Social Work in Mainland China: Past, Present, and Future

Since the reform and opening-up in 1978, China has made great progress in the reconstruction and development of social work profession. From a historical perspective, this article first describes China's distinct approach to social work development over the past century. It then introduces the four main social work service delivery models now often adopted in China, including the university-community partnership model, the organizationally embedded service model, services provided by the local semiprofessional social workers, and the social work practice research model. Finally, the future directions for China's social work development from a "big social work" perspective are discussed.