China: Multiple Choice Vocabulary Test

All is not well in the state of China. Most people who (0)       A       an interest in China know that, in the days when all industry was (1)________ by the state, the workers had their basic needs taken care of. They did not (2)________ much, but they could be sure of a house or flat, health care, education and a pension.

This was the 'iron rice-bowl'. But what happens when the bowl breaks, as is happening now with the (3)________ of private industry and the end of the welfare state?

The trend is clear. In some provinces, fewer than half the workers are now (4)________ by the state. By the end of the next decade, at least a quarter of China's (5)________ will be privately or self employed. When this happens, China will need to look for ways of replacing state welfare.

Take housing. Foreign companies increasingly (6)________ housing in order to attract the workers they want. As to health care, the end of free medicine is already (7)________. Under the old system, if a state worker needed (8)________, the hospital simply sent the bill to his factory. Today, state firms (9)________ part of the fee from a worker's pay.

Some even (10)________ private medical insurance. (11)________ pensions are concerned, personal pensions, bought through life insurance companies, are said to be growing in number by 25% a year. Many towns are experimenting with pooled pension funds from all businesses, state and private, with workers (12)________ about two percent of their income. This (13)________ well in places with lots of young people and high growth, but in areas of declining economy, pooling means more people getting less.

Taken with China's other problems - (14)________ inflation, rising unemployment and an increasing crime rate in the big cities - it is not surprising that some people (15)________ the coming of private enterprise as a mixed blessing.