China’s Rural Elder Security:Retrospect On The Institutional Evolution From The Perspective Of Culture

China’s rural elder security system is a comparatively independent part of China’s social security. Its institutional design and implementation is directly related to hundreds of millions of farmers’ supporting problem. At present, the theory researchers are urgently needed to solve the actual problems and theoretical confusion in the field of China’s rural elder security system. They should reflect and explore the institutional development pattern and its construction path which are suitable for China’s actual conditions. This paper tries to rethink on the contemporary China’s rural elder security system and answer a core question:Will China’s traditional pension culture continue to play a role in the arrangement and application of the contemporary rural elder security? What kind of role does it play and how to play?This paper mainly uses the method of literature research, historical research and institutional analysis. Taking Ming and Qing dynasties for example, the paper gives a comprehensive overview on the connotation, characteristics and construction logic of traditional pension culture. Taking the rural five Guarantees policy and the rural pension Insurance for example, the paper casts a comprehensive review and reflection on the institutional arrangement and implement of the rural pension insurance after the founding of new China. The findings are as follows:First, the traditional pension culture covers both values and institutional arrangement. China’s traditional pension idea is derived from thousands of years’agriculture society, which can be summarized as three aspects of the basic pension idea, namely, pragmatism, family ethics and community consciousness. It can also be embodied by the idea like "Raising children for old age" and "Honor the aged of other family as honor our own". The evolutional process of China’s contemporary rural elder security system fully reflects the foundation, orientation and stability of the traditional pension idea. Second, China has formed the elder security traditionally, which is dominated by the state, based on a family or a large family, assisted by a clan (village), and supplemented by the mutual-aid social organization. "The concert of pension" linked by the traditional elder security can meet the fanners’ multi-level demand on the whole. The institutional arrangement and practice of China’s rural elder security after the founding of new China fully reflects the designability, adaptability, and flexibility of the traditional institutional arrangement. Third, pension habitus is both the carrier and external form of the traditional pension. It is usually manifested in the formal and informal institution in the form of people’s behavior and mentality. After historical precipitation and policy choice, the informal institutional arrangement becomes the formal one. The accompanying cultural genes are inevitably integrated among them and become an important cultural base of the institution.In short, the evolution of China’s contemporary rural elder security fully embodies the lasting and deep influence of the traditional pension culture. Although there are all kinds of problems in different periods, the fact that the basic idea of institutional arrangement can get most farmers’ psychological identification is the fundamental cause that the fairness of policy could gain recognition, its sustainability could be guaranteed and the basic framework of the institution could be kept changeless after adjustments for more than half a century. The construction of future rural elder security system should respect traditional endowment concept, draw wisdom from the traditional institutional arrangement, and learn experience in modern pension pattern.