Social work is inherently an international subject. Each nation has a story of professionalization in the evolution of public welfare within its particular settings. A study of various (especially non-Western) cases is essential to an adequate understanding of the undertaking.

China is undoubtedly an important case with the second largest population on earth. It’s unique in view of so-called Chinese characteristics/approach/model etc., sometimes fundamentally different from Western societies. It’s intriguing given the country’s history and recent rise to a global superpower with a claim of core values that seem to be rather considerable to social work as a helping profession. Yet, the nation’s rapid social transformation demands a reinterpretation of social work, particularly in relation to public policy and administration. Any lessons learned from the Chinese experiences would help with a better understanding of social work and public welfare on a global scale.

This book is one of a series of projects led by the editor, a forerunner to China’s rebuilt professional social work, with a scholarly team from greater China and overseas who are experts in social work and related fields. Its primary audience are scholars and students in Social Work/Welfare/Services, Health and Mental Health, Children/Aging/Women/Family Studies, Public Administration, Social Policy, Community Organizations/Governance, International/Cross-Cultural Studies, and Chinese/China research.

Professor Sheying Chen received his Ph.D. & MSW from the University of California at Los Angeles and is currently a tenured professor of Public Administration/Social & Health Policy at Pace University in New York. He is the founding director of the Centers for Social Work Study and Healthcare Administration at top-ranked Tsinghua University in Asia, where he also served as a senior research fellow of Social Governance, Cross-Strait and Sino-American Relations etc. He was Associate Provost for Academic Affairs (2010-2012) at Pace and previously Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Indiana University (Southeast). Prior to IU, Dr. Chen was Professor and Dean at the University of Guam (UOG), overseeing the Colleges of: Business & Public Administration; Education; Health Sciences, Nursing & Social Work. He held tenure as Professor and Chair at the City University of New York (Staten Island) where he headed a large unit housing psychology, sociology, anthropology, social work, aging, disability studies, women's studies, etc. He was a permanent faculty member of Sun Yat-sen University at Guangzhou from 1986 to 1992, where he served as a coordinator for graduate studies and a forerunner of China's rebuilt social work & policy education and research. A Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts (2017) and one of the most influential scholars in Chinese social sciences, Professor Chen is the co-EIC for Springer Book Series of International Perspectives on Social Policy, Administration, & Practice and International Perspectives on Aging.