The article examines the emerging welfare state in China through an analysis of the poverty-relief program of song wennuan, which sends the ‘warmth’ of the party in the form of gift to unemployed workers. In addition to material support, song wennuan which is imbued with psychologically infused ideologies and practice prescribes particular emotions and thought processes to and for the poor. Unlike the Western therapeutic (welfare) state which normalizes the marginalized, song wennuan nurtures the poor to highlight the benevolence of an affective state. This program thus transforms the poor from subjects with rights to objects of care, translating the exercise of power into an affective and therapeutic activity. Such affective measures patch up political and economic ‘wounds’ caused by economic restructuring and legitimate the ruling party’s continued existence in the market economy.
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