The Social Assistance In West Han Dynasty

Social assistance, a kind of system to guarantee people the lowest level of living in China, is a part of the social insurance system, one of the means to fulfill social insurance system and the safety net for the whole social insurance system. It provides the insurance for the poorest. Its fundamental meaning is that government and society should provide substance aid to the people by law who suffer from the natural disasters or for some economical and social reasons, which makes people cannot maintain their lowest living standard. Although social relief is a modern concept, its basic idea can date back to ancient China. Here I expound and analyze the governmental relief caused in West Han Dynasty in order to learn about the society of West Han Dynasty further from a novel lookout.The thesis comprises preface, body and conclusion, then suffixes bibliography and postscript. I summarize the basis for the title and the origin of social relief in the preface. The body can be divided into three parts, as followed:The first Part: I concern about the poverty relief measures and its effect in West Han Dynasty. According to some imperial edicts at that time, I discover that the government of West Han had waked up to the existence of unemployment and taken some policies about it.The second Part: I expound West Han government's special assistances. They received the eminent tradition of China and constituted some special policies to the handicapped and some the widows, orphans and some weak social groups, which formed a diagnostic salvation system.The third Part: I analyze West Han government's famine relief from fighting calamities and providing disaster relief in the two aspects. Although their salvations had many shortages, much progress had been made in that time.In conclusion, I conclude the relief policy mentioned above. It inherited predecessors'experience and had made much progress, though it was not perfect. It also provided some useful experience for the posterity. In this process I make use of some modern economical ideas and theory of sociology which refer to both modern and ancient society.