Ageing in the Neighbourhood: Community-Based Care in Chengdu, China

This study seeks to answer the following questions: How is community-based care regulated, funded and provided in different development contexts across China? The study investigates these questions by examining the case of Chengdu, Sichuan province. In doing so, the paper seeks to examine how policy formulation leads to differences in implementation across urban and rural areas, as well as what implications this has for older people’s access to care. I argue that Chengdu’s community-based care provision is a product of China’s multi-level ‘regulatory welfare state’, creating geographically distinctive 'local care markets'. Ultimately, these two levels of interaction create different opportunities to access care within and across urban and rural areas, enhancing socio-economic inequalities.