Abstract

This chapter first describes the macro pay system environment in China, in which pay systems evolved after the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established; second highlights the key areas that have been investigated in recent empirical studies on pay practices such as pay transformation, pay disparity, and the pay–performance link; and third provides a case study example of performance-related pay (PRP) in China’s public schools. The case study illustrates the pay reform introduced to the Chinese public sector particularly its public service units (PSUs) ¹ in 2009 with PRP as its central theme.