Who are Volunteers in Urban China?

Fengqin Liu,Xiulan Zhang

doi:10.1007/s11266-020-00251-4

Abstract

Although government-organized volunteering is common in China, the Chinese government has also sought to encourage the development of grassroots volunteer service organizations (VSOs) given the tremendous social service burden and the complexity of social governance. Motivated by the lack of systematic studies on volunteering in China, this study explores predictors of volunteering in urban China using data from the 2013 Survey on Philanthropic Behaviors of Urban Citizens in China. The findings indicate that generalized trust, membership in the Chinese Communist Party and type of work unit are significantly associated with the government-organized volunteering. Similar to Western countries, education, religiosity and social capital variables all help in explaining grassroots VSO-organized volunteering. Interestingly, the association between grassroots VSO-organized volunteering and trust in the central government with regard to both participation probability and time devoted to volunteering is significantly positive, whereas the association between grassroots VSO-organized volunteering and trust in local government, for both participation probability and time devoted to volunteering, is significantly negative.

Highlights

Formal volunteering refers to activities performed through organizations to alleviate needs in society by individuals who receive little to no monetary compensation for their efforts (Wang et al 2017; Xu 2014)
Abstract government-organized volunteering is common in China, the Chinese government has sought to encourage the development of grassroots volunteer service organizations (VSOs) given the tremendous social service burden and the complexity of social governance
Values underlying the development of Chinese volunteer behavior include the benevolence valued in traditional Chinese culture and the spirit of Lei Feng,6 which emerged during the planned economy

Summary

Introduction

Formal volunteering refers to activities performed through organizations to alleviate needs in society by individuals who receive little to no monetary compensation for their efforts (Wang et al 2017; Xu 2014). Before the marketoriented reform in 1978, formal volunteering among the Chinese was repressed because of the omnipotent government. The Chinese government, which has encountered severe pressure from the rapid growth in social welfare needs, has changed its perspective toward volunteering and has begun to encourage citizens to engage in more volunteer service to improve the welfare of society (Tian 2004). Both the CYVA and the CVA use administrative powers to mobilize people to participate in volunteer activities.

Methods

Results

Conclusion