In recent decades, much of youth research in Chinese societies has sought to understand the transformation of the younger generation and their social environment in the context of globalization, deindustrialization and economic insecurity. The epochal events of the global economic transformation and financial crisis, along with long-term Chinese social trends such as rising unemployment, income disparity, and migration, are in the process of creating new structural relations between young people and related social actors. Accordingly, this book charts the current conditions of youth services and policies in Chinese societies by examining case studies in Beijing, Jinan, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Hong Kong.

The chapters address the related issues stemming from unemployment, volunteering, internal migration, economic disadvantages, school social work, and leadership training. Through comparative analyses of the aforementioned issues, the collection highlights contemporary issues in Chinese youth policies and services, including work commitment, social inclusion, social support from family and teachers, volunteering, and leadership training. The book argues that the strengthening of empowerment and social inclusion in Chinese youth services offers a solution to problems of alienation, powerlessness, and underclass status. The quest for social inclusion therefore merits renewed attention in the youth policies and services of Chinese societies.

This was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Adolescence and Youth.

This book charts the current conditions of youth services and policies in Chinese societies.

This was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Adolescence and Youth.

1. Introduction: Youth policies and services in Chinese societies Steven Sek-yum Ngai, Chau-kiu Cheung and Ngan-pun Ngai

2. Work commitment among unemployed youth in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin Chau-kiu Cheung, Ngan-pun Ngai and Steven Sek-yum Ngai

3. Youth unemployment and the risk of social relationship exclusion: a qualitative study in a Chinese context Qun Zeng

4. Chinese Communist Youth League, political capital and the legitimising of volunteering in China Ying Xu

5. Contributions of family and neighbourhood factors to the mental health of migrant children in China: implications for policy and services Qiaobing Wu, Bill Tsang and Holly Ming

6. Effects of service use, family social capital and school social capital on psychosocial development among economically disadvantaged secondary school students in Hong Kong Steven Sek-yum Ngai, Chau-kiu Cheung and Ngan-pun Ngai

7. A qualitative analysis of the field experiences of Hong Kong school social workers in encountering different forms of power Siu-ming To

8. Youth leadership training in Hong Kong: current developments and the way ahead Ngan-pun Ngai, Chau-kiu Cheung, Steven Sek-yum Ngai and Siu-ming To