Danwei (單位) names the state socialist work unit that once was the focus of life in pre-2000 China. Production, consumption and personal realtionships were concentrated in the danwei. Workers received a package of goods and services as well as job security form their state enterprise, with the largest and most important of these enterprises providing the best wages and benefits. According to Steinfeld, the replacing the danwei with markets for labor, housing, and health care have resulted in a almost bloodless social revolution in China.

SourcesEdit

• Martin King Whyte. "The Changing Role of Workers," in Merle Goldman and Roderick MacFarquar. ed.s, China's Post-Mao Reforms. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Pp. 173-196. ISBN 978-0-674-65454-4.
• Edward S. Steinfeld. 2010. Playing Our Game. Oxford: OUP. ISBN 979-0-19-983708-3.

LinksEdit

• Political Lexicon