This introductory chapter provides background to and summarizes key findings from the chapters in this book, all of which share in common their use of household data from the latest round of the China Household Income Project (CHIP) survey to analyze recent trends in inequality in China. We...

In this chapter we examine trends in China's household incomes, income distribution and inequality for China as a whole and for each of the urban, rural and rural-urban migrant subgroups, as well as analyzing changes in the income gaps between the urban and rural sectors and among the...

The inequality of wealth in China has increased rapidly in recent years. Prior to 1978 all Chinese households possessed negligible wealth. China therefore presents a fascinating case study of how inequality of household wealth increases as economic reforms take place, marketization occurs, and...

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the structure of rural poverty in China. Based on data from the China Household Income Project (CHIP) in 1988, 1995, 2002, 2007, and 2013, we analyze: 1.) Anti-poverty trends and problems during the recent three decades. 2.) The structure of poverty...

We use CHIP data from 1995, 2002, and 2013 to investigate inequality in urban household consumption expenditures. Overall inequality in urban household consumption expenditures measured by the Gini coefficient decreased slightly from 0.33 in 1995 to 0.32 in 2002, but it increased to 0.36 in...

Using data from the China Household Income Project, this study analyzes the effects of minimum wage policy on wage distribution in urban China from 1993 to 2013. Several major conclusions emerge from this research. First, with respect to the effects of the minimum wage on wages for low-wage...

This chapter seeks to throw new light on the emergence of the Chinese economic middle class using data from the China Household Income Project from 2002, 2007, and 2013. We find that between 2002 and 2013 China's income distribution was transformed from a pyramid shape, with a majority having...

Using data from the urban household surveys of the China Household Income Project for the years 1995, 2002, 2007 and 2013, we provide consistent estimates of the gender wage gap in urban China and investigate those factors that have contributed to this gap. Similar to past studies, we find a...