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Interagency Collaboration and Blame Avoidance: An Investigation of China’s Childcare Service Development

Weiyue Yang
p. 41-51

Abstract

Childcare services are becoming increasingly important in Chinese society in a context of declining birth rates and rapid population ageing. Based on a case study in three county-level regions in Shaanxi Province, this research identifies a reluctance among local health bureau officials to expand childcare services. This hesitation stems from blame-avoidance motivations shaped by existing institutional arrangements. Despite the central government’s introduction of a joint meeting mechanism, its effectiveness in enhancing interagency collaboration has been limited. The development of childcare services also provides valuable insights into policy implementation by Chinese local governments, particularly in the execution of policies that require interagency collaboration.

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Editor’s notes

Manuscript received on 8 March 2024. Accepted on 7 January 2025.

Excerpt

Full text document will be published online on March 2026.

Outline

Introduction
Institutional incentives: Performance evaluation and blame avoidance
Research method
Childcare service development in Chinese localities
Current service provision and government support
Health agents’ reluctance in policy implementation
Understanding local policy enforcement: Inadequate institutional incentives
Insufficient credit for policy implementation
Health agents’ blame-avoiding motivations and strategies
Implications: Interagency collaboration within the Chinese government
Intervention of top local authority
Policy’s political priority
Conclusion

First lines

Introduction

Care services for children under three years old are considered an important welfare programme, as they not only contribute to children’s development and socialisation (Plantenga, Remery, and Camilleri-Cassar 2009) but also support women’s labour market participation, advancing gender equality (Lewis 1992). Empirical evidence suggests that accessible and affordable childcare services reduce the financial burden of raising children, making them an effective governmental tool to tackle declining birth rates and maintain fertility (Rindfuss et al. 2010). This is particularly significant for countries such as China, where the problem of an ageing population is increasingly severe. Since the early twenty-first century, China has faced accelerated ageing and low fertility rates (Zhang, Guo, and Zheng 2012), leading to a period of negative population growth beginning in 2022. In response, the Chinese central government abrogated its decades-long One-child policy and introduced ...

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References

Bibliographical reference

Weiyue Yang, Interagency Collaboration and Blame Avoidance: An Investigation of China’s Childcare Service DevelopmentChina Perspectives, 140 | 2025, 41-51.

Electronic reference

Weiyue Yang, Interagency Collaboration and Blame Avoidance: An Investigation of China’s Childcare Service DevelopmentChina Perspectives [Online], 140 | 2025, Online since 01 March 2026, connection on 18 April 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/17925; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/13ptg

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About the author

Weiyue Yang

Weiyue Yang is a lecturer at the School of Public Administration at Guangzhou University, Waihuanxi Road No. 230, Higher Education Mega Centre, 510006 Guangzhou, China (weiyue.yang@gzhu.edu.cn).

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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