abstract Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the development of science and technology evaluation (hereinafter ‘S&T evaluation’) has followed a similar trajectory to the development of science and technology (S&T) more generally. Evaluation presents an example of how management and decision-making in the S&T field has been gradually optimized. Compared to other sectors, research on the development of S&T evaluation is sparse, especially in the English language literature. Authored by Chinese S&T evaluation practitioners, this article examines the trajectory of contemporary S&T evaluation in the PRC, attempting to perceive and explain the governance logic behind it and highlighting regulatory and legislative developments. The article also offers thoughts about potential future developments in this field from the perspective of the goal of pursuing ‘Chinese modernization’.

Currently, China has not established a unified personal bankruptcy system. Relevant pilot projects have merely been conducted in some regions or cities within the country, and certain experiences have been obtained. In the context where the revision of the bankruptcy legal system has been incorporated into the work plan of the national legislative organ, this paper endeavors to summarize the practical experience related to the personal bankruptcy system in China, analyze current needs for such a system, and compare international legislative practices to provide recommendations for developing China’s personal bankruptcy system.

Major events can and do play an important role in the development of volunteering in China. This article employs organizational neo-institutionalism as a lens to examine and interpret the meanings of major events for the development of Chinese volunteerism. We consider the Wenchuan earthquake and the Beijing Olympics as “Field-Configuring Events” that influenced the process of institutionalizing volunteering. The article’s findings highlight that these major events shaped the public’s culture and cognition of volunteering and the network-governance structure of volunteering, thereby opening a window of opportunity for volunteerism policy decision-making.

The rise of social forces in humanitarian assistance and risk governance is becoming increasingly apparent in the international humanitarian community. Yet relatively little is known about the evolution of volunteering policy in non-Western cases. This article summarizes the evolution of Chinese policy on volunteerism from 1978 to 2019 based on bibliometric analysis. Given the scarcity of such policy evolution mapping in China, the article analyzes volunteering-related policies based on a framework of ‘policy issuing networks, policy foci, and policy tools’. The evolution of volunteering policy is divided into five stages based on policy-issuing frequency, background, and content. The article identifies the core policy-issuing agencies in volunteering policy processes using network analysis, extracts the core policy foci using frequency statistics and cluster analysis, and analyzes policy tool applications using semantic analysis. This produces three main findings. First, the policy issuance network has undergone a process from ‘predominance to decentralization to clustering’, with core ‘pillars’ as issuing agencies. Second, policies have promoted volunteering in diversified policy areas and by a broad range of social actors. Third, policies leave autonomy to society by applying more symbolic and incentive tools, but in the face of national strategies, issuing agencies are inclined to adopt authoritative, system-changing, and capacity-building tools.