Service agencies (sometimes translated as ‘public institutions’) are formally ‘social services organised by state or other agencies… using state-owned assets for the purpose of social welfare; they engage in education, culture, health and other activities.’
Products of the Mao era (1949–76) planned economy, they were attached to factories and other ‘units’, supplying skilled services of every kind from hair-styling to travel. Surviving the post-Mao reforms, they are left with ambiguous status: public-facing and market-oriented, yet included on state budgets and retiring senior staff on state welfare. Functionally classified into three categories: administrative, public service, and operating, they employ over 40 million staff, making their reform anything but straightforward. In the picture, an employee leaving the golden rice bowl of a service agency is about to join the army of ‘shrinking man’ retirees.
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