China’s Civil Society: Controls, Limits and Role in a “Harmonious Society”

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)The rise of the global civil society in the 1990s and the emergence of an increasingly global economy reflect a new system of power distribution in the international political order. society (CSOs) are organisations that originate outside the state apparatus and business, and include those that are more widely known as non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In 1996, the United Nations outlined its formal association with civil society organisations in an Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) resolution by establishing accreditation procedures through the Committee on Non-Governmental Organisations.((2) Today, non-governmental organisations can apply for general consultative status and be accredited to take active part in UN conferences and summits. While only 714 organisations were accredited to ECOSOC in 1992,((3) today the number stands at 3,051.((4)China's regulatory framework for CSOsMirroring the global scene, there has been a proliferation of CSOs, including NGOs, charities, foundations, advocacy groups and professional associations, in China within the past decade.((5) Official Chinese figures from 1989 in the early days of its statistical record keeping on these organisations placed the number at slightly over 200,000,((6) while the 2006 statistics counted 354,000 CSOs.((7) However, due to restrictive registration policies, scholars estimate that the number of CSOs in 2006 actually exceeded 3 million.((8)This wide gap between official and unofficial numbers stems in part from the fact that China lacks a clear regulatory framework governing the definition and operation of CSOs. For instance, terminologies on how various CSOs are officially classified versus how they are commonly referred to are confusing and, at times, overlapping. In addition, the term organisation (NPO) has recently become another common and more favourable reference for civil society in China, given the non-profit nature of CSOs that is required by law. However, both terms NGO and NPO, though often colloquially used to refer to China's civil society, lack official definitions and are outside China's regulatory regime.This article provides an overview of domestic civil society organisations in China and the regulations that govern and affect their work. It examines the various layers of regulatory control that are used to limit the activities of Chinese CSOs beyond government-sanctioned activities. As a whole, these imposed tactics obstruct the development of civil society as a meaningful venue for participatory and inclusive political and social dialogue that could mediate tensions and address grievances in society, and in so doing, contribute to a genuine harmonious society in China.Overview of Civil Society in ChinaIn China, the fundamental aspects of CSOs, literally translated as Minjian zuzhi ... are not well understood, given the complex and often repressive regulatory regime that restricts their work. Several key regulations issued since 1998 have attempted to officially classify all CSOs into the three main categories of social organisations, foundations and popular non-enterprise work units (PNEWUs).((9) The legal definitions for these categories are:* Social organisations or SOs (Shehui tuanti ..., She tuan ...)-voluntary groups formed by Chinese citizens in order to realise a shared objective, according to their rules and to develop non-profitmaking activities.((10)* Foundations (Jijinhui ...)-non-profit legal entities established in accordance with these regulations that employ assets donated by actual persons, legal entities or other organisations for the purpose of engaging in some public benefit enterprise.((11)* Popular non-enterprise work units or PNEWUs (minban feiqiye danwei ... or private and noncommercial entities)-social organisations carrying out social service activities of a non-profit nature, run by enterprises and institutional work units, social groups and other social forces, and also individual citizens using nonstate assets. …