The Social Policy Areas of Marriage and Family,Family Planning,Child Care and Health Care in China

Abstract

The author was recently invited by the Chinese Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries to visit China on a special U.S.-China Relations Tour. One of the most impressive characteristics of the visit was the impact that the social system has upon individuals in China. Consequently, China's human services structure is designed to cooperate in the building of a strong, socialist state. This article is an attempt to briefly discuss four significant social policy areas in the Peoples Republic of China. These policy areas include: marriage and family; family planning; child care, and health care. These particular social policy areas will have a major influence as to whether China will have the domestic resources in order to achieve its goal of the four modernizations (agriculture, industry, national defense and science and technology). For those of us who perceive ourselves as world citizens, China should be of special interest because it now cares for over one-fifth of the total world population.

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