[Anotated Bibliography] Why is NGO hard to establish in China, how is women empowerment effected?

(pic from internet)

1. Where did China's Attitude on NGO came from?

Z. (2019, December 4). Why does China sanction US NGOs? Bilibili. https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14J411B751?from=search&seid=2215259342727973345

On Dec. 4, 2019, the official account of the Zhejiang communist youth league published a video on Bilibili discussing China's reason for limiting NGO activities in China. He uses the current news to explain China's main point; the Chinese government declares that foreign NGOs have no right to interfere with internal political issues.

On Dec. 2, 2019, investigations on the Hong Kong protest riot show that an organization funded by the US congress is supporting those radical's action. The NGO is called NED (National Endowment for Democracy) and was notorious for meddling with the internal governance of several countries already. HKCTU (Hongkong trade institution) remains in a close relationship with NED, where it already held over 80 strikes against local government, leading to the deficit in tourism and various sale industry.

The original News report is: On Dec. 2, Chinese diplomatic speaker Hua Chunying announced that the Chinese government has decided to hold the NED and other organizations accountable for sanction/punishment. Therefore clearly, the government thinks that some foreign NGOs have exceeded their bottom line and therefore need to be restrained.

(pic from internet)

2. How did the New foreign NGO law affect the NGO "market"?

S.C.N.P.’.C. (2017, November 4). Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Domestic Activities of Foreign NGOs (2017 Amendment). Baidu Lawyer.

According to the "Law on the Administration of Domestic Activities of Foreign NGOs," the registration process of foreign NGOs have to go through the approval of two systems. Those systems are controlled by the Public Safety Agency and the Competent business Unit (a government unit that controls the establishment of companies).

I briefly summarised the limitations of those organizations, which caused the cancelation of foreign NGO settling：

*Can only establish the representative organization, that potentially belong to its

mother NGO, where the criminal responsibility lies. （Act 6）

*Can only hold events in the area and field it registered for （Act 18）

*Can't raise money (unclear.) （Act 21）

*Can't develop membership. （Act 28）

*Are not allowed to have scientific research related communication in China (for

example, no research about herbs and medicines) (Act 53)

These laws limited the function and action of foreign NGOs, potentially convinced them from not registering in China.

（screenshot from the English version of Administration of Domestic Activities of Foreign NGOs law)

3. Bad circulation formed

Deng, G. (2015b). Introduction to Philanthropy (1st ed., Vol. 285). 山东人民出版社（Shandong People’s Publishing House）

According to the book Introduction to Philanthropy (公益慈善概论/高等院校社会福利专业精编教材), it is shown that the condition for NGO workers in China isn't favorable, because the government doesn't provide a subsidy for NGO workers.

But the cost of establishing an NGO is huge since the salary of its workers and the fee of holding activities potentially came from funding. Now all the successful NGOs in China are mostly established by entrepreneurs like MaYun (CEO of Alibaba) and companies.

The new foreign NGO law also cut out the grassroots NGO experiences, which means there isn't a system for grassroots NGOs to follow.

This lead to a vicious circulation where the policies in China prohibit NGOs, making the survival of grassroots NGOs harder, lead to its dismissal and impact the government's thoughts on supporting NGO establishment.

Clearly, the Chinese government has not realized the importance of grassroots NGOs because they did not provide supportive regulation and policies to aid NGO's growth.

(pic from internet)

4. Women empowerment condition in China

China Development Brief. (2006, June 15). CDB. http://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.org.cn/

China Development Brief shows that there are around 252 women empowerment organizations in China. I briefly checked, most of them are connected with the local city government. But it obviously didn't cover all the cities because there are 661 cities in China. And I can't investigate the efficiency of those NGOs.

All-China Women’s Federation. (1993, June 15). 中华全国妇女联合会. http://www.women.org.cn/

There is an All-China Women's Federation or so-called Chinese Women empowerment organization, a federal organization that is pretty authoritative. It does have divisions in each area, that covers the issue. Citizens can ask them for help on legal issues related to women's rights, and get free support. But there are local perception related problems that needed to be solved by an organization that knows the local area well enough and has some overall view.

(pic from internet)