have a low level of legislation and are not systematic enough, such as the Rule of the People’s Republic of China on the Organization of Urban Residents Committee, the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on the Registration and Administration of Social Organizations, the Provisional Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Private Nonenterprise Units and the Regulations on Foundation Management.; legislation of some social field are still lagging behind, such as the code of practice supporting the implementation of Social Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China has not been issued; the legislative ideas in some social fields are biased, there is still a feature of emphasizing “control” and “regulation”, and the function and role of “empowerment” and “ safeguarding rights” are relatively limited; and the public participation in the legislative channel is yet to be further unblocked. In terms of law enforcement, some law enforcement officers have no strong awareness of evidence, procedures, and authority, and the situation in which law enforcement activities hurt the feelings of the masses and even damage the rights and interests of the masses still occurs from time to time. Law enforcement credibility is not high, and incidents caused by administrative law enforcement problems occur from time to time, which seriously affects social harmony and stability. In terms of justice, the current social contradictions and disputes at the grassroots level expand from traditional marriage and family, neighborhood relations, small debts, minor infringements to social hotspots and difficulties such as resettlement for relocation households, compensation for land expropriation, disputes between capital and labor, environmental protection, traffic accidents and disputes between doctors and patients, etc., and the types of disputes tend to be diversified, the causes of which tend to be complicated and the development process tends to be confrontational, which has increasingly higher requirements for judicial justice and judicial capability. At the same time, some judicial officers have a weak sense of justice, conduct “relationship cases and human relations cases”, and engage in judicial corruption, and some judicial officers are incompetent, subjective, and groundless and even create false and unjust cases. In terms of law-abiding, the capacity-building of some leading cadres in making decisions by law, administering by law, and managing by law is still far from meeting the needs of the new situation and new tasks. It is still common to substitute one’s words for legal provisions, suppress law with power and bend the law for the benefit of relatives. Some people still have deep-rooted concepts of “trusting rights instead of

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trusting laws”, “trusting petitioning instead of trusting law”, and “trusting relations instead of trusting law”. Some events in the social field have aroused public concerns after being spread by the public, which has formed a new influence on the formation of public cognition and the settlement of social problems in China, and rational judgment and correct guidance have become the consensus of all social strata. It is increasingly urgent to promote law-abiding by the whole people and enhance the credibility of the rule of law.

1.5 Basic Requirements for Speeding up the Construction of the Society Ruled by Law To promote the modernization of social governance, we must speed up the construction of a society ruled by law. We should guide social governance with the spirit of the rule of law, plan social governance with the thinking of the rule of law, solve social governance problems with the way of the rule of law, consolidate the social governance achievements with the advantages of the rule of law, and practically achieve making laws in a scientific way, enforcing them strictly, administering justice impartially, and ensuring that everyone abides by the law. (I)

Guide social governance with the spirit of the rule of law.

Along with the continuous enhancement of people’s awareness of the market economy, awareness of democracy and the rule of law and awareness of civil rights, society’s expectation, and respect for the rule of law are also increasingly higher, which requires reliance on the core socialist value to guide the legal construction of social governance and strengthen the rule of law to lead the reform and innovation of social governance. The Guiding Opinions on Further Integrating Core Socialist Values into the Construction of the Rule of Law issued by the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council clearly requires that “embody the requirements of core socialist values in constitutional laws, rules and regulations, and public policies, and transform them into rigid and binding legal provisions”, and it emphasizes that “social governance should shoulder the responsibility of advocating the core socialist values. Focus on the embodiment of distinct value orientation in the day-to-day management, so that the conducts that conform to the core socialist values can be advocated and encouraged, and the conducts that violate the core socialist values can be restricted and punished”. (II)

Plan social governance with the thinking of the rule of law.

“The thinking of the rule of law” is relative to “the thinking of the rule of man”, and the biggest problem faced by “the thinking of the rule of law” is the erosion and the destruction of power will. In light of the concept of thinking of the rule of law, we should pay more attention to the regulation of public power to make social governance more fair, transparent, and equal. For example, the revised Budget Law of the

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People’s Republic of China explicitly takes “regulating the behavior of government revenue and expenditure” as the starting point and at the same time stipulates that “the budget should be completely made public”, promotes budgetary democracy, improves budgetary review and supervision, clarifies budgetary responsibilities, and strengthens hard constraints on the budget. (III)

Solving the difficulties of social governance with the way of the rule of law.

“The way of the rule of law” is relative to the way of administration, the way of economy, and other ways, which reflects and embodies the advanced idea of governance. For example, the Production Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China amended at the 12th Session by the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress clearly put forward that the work of safe production should be people-oriented, which is of great practical significance to correctly deal with “protecting property” or “protecting human life” in major dangerous situations and accidents in emergency rescue. For another example, promoting construction standardization is one of the important signs of the development of the rule of law in China, and standardization in the social field is related to the well-being of people’s livelihood. China’s first national standardization program, the National Standardization System Construction and Development Plan (2016–2020), put forward that by 2020, a national standardization system supporting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity will be basically established. This will not only be beneficial to promote the legalization of social governance but also improve the fine level of social governance. (IV)

Consolidation of the achievements of social governance with the advantage of the rule of law.

“The advantage of the rule of law” is the system advantage; only by unceasingly enhancing the awareness of the rule of law and being good at facilitating the system and the law to run the country can the advantages of the system be transformed into the effectiveness of running the country and improving the level of the scientific ruling, the level of the democratic ruling, and the level of the rule by law. In 2018, in the revised and adopted Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, a section of the supervisory committee was added, which was a major adjustment to the political system, the political power, and the political relations in China, and was a major top-level design of national supervision system, conducive to the formation of a strict legal supervision system, in line with the urgent requirement of promoting the strictly governing of the Party in an all-around way in-depth, reflected the achievements of the national supervision system reform since the 18th National Congress, and implemented the major deployment of the 19th National Congress of the Party on improving the supervision system of the Party and China. This is an important measure to consolidate the achievements of social governance and transform institutional advantages into governance effectiveness. (V)

Realize the benign interaction of legislation, law enforcement, justice and law-abiding.

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In terms of making laws in a scientific way, we should strengthen legislation in key fields, strengthen legislation in ensuring and improving people’s livelihood and promoting innovation in social governance systems, and improve laws and regulations on the aspects of education, labor and employment, income distribution, social security, medical and health care, poverty alleviation, social assistance, marriage and family, and the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of women, children, the elderly and the disabled, etc. We should continue to improve the three-in-one development model of formulation, revision, and interpretation of laws and regulations, improve the stability, adaptability, and effectiveness of the legal system, make overall planning, step-by-step implementation, clarify responsibilities, strive to form a relatively perfect legal system of social governance with Chinese characteristics as soon as possible, and take new steps in the legal guarantee of social governance. In terms of strict law enforcement, we should strengthen law enforcement supervision in key fields such as food and drug safety, production safety, environmental protection, labor security and poverty alleviation, improve administrative law enforcement procedures, standardize the discretionary power of law enforcement, strengthen supervision over administrative law enforcement, and further improve the quality of law enforcement, the level of law enforcement, and the credibility of law enforcement, which is a basic project for implementing the strategy of the country ruled by law. In terms of judicial justice, we should adhere to and develop the “Maple Bridge Experience” of Zhejiang Province, steadily carry out the prevention, investigation, and resolution of contradictions and disputes, strive to resolve the contradictions and disputes at the grassroots level, and dissolve them in the embryonic state. We should continue to unswervingly push forward judicial reform, ensure that the people’s courts and people’s procuratorates independently and impartially exercise judicial power and procuratorial power by law, expand judicial democracy, promote judicial publicity, and ensure judicial justice to provide a strong and reliable judicial guarantee for safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the people, safeguarding social equity and justice, and safeguarding the long-term stability of China. In terms of law-abiding by the whole people, we should further innovate the way of legal education, cultivate the culture of rule of law, and create a benign atmosphere of respecting the law, studying the law, abiding by the law, and using the law. First, the principals of the Party and government should fulfill their duties as the first responsible persons for promoting the construction of the rule of law, promote the process of making laws in a scientific way, enforce them strictly, administer justice impartially, and ensure that everyone abides by the law. Second, we should take the effectiveness of the construction of the rule of law as an important criterion to measure the performance of leading bodies and leading cadres at all levels, incorporate it into the performance evaluation index system of political achievements, and ensure whether they can abide by the law and act by law as important content to inspect cadres. Finally, we should adhere to the orientation of morality education and moral education as the first priority, carry out the education of the rule of law for the whole people, promote the theory of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics entering into the teaching material, entering the classroom and entering the mind,

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cultivate and bring up legal talents and reserve forces who are familiar with and adhere to the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. Since the reform and opening-up, China has made important progress in building a society ruled by law. However, we must see that there are still large gaps and some problems compared with the requirements of the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, compared with the expectations of the people, and compared with the goal of promoting the modernization of the national social governance system and social governance capacity. We should adhere to the guidance of President Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and write a new chapter in terms of “making laws in a scientific way, enforcing them strictly, administering justice impartially, and ensuring that everyone abides by the law”.

2 Moral Governance 2.1 Morality and Social Governance (I)

Significance of moral governance and traditional morality.

Morality is a special ideology that reflects socioeconomic relations, a special way to regulate social and economic relations, and a practical spirit. Morality influences people’s will, behavior, and character extensively, profoundly, and persistently, and deeply influences the existence and development of society. Therefore, moral governance is an important way of social governance. The traditional morality of China takes human relations as the center and attaches great importance to the position and value of each person in human relations. Mencius recorded that in ancient times, people "lived in seclusion without education, therefore, they were close to animals”, and the sage “made Qi as a teacher and taught human relations”. “Human relations” is a characteristic that distinguishes human beings from animals. Traditional Chinese culture, especially Confucianism, attached great importance to the social network of human relations and advocated the obligation of human relations. Confucius put forward such ethical and moral concepts as the emperor should act as the emperor, the minister should act as the minister, the father should act as the father, the son should act as the son, benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom and credit, and adjusted interpersonal relations by means of the middle course to reach the ideal realm of peace and harmony. Mencius put forward “five cardinal relationships”, father and son have relatives, emperor and minister have righteousness, husband and wife have different, the elderly and the youth have order, and friends have faith. Dong Zhongshu further developed and put forward the three cardinal guides of “the emperor is the cardinal guide to the minister, the father is the cardinal guide to the son, and the husband is the cardinal guide to the wife” and the five constant virtues of “benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom and credit".

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The concept of "three cardinal guides and five constant virtues” has continued to play a role in the long history of China. Traditional morality is the concentrated embodiment of people’s behavior, customs, values, and cultural psychology at different times in history and is the summary of moral practice experience. Chinese traditional morality contains rich moral achievements, which is an important spiritual wealth of the development of human civilization and is also the source of today’s moral governance. China’s traditional public-private debate focused on the importance of the overall interests and emphasized the dedication of responsibility. When there was a conflict between the interests, it advocated the righteousness first then benefit, remembering what is right at the sight of profit and acting bravely for a just cause; and advocated harmony and friendship, kindness to others, a bad compromise is better than a good lawsuit, and working in unity and helping one another; advocated the pursuit of the lofty spiritual realm when the material life was basically satisfied, emphasized moral cultivation, paid attention to moral practice, advocated “restrain one’s selfishness”, “trying to be blameless in one’s private life”, “nourishing my noble spirit”, “cultivating one’s conscience”, “carrying out by actual”, and so on. In the long-term historical development process, these moral norms have been integrated into the thinking mode, values, behavior mode, and customs of the whole nation and have important contemporary social governance values. (II)

Dialectical unification of rule of virtue and rule of law.

Advocating the rule of virtue is China’s basic general plan of governing the country. The ancients regarded the virtue of the ruler as one of the fundamental causes of the rise and fall of the national fortune. “Cultivate politics with rule of virtue, make the world happy and rejuvenate the principle of Yin” (Records of the Grand Historian of China• the Yin Dynasty); “Accumulating good virtues, all marquis are willing to do it” (Records of the Grand Historian of China• the Zhou Dynasty). It not only emphasized “ruling the country by virtue” but also did not exclude “rule by law” and advocated “combining rule by virtue and law” and “rule by virtue with its priority to penalty”. In ancient China, “rule by law” and “morality as the main principle and punishment as the supplementary” were the basic principles, and “respect for virtue and inferior punishment”, “advocating virtue and ratify penalty”, “big morality and small punishment”, and “nobel morality and cautious punishment” were the concrete implementation. The traditional “law” is actually “clan” (clan family) “law” (national law) or “etiquette” “law”. The traditional patriarchal society advocated paternalism and emphasized the supremacy of family morality. Family ethics became the basic moral order of society, and national law, family rules, and rural rules had the same binding force on society. The ancients believed that etiquette and law were both necessary to govern the country, and each of them had its own advantages. From Zigong’s advocacy of “use a proper mixture of severity and gentleness “ (Zuo’s Commentary • Twenty Years of Duke Zhao) to Mencius’ proposal of “good deeds are not enough for governing, and only law cannot act on its own” (Mencius • First Volume of Li Lou); from Xunzi’s proposal of emphasizing the etiquette and attaching great attention to

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the law, to emphasis of Dong Zhongshu of Han Dynasty on “Yang for virtue and Yin for punishment”; and from the Tang Dynasty, “Making rites for reverence and setting up punishment for showing prestige” (The History of Han Dynasty • Treatise on Penal Law), to the period of Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, the direct continuation of the rule of virtue and the rule of law embodied the way of ruling the country by combining the rule of virtue with the rule of law. The dialectical unity of the rule of law and the rule of virtue. Law is written morality, and morality is inward law. The effective implementation of law depends on moral support, and moral practice is also inseparable from legal restrictions. On the one hand, any law has certain moral attributes. The law conceals the basic value orientation and moral standard of society, and to obey the law is to abide by minimum morality. On the other hand, morality creates a good human environment for the rule of law. Law and morality can be transformed into each other. Both of them are rooted in a certain historical and cultural tradition and social environment and adapt to the needs of economic and social development at that time. There is no fixed boundary between them, and they can “flow” in two directions. The rule of law and the rule of virtue should be handled at once and should be attached equal importance to each, which is not only a summary of historical experience but also a profound grasp of the rule of governance. The rule of law and the rule of virtue are like two wheels of a chariot and the two wings of a bird and shall not neglect one while doing the other. Law is restrained from the outside, morality is alerted from the inside, the two norms work at the same time, and no one can be left behind. National and social governance requires concerted efforts of law and morality: on the one hand, it nourishes the rule of law with morality; on the other hand, it safeguards morality with the rule of law and solves outstanding problems in the field of morality by means of the rule of law.

2.2 Contents of Moral Governance (I)

Carry forward socialist morality.

Socialist morality is the inevitable product of human morality in line with the law of development, a brand-new type of morality in the history of human moral development, a criticism and inheritance of human traditional morality, and it is bound to keep pace with the development of social progress and practice. The socialist moral construction should be consistent with the development of a socialist market economy, provide moral value guidance, and ensure the healthy development of the market economy along the socialist direction. To carry forward socialist morality, we should insist on serving the people as the core. Serving the people is not only the inevitable requirement of adhering to historical materialism but also the concentrated embodiment of socialist morality and the moral requirement for all members of society to follow.

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“Everyone’s strength is limited, but as long as we are united in one purpose as strong as city walls, there will be no insurmountable difficulties; everyone’s time is limited, but serving the people wholeheartedly is limitless”.1 Serving the people is a significant sign of distinction and superiority of socialist morality over the morality of other social forms. To carry forward socialist morality, we should adhere to taking the principle of collectivism as the basic principle. Collectivism emphasizes the dialectical unity of national interests, social interests, and personal interests: on the one hand, it emphasizes that the national interests of the state and society interests are higher than the personal interests; on the other hand, it also emphasizes and protects the legitimate interests of the person. Chinese culture takes the whole as the value foundation, has distinct collectivism characteristics, and pays attention to group relation harmony, group goal pursuit, and group benefit maintenance. The spirit of collectivism is not out of date in today’s society. We still need to have the mind of “cultivating one’s moral integrity, regulating one’s family, governing the country and balancing the world”, the feelings of “family affairs, national affairs, world affairs, everything concerned”, and the cultivation of “To worry before the common people worries; to enjoy only after the people have enjoy”. The spirit of collectivism is not only the essential requirement of socialism but also the inherent requirement of developing a socialist market economy. The spirit of collectivism helps to overcome the weaknesses and negative aspects of the market itself, helps to form a good social atmosphere that pursues high standards and inspires the advanced, and ensures the orderly and healthy development of the socialist market economy. The spirit of collectivism has different levels of requirements; for all citizens, the most basic moral requirements are to love the motherland, take the overall situation into consideration, observe law and discipline, and work honestly. (II)

Construct moral norms in different fields.

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward that “we will launch a civic morality campaign to raise public ethical standards and enhance work ethics, family virtues, and personal integrity. We will encourage our people to strive for excellence and to develop stronger virtues, respect the elderly, love families, and be loyal to the country and the people”. In December 2014, the CPC Central Committee promulgated the Implementation Outline of Civic Morality Construction put forward the 20-Chinese-character basic code of civic morality of “patriotism and law-abiding, understanding etiquette and integrity, unity and friendliness, thrift and self-reliance, and dedicating oneself to work or study”. It includes the core of morality, the principles of morality, the basic requirements of morality, and a series of moral norms, covers all fields of social life, and applies to different social groups. It not only embodies the unity of advanced nature and universality of morality but also embodies the unity of Chinese traditional virtue, revolutionary morality, and new morality under the condition of a socialist market economy. 1

Xi Jinping The Governance of China, pp. 5, vol. 1, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 2018.

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There are specific and different moral norms in different fields. In terms of social morality, there are five basic requirements: first, civility and politeness, advocating people’s mutual respect; second, finding pleasure in helping others and promoting socialist humanitarianism spirit; third, caring for public property and enhancing the sense of responsibility of the socialist social masters; fourth, protecting the environment and strengthening the concept of ecological ethics; and fifth, observing law and discipline, and conscientiously maintaining public order. In terms of family virtues, we should advocate respect for the elderly and love for the youth, equality between men and women, harmony between husband and wife, diligence and thrift in running the family, and unity in the neighborhood. In terms of professional ethics, we should advocate cherishing posts and devoting wholeheartedly to work, honesty and trustworthiness, handling affairs fairly, serving the masses, and contributing to society. Here, we should pay special attention to the basic principles of honesty and trustworthiness. In the traditional ethics of China, honesty and trustworthiness were regarded as “the foundation of establishing the government”, “the foundation of establishing the people”, and “the foundation of improving one’s virtue and refining one’s achievements”. Confucius said, “without people’s trust, the state will not survive” (The Analects of Confucius • Yan Yuan) “Credit” is about the rise and fall of the country. Honesty is one’s deeds accord with one’s words, to tell the truth, do things honestly, and be an honest person. Trustworthiness is to keep one’s word, have good credit, pay attention to credit, and fulfill one’s obligation faithfully. With regard to the outstanding problems of lack of trustworthiness, we should establish a credit collection system covering the whole society, perfect the mechanism of law-abiding credit reward and punishment for breach of trust, and guarantee the harmonious operation of the society. With the development and wide application of information technology, there are many unavoidable moral and legal problems in the network; therefore, we must pay attention to the construction of network morality. While making full use of the historical opportunities offered by the network, we should guard against its negative effects and vigorously carry out the construction of network morality. Nationals should use network tools correctly, conduct network communication in a healthy way, and consciously avoid being addicted to the network. Strengthen self-discipline toward network morality and actively guide network public opinion. (III)

Moral practice of the unity of knowledge and practice.

Traditional Chinese culture emphasizes practice through rational self-consciousness and morality. Based on “benevolence” transforming to “etiquette”, ethical and moral values and their standardization have been brought into people’s hearts through the secularized etiquette of daily life. This thought of “unity of knowledge and practice” not only pays attention to “learning” but also to “using”; it not only stresses “knowledge” but also focuses more on “doing”, which embodies the spirit of “practical rationality”. In the past dynasties, the concepts of benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom, credit and loyalty, filial piety, honesty, and loving and respecting one’s elder brother have been introduced into society as the ethical norms that should be followed, have been pushed to the public, cultivated and shaped personality as much as possible in the whole society, and guided the moral practice of all walks

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of life. “The unity of knowledge and practice” calls for the unification of improving moral spirit and moral practice to promote the internalization of moral norms into personal moral quality and externalization into moral behavior. At present, the moral practice of “the unity of knowledge and practice” is not only the inherent requirement of socialist morality but also the focus of moral norms in the public and private fields. To cultivate and practice the core socialist values, the key is to activate, rejuvenate, and cultivate the value concept in the people’s inner formed by the long-term cultivation of traditional culture, that is to say, the way of the world and the heart of a human being. The practice of moral governance requires vigorously promoting the spirit of voluntary service; adhering to the link between voluntary public service, government service, and market service; unifying of dedication to society and self-development; combining social advocacy with voluntary participation; constructing a cultural voluntary and cultural public service system with broad participation, rich content, diverse forms, and sound mechanism; and vigorously supporting volunteer organizations and charitable public welfare organizations. These social organizations are important carriers to cultivate and carry forward the core socialist values, as well as the platform to educate and cultivate aspiring young people and exert the remaining energy on retired employees and workers. The goal of the moral practice of “the unity of knowledge and practice” is to help the whole society form a good social fashion of knowing honor and disgrace, stressing righteousness, making contributions, and promoting harmony by actively carrying out various activities to create a civilized city, village, unit, family, and campus.

2.3 Requirements for Moral Governance (I)

.Cultivate and carry forward the core socialist values.

Cultivating and carrying forward core socialist values is the first priority of moral governance. Core values are the core concepts of dominant status and play a dominant role in a society, and they are the basic values of relative stability that the social system has been generally following for a long time. The core values are cultural soft power and are also the most enduring and deepest source of strength for a nation or a country. The core values bear the spiritual pursuit of a nation or a country and embody the value standard of judging right and wrong. Cultivating and practicing the core socialist values is an important measure to effectively integrate the social consciousness, agglomerate the social value consensus, solve and dissolve the social contradiction, and gather great strength, and it is the value support to ensure the economic and social development of China in the right direction and realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China establishes “prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, the rule

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of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendship” as the core socialist values, which includes the value objectives at the national level, the value orientation at the social level, and the value principles at the individual level of citizens. This is a relatively clear summary of the core socialist values in China since the founding of New China. The core socialist values integrate the value requirements of designing the country, society, and citizen, embody the essential requirements of socialism, inherit the excellent traditional culture of China, absorb the beneficial achievements of the world civilization, embody the spirit of the times, and provide a profound answer to the major questions such as what kind of country and society to build, and what kind of citizen to cultivate in the new era. The core socialist values have the rich nourishment of the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation, the practical foundation of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and incomparable moral strength. They are the value guidance of adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. (II)

Strengthen ideal education and belief education.

“The people have faith, the country has strength, and the nation has hope”.2 The ideal is the yearning and pursuing of goals of future society and its own development, formed in practice, with the possibility of realization, and is the concentrated embodiment of the people’s world outlook, life outlook, and the values in the goal of struggle. Ideal has transcendence, practicality, and times. The great ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics are a strong support to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This ideal closely links the country, the nation, and the individual, organically combines the common aspirations of all classes and groups together, and represents the interests and aspirations of our workers, farmers, intellectuals, and other workers, builders, and patriots with a broad social consensus and convincing inevitability, universality, and inclusiveness. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the theme of all theories and practices of the Party since the reform and opening-up and is also the fundamental achievement that the Party and the people have made through all their hardships and at great cost. To uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, the general task is to realize socialist modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. On the basis of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, we will build prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and beautiful socialist modernization power in the middle of the twenty-first century in two steps. The leadership of the Communist Party of China is the most essential characteristic of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Since its formation, the Communist Party of China has established the great ideal of communism and has always been united and led the Chinese people toward this great ideal. We should vigorously strengthen the construction of social morality and promote the continuous improvement of social moral norms. Public life needs moral norms to 2

Xi Jinping: Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era—Report at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, pp. 42, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2017.

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constrain and coordinate. Social morality is the code of conduct that people should abide by in social communication and public life. It is the basic moral requirement to maintain public interest, public order, and social harmony and stability, covering the relationship between people, people and society, and people and nature. As a code of conduct to be observed in social life, social morality plays an important role in maintaining public order and has a direct impact on the effectiveness of social governance. Orderly public life is one of the goals of social governance, an important basis for social production activities, a basic guarantee for improving the quality of life of social members, and an important symbol of social civilization. We should actively promote the construction of professional ethics and promote the continuous improvement of social moral norms. A perfect professional ethnicity system can not only promote the development of productivity and industry but also shape a good way of life, thinking, and behavior of practitioners. To actively promote the construction of professional ethics, we should respect different professional divisions of labor. Scholars, farmers, workers, and businessmen are engaged in different professions, as Tao is the same, and all of them should be conscientious to fulfill obligations. In ancient China, the technical level was relatively backward, the division of labor was simple and stable, and the connotation of professional ethics was relatively thin. At present, with the emergence of new occupations, various professional ethics have been determined. The field of professional ethics has been expanding, and the corresponding professional ethics need to be standardized. (III)

Advocate family virtues and personal moral cultivation.

Advocating family virtue vigorously is an important task of moral governance. The basis of the traditional social moral order is family kinship, and the basic ethics of kinship is “filial piety”, which includes children’s filial piety to parents, the obedience of wife to husband, and younger brother to elder brother, parents’ affection to children, husband’s courtesy to wife, the elder brother’s affection to the younger brother, and so on, and the several relationships of upbringing, education, and care constitute family ethics. “Change filial piety into fidelity” derives social ethics and political ethics based on family ethics. The qualities of Chinese characters, such as thrift, peace, modesty, introversion, and sense of hardship, are all related to this family ethics. “Rites are made in accordance with human nature, and etiquettes are made according to human nature” (Records of the Grand Historian of China • Book of Rites). Through social education, we should guide people to attach importance to human relations and family relations, cultivate people’s moral sense and strengthen cohesion within the family, which is still beneficial to better maintain social order. Constantly promoting the improvement of individual moral cultivation is also the key work of moral governance. The important function of culture is to cultivate people with education, whose deepest accumulation and influence is the cultivation of personality. The core value of any society aims to improve people’s quality, shaping ideal personality or collective personality. Traditional Chinese culture, which has a long history, is broad and profound, has been shaping and cultivating positive personality in the long development process of thousands of years; that is, the gentleman

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personality has been widely accepted and respected by Chinese people in past dynasties. The Book of Zhouyi, “a gentleman should constantly strike to become stronger just like the evolution of the universe” and “a gentleman should generously cultivate to become tolerant just like the earth bears everything on it” is the vivid depiction of the image of the gentleman, which is also regarded as a powerful generalization of the spirit of the Chinese nation. The construction of credit is an important content of the cultivation of contemporary personal character. The ancients said that “one word is as heavy as nine tripods” and “a promise is weightier than one thousand bars of gold”, indicating that the value of credit and reputation surpasses the interests. “Promise must be kept and action must be resolute”, and “respect things and keep promise”. To promote the improvement of individual moral cultivation, we should vigorously advocate the social morality spirit and professional ethics in various fields, such as the emphasis on keeping a promise, not decepting, fulfilling contracts, honest labor and dedicated work, creating a social atmosphere that attaches importance to responsibility and honor, abiding by laws and regulations and fulfilling contracts.

3 Cultural Governance 3.1 Cultural and Social Governance The meaning of culture in China has been involved in the Book of Changes as early as the end of the Warring States Period. The original meaning of “culture” refers to the interwoven texture of various colors, which was later extended to various symbolic symbols, including language and characters, and then concreted into the meanings of cultural relics and classics, ritual music system, articles, goodness and beauty, etc. The meaning of “civilization” is change, reversion, transforming and nourishing, and creation, which refers to the way in which two things are connected together to change the shape of both sides. Culture has the meaning of civilizing education and civilizing the common people with human relations and order. Culture, namely, “humanization”, is the way of thinking, life and expression of people, and the mark of the identity of a certain ethnic group; it is the soul of a nation. Culture is the crystallization of the whole social life handed down from generation to generation. The way of life and behavior of human society are constructed according to certain cultural logic. In this sense, culture constitutes the social structure of mankind. Social governance is the governance of the people. In terms of axiology, “peopleoriented” governance, regardless of the subject and the object, or the giver and the receiver, is people. The unique way of thinking and the spiritual world of people are remarkable characteristics that distinguish humans from animals. Only where there are people, there is social governance, and people’s way of thinking has a profound influence and even determines the mode and effect of social governance. The excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation and the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics are both highly compatible and interdependent. The unique

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elements of concept, wisdom, temperament, and romantic charm of Chinese culture have added to the confidence and foundation of the Chinese people in promoting the development of the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

3.2 The Significance of Cultural Governance (I)

The significance of excellent traditional culture to social governance

We should give full attention to the role of China’s excellent traditional culture in today’s social governance and advocate the use of the Chinese world outlook and methodology to solve China’s problems. As General Secretary, Xi Jinping stressed at the Symposium on Philosophy and Social Science, “To solve China’s problems and put forward China’s solution to human problems, we should adhere to the world outlook and methodology of the Chinese people. If we do not analyze and take foreign academic thoughts and methods as standard and take them as the criterion, then there will be no originality”. If we draw the same conclusion as foreign countries with foreign methods, there will be no originality. To launch the original research results, we should proceed from the reality of our country, adhere to the practical viewpoint, the historical viewpoint, the dialectical viewpoint, and the development viewpoint, recognize the truth, test the truth, and develop the truth in practice. We should understand in all aspects, collate in-depth, evaluate scientifically, and critically inherit traditional Chinese culture. We should draw attention to absorbing the essence of excellent thought in excellent traditional culture, especially the thoughts that can guide the construction of socialist modernization in China, solve the problems arising in the current development, and enhance the people’s happiness and satisfaction in life, such as people-oriented. The people are more important than the ruler, emphasizing the etiquette and attaching great attention to law, harmony, and diversity, keeping pace with the times, putting what is learned into practice, emphasizing morality, education, and filial piety, be vigilant in peacetime, and so on; in addition, we should abandon the thoughts incompatible with the development of the times including men are superior to women, the cult of personality, feudal hierarchy, foolish filial piety and foolish loyalty, superstition of ghosts and gods, etc. The traditional culture of China still has an important influence and positive significance in terms of the dialectical thinking mode in epistemology. The principle of the middle way and harmony in methodology, the thoughts of discarding the old ways of life in favor of the new and exerting oneself constantly in the concept of circular history, and concept of peace culture of the unity of people and nature in the view of ecology, etc. The traditional holistic way of thinking in China focused on the unity of things, made an intuitive investigation on the whole, and commonly used analogical logic, emphasized the unity of the difference and identity of things, and advocated the solution of the problems in the world in a conciliatory and coordinated way. The middle way doctrine of the core of Confucian culture contains the Chinese people’s principle of interaction with others and the world, the way of thinking, and the wisdom

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of management. The idea of “harmony but difference” provides the classical interpretation and rules for the harmonious co-existence between different countries and civilizations. The thought of exerting oneself constantly and innovation contained in the Book of Changes is not only an important aspect of the historical spirit of the Chinese nation but also the “main theme” of the new era, as well as a powerful driving force for the development of a nation and a country. The thought of “the unity of people and nature” has not only shaped the Chinese people’s universal and lasting cultural psychology of peace but also has important enlightenments to the pursuit of peace and development and social harmony for today’s mankind. The Chinese wisdom contained in traditional culture can not only provide important enlightenment for solving the problems in various fields faced by contemporary human beings but also provide useful enlightenment for today’s social governance. (II)

Contemporary significance of the historical experience.

Rich historical experience can provide a useful reference and enlightenment for contemporary social governance. The tradition of China’s historical view is based on taking the ancient as today’s mirror. Taking history as a mirror, we can see the rise and fall. In the process of leading the revolution, construction, and reform, our Party has always attached great importance to learning and summarizing history and has always attached great importance to drawing on and applying historical experience. Although history has happened in the past, it always appears in people’s lives in one way or another. In the long process of history, the Chinese nation has created its own unique splendid culture and accumulated rich experience in governing and administering the country, which includes not only the successful experience of social development and progress in the rise of peace but also the profound lessons of social unrest in the era of chaos. In ancient China, it was advocated that the people should be the foundation of the state, the implementation of decrees should conform to the public opinion, the rule of rite and the rule of law should be applied in governance together, the rule of virtue is as main and punishment is as complementary. The first thing to govern a country is to get talents, it should govern the officials well before governing the country, exercise government by means of one’s virtue, cultivate one’s moral character, be vigilant in peacetime and changing and improving, and so on, and all these can give people important enlightenment. In terms of governing the country and society, many things met today can find shadows in the history, and many things in history can also be used as a mirror today. China’s today is developed from China’s yesterday and the day before yesterday. To run today’s China well, we should have an in-depth understanding of China’s history and traditional culture, as well as conscientiously sum up the exploration and wisdom of governance in ancient China. To draw lessons from historical experience, we should deal with the relationship between modernity and tradition. When solving the problem of specific governance problems, we should not only focus on the needs of modern practice but also pay attention to the influence of traditional continuity, especially to avoid ultraconservative all-round retro-thinking. In addition, we should look at and do things from the perspective of history and development, pay attention to the times of current cultural

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development, discard the old ways of life in favor of the new, and be brave in creating new ones. (III)

Significance of cultural confidence.

Cultural confidence is of great significance to the path of confidence, theoretical confidence, and institutional confidence. Each country and nation have different historical traditions, cultural accumulations, and basic national conditions; therefore, its development path is bound to have its own characteristics. The governance system and capacity of a country are closely related to its historical heritage and cultural tradition. To solve China’s problems, we can only find our own path and solution on the Chinese land. For thousands of years, China and the Chinese nation have followed a path of civilization development different from that of other countries and nations. Since the reform and opening-up, we have opened up the socialist path with Chinese characteristics, which is not accidental but determined by our historical heritage and cultural tradition. To promote the modernization of the national governance system and capacity, we should, of course, learn from and refer to all the outstanding achievements of human civilization, not by copying the political concepts and institutional models of other countries but by proceeding creatively from the realistic conditions of our country. To uphold cultural self-confidence, we should adhere to the correct cultural philosophy as a guide and pay attention to the relationship between learning from foreign countries and inheriting Chinese traditions. The philosophy of culture is an important joint point to provide the lasting impetus for the transformation of ideas and the emancipation of ideas required by the current social reform and development in China. Open minding, openness and inclusiveness, wide adaptability, and strong plasticity are important characteristics of Chinese ideology and culture. China’s ideology and culture, in terms of content, have never been a closed ideological system but have always been opened. We should reconstruct the modern form of traditional Chinese culture in the process of “leapfrogging and returning”, in the broad international vision and on the basis of cross-culture. We should adopt the Marxist view of historical materialism, that is, in terms of our traditional culture and foreign things, we should persist in the principle of making the past serve the present, making the foreign things serve for China, eliminating the rough and extracting essence, eliminating the false and preserving the truth, and make them useful by contemporary China after scientific promotion and abandonment. On the one hand, we should inherit the traditional culture, highlight the inclusiveness of the further development of the excellent traditional cultural inheritance system, and continue to provide strong spiritual and cultural support for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; on the other hand, we should learn from the foreign cultures and experiences on the basis of China’s national conditions.

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3.3 Main Contents of Cultural Governance (I)

Carry forward the Chinese spirit

Cultural governance should carry forward the Chinese spirit. The Chinese spirit is the soul of rejuvenating the country and strengthening the country. It is the unity of the national spirit and the spirit of the times. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping has put forward and profoundly expounded many times the Chinese Dream of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and stressed that to realize the Chinese Dream, we must have the Chinese spirit. The national spirit of solidarity and unity, love for peace, diligence and bravery, and constantly strive to become stronger with patriotism as the core, and the spirit of the times with reform and innovation as its core are the basic contents of the Chinese spirit. They are closely related, dialectically unified, and intermingled, becoming the spiritual home shared by the Chinese nation and striving to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. To do a good job in social governance, we must carry forward the Chinese spirit, guided by the high-flying spiritual banner, take the strong spiritual pillar as the support, unite and gather the wisdom and strength of all the people, and strive for the realization of the Chinese Dream. Cultural governance needs to show the world’s feelings in good faith. The world sentiment of Chinese civilization has the value of surpassing the times. On the one hand, because of the global problem, global governance has become the key, and transcending the national vision and establishing a global vision has become increasingly important. On the other hand, the inclusiveness of Chinese culture is well-known, and diversity and integration are the characteristics of Chinese culture. We should respect the diversity of world civilization, transcend cultural estrangement through cultural exchange, transcend cultural conflicts through mutual learning, and transcend cultural superiority through cultural co-existence. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward “following a path of peaceful development and working to build a community with a shared future for mankind”, and listed “persisting in promoting the building of a community of human destiny” was listed as one of the basic strategies for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. It emphasizes that “the people of all countries must work together to build a community with a shared future for mankind, to build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity”. This is the vision and mind of cultural governance based on China and facing the world. (II)

Build a modern public cultural service system.

Building a modern public cultural service system is a major strategic task of building socialist cultural power and an important component of promoting the modernization of social governance systems and governance capacity. To build a modern public cultural service system, we should do a good job in six aspects. First, we should promote the balanced development of public cultural services as a whole. We should promote the equalization of basic public cultural services in

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urban and rural areas; actively promote the development of public cultural construction in old revolutionary base areas, ethnic areas, border areas, and poverty-stricken areas; safeguard the basic cultural rights and interests of special groups; establish the standard system of basic public cultural service guided by the basic cultural needs of the people; and improve the construction, management, and service level of public cultural facilities. Second, we should enhance the impetus for the development of public cultural services. We should cultivate and promote cultural consumption, promote the transformation of public cultural services into quality services, realize the organic unification of standardized and individualized services, encourage and guide the participation of social forces, further simplify administration and decentralization, reduce administrative approval projects, attract social capital to invest the public cultural fields, and cultivate and standardize cultural social organizations. We should strengthen the guidance, support, and management of cultural industry associations, foundations and private nonenterprise units, and other social organizations; promote standardized and orderly development; vigorously promote the spirit of voluntary service; promote voluntary cultural service; adhere to the connection between voluntary service, government service, and market service; and combine social advocacy with voluntary participation to build a voluntary cultural service system. Third, we should strengthen the supply of public cultural products and services. Enrich the content of outstanding public cultural products, enhance the efficiency of public cultural services, and activate cultural life in the social field. Fourth, we should promote the integration of public cultural services and science and technology. We should focus on the scientific and technological needs of building a public cultural service system, pay attention to the role of mutual promotion of culture and science and technology, enhance the innovation of cultural science and technology, speed up the digitalization of public cultural services, accelerate the digital construction of public cultural institutions in combination with the construction of major national information projects such as “Broadband Chinese” and “Smart City”, elevate the modern communication ability of public cultural services, focus on the formation of the communication ability to commensurate with the level of China’s economic and social development, accelerate the construction of a modern cultural communication system, and ensure high efficiency, safety, and orderly information dissemination. Fifth, we should innovate the management system and operating mechanism of public culture. We should establish the coordination mechanism for the building of the public cultural service system, improve the management system for the construction of the public cultural service system under the leadership of the Party committee, the government management, the department coordination, the clear rights and responsibility, and promote it as a whole; strengthen the reform of the public cultural institutions, straighten out the relationship between the government and the public cultural institutions, explore the effective forms of separation of management and administration; innovate the management mechanism of the public culture at the grassroots level; and improve the evaluation mechanism of public cultural services.

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Sixth, we should strengthen the guarantee of public cultural services, strengthen organizational leadership, increase financial and tax policies and financial support, strengthen the construction of grassroots cultural teams, and establish a sound legal system for public cultural services. (III)

Change existing habits and customs and set up the new trend of the times

In social governance, we should vigorously promote the changing of existing habits and customs and establish a new trend of the times. We should respect and inherit the historical tradition. As a social tradition, the custom is the internalization of social norms, which makes social members understand, accept, and internalize in the way of daily etiquette, behavior rules, and norms. The ancients said, “music is what saints like. It can improve people’s hearts. Its voice is moving deeply and conducive to changing the existing habits and customs. So, the former sovereigns used ritual music to guide people and make them harmonious”, “music can make people full of good will and deeply moved, and change the general mood and customs of the society. Therefore, the combination of rites and music can make society stable” (Xunzi • Music Theory). Through rites and music, people’s emotion can change naturally, and then people’s ideological and moral outlook will change, and finally realizes the social function that affects the general mood of the whole society. We should constantly advocate public order and good customs to encourage social members to identify with and be loyal to the country and the nation. Changing the existing habits and customs and setting up a new trend of the times, we should adjust measures to local conditions and highlight local characteristics. Tens of miles different wind, hundreds of miles different customs. China has a vast territory and a large regional gap. The regional features, folk customs, and resource endowments vary from place to place. “Each place has its own way of supporting its own inhabitants”. The complex terrain and climate, through the constant generation and change of lifestyle and habits to accumulate the cultural characteristics of their respective regions, form the geoculture and ideology with rich local color. As early as the pre-Qin era, China formed the Qilu culture, Yanzhao culture, Sanqin culture, Jingchu culture, Wuyue culture, Bashu culture, and Lingnan culture, which had different characteristics and had a far-reaching influence on later generations. This requires us, on the premise of grasping the essence of excellent cultural spirit, to adhere to demand-oriented, seek truth from facts, adapt to local conditions, fully reflect local characteristics, and vigorously stimulate the enthusiasm of the grassroots. (IV)

Inherit traditional culture and protect intangible cultural heritage.

The inheritance of traditional culture is one of the important tasks of cultural governance. Chinese culture carries on the spiritual blood of our country and nation. It needs to be passed down from generation to generation, as well as needs to keep pace with the times and bring forth new ideas. We should strengthen the exploration and interpretation of China’s excellent traditional culture, integrate the excellent cultural genes of the Chinese nation with contemporary Chinese culture, coordinate with the

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development of modern society, carry forward the cultural spirit that of transcending time and space, transcend national boundaries full of eternal charm and rich value, activate its strong internal vitality, and let the Chinese culture join with the colorful culture created by the people of other countries to provide cultural spiritual guidance and reference for human development. An intangible culture is an important carrier of traditional culture. Intangible cultural heritage refers to the various forms of traditional cultural expression handed down from generation to generation by the people of all ethnic groups and regarded as part of their cultural heritage. In addition, physical objects and places are related to traditional cultural forms of expression. They include traditional oral literature and its carrier language, traditional art, calligraphy, music, dance, drama, quyi and acrobatics, traditional techniques, medicine and calendar; traditional etiquette, festivals and other folk customs; traditional sports and entertainment; and so on. Protecting intangible cultural heritage is conducive to enhancing the cultural identity of the Chinese nation, safeguarding national unity and national solidarity, and promoting social harmony and sustainable development. The state shall preserve the intangible cultural heritage by means of identifying, recording, establishing archives, and other measures and protect the intangible cultural heritage that embodies the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation with historical, literary, artistic, and scientific value by means of inheritance, dissemination, and other measures. The state should attach great importance to supporting the protection and preservation of intangible cultural heritage in ethnic areas, remote areas, and poverty-stricken areas; encourage scientific and technological research related to intangible cultural heritage and research on the protection and preservation methods of intangible cultural heritage; and encourage the recording of intangible cultural heritage and the collation and publication and other activities of intangible cultural heritage representative projects. Schools, news media, and public cultural institutions situated at all walks of life should consciously protect and inherit intangible cultural heritage. Schools should carry out related intangible cultural heritage education. The news media should publicize representative projects of intangible cultural heritage and popularize the knowledge of intangible cultural heritage. Public cultural institutions such as libraries, cultural centers, museums, and science and technology museums, as well as intangible cultural heritage research institutions, protection institutions, and literary and art performance groups and performance venues organized with financial funds should, in accordance with their respective business scope, carry out the collation, research, academic exchanges of intangible cultural heritage and publicity and display intangible cultural heritage representative projects. We should encourage and support citizens, legal persons, and other organizations to set up exhibition and inheritance sites for intangible cultural heritage in accordance with the law to display and inherit representative projects of intangible cultural heritage. At the same time, we should encourage and support the rational use of representative projects of intangible cultural heritage on the basis of effective protection, develop cultural products and cultural services with local and ethnic characteristics and market potential, and, above all, jointly promote the modernization of social governance.

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4 Science and Technology Governance With the rapid development of information technology, modern technological advances such as the internet, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, etc. are profoundly changing people’s lives, work, and thinking modes. Constantly bringing about new changes in social form and structure, as well as providing new momentum and new opportunities for innovation in social governance, strengthening and innovating social governance by means of science and technology and improving the scientific and modern level of social governance are urgent tasks for human society and all countries in the world. Social governance in the era of “Internet+” is facing two different trends: expanding from “offline” to “online” and extending from “online” to “offline”. Science and technology governance reconstructs the inter-related forms of social production and social organization through information technology, which makes the process of social governance more scientific, intelligent, and optimized. By means of acquisition, storage, management, and analysis, the social governance subjects can turn data information with the characteristics of large scale and rapid circulation into a living element of social governance, which is widely applied in the field of social governance to better serve the different social subjects for precise analysis, treatment, service, and accurate feedback so as to continuously improve the precision and modernization level of social governance. In short, science and technology governance is an important means to realize the intellectualization, specialization, and modernization of social governance.

4.1 Theoretical Origin and Basic Meaning of Science and Technology Governance The concept of science and technology governance can be traced back to the theory of technology governance. The basic idea of technology governance is to apply science and technology to social governance and public politics to improve the efficiency of social operations. In view of the development track of the social co-governance system in developed countries, technology governance has become the basic means of governing risks by social pluralistic subjects, which is mainly embodied in multisubjects cooperation, up-and-down communication and coordination, inter-regional division of labor and synergy, administration under the rule of law and social participation on the basis of scientific and technical standards, technical methods and technical specifications. Since the second half of the twentieth century, technology governance has become the most important and obvious trend in global social governance and political activities. Science and technology governance is the application of governance theory based on science, technology, economy and society, and other fields. The innovation of the social governance model is the application of scientific and technological means to

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social governance. “Leading”, “participation”, “consultation”, and “cooperation” are the four keywords of science and technology governance, from the singleleading science and technology innovation management of the government to the co-governance of pluralistic subjects led by Party committee and the government to form a harmonious and co-existence governance pattern of the country, the market and the society. The method of science and technology governance plays an important role in the modernization construction of the national governance system and governance ability. It is related to the establishment of China’s innovation-oriented country, the realization of China’s innovation-driven development strategy, and the realization of China’s “Two Centenary” goals. The application of science and technology governance has become the first choice to promote the innovation and modernization of social governance.

4.2 Necessity of Implementing Science and Technology Governance (I)

.Adapt to the needs of the gradual change of the traditional social form.

The Internet has changed the traditional social form. In the new social environment where the social subject is more pluralistic and the interaction mechanism is more complex, the integration degree between virtual space and entity society is increasing day by day, which forms the unique form of network society. With the popularization of mobile internet, digitization and networking have become the foundation of social existence and operation. Today, with the increasingly powerful influence of intelligence, the traditional concept of enterprise, the connotation of social life, and the way of state governance may be subverted, and then a new model of state, market, and social relations can be reconstructed. The conventional media (newspapers, radio, television, etc.) used in the past are being replaced by WeChat, Weibo, and other media, and political and social media are also developing. At the same time, the Party committee and the government are also changing their way of providing services and management by physical means to Internet services. Flattening is not only a characteristic of the Internet constitution system but also affects the operational mode of various organizational forms of society. In the flattening Internet system, it not only forms virtual organizations but can also become the subject, and above all, it can quickly form the entity of social organizations; international nongovernmental organizations and transnational nongovernmental organizations obtain huge convenience. Cross-border satellites and TV channels create cross-border audience groups and lead to cross-border cultural communication and cultural identity. We should seek and pay attention to the possible influence of changes in lifestyle, appeal mode, social mobilization mode, and organizational mode on future social governance brought about by changes in virtual society as soon as possible, especially to guard against the social governance crisis caused by the Internet problem.

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Adapt to the needs of changes in traditional social service logic.

In the era of “Internet+”, the externality of government public services has been given new connotations, and the boundary of public services has become fuzzy. According to the theory of traditional public management, the government has the basic responsibility and function of providing public service for society because public goods have externalities. With the rise of the Internet, this theoretical premise is gradually shaken. With the popularity of open sharing culture, Internet companies provide services to users free of charge, which has a certain externality. The social group formed in WeChat is usually regarded as a social organization form where people exchange information and provide services, which also shows externalities. The boundaries between government, enterprise, and society have become blurred, and the boundaries between public and private-public services need to be reshaped. Redefining the relations and functions between them indicates that the methods and theories of public activities, market operations, and social governance will have revolutionary progress. (III)

Adaptation to the needs of the transformation of the traditional social governance mode.

The traditional social governance mode is the unitary management mode of government. The most authoritative and the main subject of social governance is the government. This mode is the top-down administrative management and social control under the absolute leadership of the government, and in the process of specific governance, it shows the following characteristics: in terms of governance concept, it emphasizes high concentration and unity, and puts social control at the first place of the governance goals; and in terms of governance subjects, it takes the government as the core, and other subjects such as the market and the individual, etc. as subordinate and dependent to the government, and accept the government’s orders, commands, and domination; in terms of the governance mechanism, social resources are allocated through the hierarchy, namely vertical power structure and the pyramid-shaped organization structure, so as to achieve the ultimate goal of social stability and development. In terms of the governance content, the government is almost all-inclusive and manages everything. Therefore, there are many problems, such as “offside”, “vacancy”, and “dislocation”, in the governance results. The government’s unitary governance mode not only has a single governance subject, a single governance goal, and a single governance mode but also has some defects, such as the aging, solidification, and rigidity of the governance concept, governance structure, and governance mechanism. In the Internet era, especially in the era of “big data”, data flows and shares more freely, which poses new challenges to the traditional governance mode. With the sharing and generalization of information resources and information rights, the government no longer solves the problems encountered in management by means of “administrative control” but creates a good social order and economic and social development environment by establishing a service-oriented and shared government. In terms of governance mode, it is not only a single process of “power domination”

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but also a mode of synergy and collaboration between pluralistic governance subjects, governance subjects, and governance objects.

4.3 Main Role of Science and Technology Governance In the field of social governance, the use of scientific and technological means, especially through the “Internet+”, the new way of social governance, relying on big data for social governance, can effectively improve the level of social governance. (I)

"Internet+” reshapes the new paradigm of social governance.

The Internet is the biggest variable in the innovative social governance mode. Complementing the development course of the internet, China’s social governance innovation has gone through three stages. Early social governance was “governmentcentered”, relying mainly on information systems and government websites, which focused on collecting and managing resident information and providing simple electronic services for residents. It had the characteristics of government-based standards, internal-oriented, and hierarchical governance, showing the characteristics of singleness, unidirectionality, closure, statics, etc. With the popularization of mobile Internet and social media as the basic characteristics, the stage emphasized information openness, interaction, and user centering. At this stage, social governance followed the concept of “taking the public as the center” and emphasized participatory governance, which meant that the governance structure with the government as the single subject began to shift to the open, collaborative, and cooperative governance structure focusing on public participation. With the advent of the Internet of Things era, the popularization of intelligent terminals and the widespread application of big data, informatization has promoted social governance innovation to enter the third stage, which not only emphasizes the interaction and communication between the government and the public but also emphasizes the perception of public behavior and service needs to achieve more personalized, customized services and more accurate and intelligent management. At the same time, we should emphasize and pay more attention to the opening and sharing of data to eliminate the gap between government agencies, promote the socialization of public governance and public services, and better realize the intelligent governance form of co-construction, shared and co-governance. (II)

Big data enhances the intelligence degree of social governance.

Big data provides new means for social governance. First, big data improves the pertinence of social services, facing the new situation of social interest differentiation, multivalue, and frequent and complicated social activities. The traditional mode of social governance, which relies on manpower resources and extensive forms, cannot meet the requirements of the new situation. By the adoption of big data to innovate social governance, we can fully collect the most concerned difficulties, pinpoint the masses, and dig deep into the data dividend, so as to become a powerful means to

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support the scientific decision-making and accurate prediction of social governance, improve the level of governance and promote social harmony on the basis of the rapid collection and mining, and the timely study and sharing of massive data. Second, big data improves the precision of social governance. Intelligence means precise analysis, management, service, and feedback. By means of acquisition, storage, management, and analysis, all kinds of social governance subjects can transform big data with large scale and rapid circulation into live data, which are widely used in the field of social governance and serve different social groups better, and become the important magic weapon for government and social organizations to implement precise governance and intelligent governance. Finally, the application of big data can enhance the predictability of social governance. In the internet age, risk and uncertainty have become the norm. How to effectively control social risks and maintain the stable operation of society has become the primary task. By means of sensing data, transacting data, and interactive data, big data technology can be captured by social subjects. It can collect, mine, and analyze data in related fields of social governance, strengthen data support for dealing with and treating emergencies, and construct a public security system of intelligent prevention and control and comprehensive governance. (III)

Informatization enhances public service capacity.

The modernization of basic public service is an important content of the modernization of social governance. The modernization of social governance requires the modernization of basic public services. Modern information and communication technology are constantly changing the way the government provides public services, and E-government has become an important means to build a service-oriented government. E-government public service is a public service provided by the government to people of all walks of life based on public centers and relying on the E-government system with the help of the Internet and other information-based means. As a new service paradigm, E-government in public service plays an important role in improving the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of public services, improving the level of equalization of basic public services, and promoting the construction of service-oriented and intelligent governments. This change is mainly embodied in the service content, service mode, service channel, etc. Adopting technological means to provide public services is changing: from simply meeting public needs to in-depth investigation and understanding of public needs; from access to a single department to access to a unified portal; and from single-channel services to multichannel integrated services. Promoting the renewal of the public service delivery mode by means of information technology is conducive to improving the level of public service and can better meet the needs of the people and all social parties of the public service.

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4.4 Problems Existing in the Science and Technology Governance (I)

"Data Silos”.

“Data silos” refers to the fact that different data are held in the hands of different government departments or enterprises, and each data system is its own systems, stored in different servers in different ways, resulting in functional disconnection, mutual nonexchange of information, affecting the way the data recording, generating a large amount of redundant information or garbage information and other invalid data, and finally, the mode of data, business, application interconnect cannot be realized. The “data silos” problem is rooted in the hierarchical structure of the government system, which has been faced by human society since it entered industrial society. In the field of social governance, “data silos” cause information segmentation, which not only affects the efficiency of government management of society but also reduces the quality of government services to society. Most of the public domain data are held in the hands of institutions, some of which strengthen their monopolistic position, making the information harder to obtain. The relevant departments are also concerned that the management pressure and public opinion pressure brought by data transparency will harm the interests of the departments and lack the motivation to open the data actively. (II)

“Digital Divide”.

The “digital divide” is also known as the “information divide”, i.e., “the gap between the information rich owner and the information poor owner”. In technological innovation, there are digital disadvantage areas (such as old, minority nationality, border and poor areas, etc.), disadvantage groups (the elderly and children), and disadvantage fields, which are prone to produce the “Cask effect” of technology application. Moreover, in the new round of technological revolution, there is a crisis of expanding the digital divide, which is prone to form the “Matthew Effect”. (III)

Dysfunction of structure and function.

In the traditional mode of social governance, the government is the only power center and the behavior subject. Even if interest groups outside the political system participate in politics, they must first import the policy system controlled by the government and then transform it into public policy. In this way, the closeness and absoluteness of government power determine the monopoly position and the role of “parents” of the government in the national governance system, and this position and role also greatly affect the decision-making quality, the management mode, and the governance ability. Obviously, the closed management structure of public decision-making systems has some problems, such as information blocking, lag, lack of transparency, weak liquidity, slow reception, and lack of effective data organization. (IV)

Risk of big data application.

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The advent of the big data era has put forward higher demands on the data management of government organizations as important subjects of public decision-making. The appearance of big data has subverted the traditional method of data management, which will bring revolutionary changes in data thinking, data sources, and data processing. To some extent, the “system black box” problem was solved by data opening and sharing. Under the fierce impact of various new information technologies, the information gap and cultural gap existing between the government and the public are being gradually eliminated. Therefore, big data not only brings huge challenges to traditional social governance and public management but also provides practical opportunities for the open governance of the country, the government, and the society.3 Due to the limitations of human cognition, the defects of the technology itself or system, the environment, and many factors, the effect of technology governance is uncertain and even produces a negative effect; in particular, the application of new technology may bring new security risks. Technology governance often has some limitations, and the application of new technology may lead to new security risks. At the same time, to solve the negative effects of technology governance, we should rely on more effective technological progress, scientific management, and experts’ timely feedback of relevant information and carry out comprehensive governance through effective rule of law and technical specifications. As a result of a large amount of centralized data storage, a successful attack will lead to a huge loss. In the big data era, the data sources are diversified, the scope and distribution of data objects are more extensive, and data security protection is more difficult. Therefore, there are many security risks and challenges in promoting the application of big data technology, including privacy disclosure problems, which will be more serious with the deepening of the application of big data technology. The migration of data ownership and limits will lead to the failure of the original data protection scheme and the increase of information security exposure points of big data applications.

4.5 The Development Trend of Science and Technology Governance (I)

Improving the construction of big data infrastructure lays a solid foundation for science and technology governance in the social field.

In the big data era, the data and information needed for social governance are increasing rapidly, and the innovation of social governance and the provision of public services require a large amount of basic data and information. If they do not master a large amount of basic data and information or do not update the information and data in a timely manner, it will be difficult for the decision-maker to truly 3

Chen Tan, Big Data Drives Innovative Conversion of Social Governance, in Administrative Forum, 2017 (1).

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understand the various needs of society in a timely manner or to plan and choose a reasonable way to provide services. Therefore, we should establish a basic information platform for social governance with comprehensive coverage, dynamic tracking, and complete indicators, with population-based information as the core, with the help of residential information systems, employment registration information systems, and housing rental management systems to integrate illegal and criminal information, network public opinion information, public health information, environmental state information, labor relation information, emergency information, and a variety of information sources and social statistical resources to improve the information level of social governance in the new situation. (II)

Break data monopoly and realize the interconnection.

The advanced architecture and cloud platform of big data can enable relevant organizations of cross-departments, cross-companies, cross-regions, and even crossindustries to share data among product designers and manufacturing engineers under the common data governance framework, simulate experiments to test different product designs, components, and the selection of corresponding suppliers, and calculate related costs to promote product design and testing so as to achieve the integration of information and intelligence. In case the government wants to facilitate big data technology to improve social governance ability and realize mode innovation, the best way is to break the information monopoly among departments, form a collaborative network with individuals, enterprises, and scientific teaching and research institutions through the open application of government data, form a pluralistic cooperative governance mechanism on the basis of shared social responsibility, shared public resources and participating in public governance, thereby benefiting all parties. (III)

Strengthen independent research and development of information technology and pay attention to data security and in-depth application.

Information technology is a double-edged sword. While carrying out basic information collection, analysis, and processing by means of information technology and learning from foreign advanced information technology, it is an important direction for science and technology to promote social governance innovation in China that we should strengthen the ability and level of independent research and development of social governance information technology and speed up the formulation of industry standards for information technology systems and platforms in the field of social governance. At the same time, the collection and application of big data may involve national information security and citizens’ privacy. Therefore, the principle of big data collection and application should be clearly defined at the legislative level. We should weigh the relationship between data openness and the protection of personal privacy and trade secrets, national information security, and social data needs, and formulate strict and standardized processes of data collection, storage, processing, pushing, and application. We should guarantee information security through the software and hardware investment of the information system. The security of the big data

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platform itself should be given attention. It is necessary for relevant departments in China to formulate big data technical standards and operational norms, attach importance to the construction of big data and information security systems, and strengthen the supervision of sensitive data collection and application in key fields. We should pay full attention to the system construction of data and information in the process of collection and application. The open sharing of data application must have boundaries, rules, and procedures, and the use of open object data should be supervised according to relevant laws and agreements so as to realize the balance between the demand of data opening, privacy protection, and security protection. The opening and flow, application, and sharing of data can further reduce the cost of governance and improve the efficiency of governance so as to further enhance the efficiency of governance.4 (IV)

Facilitate big data engine to propel the formation of the co-governance pattern.

“Co-governance” mainly emphasizes the pluralism of governance subjects. Big data can solve the problem of “data silos” through data sharing among subjects and then promote the pluralism of governance subjects. Data sharing among relevant departments of China can be solved by standardizing data collection standards and building a unified big data center. Data sharing among the state, market, and society can be solved by means of the opening data of the state and the establishment of a data trading mechanism. Holistic governance mainly emphasizes the interactivity among subjects, enhances the efficiency of community residents’ participation in community autonomy, fosters public-spirited community residents, and promotes coordination between the state and society. (V)

Adhere to the premise of state leadership and enhance market subject forces in science and technology governance.

The state, the market, and society are the main forces of social governance innovation. Due to their respective positions, their functions are different, and they should be in close cooperation with an appropriate division of labor. The state should strengthen the functions of top-level design and macro control. While strengthening the construction of E-government, we should constantly increase investment in social governance for technological innovation. The feasible path of science and technology governance in the future is that the government purchases social services and the social subject directly undertakes steps to innovate social governance by means of science and technology. This not only guarantees the top-level design function of the state but also gives full attention to the scientific and technological utilization efficiency of social governance. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 4

Explain the following concepts: governance by law, intangible cultural heritage. Briefly describe the basic characteristics of the society ruled by law.

Yue Shaohua: Social Governance Precision Needs Big Data Thinking, in Economic Daily, 2016– 12-15.

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Briefly describe the main contents of moral governance. Briefly describe the main contents of cultural governance. What is the main role of science and technology governance?

References He H (2013) New media development and social management. Communication University of China Press, Beijing Liqun W (2018) The records of reform and opening up. China Yan Shi Press, Beijing Shuming L (2006) The oriental & Western culture and its philosophy. Shanghai Century Publishing Group Xiaofen C, Ruzong X (2011) The analects of confucius • The great learning • The doctrine of the mean (Translated and annotated). Zhonghua Book Company, Beijing Xiaotong F, Han W (1948) Imperial power and gentry’s power. Shanghai Observer, Shanghai Yongbo Q (2014) Social governance innovation. China Social Sciences Press, Beijing Yongmou L (2016) The logic of technical governance. J Renmin Univ China 6

The Ability to Build Social Governance in China Liqun Wei

Overview This chapter mainly introduces the connotation of the social governance ability of the state. It analyzes the present situation of social governance ability in China and proposes a way to enhance social governance ability. Throughout the study of this chapter, the readers will understand the basic situation and the main tasks of the ability of the Chinese state toward the building of social governance.

1 The Significance of Strengthening the Ability to Build Social Governance Social governance ability refers to the comprehensive quality and ability of the social governance subjects to engage in social governance. This is an important part of realizing the modernization of social governance. To strengthen and innovate social governance and promote the modernization of social governance, we need not only to innovate and perfect the system of social governance but also to improve social governance ability. Social governance ability manifests itself in many aspects. It manifests in the aggregation of a comprehensive governance ability. From the perspectives of the social governance subjects and the main factors of social governance, it can be embodied in the Party’s leadership, the government’s responsibility, social coordination, public participation, the safeguarding ability of the rule of law, scientific and technological support, and the talent building ability of the state. Why should we strengthen the ability-building of social governance? This is mainly because, first, promoting the modernization of social governance is a very L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_11

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complex system engineering. It involves not only the adjustment of national production relations and many links of superstructure but also the innovation of the concepts, systems, mechanisms, ways, and means of social governance. To meet the requirements of social field building, we must strengthen the modernization of social governance ability and constantly improve the level of social governance. Second, it is the requirements of the new situation and new tasks of reform and opening-up and socialist modernization in China. With the realization of the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, industrialization, urbanization, and modernization in China will continue to advance in-depth. The relationship between urban and rural areas, social structure, social form, and people’s demand for a better life will continue to change, and the social governance system will be constantly improved, all of which will put forward new requirements on social governance ability. Third, rapid changes in the world’s political structure and scientific and technological progress will continue to have a direct and indirect impact on social field reform in China, and social governance ability will be accelerated. Therefore, we should pursue promoting the modernization of social governance as the general goal, focus on improving the Party’s leadership and the government’s responsibility, and improve the ideological and political qualities, scientific and cultural qualities, and working abilities of cadres at all levels and managers in all aspects as soon as possible. Elevating the ability of urban and rural grassroots autonomy and the ability of social organizations as soon as possible jointly promotes the modernization of social governance ability.

2 Enhance the Party’s Leadership 2.1 Connotation of the Party’s Leadership The Party’s leadership mainly stands for the ability to carry out the concept of modern social governance with Chinese characteristics. This includes enhancing the Party’s political leadership, ideological leadership, and organizational building and coordinating all parties in the social field under the guidance of President Xi Jinping’s ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. We should unswervingly follow the path of socialist social governance with Chinese characteristics and be good at transforming the Party’s leadership and the advantages of the socialist system in China into the advantages of social governance. Upholding and improving the Party’s leadership is fundamental to ensure that the modernization of social governance adheres to the correct political direction and solid political guarantee. The Communist Party of China is the strongest core of leadership in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and upholding the Party’s leadership is the unique advantage of social governance in China. Our Party must be both politically strong and highly competent. To be good at exercising political leadership, we must

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scientifically formulate and resolutely implement the Party’s line, principles and policies and consciously follow the objective laws of social operation. We should adhere to the position of “people-centered” and give full attention to the main role of the people. The ideological building is the basic building block and the basic guarantee for strengthening and innovating social governance. In the field of social governance, we should adhere to the guiding position of Marxism and stick to the guidance of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics so that all the people will be closely united in ideal and belief, value concepts, and moral concepts. In the new era, the difficulties and complexities of reform, opening-up and socialist modernization are unprecedented. The Party should take charge of the overall situation, coordinate all parties, improve its ability to master direction, plan the overall situation, formulate policies, and be good at coordination. The organizational ability of the Party is the basis to ensure the implementation of the Party’s line, principles, policies, decision-making, and deployment. We should focus on the advancement of organizational power, actively publicize the Party’s opinions, implement the Party’s decisions, and lead all social governance subjects to push forward the continuous development of social governance work.

2.2 The Main Way to Enhance the Party’s Leadership (I)

Firmly Grasp the Party’s Leadership over Social Governance.

We should strengthen the Party’s leadership fully in the social field. We should firmly uphold the authority and centralize a unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Party and always stand in the forefront of the times. We should be good at combining the people’s long-term interests with immediate interests, overall interests and local interests with long-term development plans and phased development goals. The lines, principles, and policies formulated by the Party can embody the fundamental interests of the broad masses of the people to the maximum degree and promote social development and progress. We should make socialist social governance with Chinese characteristics not only have an advanced political direction but also have strong leading power and mobilization power, which fully embodies the people’s character and demonstrates the “good governance” of society. (II)

Enhance the Level of Social Governance in All Aspects.

We should enhance the Party’s ability for social governance and promote the modernization of social governance. Party committees at all levels should put the strengthening and innovation of social governance in a more prominent position. This will fully implement the decision-making arrangements and various principles and policies of the Party’s Central Committee on strengthening and innovating social governance, enhance executive power, enhance the implementation ability of the responsibility system, and promptly study and solve problems in social governance. We should analyze in-depth and accurately judge the changes in the world situation,

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the national conditions, and the Party’s situation, follow the law of social operation, grasp the characteristics of the times, better solve the problems in the social field of our country, and ensure that the social operation is dynamic and harmonious and above all orderly. (III)

Adhere to the Excellent Party Conducts to Drive the Conducts of the Politics, Society and the People.

We should adhere to the principle that the Party should be in charge of the politics and see Party self-governance being exercised with rigor. Party committees at all levels should put the conduct of building in a prominent position and carry forward the excellent conduct of combining theory with practice, maintaining close ties with the masses, defying difficulties and working hard, and seeking truth from facts. We should conscientiously implement various systems for conduct building and ensure that there are rules and regulations to follow and violations to be investigated to ensure the long-term effectiveness of this conduct building. The people hate corruption the most. Corruption is the cancer of society. We should resolutely punish corruption, strengthen the fear of being corrupt, fasten the cage of not being corrupt, and strengthen the consciousness of not wanting to be corrupt. We should make unremitting efforts to get a clean world, as bright as the sun and moon, purify Party’s conduct, promote political conduct, and drive social conduct and folk conduct. (IV)

Strive to Elevate the Level of “Four Modernizations” in Social Governance.

We should strive to promote socialization, the rule of law, intelligentization, and specialization of social governance. We should be good at the use of advanced concepts, scientific attitudes, professional methods, and fine standards to elevate the effectiveness of social governance, enhance the integrity and synergy of social governance, enhance the ability of prediction and early warning to prevent various risks, and enhance the predictability, accuracy, and high efficiency of social governance. We should set up the thinking of rule of law, give attention to the role of rule of virtue, better guide and standardize social life, and strive to achieve a peaceful world consoled by the rule of law and people’s hearts nourished by virtue.

3 Enhances the Government’s Responsibility 3.1 Connotation of the Government’s Responsibility The government’s responsibility refers to that under the unified Party’s leadership committee. The government scientifically formulates relevant policies and standard systems for social governance, formulates and implements general plans and special plans for social building and social governance, provides infrastructure and public services for social governance, administers and supervises according to law, effectively resolves social contradictions, maintains social order, safeguards public security, and achieves “good governance” of the government goals.

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Ability to Formulate Social Plans.

The ability to formulate social planning scientifically refers to the ability to formulate and implement the general plans and special plans of social governance. Scientifically, the ability to formulate is under the guidance of scientific theories and by means of scientific methods. Based on national conditions, we should observe reality to adapt to the requirements of economic and social development, organize the implementation of planning, and promote the effective development of social governance. The level of social governance efficiency, to a great extent, depends on the planning ability of the government’s social building. We should bring the major factors that affect social harmony and ability into the planning scope. Through the formulation and implementation of social building planning, we should mobilize the positive factors in all aspects of society, integrate human, financial, material, information, and other resources, and solve various social problems in a targeted way to promote the harmonious, stable, and dynamic development of society. (II)

Ability to Provide Public Services.

The ability to provide public services refers to the ability to provide public goods and services to society, strive to solve unbalanced and inadequate problems, and continuously meet people’s growing needs for a better life. It mainly includes strengthening the building of public facilities in urban and rural areas; promoting social employment; providing social security; developing educational, cultural, health and sports, and other public undertakings; releasing public information; providing guarantees; and creating conditions for public life and participation in social, economic, and political activities, etc. To enhance the government’s public service ability, we must pay attention to the government’s responsibility, reform the public service system, optimize the allocation of resources, enable all members of society to have equal opportunities for development, and safeguard social equity and justice. (III)

Ability to Resolve Social Contradictions

The ability to solve social contradictions refers to the ability to take various means and measures to resolve social contradictions in a timely and effective manner, maintain public order, crack down on illegal and criminal activities, deal with sudden public actions, and maintain social harmony and stability. It mainly includes the ability to study and judge, resolve, and deal with contradiction; the ability to maintain social security; the ability to manage the crisis; and so on. Maintaining social stability is not only a major social issue but also a major political issue, which not only concerns people’s well-being but also relates to the stability and unity of the state and society and is a prerequisite for the normal operation of economic development and social life. We should improve our ability to analyze, study, and effectively handle various social contradictions and the ability to safeguard public security and deal with emergencies; also, improve the ability to crack down on various criminal activities in accordance with the law and strengthen and improve the comprehensive management of public security to ensure the safety of people’s lives and property.

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Ability to Promote Social Integration.

The ability to promote social integration refers to the ability and power to effectively coordinate the relationship between different social subjects and enhance social cohesion. We should promote the division, cooperation, and harmonious co-existence of various social organizations, social groups, and social forces to form a concerted effort to promote social development and progress. The essence of social integration is the rational arrangement of the system, the coordination of relations, and the cohesion of various forces. We should establish and improve the coordination mechanism of social interests, coordinate the interest relations among different interest subjects, rationally adjust the interest structure of different classes so that all members of society have equal opportunities for development, and realize the common progress of the whole society.

3.2 The Main Way to Enhance the Government’s Responsibility (I)

Perform the Functions of the Government in all Aspects and Correct Ways and Accelerate the Transformation of the Functions of the Government.

We should further promote the transformation of government functions to create a sound development environment; provide high-quality public services and safeguard social equity and justice; improve the way in which the government provides public services; and promote the purchase of services by the government. In terms of services that belong to routine management services, in principle, we should delegate power to the public and try to purchase services from society through contracts, entrustments, and other methods. We should build an effective government, enhance the government’s credibility, execution, and service ability, and build a people-satisfied government. (II)

Enhance the Consciousness of the Subjects’ Responsibility and Improve the System of the Government’s Responsibility.

We should strictly implement the responsibilities of the subjects of social governance of governments at all levels and improve various responsibility systems. We should constantly strengthen the sense of responsibility for social governance and enhance the self-awareness of promoting the modernization of social governance. We should shoulder the heavy burden of social governance and promote the modernization of social governance and earnestly shoulder the responsibility of administering one place, constructing one place, and safeguarding a peaceful society. (III)

Enhance Investment Intensity and Improve Public Service Ability.

We should make great efforts to improve public service facilities and promote the equalization of basic public services. Governments at all levels should increase their input in human, financial, and material resources for social governance year by year.

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We shall improve the public finance system and ensure the required expenditures to strengthen and innovate social governance. (IV)

Speed up the Reform of Public Institutions and Upgrade the Level of Social Governance Innovation Guarantee.

Science and technology, education, culture, health, and other institutions are important platforms and support for social building, including social governance. The reform in this field directly influences the process of social governance modernization. We should speed up the separation of politics and society, promote the “deadministration” of social organizations, and stimulate the vitality of social organizations. We should straighten out the relationship between political institutions and public affairs and realize the separation of public institutions from public affairs. We should carry out the reform of public welfare institutions according to different circumstances, straighten out the relationship between the institutions that provide public welfare services to the public and the competent departments, speed up the separation of management and administration, strengthen the public welfare attributes, and eliminate the profit-seeking mechanism. Through deepening the reform of public institutions, we should provide reasonable and effective basic institutional guarantees for strengthening and innovating social governance and promoting the modernization of social governance, and constantly enhance the vitality and power of social governance.

4 Enhance Social Synergistic Ability 4.1 Connotation of Social Synergistic Ability Social synergistic ability refers to the ability to organize, coordinate, cooperate, and interact with various social forces in social governance to achieve the overall effect of social governance. Social synergistic ability is a complex system that includes the synergistic subjects of social governance, the synergistic object of social governance, the synergistic means of social governance, the synergistic motive of social governance, and the synergistic goal of social governance. Social synergistic ability mainly includes the ability to participate in cooperation, the ability to equal consultation, the ability to balance interests, and the ability to share information. (I)

Ability to Participate in Cooperation.

Modern social governance should be transformed from the Party committee and government control mode to the synergistic mode of organizing various social forces. In social governance, the government and other social organizations under the Party’s leadership committee should assume corresponding social governance responsibilities and participate in social affairs. We should guide and promote multiple subjects to bear their respective responsibilities and perform effective cooperation in social

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governance, encourage and support all social subjects to participate in social governance, and realize the positive interaction between government governance and social self-regulation and resident autonomy. (II)

Ability for Equal Consultation.

The key to enhancing the effective synergistic ability of multiple subjects in social governance is to carry out equal consultation under the unified Party’s leadership committee. We should establish a perfect consultation mechanism that can embody equality in a relationship and maintain the equality within that relationship. Various social governance subjects should respect each other and strengthen cooperation that is centered on social governance affairs. We should solve various problems in social governance through rational consultation. (III)

Ability to Balance Interests.

Enhancing social common interests is the ultimate goal of social synergy; however, the diversity of social governance subjects determines the diversity of subjects’ interests in social governance. However, the scarcity of social resources leads to the inevitable conflict between different social governance subjects in the pursuit of their own interests. The important purpose of social forces’ participation in social governance is to achieve the coordination and unification of social interests and their own interests through cooperation, which requires the establishment of an effective interest-balanced mechanism to ensure the smooth realization of the synergistic goal of social governance. (IV)

Ability to Share Information.

Effective information interaction is the foundation of realizing social synergistic governance. The application of modern management means, such as information technology and network technology, has promoted effective communication and cooperation among the subjects of social governance, realized the integration of social governance and information resources of social buildings, and raised the efficiency of social governance. We should establish a comprehensive information platform for social governance, an information management platform for public appeals, and a joint management platform for public crisis emergencies to further promote communication and exchange among synergetic subjects and accomplish the work of social governance quickly and efficiently. The concept of “synergistic governance” has become the development direction of social governance in China, and increasing attention has been paid to social synergistic governance as the main mode of social governance. However, due to institutional mechanisms and the influence of traditional culture, the current practice of social synergism governance in China is not satisfactory. At present, the building of social synergistic governance is facing many difficulties. First, the concept of synergistic governance needs to be strengthened. To strengthen and innovate social governance, we should establish a scientific concept of social governance, accurately grasp the basic laws of social governance, give full

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play to the synergistic functions of various social governance subjects, and gradually form a good interactive pattern between the government and society in synergy cooperation. Only by giving full play to the synergistic functions of the subjects of social governance and truly realizing the complementary and benign interaction between the government and society we can create a new pattern of social governance that is more in line with the requirements of the times in the innovation of the institutional mechanism. Second, the top-level design of synergistic governance needs to be improved. Social synergistic governance is a systematic project that involves the interests and development of politics, economy, culture, and other aspects. Far-sighted strategic planning and effective top-level design are needed. If there is a lack of effective “top-level design”, social synergistic governance is reduced to a piece of paper, even contrary to the original intention. Third, the guarantee mechanism of synergistic governance needs to be raised. The building of the synergistic mechanism of social governance cannot be separated from the guarantee of the national system. Only under the scientific and reasonable legal and institutional framework can real social governance synergy be achieved. However, at present, the social organization registration management system lags behind, the social organization fund support system is not perfect, and the social autonomy system is also not perfect. All of these factors restrict the development of synergistic social governance.

4.2 The Main Path to Enhance Social Synergistic Ability (I)

Motivate the Spirit of Participation and Enhance the Concept of a Coordinated Governance.

The change of ideas plays a leading role. To construct the synergistic mechanism of social governance, we should first strengthen the concept of synergy, cultivate and strengthen the participation spirit of social subjects, and give full play to the enthusiasm of each participating subject. Every unit participating in social governance should give full attention to its governance ability and shoulder social responsibility. (II)

Strengthen the Building Mechanism of Social Synergistic Governance.

We should adhere to the principle of the Party’s leadership committee and the government’s responsibility. Ensure the sharing of resources among the subjects of social participants and promote better mutually beneficial cooperation among the social subjects. We should promote openness and transparency of information of various social subjects, accept supervision by public opinion, let the pluralistic participants operate in the sun, and play a positive role in synergistic governance in a sound supervision mechanism. At the same time, we should give full attention to Internet technology platforms in social synergistic governance.

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Improve the Guaranteed Level of Social Synergistic Governance.

We should establish guaranteed conditions for the establishment of synergistic mechanisms of social governance. We should realize resource integration and synergy, promote the organic integration of resources at different levels, structures, fields, and regions; coordinate and cooperate with various resources; and form a joint form of social building and social governance to maximize the utilization of resources. We should realize the reasonable distribution of benefits through the proper system arrangement, construct the information-sharing mechanism, reduce the cost of social synergism governance, and improve the efficiency of social governance. (IV)

Full Attention to the Function of Social Organizations.

We should do our best to transfer the functions of public service, part of industry management, urban and rural community public service, social charity, and social public welfare that social organizations can “accept well and manage well” to social organizations. We should increase the purchase intensity of public services and project funding, guide and pool social organizations as a platform for social resources, information, and services, and promote better participation of social organizations in social governance and public services. We should provide office space, office equipment, personnel training, policy advice, and other basic public services to social organizations as much as possible to enable them to obtain resource platforms and growth assessments, help them improve and enhance management capabilities, standardize services, improve business standards, and promote their sustained, rapid, and healthy development.

5 Enhance Public Participation 5.1 Connotation of Public Participation Public participation refers to the public’s ability to participate in social governance actions. In social governance, we must adapt to the overall process of national modernization and earnestly improve people’s ability to manage state affairs, economic, social, and cultural affairs, and various public affairs in accordance with the law. (I)

Ability to Participate in and Discuss Government Affairs.

Public participation in the decision-making of state-related social governance can enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of social policy and social governance action. We should improve and implement the systems of information disclosure of social governance, citizens’ hearing, selecting public representatives, citizens’ complaints, and the system of public opinions’ open feedback, etc., especially carry

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forward democracy at the grassroots level, and vigorously promote the implementation of the public evaluation system on the social governance behavior of relevant state departments. (II)

Ability of Grassroots Autonomy.

The innovation of social governance should be based on grassroots autonomous organizations and allow residents to directly participate in social governance through organizational mobilization. We should enhance the ability of residents to participate in autonomy, promote the realization of their right to self-management, and truly enable the people to exercise their right to know, right to participate, right to express, and right to supervise in social governance. (III)

Ability to Serve Oneself.

Public service includes not only the services provided by the government to the residents but also the self-service and mutual assistance services of the residents themselves, among the residents, various groups, and organizations. Residents shall be entitled to enjoy public services and shall have the obligation to contribute their wisdom and strength. (IV)

Ability to Self-education.

Citizen self-education is a comprehensive quality training activity in which social members participate in various forms, including not only receiving school education but also participating in family-based education. All members of society can participate in various educational activities, accept new ideas and knowledge, and contribute intellectual resources. We should carry out self-education to obviously improve the public ability to participate in social governance. At present, the public’s ability to participate in social governance in China has been greatly improved compared with the past; however, generally speaking, the participatory ability and degree of participation still need to be improved. First, the spirit of public participation needs to be enhanced. In the past, the public interests of Chinese society were often taken care of and solved by the state, people’s awareness of social participation was weak, and the public spirit was relatively lacking. After the reform and opening-up, the enthusiasm of the masses to participate in social activities has gradually increased; however, the transformation of ideology is still lagging behind. On the one hand, people are accustomed to relying solely on the government and lack the awareness of active participation; on the other hand, the government’s openness to the public is still not enough, and there is still an administrative monopoly in some fields, which leads to poor participation. Second, the participation ability of the public needs to be improved. Social governance has higher requirements for the quality and ability of public participation. On the one hand, the public should have the subject consciousness of becoming the unity of real rights and obligations; on the other hand, they should have communication, democratic, advisory, and cooperation abilities, and so on to participate in social governance. At present, the people in China are weak in rights, democratic, public morality, and rule of law consciousnesses. There is still a long way to go in

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expressing interest demands and communicating with the government the democratic participation ability and the requirements of participating in social governance. Third, the level of public participation in social governance needs to be improved. In recent years, the public has had an increasing number of opportunities to participate in social governance through various forms, with increasing enthusiasm. However, at the same time, due to a lack of judgment ability in the process of participating in social governance, they were often misled, leading to the occurrence of irrational phenomena. The lack of professional knowledge also limits the ability of citizens to participate, and they are often strong in will but weak in power. In addition, the legal norm of public participation in social governance has yet to be perfected, which is also an important factor for the lack of public participation, awareness, and ability.

5.2 The Main Path to Enhance Public Participation (I)

Actively Guide and Enhance the Public’s Awareness and Participation in Social Governance.

The extensive participation of social members is the inherent requirement of social governance innovation. We should adopt means of public opinion, propaganda, educational communication, and interpersonal communication, strengthen the concept of the unity of the public state and the individual, the unity of civil rights and obligations, the unity of public interests and individual interests, strengthen the sense of social responsibility, make the public aware of the correlations between the individual and the society, and let them manifest the public spirit in the independent choice of behavior. (II)

Develop Democracy and Expand Channels for the Public to Participate in Social Governance.

We should cultivate and standardize social organizations and expand channels for social organizations to participate in social governance and public service. We should improve the ways in which Party committees and government serve, expand the effective and orderly participation of the people in social governance, and ensure that the people participate in democratic elections, consultations, decision-making, management, and supervision in accordance with the law. Cadres at all levels should enhance their democratic consciousness, carry forward their democratic conduct, and accept the supervision of the people. (III)

Improve Communication Mechanism and Enhance the Public’s Ability to Participate in Social Governance.

We should strengthen the building of democratic institutions and focus on improving the democratic governance ability of our society. In terms of major issues in social governance and important issues involving the vital interests of the masses, we should widely hear public opinion before decision-making. We should vigorously develop

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grassroots consultative democracy in various forms, improve such mechanisms as elections, deliberation, publicity, reporting of works, accountability, and so on at the grassroots level, and institutionalize grassroots consultation. We should establish and improve the supervision mechanism of residents and villagers and promote the self-management, self-service, self-education, and self-supervision of the masses in urban and rural community governance, grassroots public affairs, and public welfare undertakings in accordance with the law. We should improve the democratic management system of enterprises and institutions in the basic form of workers’ congresses, strengthen the building of democratic mechanisms for social organizations, and guarantee the democratic rights of workers to participate in management and supervision.

6 Enhances the Safeguard Ability of the Rule of Law 6.1 Connotation of the Safeguard Ability of the Rule of Law The safeguard ability of the rule of law refers to the social governance ability, which “takes the rule of law as the safeguard”. The law is an important tool for running a country, and the rule of law is the basic form of national governance. As an important part of national governance, social governance must be governed by the law in the process of promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance ability. Promoting social governance with the safeguard of the rule of law is an inevitable requirement for advancing the modernization of national governance. Without the safeguard of the rule of law, there will be no good governance. Social governance guided and safeguarded by the rule of law embodies the requirements of the times and conforms to the expectations of the people. (I)

The Leading Ability of Social Governance under the Rule of Law.

In the process of promoting the modernization of national governance, we should improve the level of the rule of law in social governance, guide social governance with the spirit of the rule of law, plan social governance with the thinking of the rule of law, regulate social relations and maintain social order with the way of rule of law, and promote various social governance in an orderly and effective way on the track of the rule of law. We should focus on governance in accordance with the rule of law, give full attention to the leading and safeguarding role of the rule of law, and actively utilize the rule of law method to solve problems in the social field, which is an inevitable requirement and prominent symbol of promoting the modernization of social governance. (II)

Behavioral Normative Force of the Rule of Law.

The rule of law provides standards and norms for social governance behavior. In the social governance system, all kinds of social subjects should be based on the

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rule of law. The law clearly defines the status, behavioral mode, and reward and punishment of the social governance subject so that the governance behavior of the social governance subject operates in accordance with scientific and reasonable procedures and ensures the normative force of the social governance behavior. (III)

Interest Coordination Ability of the Rule of Law.

Social relations are intricately intertwined. The problems in social governance belong to the contradiction of interest relations, and the rule of law has the finality on the adjustment of interest relations and the resolution of interest and conflicts. The rule of law regulates the interests of all parties with the legitimacy, authority, and procedure of interest adjustment. Therefore, the rule of law is an effective means of social governance in a complex and pluralistic society.

6.2 The Main Way to Elevate the Safeguard Ability of the Rule of Law (I)

Strengthen Publicity and Elevate Awareness of the Rule of Law in the Whole Society.

Strengthening the publicity of the rule of law is the premise of enhancing the safeguard ability of the rule of law in social governance. We should focus on the requirements of “respecting the law, studying the law, abiding by the law and facilitating the law”, give full attention to the respective advantages of the traditional media and the emerging media, adapt to the local conditions, apply differential treatment in education, facilitate the policy according to the time, fully focus on the building of the publicity positions for the rule of law such as the broadcasting of the rule of law, the network media of the rule of law, the long corridor of the rule of law, the park of the rule of law, the literature and art of the rule of law, etc., which do not only make the law popularization education actvities being often held and updated in the Party and government organs, social organizations, streets and alleys, villages and towns, but also make propaganda content of the rule of law being communicated and spreaded in micro-blog, WeChat, micro-film, micro live broadcast so as to achieve the high integration of traditional media and emerging media on the efficiency of licity and education of the rule of law, and form a new governance that accordance the law should be transformed in micro live broadcast. People should abide by the law, power should be determined by the law, and law-abiding makes things prosperous. (II)

Legislation First and Promote Legislation in the Field of Social Governance.

To improve the ability to safeguard the rule of law, we should legislate first, adhere to the problem-oriented principle, adapt to the needs of improving the level of social governance, speed up research and formulation of the system of laws and regulations on social governance, and bring all aspects of social governance into the track of legalization. In view of the obstacles and constraints existing in the current social field

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in China, we should promote the building of legislation and systems in key areas. We should speed up the promotion of legislation, reform, abolition and interpretation of relevant laws, regulations and systems in the fields including comprehensive urban governance, municipal administration and civil appearance, demolition and resettlement of land and housing, cultivation and management of social organizations, medical and health care, food safety, targeted poverty alleviation, social security, social assistance, labor and employment, education, income distribution, floating population and special group management services, grassroots grid management, ecological environmental protection, public security, conflict and dispute prevention and management, public legal service, social credit system, social civilization, and so on. We should further standardize the conduct of Party committees, governments, social organizations, and citizens in social governance, perfect the legal system of social governance, and provide a solid legal safeguard and institutional basis for strengthening and innovating social governance. (III)

Improve Mechanism and Guide Participation in Social Governance and Autonomy in accordance with Law.

Guiding social organizations and citizens to participate in social governance and autonomy in accordance with law is not only an important content of building a society under the rule of law but also an inevitable requirement for realizing the safeguard of social governance and the rule of law. We should give full attention to the role of social organizations in guiding their internal members’ conduct, rule constraints and safeguarding rights and interests, and construct the mechanism of self-management, self-service, self-education, and self-supervision of social organizations in accordance with the law. We should build volunteer teams of social governance to achieve the goal that social governance serves the masses, depends on the masses, and the social governance results are shared by the masses. We should improve decision-making systems and working mechanisms such as residents’ meetings, deliberation and consultation and democratic hearings, unobstruct the channels of mass appeals and expression and mutual assistance among communities, guarantee citizens’ right to know, participate, make decisions, manage and supervise social governance, and stimulate citizens’ enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity in participating in governance and autonomy in accordance with the law. (IV)

Strictly Enforce the Law and Create a Fair and Just Environment for the Rule of Law.

We should deepen the reform of the judicial system, focus on resolving institutional obstacles and problems, and safeguard that constrains fair justice. We should uphold justice for the people, improve the timely and effective rights and interests protection mechanism, ensure that every infringement upon right can be protected and remedied accordingly, and ensure that every illegal and criminal acts can be sanctioned and punished properly. We should adhere to the judicial convenience of the people, improve the smooth and orderly channels of appeal expression, and ensure that every citizen can obtain the necessary legal assistance and judicial assistance. We should adhere to judicial openness, respond to people’s concerns and expectations

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for judicial justice in a timely manner, and take the initiative to accept all aspects of supervision with the help of modern network media technology to achieve judicial justice. To deepen the judicial reform, we should not only adhere to the reform in accordance with the law, pilot first and steady advance, but also have a firm attitude, dare to gnaw hard bones, perseverance and work hard for a long time, insist on strict law enforcement and investigation of violations, strengthen the punishment of various illegal acts, and strive to form a legal environment in which people dare not to break the law, and are unwilling to break the law and cannot violate the rule of law.

7 Enhances the Support Ability of Science and Technology 7.1 Connotation of Support Ability of Science and Technology Support ability of science and technology refers to the ability to use the latest scientific and technological achievements to improve the efficiency of modern social governance. Science and technology are not only the means but also the driving force in social governance. The high degree of combination of scientific and technological innovation and social governance innovation will effectively promote the modernization process of social governance. (I)

Support Ability of Science and Technology Helps to Improve the Efficiency of Social Governance.

With the rapid development of computer and network technology, Internet space has become an indispensable public space in human life. New governance space can be broadened through the application of new network technologies. The transformation of scientific and technological achievements, especially those of cutting-edge technologies, can reduce the cost of social governance and promote the modernization of national governance. In terms of synergy in governance, the help of cutting-edge science and technology can make it easy for the country, the market, and society to form a three-in-one synergy in governance patterns more easily and promote resource-sharing and complementary advantages. In terms of improving the efficiency of governance, the application of cutting-edge science and technology can help optimize the allocation of resources within the societal scope, improve the utilization efficiency of governance resources, save considerable manpower and material resources by means of technological change, and improve the overall efficiency level of national governance. (II)

Support Ability of Science and Technology Helps to Improve the Intelligence Level of Social Governance.

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The application of science and technology can continuously expand the form and coverage of public services, improve the precision, informationization and socialization of social governance, effectively promote the sharing of public resources, and actively promote the coordinated and efficient operation of people flow, logistics, information flow, and capital flow. Promoting the innovative application of new technology in grassroots governance can improve the ability to provide early warnings and prevent social risks in all aspects to vigorously promote the intelligentization of social governance. (III)

Support Ability of Science and Technology Helps Expand Governance Space.

In the information age, the development of the Internet has broadened the vision and scope of social governance. The Internet has become an important platform for people’s production and life sharing, as well as an important field for social governance. The innovation of science and technology is driving the rapid development of the Internet industry; the fusion and development of modern communication technology, computer technology, and network technology; changing the method of knowledge acquisition, inheritance, accumulation, and creation; and promoting the institutional mechanism innovation of national and social governance through technological routes, which can enhance the contact and cooperation between social governance subjects.

7.2 The Main Way to Enhance the Support Ability of Science and Technology (I)

Establish a New Concept of Relying on Science and Technology toward Governance and Elevate the Intelligentization of Social Governance.

The subjects of various social governance should actively adapt to the situation of information development, keep pace with the development of the times in terms of ideological point of view, keep the governance pace advancing with the times, insist on the application of high and new technology as the powerful kinetic energy of the social governance intelligence, and actively embrace the “smart society”. We should set up the “big science and technology concept”, construct the research and judgment model based on big data, and enhance the dynamics and precision of social services and prevention and control work. We should make full use of the great convenience brought by the development of big data and artificial intelligence to improve the performance of social governance. (II)

Promote the Building of Intelligent Management Platforms and Enhance the Ability of Social Governance and Services.

We should strengthen the integration of information resources, solve the phenomenon of information “fragmentation” and “information silos”, and realize the sharing and fusion of information resources among various departments, industries, and fields.

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We should fully integrate and utilize existing storage, computing, and other resources and explore and build a unified cloud computing platform. Based on population, legal persons, GIS, economic operations, and other databases, we should establish intelligent management data centers, build supporting industry data sharing, update and use mechanisms, establish information security management mechanisms, promote the smooth and safe flow of data, and ensure the accuracy and real-time of intelligent management platform information. (III)

Ability to Apply New and High Technology.

We should make full use of the new media technology and construct the network for public service platforms. During the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, the government launched the “Internet + Thinking”, with the help of government affairs cloud, quickened the pace of e-government building, improved the public service function of the website, created the matrix of official service microblog and WeChat, popularized the government affairs App extensively so that the government affairs service can break through the limitation of time and space, and provided the convenient, humanized, and all-round public service for the society; and made full use of the Internet to provide more and better products and services for the public, society, and enterprises, and created the image of a responsible government, service-oriented government, and efficient government. We should focus on the goal of building a strong network country, establishing the concept of a governing network according to law, improving the layout of work, perfecting the working mechanism, and improving the technological level of network security.

8 Enhances the Ability to Talent Building 8.1 Connotation of Ability to Talent Building Ability to talent building refers to the ability to strengthen the building of a social governance professional team, constantly expand the scale of a social governance professional team, and significantly improve the professionalism and specialization level of a social governance professional team. It is an important guarantee for strengthening and innovating social governance and promoting the modernization of social governance to build a professional team with a large scale, reasonable structure, and excellent quality. (I)

Ability to Team Talent Building.

Social governance professionals mainly refer to those who are distributed in the field of social governance, especially in the fields of social management and social work, as well as those who are engaged in front-line work such as community service, social welfare, and social assistance. They play an irreplaceably important role in the field of social governance.

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The main task of building social governance professionals is to increase the number of talent and improve the quality of talent so that they can adapt to the improvement of the social governance level and the promotion of the modernization of social governance. We should cultivate professionals in social governance in a planned and large-scale way from the overall situation and strategic height of the national development, especially high-end professionals in the fields of national security, network security, public security, social management, social work, and the rule of law, etc., and fully improve the ideological and political quality and fine work style of professionals in all aspects so as to form a large-scale and excellent quality professional team with excellent style of work. (II)

Professionalization Ability toward Talented Team.

The degree of professionalization of social work is an important indicator to measure the level of social governance in a country or region. The professionalization of social work requires that social governance practitioners have certain knowledge and skills of social work and be able to directly provide social services. The professionalization of social governance requires the professional team of social work to have good professional ideas, professional skills, and professional ethics to engage in social governance work and service. Therefore, to strengthen the building of various professional talents in social governance is to improve the professional level of social work talent teams. (III)

Specialized Ability to Talent Team.

Specialization refers to the professional ability and level of the social governance professional team. We should enhance the professional knowledge and ability of social administrators by means of strengthening school education, professional training, and other means. According to the actual needs of social governance posts, we should continue to deepen education and teaching reform, strengthen professional training, and improve the professional theoretical knowledge and practical working ability of social governance talent. In recent years, the building of social governance talent teams has been gradually strengthened, and some achievements have been made. However, it is still difficult to meet the requirements of strengthening and innovating social governance. They mainly include: First, the total number of specialized talents is small, and the structure is not reasonable. Compared with professional social workers in developed countries and regions, there is still a large gap in the total number of social governance professionals. At present, the number of on-the-job social workers in China is only approximately 1 million, and the number of graduates in social governance majors is only 10,000 each year, while only approximately 10% of these graduates are engaged in their major works. The contradiction between the supply and demand of social governance talent is very acute. From the perspective of personnel structure, in terms of gender, female is more than the male; age, the middle-aged occupies the majority; the professional title, the medium-grade professional title is the majority; and academic qualification, a junior college degree is the most.

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Second, the distribution of talented teams is unbalanced, and the loss is serious. There is a phenomenon of “three more and three less” in the distribution of social governance talent; that is, there are more fields directly held by the government and fewer fields of socially independent activities. There are more problem-solving fields and fewer normal maintenance fields; there are relatively more in cities and towns and relatively fewer in rural areas. The phenomenon of brain drain in the field of social governance is also very serious. Many graduates majoring in social governance and social work engaged in careers that were not in line with their major because they did not have suitable jobs. Third, there was a low degree of specialization of the talent team and a lack of practical experience. As a whole, current social governance workers have low academic qualifications, a low specialization degree of working ways and means, a lack of professionalism, difficulty providing individualized, diversified, and systematic professional services, and difficulty effectively dealing with complex and changeable social problems. Due to the lack of long-term and stable cooperative relationships between social work colleges and departments, the arrangement of practical activities of social work majors is not standardized, which leads to the lack of practical experience for graduates of social work majors.

8.2 The Main Way to Enhance the Ability of Talent Building (I)

Expanding the Social Governance Talent Team and Improving the Level of Professional Training.

We should start from the overall and long-term development needs of promoting the modernization of social governance, vigorously develop the post of social governance and improve the post setting of social governance. In accordance with the requirements of the National Middle and Long Term Talents Development Plan Outline (2010–2020), scientifically set the name, rank, grade, quantity, and proportion of social work posts, as well as the corresponding post requirements, tasks, and objectives, and establish the post system of social governance in China in the Party and government organs, people’s organizations, public institutions, and public welfare social organizations involved in the work of social governance. Through the corresponding post-development procedures and personnel system reform, we should reset a number of social buildings and social posts in various fields of social governance and equip them with corresponding specialized social workers. (II)

Increase Investment in the Building of Talent Teams for Social Governance and Improve the Incentive System for Talent Growth.

First, we should establish and improve the training, evaluation, use, and incentive mechanism of social governance talent and establish a unified and standardized policy system of laws and policies for the building of social governance talent teams to institutionalize and standardize the building of social governance talent teams.

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Second, we should improve the financial input policy and establish a diversified input and guarantee mechanism by increasing educational funds and setting up special funds at all levels. We should support private social governance and public service institutions by means of government purchasing services and encourage and support enterprises, institutions, and social organizations to cultivate professionals for social governance. Third, we should establish an effective incentive mechanism for the growth of social governance talent. We should formulate reasonable remuneration policies, standardize the remuneration standards of employees, improve the system of rewards and incentives, increase the salary income and welfare treatment of social administrators, and elevate the social status and professional prestige. (III)

Create a Good Policy Environment and Improve the Volunteerism of the Whole Society.

To build a socialized social governance talented team, we should create a good policy environment and social environment. First, we should clarify the role of the volunteer team, fully understand the important role of the volunteers in social governance, and regard it as a system and team form of social governance. We should clarify the partnership between the volunteer, the voluntary organization, and the government in the form of law and clarify the basic principles, the scope of activities, basic types, rights and obligations, relief, and compensation for volunteer participation in social governance. Second, we should provide strong support for the volunteer team. We should rationalize and integrate the management system of the departmental division and coordinate the overall use of various resources. We should set up special participation funds, rationally coordinate overall plans for funds such as financial funds, multiparty assistance, donations from enterprises and individuals, and grant funds to volunteers and their organizations at different levels. Third, we should cultivate volunteerism throughout society. We should add the curriculum and practice contents of volunteer participation in the basic education stage to cultivate the consciousness of citizens’ social participation and social responsibility. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4.

Briefly describe what social governance capabilities are. Briefly describe the main connotation of social governance ability. Briefly describe the main ways to improve the ability of social governance. Briefly describe the necessity and main tasks of strengthening the building of social governance professionals.

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References Guangqing X (2015) Promoting the building of China’s network social governance ability. Soc Govern 2 Liqun W (2018) Record of reform and opening up. China Yan Shi Press, Beijing Research Group of the China’s Association of Administration (2005) Strengthening the social management function of the government and improving the ability of social governance of the government. Chin Public Admin 3 Tao S (2015) Promoting the innovation of social governance system with the building of talent team. Party Govern Forum 9 Wei W (2015) Promoting the study on the modernization of social governance system and governance ability—an example of improving the effectiveness of consultation ability. Leadersh Sci 14 Yuanzhu D (2016) Exploration of modernization of social governance. National School of Administration Press, Beijing

Evolution Trend of Social Governance Liqun Wei

Overview This chapter mainly clarifies the trend of China’s economic and social development, the task of global governance, the trend of China’s social governance and its contribution to global governance. Based on this chapter, readers are expected to understand the general trend of China’s development and the world’s development. Meanwhile, readers will have an improved understanding of the significance of building a community of shared future for mankind.

1 Development Trend of Socialist Modernization in China 1.1 Strategic Arrangements for the Construction of Socialist Modernization in China The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, held in October 2017, has made strategic arrangements for securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and opening a new course for building a socialist modernization country in an all-round way. It is the decisive period to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects from now to 2020. Between the 19th and 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is when the timeframes of the two centenary goals converge. We should not only build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieve the first of Two Centenary Goals but also start the new journey of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way and march towards the second of Two Centenary Goals. L. Wei (B) Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3_12

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In this stage, we must keep abreast of the changes in the principal contradictions of our society, make efforts to promote economic, political, cultural, social and ecological civilization construction, focus on priorities, address inadequacies, and shore up points of weakness. We must take tough steps to forestall and defuse major risks, carry out targeted poverty alleviation, and prevent and control pollution so that the moderately prosperous society we build earns the people’s approval and stands the test of time. Weak points, in particular, we must resolutely guard against and defuse major risks, fight against poverty and pollution, and make the building of a moderately well-off society in an all-round way acceptable to the people, and stand the test of history. From 2020–2035, we will build on the foundation created by the moderately prosperous society with a further 15 years of hard work to see that socialist modernization is basically realized. The vision is that by the end of this stage, the following goals will have been met: • China’s economic and technological strength has increased significantly. China has become a global leader in innovation. • The rights of the people to participate and to develop as equals are adequately protected. The rule of law for the country, the government, and society is basically in place. Institutions in all fields are further improved; the modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance is basically achieved. • Social etiquette and civility are significantly enhanced. China’s cultural soft power has grown much stronger; Chinese culture has greater appeal. • People are leading more comfortable lives, and the size of the middle-income group has grown considerably. Disparities in urban–rural development, in development between regions, and in living standards are significantly reduced; equitable access to basic public services is basically ensured; and solid progress has been made toward prosperity for everyone. • A modern social governance system has basically taken shape, and society is full of vitality, harmonious, and orderly. • There is a fundamental improvement in the environment; the goal of 25 buildings in Beautiful China is basically attained. In the second stage from 2035 to the middle of the 21st century, we will, building on having basically achieved modernization, work hard for an additional 15 years and develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful. By the end of this stage, the following goals will have been met: • New heights are reached in every dimension of material, political, cultural and ethical, social, and ecological advancement. • Modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance is achieved. • China has become a global leader in terms of composite national strength and international influence. • Common prosperity for everyone is basically achieved.

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• The Chinese people enjoy happier, safer, and healthier lives. The Chinese nation will become a proud and active member of the community of nations. The above strategic arrangements for achieving socialist modernization are the grand blueprint for the development of China, and the stage, task, goal, and path of development are clearly visible. These are the overall trends of realizing socialist modernization in China. This is the ambition of Chinese Communists and all Chinese people and the only path to realizing national rejuvenation.

1.2 Implementing the New Concept of Development and Building a Modernized Economic System To deliver on the two centenary goals and realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, we must continue to pursue development as the Party’s top priority in governance; we must unleash and develop productive forces, continue reforms to develop the socialist market economy, and promote sustained and sound economic growth. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, China has achieved great success in economic development, the economy has maintained a medium–high growth rate, the economic structure has seen a major transformation, the service industry has become the main driving force of economic growth, the high-tech manufacturing industry has flourished, and agricultural modernization has advanced steadily. Innovationdriven development results are abundant, and great achievements have been made in manned spaceflight, deep-sea exploration, quantum communications, and other major scientific and technological fields, and the digital economy leads the trend in the world. The new institutions of open economy have been gradually improved. The pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative has achieved remarkable results. The scale of foreign trade and utilization of foreign capital lead the world. At present, China has entered a new normal in economic development. In general, the economy has transitioned from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development. Developing a modernized economy is a strategic task for China’s development, and we need to focus on the following five aspects. (I)

Furthering the supply-side structural reform

In developing a modernized economy, we must focus economic development on the real economy and prioritize improving the quality of the supply system. Furthering supply-side structural reform is the only path to a modernized economy. Currently, China’s manufacturing industry is still in the middle and low end of the international division of labor, and the problem of being large but not strong is prominent. We must work faster to build China into a manufacturer of quality, develop advanced manufacturing, promote the upgrading of manufacturing quality, and promote further integration of the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence with the real economy.

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We will move Chinese industries up to the medium–high end of the global value chain and foster a number of world-class advanced manufacturing clusters. (II)

Implementing the innovation-driven development strategy

Innovation is the primary driving force behind development and the strategic underpinning for building a modernized economy. The foundation of revitalizing the real economy is innovation-driven development. This requires the firm implementation of the concept of innovation-driven development, the strategy for invigorating China through science and education, the strategy for developing a quality workforce, and the innovation-driven development strategy. China will enter the ranks of innovative countries by 2020, be a leader in innovative countries by 2035, and become a world powerhouse of science and technology by the time we celebrate the centenary of the People’s Republic of China. (III)

Pursuing a rural revitalization strategy

We must prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas. To build rural areas with thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, social etiquette and civility, effective governance, and prosperity, we need to put sound systems, mechanisms, and policies in place to promote integrated urban–rural development and speed up the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. At the same time, we should implement a coordinated regional development strategy. We should create networks of cities and towns based on city clusters, enabling the coordinated development of cities of different sizes and small towns, and speed up work on granting permanent urban residency to people who move from rural to urban areas. (IV)

Accelerating efforts to improve the socialist market economy

We should focus on improving the property rights system and ensuring the marketbased allocation of factors of production so that property rights act as effective incentives. We should ensure free flows of factors, flexible prices, fair and orderly competition and that business survival is determined by competition. We should develop new methods to improve macroregulation. (V)

Building a system of opening up on all fronts

A modernized economy is inseparable from the underpinning of opening up on all fronts. Opening wider to the outside world with more emphasis given to advancing high-level and two-way opening-up. We should energetically participate in global economic governance and public goods supply and enhance China’s say over international regimes in global governance. The new task of realizing the above goal of economic development will definitely put forward new requirements for strengthening and developing new approaches to social governance. The essence of the new development concept is to commit to the people-centered approach and let the gains of development benefit all people through economic development. We must ensure that development is for the people and relies on the people and that its fruits are shared among the people. In the process of supply-side structural reform, protecting workers’ rights and interests and facilitating

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and realizing higher-quality and full employment are important contents of social governance. In the implementation of an innovation-driven development strategy, combining employment with starting businesses is also an important measure for developing new forms of social governance. The process of promoting economic development is also the process of further eliminating the gap between the rich and the poor. On the basis of economic development, we should pay more attention to social fairness, increase income for people with low incomes, expand the size of the middle-income group, and effectively adjust excessive incomes.

1.3 Further Developing Democracy and the Rule of Law and Developing Socialist Democracy According to the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), “the path of socialist political advancement with Chinese characteristics is the logical outcome of the evolution of history, theory, and practice as the Chinese people have long engaged in struggles since the advent of modern times. It is a requisite for maintaining the very nature of the Party and fulfilling its fundamental purpose”. Democracy will keep developing along with the progress of socialism On the road forward, we must unswervingly follow the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics, strengthen the construction of democracy and the rule of law, actively develop socialist democracy, and continue to promote socialist democracy construction, which have a very important guiding significance for improving the modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance, achieving the two centenary goals, and realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. Party leadership is the fundamental guarantee for ensuring that the people run the country and governance in China is law-based; that the people run the country is an essential feature of socialist democracy; and law-based governance is the basic way for the Party to lead the people in governing the country. Xi Jinping pointed out that “the key to upholding the path of socialist political development with Chinese characteristics is to keep to the path of political development under socialism with Chinese characteristics, and integrate the leadership of the Party, the position of the people as masters of the country, and the rule of law. On the basis of ensuring the people’s position as masters of the country, we will expand socialist democracy and develop socialist political civilization to enhance the vitality of the Party and the state and arouse the initiative of the people”.1 In the process of social governance innovation, we must strengthen institutional guarantees to ensure that the people run the country, establish a system of consultation and governance, expand people’s orderly political participation, expand more space 1

Xi Jinping, Speech at a conference commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the promulgation of the Announcement of the Current Constitution in all sectors of the Capital, pp. 7, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2012.

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for social participation, and stimulate social vitality. The process of the modernization of state governance is the process of strengthening the role of the rule of law. We must advance law-based governance and raise the level of the rule of law. Strengthening the construction of democratic politics is not only an important way to create a united and harmonious political situation and a stable and orderly social situation but also an important institutional guarantee to promote the modernization of social governance.

1.4 Strengthening Cultural Self-Confidence and Building a Socialist Cultural Power Strengthening confidence in the path, theory and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics fundamentally strengthens cultural confidence. Without the inheritance and development of civilization, without the promotion and prosperity of culture, there would be no realization of the Chinese dream. “Without full confidence in our culture, the Chinese nation will not be able to rejuvenate itself”, as stated in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Cultural confidence is vital to China’s socialist modernization and the progress of our nation, and it has the function of moral and ideological foundation. Therefore, we must carry forward advanced socialist culture, promote the vigorous development and prosperity of socialist culture, constantly enrich people’s spiritual world, and build socialist cultural power. Over the years, great progress has been made in the construction of socialist culture in China. Core socialist values and China’s excellent traditional culture have been widely promoted. The level of public cultural services has been constantly improved, and cultural programs and cultural industries have flourished. The country’s cultural soft power and influences are evidently enhanced. In the process of socialist modernization, developing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics means developing a socialist culture for our nation—a culture that is national, scientific, and peopleoriented, that embraces modernization, the world, and the future. In developing this culture, we must follow the guidance of Marxism, base our efforts on Chinese culture, and take into account the realities of contemporary China and the conditions of the present era. The construction of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics includes six aspects. One great banner: on the path ahead, we must unswervingly hold high the great banner of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development and the socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhere to and expand the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and uphold and enrich the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and adhere to and improve the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. One leading value: we must adhere to and strengthen the construction of a core socialist value system, which is the soul of cultural soft power and the focus of cultural soft power construction. One

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cultural foundation: China’s excellent traditional culture is the “root” and “soul” of the Chinese nation. To cultivate and carry forward the core socialist values based firmly on China’s excellent traditional culture. One strategic task: we must strengthen socialist ideological construction and firmly grasp the leading position and say in ideological work. Ideological work is an extremely important task of the Party.”➀ One development path: we must continue to persevere in the construction of socialist spiritual civilization and adhere to the path of developing socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. One abiding goal: We must speed up the building of socialist cultural power with greater efforts and more concrete measures and add new lusters to Chinese culture. “To better demonstrate the influence of the Chinese civilization, and its power to unite and ability to inspire.”2

1.5 Continuing to Improve People’s Livelihood and Strengthening and Developing New Forms of Social Governance EEEnsuring and improving people’s livelihood through development is a top priority in securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and embarking on a journey to fully build a modern socialist China. To ensure and improve people’s livelihood, we must address the specific problems of the utmost and immediate concern to the people. People’s livelihood in the fields of education, employment, income distribution, social security and medical and health care should be carried out as a whole, and social governance should be strengthened and innovated to ensure people’s well-being, maintain social harmony and stability, and realize the long-term stability of the country. Of all the work on people’s livelihood, poverty alleviation is the most important. Only by actively promoting the solution of the basic problems of people’s livelihood can we consolidate the foundation of social harmony and stability and prevent and reduce the emergence of social contradictions from the source. According to the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), we must improve the level of ensuring and improving people’s livelihood, strengthening and developing new approaches to social governance, establishing a social governance model based on collaboration, participation, and common interests, continuously strengthening public participation and the rule of law in social governance, and making such governance smarter and more specialized. For the current and future period of development, it is crucial to pay attention to the following aspects. (I) 2

Strengthening the construction of the social governance system

Xi Jinping, Speech at the First Plenary Session of the 13th National People’s Congress, pp. 9, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2018.

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The most fundamental thing is to improve the law-based social governance model under which Party committees exercise leadership, government assumes responsibility, non-governmental actors provide assistance, and the public get involved. We must strengthen Party leadership in an all-round way, give full play to the strength of the socialist political system with Chinese characteristics, constantly innovate and integrate the Party leadership with the modern social governance system, integrate the Party leadership with the government’s governance arrangements, and make the Party leadership a truly distinct feature and fundamental guarantee of the socialist social governance system with Chinese characteristics in the new era by improving the relevant system. At the same time, we must guide and promote the participation of social forces in social governance and strive to form a good situation in which everyone participates in social governance and everyone is conscientious. We must further innovate the ideas of social governance and encourage and guide enterprises and public institutions, social organizations and the people to take an active part in social governance. We must also strengthen the rule of law and give full play to the role of the rule of law in guiding, regulating and guaranteeing social governance. (II)

Improving mechanisms for preventing and defusing social tensions

In the course of China’s reform and development, there are still many disharmonious factors in the future. All kinds of social contradictions and problems are intertwined and superimposed. Under such circumstances, we should improve the early-warning mechanism for investigating social contradictions and strive for early detection, early prevention, and early disposal. In particular, we should use big data technology and information technology to establish an early warning index system for the investigation of social contradictions, collect and integrate contradiction information in various fields, use data analysis models, explore major and difficult problems and hidden dangers of contradictions, and improve the ability of early warning for the discovery of various social contradictions We must form a set of integrated work system of information sharing, department linkage, comprehensive research and judgment, follow-up and supervision, and emergency disposal, and timely eliminate, warn, resolute, and dispose all kinds of contradictions and risks. We should also improve the social stability risk assessment mechanism for major decision-making to prevent and reduce conflicts at the source. (III)

Improving mechanisms for preventing and defusing social tensions

With the development of the economy and society and the improvement of people’s living standards, people put forward higher requirements for public security. In a sense, public security is the most significant livelihood of the people. This requires setting up the concept of safety development, carrying forward the idea of life matters most and that safety comes first, reforming and perfecting the system mechanism of safety production management, disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, and resolutely curbing serious and major safety accidents. It also requires improving the public security system, strengthening early warning and prevention, establishing a risk prevention and control system for production safety accidents, resolutely curbing serious and major safety accidents, increasing input and continuously improving

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our capacity for disaster prevention and reduction. Efforts should be made to solve the outstanding environmental problems and establish an environmental governance system that is government-led, enterprise-oriented, social organization, and public participation. We must improve our national security system and create a strong synergy of the whole society to safeguard national security. (IV)

Strengthening the construction of the system of prevention and control of public security

In the process of speeding up industrialization, urbanization, IT application, internationalization, and marketization, a new situation and new characteristics have appeared in the social security situation of our country. We must further promote the building of a safe China, rigorously protect against and take resolute measures to combat violent and terrorist activities, carry out special campaigns to eliminate crimes in accordance with the law, and punish illegal and criminal activities such as stealing, robbing, fraud, pornography, gambling and drug abuse. We must crack down on telecommunications internet fraud, infringing on citizen’s personal information, internet pyramid selling, and other outstanding problems, and earnestly protect the people’s personal rights, property rights, personality rights, and safeguard national security and public security. (V)

Strengthening the construction of a social psychological service system

It is an important task to strengthen and innovate social governance and an important aspect of building a harmonious society to strengthen social psychological service and cultivate self-esteem, self-confidence, rationality, composure, and optimism among our people. In view of all kinds of emotional, psychological and mental diseases that easily occur in modern society, we must attach great importance to psychological guidance and psychological intervention, carry out psychological knowledge training, guide mental health, adjust social emotion, integrate social mentality, construct a social-psychological defense line, and effectively maintain social stability. At the same time, we should find the breakthrough point to solve the current social-psychological problems in our country, build a socialpsychological comprehensive treatment work platform by relying on professional groups and professionals to construct and improve the social psychological service, guidance, and crisis intervention mechanism, and constantly improve the pertinence and effectiveness of the social-psychological service. (VI)

Strengthening the construction of a community governance system

We should strengthen the basic work in urban and rural areas and shift the focus of social governance to the community level. In particular, we should focus on the promotion of the Party’s organizational strength, highlight its political functions, and let the construction of primary-level Party organizations such as enterprises, rural areas, government organs, schools, street communities and social organizations play a key role in communicating the Party’s propositions, carrying out the Party’s decisions, overseeing community-level social governance, uniting and mobilizing the people, and promoting reform and development. We should give full play to the

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dynamic role of social organizations, constantly improve the community governance system in urban and rural areas, and improve the primary-level governance system combining self-governance, rule of law and rule of virtue. We will vigorously promote the construction of integrity and the institutionalization of voluntary services. Efforts shall be made to achieve sound interaction among government governance, social regulation, and resident’s autonomy. We should expand grid management and put resources, services and management at the primary-level level as much as possible so that primary-level units can better provide accurate and effective service and management to the masses and strengthen the cornerstone of social governance. (VII)

Strengthening and improving the overall Party leadership

We should exercise full and rigorous governance over the Party, continuously improve the leadership level and ruling ability of the Marxist party, and provide a fundamental guarantee for building a new era of social governance featuring joint efforts, co-governance, and benefits sharing. We should strengthen the Party’s political leadership and ensure that social governance moves in the right direction. We should strengthen the Party’s ideological leadership, cultivate and implement the socialism core values, form the consensus of the whole society, and consolidate the ideological foundation of social governance. We should strengthen the Party’s organizational leadership and give full play to its core role as the Party’s central leadership and coordinator of the overall situation. We should strengthen the Party’s team construction and raise the level of the work for the masses. We should carry out the fight against corruption and persevere in upholding discipline to create a favorable political and social environment for strengthening and innovating social governance. According to the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, “we should strengthen every dimension of our ability for governance, and be both politically strong and highly competent.” Under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, we will continue to make new achievements in strengthening and innovating social governance, and the new pattern of social governance with joint effort, co-governance, and benefits sharing will continuously improve and play a greater role.

1.6 Promoting Ecological Civilization and Building a Beautiful China The construction of ecological civilization is the great plan that concerns the wellbeing of the people and the future of the nation and is the important content of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stressed that the socialist modernization we pursue is one characterized by harmonious coexistence between man and nature We should not only create more material and cultural wealth to meet the people’s growing needs for a better life, but also provide more

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high-quality ecological products to meet the people’s growing needs for a beautiful environment. “Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.”3 We must understand the significance of the construction of ecological civilization and correctly handle the relationship between economic development and ecological environmental protection. We must unswervingly follow the path of civilized development featuring growth in production, prosperity in living standards, and a sound ecological environment, accelerate the construction of a resource-conserving and environmentally friendly society and push forward the construction of a beautiful China. To promote ecological civilization and build a beautiful China, we must implement the new concept of development and promote the formation of a green development mode, production mode, and way of life; we must carry out the construction of environmental protection following the ideas of system engineering, in all directions, in all areas, and throughout the whole process; we must focus on environmental protection and governance in order to solve outstanding environmental problems that harm the health of the masses; and we must improve the ecological civilization system and protect the ecological environment with the strictest system and the strictest rule of law; we must strengthen the awareness of the citizen’s environment protection and turn the building of a beautiful China into a conscious action of the people; we must actively participate in international cooperation and “build a beautiful home of the earth with sound ecological and environmental conditions together.”4 In the construction of socialist modernization, promoting the construction of ecological civilization and building a beautiful China have put forward new tasks and requirements for strengthening and innovating social governance, as well as new opportunities and new paths for advancing the modernization of social governance.

2 Evolution Trend of Global Governance The world today is a world of dramatic change. With the expansion and deepening of China’s opening-up to the outside world, China’s status and importance in the world’s economic, social, and cultural fields have increased. China has developed a new and greater interdependence with the rest of the world. “To build a world of what kind and how to build it” is a critical subject concerning the future and destiny of mankind and one that must be carefully studied and faced in the process of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

3 4

Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, vol. 2, pp. 393, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 2017. Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, vol. 1, pp. 212, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 2018.

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2.1 Development Trend of Human Society

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Political multi-polarization

After World War II, the bipolar pattern with the United States and the Soviet Union as the center replaced the traditional European-centered international political pattern, and the two sides launched the “Cold War” in the world. By the end of the 1970s, the pattern of the world showed a trend from bipolar patterns to multipolarization. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the international community has undergone sustained and sophisticated changes. The power of developed countries that have traditionally dominated is declining, and the emerging and developing countries represented by China are playing an increasingly important role. At the same time, the world situation is still far from tranquil. Geopolitical pressures and differences are growing, and the international community and political order are evolving at an accelerated pace. The world security situation is, on the whole, becoming increasingly complex. Generally, the world multipolarization trend is inevitable. However, the competition for the dominant role in shaping global governance and international rules is quite fierce, and the formation of a more just and reasonable international political and economic order is still a long way off. (II)

Economic globalization

At present, the global economic situation is complicated. Globally, the first major trend is the rise of emerging economies. Emerging and developing economies as a whole have grown rapidly in recent decades. The five emerging—China, Russia, South Africa, India, and Brazil—are known as the “BRICS.” In 1980, emerging markets and developing countries accounted for only a quarter of global GDP, and in 2016, their economies rose to 40% of the global GDP. China’s economy is becoming increasingly important in world economic growth. The second major trend is the deepening of global economic integration and interconnectivity. With the progress of science and technology and the development of socially productive forces, economic globalization is developing continuously, and production factors such as trade, investment, currency, information and technology are transferred and allocated in the global scope and under the function of market mechanisms. Relatively speaking, growth in emerging market economies has accelerated, and balance-of-payments conditions have improved. Technological progress and innovation have brought about the reconfiguration of the global industrial value chain, and most of the emerging market countries have experienced industrial structural adjustment. In recent years, due to the practice of trade protectionism in the United States and other countries, the “anti-globalization” trend has visibly risen, and economic globalization is facing significant uncertainty and challenges. However, economic globalization is the objective requirement of the development of socially productive forces and the inevitable result of scientific and technological progress. It is the trend of historical

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development and cannot be stopped by any country. At the same time, economic globalization is a “double-edged sword”. Especially in recent decades, economic globalization has aggravated the contradiction of world economic development, economic globalization transformation is imperative, and the trend of economic globalization must be well guided. (III)

Social informatization

Since the 1990s, technological change represented by digital technology has developed rapidly, and human society has entered the information age. Led by information technology, biotechnology, new material technology, new energy technology, and other technologies have been widely penetrated and crossintegrated worldwide, driving group technological breakthroughs characterized by green and intelligence and bringing major disruptive innovations from time to time. Xi Jinping pointed out: “there are several trends in the development of science and technology in the world. First, the development of a new generation of information technology, such as mobile Internet, intelligent terminals, big data, cloud computing, and high-end chips, will drive many industrial changes and innovations. Second, technological innovation around new energy, climate change, space, and ocean development will become more intensive. Third, new industries such as the green economy and low-carbon technology will flourish. Fourth, life science and biotechnology will lead to the formation of a large number of health, modern agriculture, bioenergy, biomanufacturing, environmental protection, and other industries.”5 This reflects China’s profound insight and forward-looking grasp of the new round of industrial changes caused by the development of scientific and technological innovation in the world. Big data driven by information technology has become a new driving force for economic and social development, a new opportunity to reshape the country’s competitive advantage, and a new way to enhance the country’s governance capacity. Therefore, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward that we should improve the level of socialization, legalization, intelligentization, and specialization of social governance. Utilizing the latest scientific and technological achievements to improve the efficiency of modern social governance has profoundly changed the modern social form and governance pattern. At present, new technology and new industries emerge one after another, and social contradictions and social problems are becoming more professional, complex, and relevant. The development of technology has also created new social problems. For example, there is still a huge digital divide between and within countries, and there are significant gaps in the access to and use of information and communication technologies among different groups of people, families, sectors, and regions, depending on socioeconomic levels. With the advent of a highly disruptive phase of technological change, risks in the areas of decision-making, security, and regulation have 5

CCCPC Party Literature Research Office: Excerpt from Xi Jinping’s Dissertation on Scientific and Technological Innovation, pp. 75, Beijing, Central Party Literature Press, 2016.

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become increasingly serious. They have become social governance challenges facing countries and the international community. (IV)

Cultural diversity

In today’s world, people of different nationalities and different historical and cultural backgrounds have jointly created a splendid and colorful human civilization. Since the 21st century, with the development of political multipolarization and economic globalization, the trend of world cultural diversification has become increasingly prominent. It is in the common interest of people all over the world to safeguard and promote the cultural diversity of the world. It is also the common aspiration of most countries and regions. In September 2014, Xi Jinping proposed the four principles of respecting civilization and cultural diversity. First, the diversity of world civilization shall be safeguarded. We should safeguard the diversity of civilizations of all nations, strengthen mutual exchanges, learn from each other, and not separate, repel, and replace each other so that the garden of world civilization can flourish. Second, the civilizations of all nations shall be respected. Every country and every nation, whether strong or weak, large or small, should be recognized and respected in its ideology and culture. Third, civilization shall be correctly learned. For all kinds of civilization created by human society, we should actively absorb its beneficial elements and promote the excellent cultural spirit that transcends time, space, and countries, which is full of eternal charm and contemporary value. Fourth, cultural traditions shall be scientifically treated. We should make the past serve the present, learn from the past, and be good at integrating and closely combining the promotion of excellent traditional culture with the development of contemporary culture, “to strive for the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture.”6 China has played a constructive role as a cultural power in UNESCO. The only way to make the world more beautiful and the people of all countries live a better life is by promoting the exchange and integration of civilizations and learning from each other. At the same time, the cultural and ideological exchange of various civilizations in the world is complex and changeable, and it is necessary to strengthen the soft power of national culture and the world influence of Chinese culture.

2.2 Challenges to Global Governance Today’s world is undergoing a variety of sophisticated changes, and global governance is facing a series of new challenges, which proposes a series of new significant issues. 6

Xi Jinping, Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the International Academic Symposium to Commemorate the 2565th Anniversary of Confucius’ Birthday and the Opening Ceremony of the Fifth General Assembly of the International Confucian Union, pp. 11, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2014.

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Problems facing the global governance system

In the global governance system formed after World War II, there was a clear line between domestic affairs and international affairs. In the internal governance of a sovereign state, the government occupies a dominant position, and few nongovernmental subjects are directly involved in the governance of state and international affairs. In international relations, the traditional governance system has two remarkable characteristics. First is the model of state-centered governance. Sovereign states are the subject of basic governance and rely mainly on consultation, negotiation, and cooperation among states on issues involving common interests. The governance model centers on the coordination of large countries and the participation of small and medium-sized countries. Second is governance presenting a “central-peripheral” structure. Developed countries are at the “center” of governance, while developing countries are at the “periphery.” Developed countries defend their interests by dominating the formulation and interpretation of international rules. With the deepened development of globalization, new and profound changes have taken place in the world pattern, and the traditional system of global governance has met structural challenges. First, the global market system established by capital flows has broken the concept of a nation-state. New information and communication technologies have greatly increased the speed and scope of information transmission. There is no place or no one unaffected by globalization in the world. All aspects of human life, including society, economy, politics, and culture, are already in the global network system. The national system has also been redefined by the social organizations and civilian forces that have emerged in the context of globalization.7 Second, the global socioeconomic environment has become more integrated, diverse, dynamic and complex, with population growth, food shortages, pollution, energy crises, transnational crime, terrorism, and the spread of serious infectious diseases such as AIDS. In particular, the environmental crisis represented by global warming has become a global problem. In addition, globalization has brought about new changes and characteristics in some traditional social problems, such as the problem of social equity. Economic globalization led by free markets and capital has reduced the role of government regulation, which has not only caused the increase in domestic inequality caused by the decrease in welfare in developed countries but also deepened the inequality among countries. Finally, traditional international regulations and international organizations are facing new changes. Globalization is not limited to economic globalization. Identity, security, society, and culture have all become important dimensions of globalization, which has led to relatively closed international regulations and international organizations in the past being more open. The participation of multinational and multiinternational organizations in global development in a variety of ways will become the global mainstream governance model. 7

Manuel Castells, “The New Public Sphere: Global Civil Society, Communication Networks, and Global Governance,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2008, 616(1), pp. 78–93.

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Changes facing the global governance main body

In the face of the emergence of many problems in the globalization process, the main body of global governance has also undergone important changes. Clear trends are showing shifts from single-government governance to social governance and from the dominance of developed countries to the participation of more developing countries. First, the trend shows that transnational and cosmopolitan organizations begin to play an important role in global governance. World organizations can be divided into two types: first, international organizations among governments, such as the European Union, the African Union, and global central organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; Manuel Castells, “The New Public Sphere: Global Civil Society, Communication Networks, and Global Governance,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2008, 616(1), pp. 78–93. Second is transnational non-governmental organizations. After World War II, many countries established various forms of social organizations, such as community organizations, organizations of interest representatives, and labor organizations. These social organizations have played an essential role in the social governance of different countries for a long time. Since the 21st century, while the influence of traditional social organizations has declined in national political and social policies and among the population, the number and role of transnational nongovernmental organizations have increased significantly. They have tried to play a role in specific social issues, such as child security, gender equality, and sustainable development, through transnational forces. The responsibility and role of the world organization in managing risks and changes in the international system have entered a new stage. The development of economic globalization has promoted the role of nongovernmental organizations in global governance, including multinational corporations, and the development of political globalization has enabled the social sectors outside the governments of many countries to participate in global governance. Nongovernmental participators have become increasingly important subjects of global governance.8 These emerging nongovernmental participators include international intergovernmental organizations, transnational corporations, and even international nongovernmental organizations, transnational initiative networks, and transnational social action. Before the 1990s, the involvement of nongovernmental organizations in global governance was often seen as a complement to traditional global governance mechanisms. Now, nongovernmental participants are beginning to play independent roles in global governance. For example, in promoting the open sharing of scientific knowledge, the community of scientists around the world has established collaborative networks to promote the sharing and dissemination of knowledge. More importantly, non-governmental participants have taken the lead and even the dominant role in some international affairs. In the field of Internet development, Internet name and digital address distribution institutions have developed standard rules for 8

Lu Jing. The Institutional Dilemma and Reform of Current Global Governance, in Foreign Affairs Review, 2014(1).

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Internet domain names around the world. Although the actions of nongovernmental participants in international affairs are usually not coercive and binding, these new governance mechanisms based on voluntary actions pose a challenge to traditional international governance mechanisms.9 Third, an increasing number of developing countries are participating in global governance. With the rise of emerging countries, the traditional governance pattern led by Europe and America has changed. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the mass rise of emerging countries has led to the “eastward shift” of the global economic gravity center. In particular, there is a large increase in the proportion of emerging economies represented by “BRICS”, such as China, which is playing an increasingly important role in global governance and posing new challenges to the old world pattern. This has become one of the trends of global governance. The G-20, which has included more developing countries, has broken through the old pattern of Western G7 monopolizing global economic affairs, instead allowing developing and developed countries to discuss major issues of the global economy together. As a global governance system, global governance is diversified, reflecting the interests of different regions and countries and continually adjusting and changing with the change of international power contrast. At present, changes in the world financial system, trade system, and environmental system are the concentrated embodiment of global governance. With the strengthening of national power and the rise of its international status, China is playing an increasingly vital role in global governance.

2.3 The Inevitable Choice of Global Governance: Building a Community of a Shared Future for Mankind It is an essential and often new subject to understand the general trend of world development and keep up with the trend of the times. If China wants to develop, it must conform to the trend of world development. Based on the scientific judgment of the present situation and trend of the development of the contemporary world and the creative conception of the relationship between China and the future destiny of the world, Xi Jinping put forward and systematically expounded the great idea of building a community of a shared future for mankind. In a speech at the Moscow Institute of International Relations in March 2013, Xi Jinping said that the world, with its unprecedented degree of interconnectedness and interdependence, is the same earth village in which people live together, and people live in the same space and time where history and reality meet and gradually become

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Zhao Chen. The Unreversed Theory of Global Governance: The Relationship between Globalization and the Regionality of Global Governance, in Chinese Journal of European Studies, 2014(5).

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a community of a shared future. For the first time, China conveyed to the world its critical thoughts on the direction of human civilization. On September 28, 2015, Xi Jinping attended the general debate of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly and delivered an important speech, which comprehensively discussed the main connotations and general ideas of building a community of a shared future for mankind: establishing a partnership of equality, mutual consultation, and mutual understanding, building a security pattern featuring justice, fairness, joint contribution, and shared benefits, seeking open, innovative, inclusive, and mutually beneficial prospects for development, promoting inter-civilization exchanges to promote harmony, inclusiveness, and respect for difference, and constructing an ecosystem that puts mother nature and green development first. On October 12, 2015, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a group study on global governance to clarify the overall thinking of global governance. In an important speech, Xi Jinping stressed that the global governance system is at a historical turning point, pointing out that the fundamental purpose of our participation in global governance is to submit to serve the two centenary goals and the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We should look at the situation, try to seize opportunities, properly respond to challenges, make overall plans for both domestic and international interests, promote the development of the global governance system in a more just and rational direction, and create more favorable conditions for China’s development and world peace. This shows that with the international power contrast and the profound change of the world pattern, the existing global governance system cannot fully adapt to this change, and the reform of the global governance system must be put on the agenda. Changing China is becoming the builder of inclusive world order and taking responsibility and providing solutions for promoting a new global governance system. In celebrating the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China on July 1, 2016, Xi Jinping solemnly stated that China will actively participate in the construction of a global governance system, strive to contribute its wisdom to the improvement of global governance and work with the people of other countries to promote a more just and rational development of the international order and the global governance system. In the keynote speech at the opening of the G20 summit in September 2016, Xi Jinping called for a sense of a community of a shared future for mankind and a global partnership to meet the challenges. “In today’s economic globalization, there is no isolated island,” Xi said, “as the inhabitants of the global village, we need to establish a sense of building a community of a shared future for mankind.”10 The spirit of partnership is the most precious asset of the G20 and a choice for countries to jointly address global challenges. Xi Jinping proposed “four with” and “four key points”, which are the first comprehensive interpretations of the concept of global economic governance. The “four with” include: “with the basis of equality”, the representation and voice of emerging market countries and developing countries shall be increased, 10

The Events of “A community with a shared future for mankind”, in People’s Daily Overseas Edition, 2017–07-09.

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the equality of rights, opportunities and rules in international economic cooperation shall be ensured; “with the orientation of openness”, no exclusionary arrangements shall be done, the closure of governance mechanisms and fragmentation of rules shall be prevented; “with the driving of cooperation”, countries should strengthen communication and coordination, discuss cooperation rules, build co-construction mechanism, and jointly meet the challenges; “with the goal of sharing”, a monopoly or winner-takes-all approach shall not be set up and the goal of win–win shall be achieved. “Four key points” include building a fair and efficient global financial governance pattern, an open and transparent global trade and investment governance pattern, an green and low-carbon global energy governance pattern, and an inclusive and coordinated global development governance pattern. The G20 summit has ushered in a new era of global economic governance “led by China and co-governed by the great powers”. On September 27, 2016, the political bureau of the CPC Central Committee conducted another group study on global governance, clarifying the basic principles of global governance. First, China should take an active part in global governance and take the initiative to assume international responsibilities, but it should also “do the best as one can”. Second, it is the responsibility of the international community to promote the reform of the global governance system. We should adhere to the principle of “extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits” to transform the views on the reform of the global governance system into a consensus among all parties. The principle of “extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits” is the core of the concept of global governance and constitutes the system chain to promote the modernization of the global governance system and governance capability. Extensive consultation is brainstorming with all the participating governance parties in the world; the joint contribution is to give play to their respective advantages and potential and continue to promote construction; shared benefits is to make the results of the global governance system and pattern more and more equitable to benefit all the participants in the world. On September 11, 2017, the 71st General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution to incorporate for the first time the concept of global economic governance of “extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits.” On January 18, 2017, at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Xi Jinping attended a high-level meeting on “Extensive Consultation and Building of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind” at the Palais des Nations, delivered a keynote speech entitled “Jointly Building a Community of a Shared Future for Mankind”, and expounded the Chinese plan for jointly building a community of a shared future for mankind, which answered the three basic questions of “why China should promote the building of a community of a shared future for mankind”, “what kind of community of a shared future for mankind should be built” and “how to build a community of a shared future for mankind.“ Xi Jinping pointed out that the key to building a community of a shared future for mankind lies in action. We must adhere to dialogue and consultation to build a world of lasting peace; we must build a world of common security through joint contribution and shared benefits; we must build a world of

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common prosperity through win–win cooperation; we must build an open and inclusive world through exchanges and mutual understanding; we must build a clean and beautiful world through green and low carbon. This is the sublimation of the idea of global governance. In February 2017, the United Nations Commission for Social Development, at its 55th session, adopted by consensus the Resolution on the “Social Dimension of a New Partnership for African Development”, which was first incorporated into the concept of “building a community with a shared future for mankind”. In October 2017, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China took “promoting the building of a community of a shared future for mankind” as one of the “fourteen basic strategies” for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and elaborated the rich connotation and time value of the idea of a community of a shared future for mankind. The report emphasizes that people of all countries shall work together to build a community of a shared future for mankind and build a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, and a clean and beautiful world. The basic path and direction of building a community of a shared future for mankind is the “five-should” put forward in the report of the 19th National Congress; that is, we should respect each other, negotiate on an equal footing, resolutely abandon the Cold War mentality and power politics, and take a new road of country-to-country relations featuring dialogue instead of confrontation and partnership instead of alliance. We should continue to resolve disputes through dialogue, resolve differences through consultation, address traditional and nontraditional security threats as a whole, and oppose terrorism in all its forms. We should work together to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation and promote economic globalization in the direction of greater openness, inclusiveness, universal benefits, balance and mutual benefits. We should respect the diversity of world civilizations, transcend the barriers through civilized exchanges, transcend the conflicts through mutual learning of civilization, and transcend the superiority by co-existence of civilizations. We should continue to be environmentally friendly, work together to deal with climate change, and protect the home, earth, on which mankind depends. This “five-should” systematically constructs and expresses the new diplomatic view, new security view, new development view, new civilization view and new ecological view of China’s foreign relations. The idea of constructing a new pattern of a community of a shared future for mankind and global governance put forward by the 19th National Congress of CPC not only clarifies the foundation of the development trend of global social governance from the academic idea but also enriches, develops, and deepens the ideological system of global governance and provides a systematic and feasible Chinese plan for the reform of the global governance system. In November 2017, at the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security Affairs, China’s concept of “building a community of a shared future for mankind” was incorporated into the UN resolution, indicating that this concept has been widely accepted by the international community. The community of a shared future for mankind not only is the result of

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the innovation of China’s great-power diplomatic theory but also plays a leading and driving role in the innovation of global governance in China and even in the world. “Building a community of a shared future for mankind” is an essential part of Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era. It is a critical thought and theoretical contribution of contemporary China to the world. Its primary connotation and significance are embodied in the following five aspects. (I)

The concept of a community of a shared future for mankind guides the direction of global governance reform

Facing the profound changes of the international situation and the objective demands of all countries around the world in the same boat, China has put forward the idea of building a community of a shared future for mankind, insisting on dialogue and consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, win–win cooperation, exchange and mutual learning, and green and low carbon, and aiming at building a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, and cleanness and beauty. Concerning the future and destiny of human society, the Chinese people have been pursuing the idea of “world harmony, world unity” since ancient times. The concepts of harmony without uniformity, harmony with all nations, and self-development have been passed down from generation to generation. The building of a community of a shared future for mankind is not only the deep nourishment of Chinese civilization but also the solid support of contemporary China’s thought of peaceful development. In recent years, with the development of the concept and practice of global governance and enriching connotation, the idea of a community of a shared future for mankind has been gradually accepted by the international community. It has been written in the relevant resolutions of the United Nations four times. Unswervingly safeguarding world peace, promoting common development, and promoting the establishment of a new type of international relation with the core of win–win cooperation and the ideology of building a community of a shared future for mankind are in line with the sincere desire and common pursuit of all countries for peace, development and cooperation and progress. It is a significant intellectual achievement of scientific analysis and practical exploration of the international and domestic patterns and time characteristics of China’s social construction and social governance. It points out a new vision of the development of human society for global governance. (II)

“Extensive consultation”, “joint contribution” and “shared benefits” have become the basic principles of the global governance system

On the question of how to establish a community of a shared future for mankind, the “rules” and” systems” put forward by China are the paths to establish a perfect global governance system. In the reform of the global governance system, no country can dominate or control the say. The formulation of any rule and the establishment of the order must be negotiated and constructed by all the governance participants, and the results of governance

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should be shared fairly by all the participants. Due to the complexity of various problems in the context of globalization, there may be many mechanisms and rules to solve each problem, rather than just following the “western road.” Developing countries, including China, will be more involved in rulemaking and institution building. On September 22, 2015, in a written interview with The Wall Street Journal, Xi Jinping proposed that the global governance system is jointly contributed with shared benefits by the world and cannot be controlled by any country alone. China does not have such idea and will not do so. Although the relevant statements apply more to international relations, extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared interests are also applicable in the social governance structures within individual countries. Extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared interests are the core part of the concept of global governance, which condenses the collective wisdom of the exploration of social governance. It is not only a scientific summary of the practice of social governance in China but also a new task and goal for the innovation and development of global governance in the future. (III)

Advocating the participation of social forces is the only path to innovating social governance

The concept of global governance has been accepted by countries around the world and is not limited to fields of diplomacy and international relations. With the deepened development of economic globalization, the change of global political pattern and the contradiction among population, resources, and environment, and the common challenges facing all countries in the world are increasing day by day The global issues such as climate change, environmental pollution, aging of the population, and the reform of the international financial system have increased significantly, which have become critical factors affecting the sustainable economic development and social security and stability of all countries. These issues are more challenging to govern than traditional global governance issues. Global governance gradually shows its diversity, which includes the enhancement of the role of multilateral international organizations, the strengthening of international mechanisms, and the deepening of coordination among cross-governmental professional bodies, as well as the extensive participation of non-governmental organizations, transnational corporations, and individuals in the discussion and decision-making of global issues. Official and civil arrangements and public and private institutional arrangements to address global issues are developing rapidly. In addition to traditional international organizations and transnational government cooperation, a global “public space” is taking shape, and the power of transnational or international nongovernmental organizations is beginning to play an important role. China actively advocates the participation of various social forces and organizations and develops an internationalization strategy and path of global governance. Solutions to global issues also require the participation of various social forces and organizations. (IV)

Enhancing the voice of developing countries is the strategic choice to improve global governance

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With the mass rise of emerging economies and the relative decline of developed countries, the international balance of power and the world pattern have undergone profound changes, to which some global governance patterns are not fully adapted. On October 12, 2015, Xi Jinping made it clear in his speech at the 27th group study session of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that “the reform of the global governance system is at a turning point in history. The international balance of power has undergone profound changes, emerging markets and a large number of developing countries have developed rapidly, and their international influences have been increasing, which is the most revolutionary change in the international balance of power since modern times.” However, the voice of emerging markets and developing countries in international governing bodies such as the UN Security Council, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund is obviously insufficient. China is playing an increasingly important role in international organizations, leading emerging markets and developing countries to increase their representation and voice in global governance. China and the world are increasingly forming a community of shared futures. On the one hand, the realization of the Chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the promotion of the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity is inseparable from the reform of the global governance system. The process of China’s reform and opening-up is also a process of gradually integrating into the international community and deeply participating in global governance. On the other hand, as the largest developing country and the second-largest economy in the world, China is better performing the role of advocator, coordinator, and promoter in global governance to promote the sustainable development and inclusive growth of the global economy. China is participating in global governance with a more active attitude and gradually changing from a participant of global governance to a leader. China is demonstrating the oriental wisdom on global governance in the course of exploring the common value system of human beings in the 21st century and building a community of a shared future for mankind. (V)

The establishment of a new world economic order is the inevitable result of the establishment of global governance

We should work together to push trade and investment liberalization and facilitation and promote economic globalization in the direction of greater openness, inclusiveness, universal benefits, balance and win–win situations. This is a new development concept that guides China’s foreign relations, as well as a scientific judgment on the economic direction of the community of a shared future for humankind. In the community of a shared future for mankind, countries differ only in size, not in nobility or inferiority. There is only mutual benefit in the economy and no “onefor-all” and “zero-sum” rules in the game. This new type of international relation calls for economic globalization. We must uphold the new development concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared interests, construct a new order of fairness and justice, oppose the conservative tendency of anti-globalization,

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and avoid an unfair trade war. Economic exchanges among countries must be based on mutual trust and mutual benefit. Any monopolistic behavior that is only in the private interests of one country will not work in the end. It is precisely with the view of guiding the healthy development of economic globalization and free trade and conscientiously carrying out the idea of the community of a shared future for mankind that China advocates and adheres to the need to strengthen coordination, improve governance, and promote the building of an open, inclusive, universally beneficial, balanced and win–win economic globalization. We should not only make a big cake but also divide the cake fairly and strive to solve problems with fairness and justice. China advocates openness, sharing, and integration of knowledge and practice and demonstrates and takes responsibility for promoting the establishment of a new order of economic globalization.

3 China’s Wisdom and Global Governance In the contemporary world, progress and crisis go hand in hand. On the one hand, the development of science and technology and the changes brought about by economic growth make the whole world change with each passing day; on the other hand, at present, the global issues facing mankind are many and varied, which have become a serious task facing governments and the international community. Since the 1980s, China has participated in the process of economic globalization in the form of reform and opening-up. Since the second decade of the 21st century, China has played an increasingly vital role in global governance. Today, China’s development is increasingly inseparable from the world, global affairs are increasingly inseparable from China, and China can play a leading role in global governance. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China makes a profound exposition on strengthening and innovating national governance and social governance from the height of promoting and coordinating the five-sphere integrated plan and the four-pronged comprehensive strategy. Being open and innovative, inclusive and mutually beneficial, harmonious and different, incorporating things of diverse nature, and putting mother nature and green development first are the new goals of the community of a shared future for mankind. To this end, we need to adhere to the principles of dialogue and consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, win–win cooperation, exchanges and mutual understanding, and green and low-carbon. Advocating the construction of a new type of international relation with win–win cooperation as the core, building a community of a shared future for mankind, and establishing a new governance pattern of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, China has injected new connotations and provided new ideas for global governance.

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3.1 Actively Promoting Global Economic Governance Reform Since the international financial crisis in 2008, the slow recovery of the world economy and the ebb of economic globalization have aggravated the dilemma of global economic governance. As the world’s second-largest economy, China is deeply involved in the reform of global governance based on the “community of a shared future for mankind” and contributes to global governance with China’s program and China’s power. In 2013, our country put forward the creative initiative of the “Belt and Road” to the whole world. The Belt and Road Initiative has not only promoted the rapid development of regional economic integration but also opened up a new situation of global governance. The Belt and Road Initiative and its implementation promote all-round interconnection among countries based on economic and trade and infrastructure cooperation and promote working together to create a community of interests, destiny and responsibility for political mutual trust, economic integration, and cultural inclusiveness. Over the past few years, more than 100 countries and international organizations have been involved. China has signed cooperation agreements with more than 60 countries to jointly build Belt and Road Initiative cooperation and has carried out international capacity cooperation with more than 20 countries. China has initiated the establishment of new multilateral financial institutions, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the BRICS New Development Bank. This has not only greatly stimulated the reform of the international financial system but also opened up a new path of global economic governance in the 21st century—lean, clean, and green. The idea of establishing the BRICS Development Bank was proposed in 2012. As the first multilateral development bank led by developing countries, it has constructed a pool of foreign exchange funds that allow member countries to maintain currency stability in the face of a financial crisis and effectively reduce their dependence on other international financial institutions. The idea of establishing the AIIB was proposed in 2013, which was to finance the region’s substantial infrastructure needs by partnering with existing multilateral development banks. In 2016, China took the rotating presidency of the G20 and successfully hosted the G20 summit in Hangzhou. At the summit, Xi Jinping, for the first time, expounded China’s view of global economic governance in an all-round way, offered a “good prescription” to address both the symptoms and root causes of world economic growth, promoted the G20 to transform from crisis response to long-term governance mechanism, and set forth a grand blueprint and goal for deepening international cooperation and promoting global governance. The G20 summit in Hangzhou shows that China is becoming more active in promoting cooperation among major countries to achieve coordinated global development and further promote a more equitable and rational approach to global governance.

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The Chinese government will continue to open wider to the outside world. The main measures are as follows: first, we will significantly relax market access, intensify opening-up, speed up the opening-up of the insurance industry, ease restrictions on the establishment of foreign-funded financial institutions, expand the business scope of foreign-funded financial institutions in China, and broaden the areas of cooperation between Chinese and foreign financial markets. Second, we will create a more attractive investment environment, strengthen the connection with international economic and trade rules, enhance transparency, strengthen the protection of property rights, adhere to the law, encourage competition, and oppose monopoly. Third, we will strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, which is the most important content to improve the system of property rights protection and the biggest incentive to enhance China’s economic competitiveness. Fourth, we will actively expand imports because domestic demand is the fundamental driving force for China’s economic development and an inevitable requirement to meet the people’s growing needs for a better life.11

3.2 Actively Promoting the Construction of a New Type of International Relations International relations are the key to current global governance. In recent years, the multi-polarization of world politics has advanced in twists and turns, the complexity and uncertainty of the relations between great powers have increased, and it is urgent to develop new international relations and build a stable new international order. In March 2013, Xi Jinping put forward the concept of “new international relations” in a speech at the Moscow Institute of International Relations in Russia. Xi thought and expounded systematically on how to build a new type of international relations, and made it clear that to build partnerships in which countries treat each other as equals, engage in mutual consultation, and show mutual understanding, we should not only adhere to the principle that all countries are equals and the big, strong and rich should not bully the small, weak and poor, but also adhere to the new vision of seeking win–win outcomes for all. We should reject the outdated mindset that one’s gain means the other’s loss or that the winner shall take all. In the area of security, we should build a security architecture featuring fairness, justice, joint contribution, and shared benefits because no country can maintain absolute security with its own effort, and no country can achieve stability out of other countries’ instability. Only by fostering a new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security can we address security threats to prevent conflicts from breaking out in the first place. “Building a new type of international relations with win–win cooperation

11

See Xi Jinping: Opening up for Common Prosperity and Innovation Leads the Future: A keynote speech at the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Conference of the Boao Forum for Asia, pp. 11–12, Beijing, People’s Publishing House, 2018.

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as its core” is of great significance for dealing with inter-state relations and improving global governance. China has always adhered to an independent foreign policy of peace and firmly upheld the United Nations-centered system of international order. China, which has the largest number of peacekeepers among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, has taken an active part in escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia. Its assessed contributions to the United Nations have risen to third place, while its assessed contributions to peace-keeping missions are second, playing an important role in safeguarding world peace and security. China has actively promoted South-South cooperation to a higher and deeper level to help third world countries. At the UN’s 70th anniversary summit in 2015, Xi Jinping announced that China would set up the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund, which would provide an initial contribution of USD 2 billion to support developing countries in implementing the post-2015 development agenda. China will continue to increase its investment in the least developed countries to USD 12 billion by 2030, and so on. These practices have been positively evaluated by the international community. In the community of a shared future for humankind, countries are no longer the only actors, including the private sector, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and even individuals will become important participants in the community of a shared future for humankind. The traditional concept of national security has been extended from the general sense of national defense and military security to a broader range of economic security, political security, cultural security, social security, energy resource security, environmental security, public security, and so on. This requires all countries to not only continue their efforts to address traditional security issues that have not yet been solved but also attach importance to addressing the growing number of nontraditional security issues such as the increasing terrorism. As the due meaning of building a community of a shared future for mankind, China’s leaders have advocated the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable development on many international occasions, which has provided the right path and direction for the international community to deal with security issues. China’s new security concept and China’s plan for building new international relations are in line with the trend of historical development and reflect the broad-mindedness embodied in the wisdom of China.

3.3 Building a Community of Shared Future in Cyberspace With the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial revolution in the world, the development of the Internet is playing an increasingly critical role in promoting the progress of human civilization. At the same time, the unbalanced development, unsound rules, and unreasonable order of the Internet is an increasingly prominent global problem. Global Internet governance is an important, challenging, and innovative issue. China encourages all countries to strengthen communication, expand consensus, and deepen cooperation and has launched and

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hosted the World Internet Conference, which embodies its role as a large developing country. Since 2014, China has held the “World Internet Conference” every year, which aims to build an international platform for the connection and communication of China and the world as well as a Chinese platform for international network sharing and co-governance, promote the establishment of a multilateral, democratic and transparent global Internet governance system, and put forward substantial proposals for the establishment of a community of shared futures in cyberspace so that all countries can seek common ground in disputes, seek cooperation in consensus, and seek mutual benefits in cooperation. At the opening ceremony of the second World Internet Conference in 2015, Xi Jinping expounded China’s forward-looking thinking on the development of cyberspace and put forward China’s position on global Internet governance. One of China’s goals for global Internet governance is to strengthen dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect and trust among the international community and promote the reform of the global Internet governance system. To promote the reform of the global Internet governance system, we should build a peaceful, secure, open, and cooperative cyberspace with the establishment of a multilateral, democratic and transparent global Internet governance system as the supporting point. We should adhere to the “four principles”, namely, respect in Internet sovereignty, maintain peace and security, promote openness and cooperation, and cultivate good order. We should implement the “five propositions”, namely, speed up the building of global internet infrastructure and promote interconnectivity; build an online platform for cultural exchange and mutual learning; promote innovative development of cyber economy and common prosperity; maintain cybersecurity and promote orderly development; build an internet governance system and promote equity and justice.

3.4 Actively Promoting Global Ecological Governance At present, global ecological problems are becoming increasingly severe, and global ecological governance has become an increasingly prominent issue. The governance of the global environment and climate is inseparable from the joint efforts of the people of all countries. In dealing with global climate change and environmental protection, the Chinese government has actively advocated international cooperation, earnestly fulfilled its international responsibilities, and demonstrated China’s major power responsibility of deep participation in global governance, building a community of a shared future for mankind and promoting the collective development of all mankind. As the largest developing country, China has been committed to environmental protection in the international community and has played an active and constructive role in promoting global climate negotiations and global ecological governance, such as the conclusion of a new climate agreement. In December 2015, nearly 200 parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change reached

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The Paris Agreement at the Paris Conference on Climate Change. This is the second legally binding climate agreement after the Kyoto Protocol, which sets the direction for global cooperation on tackling climate change after 2020 and marks the establishment of a win–win, just, and rational global climate governance system. The Paris Agreement is a milestone in the history of global climate governance. China initiated the G20 to issue the first presidential statement on climate change and has been actively participating in, promoting, and signing the Paris Agreement. This shows China’s responsibility to build a community of a shared future for mankind. By 2018, China ratified more than 50 multilateral conventions and protocols relating to the ecological environment. In addition, China has made great efforts to promote South-South cooperation on climate change. At present, China’s South-South Cooperation Fund on Climate Change has been launched and is carrying out ten low-carbon demonstration zones, 100 mitigation and adaptation projects, and 1,000 cooperation projects on climate change tackling training in developing countries. The China South-South Cooperation Team has collaborated with approximately 30 countries to help them improve their capacity for adaptation and mitigation, together with management and financing. Taking “green” as a global “development concept” and leading the international community to promote green awareness in development is also a fundamental direction of China’s efforts to protect the common homeland for the survival of mankind through cooperation. China’s visions and practices in global ecological governance have been unanimously affirmed by the international community. The basic idea and action plan for building and formulating a community of a shared future for mankind are deeply rooted in the valuable experience accumulated in the great practice of China’s reform and opening-up and embody the essence of China’s distinctive traditional culture and profound Chinese philosophy. “Innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing” is the fundamental value choice and action program of China’s modernization of national governance and social governance, as well as the great wisdom of China’s contribution to global governance and the building of a community of a shared future for mankind. “A just cause should be pursued for the common good.” China is becoming a major participant, promoter, and builder in global governance system reform. China’s plans, proposals, and responsibility for global governance will provide new possibilities, new opportunities, and a new impetus for world development. The modernization construction of China’s governance system and capacity, as well as the modernization construction of China’s social governance, will continue to contribute new and creative wisdom to promoting global governance and building a community of a shared future for mankind. Extended Thinking 1. 2. 3. 4.

Explain the concept and connotation of a community of a shared future for mankind. What do you think is the trend of social governance in China? Why? What is China’s role in global governance? Discuss how to build a community of a shared future for mankind.

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References Jinping X (2017) The governance of China [M], vol 1. Foreign Language Press, Beijing Jinping X (2018) The governance of China [M], vol 2. Foreign Language Press, Beijing Nuo J (2017) China’s role in global governance [M]. China Renmin University Press, Beijing Peilin L (2014) Social reform and social governance [M]. Social Sciences Academic Press (China), Beijing Shizhenl F (2017) New blueprint for social governance [M]. China Renmin University Press, Beijing Xuedong Y, Hao W (2015) Global governance [M]. Central Compilation & Translation Press, Beijing Yuanzhu D (2016) Exploration of modernization of social governance [M]. National School of Administration Press, Beijing

Postscript

The compilation of General Theory of Social Governance in China (hereinafter referred to as General Theory) is a practical action to implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s directive on speeding up the construction of the social science system and teaching material system with Chinese characteristics. At the same time, it is also an essential task for the construction of a national high-end think tank and a new discipline of Beijing Normal University. The China Academy of Social Management/School of Sociology was established by Beijing Normal University to meet the needs of the Party and the state in strengthening and innovating the strategy of social governance. To do the compilation of this book in a perfect manner, in April 2016, the compilation group of General Theory was set up with Wei Liqun, former director of the Research Office of the State Council and Dean of China Academy of Social Management/School of Sociology of Beijing Normal University, as the chief editor. He proposed that under the guidance of Xi Jinping and thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era, we should accurately grasp the nature, function, and characteristics of general theory, and all the people who participated in the compilation should write carefully with a high sense of responsibility. He has organized many discussions on the purpose of writing, the main lines of the book, the framework, and the contents of the chapters, presided over the overall manuscript work, reviewed all the manuscripts, and poured a great deal of effort and wisdom. People who have participated in the compilation of general theory are mainly the teaching and research faculty of the China Academy of Social Management/School of Sociology of Beijing Normal University. Authors of the first draft of each chapter are Wei Liqun of the preface; Zhao Mengying of Chapter I; Chen Peng and Liu Hongli of Chapter II; Zhao Mengying of Chapter III; Xiao Fang, Chen Peng, Ju Xi, and Li Chuanjun of Chapter IV; You Xiangbin of Chapter V; Lai Desheng, Xie Qiong, Wang Zhen, Wang Haixia, Jiao Changquan, and Peng Qinghui of Chapter VI; Yin Luanyu, Xie Qiong, Liu Bing, Yang Li, and Wang Yang of Chapter VII; Liu Bing of Chapter VIII; Liu Xiabei, Dong Leiming, Hou Jing, Dang Shengcui, and Wang Haixia of Chapter IX; Zhao Qiuyan, Yu Jia, and Dang Shengcui of Chapter X; Wei Jianwen of Chapter XI; and Wang Hangu Hongwen of Chapter II.

The participants in the final compilation and editing of General Theory were Wei Liqun, Zhao Mengying, Liu Xiabei, Zhao Qiuyan, Li Jianjun, Lu Shengwei, Yin Luanyu, Chen Peng, Xie Qiong, Wei Jianwen, Xiao Fang, Dong Leiming, Liu Bing, You Xiangbin, Dang Shengcui, and Chen Wei. Li Peilin, formerly vice-dean of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, committee member of the Ministry of Education, and chief expert of the Chinese © Beijing Normal University Press (Group) Co., LTD 2021 L. Wei (ed.), General Theory of Social Governance in China, Understanding China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5715-3

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Academy of Social Management/School of Sociology of Beijing Normal University, professor Gong Weibin, director of the Social and Ecological Civilization Teaching and Research Department of Party School of the Central Committee of CPC (National Academy of Governance) and director of the Research Center for Social Governance, and Li Qiang, senior professor of Tsinghua University and dean of the Institute of Minsheng Economy of Tsinghua University, reviewed the manuscript. At the time of the book’s publication, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the people and units involved in planning, writing, reviewing, editing, and publishing general theory. Social governance is a new discipline, and many aspects need to be further studied. Due to the limitation of the editor’s ability, this book will inevitably have some inappropriateness. Criticisms are warmly welcomed! Compilation Group of General Theory of Social Governance in China 2018年11月 November 2018 Book in Edition Cataloging (CIP) data General Theory of Social Governance in China/Wei liqun, chief editor. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing Group, 2019.8 ISBN978-7–303-24,817–9 I. ➀ In… II. ➀ Wei… III. ➀ Social Management-Research-China IV. ➀ D63 Chinese Version Library CIP Data Word Review (2019) No. 131305 Phone number of marketing center 010-58,80 5,072 58,807,651 Higher Education and Academic Works Bureau of Beijing Normal University Publishing Group http://xueda.bnup.com

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