On The Social Management Functions Of Subdistrict Offices

Over the years, subdistrict offices, as arms of the county-level governments, arethe grassroots organizations that have the most direct and extensive contact with thegeneral public. They are also the foundation for maintaining social stability andharmony as well as the indispensable driving forces to develop public administration.With the escalating level of urbanization nowadays in Zhuhai, a string of new changeshave confronted the subdistrict offices in downtown Zhuhai with many situations andunheard-of issues, increasing the weight of their responsibilities as socialadministrators. Thus, research on strengthening subdistrict offices’ roles of socialadministrators has far-reaching implications in practice.In recent years, Zhuhai has made numerous attempts to reform and innovatepublic administrative systems. Aiming for a “strong government, big society” publicadministration model, the government is now in the midst of a transition from a “biggovernment, small society” institution to a “small government, big society” one andwill continue to do so in the years to come. This paper analyzes in depth the subdistrictoffices’ role in social administration and public service and the problems they face,which based on information regarding the latest development in China’s social reformand innovation, the practical situation and characteristics of Zhuhai Municipality together with the functions and features of subdistrict offices via extensive reading andface-to-face interviews. The author has participated in a research group on pushingforward the social administration reform which conducted studies in Hong Kong andother cities, and offered some suggestions and solutions to address the issues for thetime being. It is advised to adopt a new public administration model that advocatesdiversity and shares autonomy by highlighting the government’s role in key areas andfunctions while boosting citizen governance, encouraging NGOs and beefing up socialworkers.