The Public Institutions
The public institutions or Shiye Danwei (事业单位) in China, refers to organizations involved in the cultural, educational, sporting and medical care sectors, providing social services and welfare to the public under the sponsorship of the State and local governments. The institutions usually include media, publishing houses, public schools and hospitals. China has a total of 1.26 million public institutions with over 40 million employees.
A majority of the institutions receive funding by governments while also making money of their own. As a byproduct of a planned economy, public institutions are viewed as suffering from low efficiency, rigid operation and unprofessional management. However, recently, significant reform has taken place as the government attempts to gear those institutions towards market demands in order to save money and social resources. Some institutions, such as media and publishing houses, are encouraged to be restructured into stand-alone companies that may also collect funds from stock markets. So far, national news websites, like Xinhuanet.com, Peopledaily.com and CNTV.cn, have undergone the initial stages of reform.
Yet the pivotal part of the reform, which is scheduled to be pushed forward during the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), is on medical care and education, the two nagging problems that trouble many Chinese families. After the reform, the public institutions will be defined as those that provide social welfare, said Song Shiming, professor from the Chinese Academy of Governance. They should be essential to the governments, which are required to provide sufficient public services.
