40 Years & Counting : What’s Social Reform in the New Era?

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In the four decades of reform and opening up, China has undergone profound economic changes, surpassing Japan to become the world's second largest economy.

In 2018, China's annual per capita GDP is approaching almost $9000 USD, an increase of almost 50 times larger than the GDP of 1977. Administratively, Chinese authorities say they continually seek to reform the country's governance systems: streamlining the bureaucracy, delegating powers to lower levels, and strengthening rule of law.

In this episode, we explore the reforms that are are thought to benefit people's well-being most directly: social reform.

Social reform is broad-based, covering almost every aspect of people's lives.

Children in the Daliang Mountain Region in Sichuan province used to climb 17 rattan ladders to go to school. In 2016, local government builds a steel ladder to ease their journeys, which costs more than one million yuan. / VCG Photo

As people's lives improve from merely "sufficient" to "adequate" to "decent" and, for some, to "well-off", it's natural for them to seek a higher quality of life.

Therefore, the govenrment have indicated that it's no longer sufficient in China to focus only on the economy. The authorities feel that in order to sustain economic development, China's social system must be strengthened to meet people's needs, especially the rule of law, fairness and justice, environmental protection, safety issues, healthcare and education.

Moreover, there are still great imbalances in China; still millions of people live in extreme poverty. That's the predicament in today's China, which reflects an imbalanced and inadequate development. Going forward, how will China address these issues of social reform?