Better to Rely on Ourselves: Changing Social Rights in Urban China since 1979

by Hatla Thelle

This study analyses changes in the protection of social rights in China since 1979 for the middle-income level of the urban population, based on family interviews and documentary studies. It tells how conditions for employment, housing, social security and education have undergone a complete transformation as a consequence of the transition to a market economy.

“Thelle’s book is a well-researched and readable study containing valuable information on the dynamic of Chinese citizens’ situation… It will be of interest to students not only of human rights but also of Chinese society and economy generally.” - Friederike Fleischer, The China Journal, no.56

Hatla Thelle is a China specialist, and a researcher and project manager at the Danish Institute for Human Rights in Copenhagen. Since 2006 she has been head of the China Unit.

Publication year: 2004
368 pp / 221mm x 137mm
11 charts
ISBN: 978-87-91114-26-7, Hardback

NIAS Press