Social Sciences in China, 2020

Vol. 41, No. 4, 2020

 

Strategic Changes and Policy Choices in the Governance of China’s Aging Society

(Abstract)

 

Hu Zhan and Peng Xizhe

 

Population aging has become normal in Chinese society, but the existing governance models and institutional arrangements still lack a structured and systematic response and adaptation, and the corresponding governance research has also encountered difficulties. Policy choices for the governance of China’s aging society should be based on “Chinese characteristics,” which should be developed into “Chinese advantages” in order to achieve a transformation from fragmented management to holistic governance and from a focus on the elderly population to an emphasis on the entire life cycle of the whole population, as well as the policy adjustment logic of changing from “making population change adapt to institutions” to “making institutional change adapt to population.” The current strategy for an aging society and policy arrangements should conduct strategic allocation from the standpoint of China’s demographic situation and the laws governing the development of aging. We need to recharge our ideas and innovate our systems on the basis of our cultural and institutional heritage and should set up a comprehensive and dynamic socioeconomic support system based on pluralistic co-governance and sustainable development. We should also strengthen research on the evolution of the elderly population and the development of the aging society of the future, and on this basis select an entry point for policy readjustment and even reconstruction.

 

Keywords: aging population, holistic governance, public policy, Chinese solution