ABSTRACT
With the rapidly growing economy in the previous four decades, many aspects of life in China have significantly improved – Chinese people now live longer, are more educated, and enjoy much better infrastructure than a few decades ago. Today, high-speed railways link most of the major provincial cities, and China has more high-speed rail than the rest of the world combined. Still, the country faces many social problems. Some of them are related to the large size of the population, the social structure, and the control of population growth. Others are a result of the political situation, cultural values, or the changes in lifestyle and value system following rapid economic growth. This chapter focuses on the social issues the Chinese government and society are facing. What is living in Chinese cities and the countryside like? How equal (or unequal) is society? And what are the problems faced by the members of ethnic minorities?
