Abstract
Non-governmental organization (NGO) work and social movements meet in their desire to change social politics, and they also often challenge state power. Furthermore, NGO work as well as social movements are established and carried out by individuals who share the same interests and who engage publicly to realize them. Both are thus specific forms of social engagement. In China, NGO work is subject to massive state regulations which results in a sector that is closely linked to the government as will be shown in this chapter by referring to respective state regulations. A majority of NGO work can therefore be best described as being state-affirmative. However, the relationship between state and NGOs is constantly being renegotiated. Whereas the state wants to control NGO work as much as possible, NGO activists are eager to answer social demands, to offer social services which are neglected by the state, and to extend the state-set scope of action. This will be shown in the case of specific NGOs. Generally, NGO work is legitimated on moral grounds. When engaged in issues which the state regards as politically and/or socially sensitive, it furthermore challenges the state-set limits for social engagement. NGO work is thus understood as having an increasing potential to initiate social change.
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Notes
- 1.
See Charter 08, Lingba xianzhang 零八宪章, www.charter08.com/chinese/charter08book.pdf. Accessed 17 Jan, 2011.
- 2.
- 3.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch (2009), local authorities do often violently prevent protesters from handing in petitions by incarcerating them unofficially in so-called black jails (hei jianyu 黑监狱) and depriving them of any access to legal protection.
- 4.
This is also true for the most recent protests in the southern village of Wukan, Guangdong province. In September 2011, the protests arose out of the village officials’ illegal selling-off of collective land to private investors. The conflict escalated in December 2011 after one of the newly elected village representatives died in custody in unknown circumstances. As a consequence, party officials and police forces were chased out of Wukan, followed by armed forces besieging the village. However, the villagers were eager to define their protests as being only directed against the corrupt local bureaucracy and not against the party in general. In fact, they declared their support for the party on various banners. Unlike many times before in other parts of the country, the Wukan protests were not suppressed violently. Instead, provincial senior officials acknowledged the legitimacy of the villagers’ demands and promised to reinvestigate the situation, and the villagers subsequently ended their public protests. They received further support by Premier Wen Jiabao who stated that the government must protect land rights. In summary, the Wukan protests do illustrate impressively that people are well aware of their rights, are willing to stand up publicly for them, but also that they understand that conflicts like these are locally based. The protests also illustrate the fast-growing contradictions between economic development and social stability. Because Guangdong’s provincial officials decided in favor of the latter, the conflict was settled peacefully. It remains to be seen whether this serves as a model for resolving future conflicts. On these points, see Fähnders (2011). See also Hornby (2012).
- 5.
Only recently acknowledged are new forms of entrepreneurial organizations as examples of collective action. It has to be stated, however, that these organizations represent the winners of social transformation who are a privileged group within society (Guiheux 2009).
- 6.
In November 2011, Guangdong’s Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a new Draft (2011) to simplify NGO registration in its province. It states that from July 1, 2012 onward, “professional management units” (yewu zhuguan danwei 业务主管单位) will be downgraded to so-called “professional guidance units” (yewu zhidao danwei 业务指导单位). Hence, NGOs will not need these units anymore but will be allowed to register directly with the respective provincial or local departments of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. See Draft (2011) Yangcheng wanbao: Jin yibu peiyu fazhan he guifan guanli shehui zuzhi fang’an (羊城晚报:进一步培育发展和规范管理社会组织方案 Yangcheng Evening News: Draft on further developing and standardizing the management of social organizations. www.gzmz.gov.cn/zmhd/mtgz/201111/11292.html. Last accessed 6 Feb, 2012.
- 7.
In the aforementioned Draft (2011), Guangdong’s Ministry of Civil Affairs also lifts this restriction and will allow “numerous NGOs in the same area of work (yi ye duo hui 一业多会)” in the province. We have to wait and see whether Guangdong’s approach to simplify the NGO-registration process will serve as a guide for the national Ministry of Civil Affairs.
- 8.
For all information concerning the NGO, see www.guduzh.org.cn. Last accessed 8 Aug, 2010.
- 9.
Only foundations are exempted from this restriction.
- 10.
It has to be noted, however, that the Interim Measures for Banning Illegal Non-Governmental Organizations (2000) do not mention any content-related reasons for the banning but only administrative measures to regulate the banning process.
- 11.
Administrative pressures experienced by legal NGOs working on the sensitive issue of HIV/AIDS are but one recent example. Often registered as private for-profit units, these NGOs’ income is subject to taxation, although taxes are reduced for donations. However, whether or not a donation is declared correctly is open to negotiation between the NGOs and local tax offices. Even if it is cleared in favor of the NGO, the whole process illustrates one means of officially harassing NGO work. Further harassments include additional tax audits, fire prevention tests for NGO offices, the banning of conferences and workshops, and the confiscation of published material. All this aims at hindering regular NGO work and has happened to Wan Yanhai 万延海 and his NGO, for instance. Wan is one of the most prolific and outspoken Chinese HIV/AIDS activists. In 1994, he established his first NGO called Aizhixing 爱知行. After it was shut down in 2002, he opened up the Beijing-based Aizhixing Institute of Health Education (Beijing ai zhi xing jiankang jiaoyu yanjiusuo 爱知 行健康教育研究所). In 2005, he was forced to rename the NGO and to delete any reference to AIDS and health education. He reregistered it under the name of Beijing Zhi’aixing Information and Counseling Center (Beijing Zhi’aixing xinxi zixun zhongxin 北京知爱行信息 庨询中心). However, it did not escape official attention. Furthermore, Wan’s activities and his linking of HIV/AIDS with human rights issues have made him a target of state harassment. Together with his family, he left China for the United States in May 2010 when state pressure became unbearable (Wong 2010; Grayson 2011). As of January 2011, the NGO’s website (www.aizhi.net) can no longer be accessed.
- 12.
All information concerning the charity was taken from its website http://en.aidswaisen.de.
- 13.
- 14.
Specific to the blood plasma donation process, plasmapheresis, is the procedure whereby after the plasma is separated from the blood, this very blood is returned to the donor in a sterile circle to help the body quickly rebuild plasma. As the blood needs approximately 48 h to replace the plasma, the donation process can be repeated after 3 days. See www.donatingplasma.org.
- 15.
AIDS-Waisen Hilfe e.V. (2010), unpublished material of the charity.
- 16.
Ibid.
- 17.
See also www.savethechildren.org.cn/index.php/en/about-us/faqs. Accessed 22 May, 2011.
- 18.
All information concerning Pugongying, dandelion in English, is taken from the NGO’s website www.pgyxh.com/index.asp.
- 19.
See www.aidswaisen.de. Accessed 18 Aug, 2010.
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Häse, B. (2013). Challenges of Social Engagement: NGO Work in the People’s Republic of China. In: Andreosso-O'Callaghan, B., Royall, F. (eds) Economic and Political Change in Asia and Europe. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4653-4_13
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