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2016 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

3. Non-Governmental Organizations in Contemporary China: Development of Community-Based Social Service Organizations

Author : Leslie Shieh

Published in: Facing China as a New Global Superpower

Publisher: Springer Singapore

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Abstract

Under China’s agenda of welfare socialization (shehuifuli shehuihua 社会福利社会化), the responsibility to fund and provide social services is increasingly being transferred from the central state to lower levels of government and to social and market actors. The 12th 5-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2011–2015) further places priority on diversifying the types of service providers and service provision methods.

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Residents’ committee reform is part of a nationwide emphasis on neighbourhood-based governance under the Community Construction (shequ jianshe 社区建设) policy. For discussions of the policy, see Benewick and Takarhara (2002), Derleth and Koldyk (2004), Wong and Poon (2005), Bray (2006), Yan and Gao (2007), Shieh (2011).

Given the institutional rural–urban divide in China, it is important to point out that this chapter’s focus is on urban China, where social services that were previously provided by the state through state-owned enterprises are being transferred to local governments, communities, social organizations and individuals.

The names of people and places in this paper are pseudonyms.

Mass organizations are often used interchangeably with people’s organizations (renmin tuanti 人民团体). However, Ma (2006, p. 82) makes the careful distinction that the latter term, carrying greater political status, refers to organizations that participated in the first Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in September 1949.

For a detailed discussion of the regulations on social organizations, see White et al. (1996) for the 1989 Regulations and Saich (2000) and Ma (2006) with regards to the 1998 Regulations.

The new regulations for social organizations and minfei organizations were adopted in 1998: Regulations for Registration and Management of Social Organizations; (States Council 1998a, b) Provisional Regulations on the Registration and Management of Civilian-run Non-enterprise Units. In 2004, the State Council passed a new Regulations concerning the Management of Foundations, applicable to both domestic and foreign foundations. China Development Brief (www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com) has translated the three regulations into English.

In my fieldwork, the term minfei was predominantly used by officials and researchers. The alternate term minban (民办), or civilian-run, was more often used by the staff of organizations to describe their organization. The latter is likely a more familiar term. Community-run rural schools, also referred to in Chinese as minban, have been in existence since the founding of the People’s Republic and run in conjunction with state-run primary schools (Murphy 2004).

The term “non-profit” (fei yingli 非营利) is used to describe the nature of organizations. As Ma (2006, p. 85) notes, the term “non-profit organization” (fei yingli zuzhi 非营利组织) does not refer to Chinese social organizations, but rather tends to be used as a translation of foreign-run groups.

My examination of the nature of Sunrise’s collaboration with district bureaus is informed by the five dimensions of partnership discussed by McQuaid (2000, pp. 12–18): (1) the purpose of the collaboration; (2) the structure of the relationship between the key actors; (3) the nature of the partnership over time; (4) the geographic scale of the activities; and (5) the mechanisms through which the activities are carried out.

In his examination of the non-profit sector in Japan, Deguchi (2001) draws caution to the mainstreaming or institutionalization of private social service providers.

In a 2005 report, the Nanjing Old Age Commission stated that one-third of the city’s residents aged over 60 lived with their spouse independent from their adult children and 7 % lived alone. The survey revealed that of those who lived by themselves, close to 40 % did not receive a pension and 42 % lacked access to the public health care system. Moreover, more than one-third did not have children and so were without any family support (Nanjing Municipal Old Age Commission 2006).

Street offices and residents’ committees form the base of the urban administrative system. About 1000–3000 households comprise a neighbourhood unit (shequ 社区) under the management of a residents’ committee. Typically in large cities, 10–15 shequ fall under the supervision of a street office (jiedao banshichu 街道办事处).

Seniors’ associations are neighbourhood-level organizations and fall under corresponding organizations at the street office, district and municipal levels. This vertical integration means that every administrative neighbourhood has a seniors’ association, and that while organizing social activities is its primary function, it occasionally undertakes administrative duties as a representative of seniors in the community.

For North American readers, the seniors’ centre that Director Pan is experimenting with may not seem like a novel idea. However, it is important to stress that in the context of urban China, the responsibility for elder care has shifted away from work units and onto the local state, communities, and families. Gaps remain in infrastructure, resources and public–private coordination; and new paradigms and models are sought for elder care.

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Title: Non-Governmental Organizations in Contemporary China: Development of Community-Based Social Service Organizations
Author: Leslie Shieh
Publisher: Springer Singapore
Book: Facing China as a New Global Superpower
Print ISBN: 978-981-287-822-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-981-287-823-6

Copyright Year: 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-823-6_3

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