Relations Between Germany and China and the Rise of the Social Insurance State in China Since the Economic Reform of 1978

Abstract

AbstractSince the economic reform in 1978, the main system of social security in China has gradually transformed from the labour insurance system to the social insurance system. In this transformation process, policy learning and ideas diffusion have become relevant means to influence China’s social policy-making, and Bismarckian social insurance system has become an important reference for China’s legislative and social elites. In this process, Germany has influenced the core ideas and values of social policy experts in China in favour of the emergence and expansion of social insurance system since the 1990s, and the inter-state diffusion has become a powerful driving force for the rise of the new social insurance state in China.