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China Development Brief May 2007

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:25:15 +0100

The editorial in this issue argues that the “birth control riots” in Guangxi underline the need for improved implementation of family planning rules which, despite the pain they have caused, have also played a key role in China’s social and economic transformation.

A feature article looks at the proliferation of gay support groups in China’s northeast and asks whether this a civil society success story or an opportunistic response to the influx of international funds.

A report on China’s new transparency rules for government notes that some progressive localities are ahead of the central government on this issue, and that national rules remain ambiguous as to how much the public has a right to know.

A review essay discusses some of the growing China-in-Africa literature.

Shorter items report on developments in EU-UNDP cooperation on civil society and biodiversity programs, on the rapid growth of a “Give2Asia” funding program, and on a WWF study that suggests China is not responsible for much of its “global footprint.”

China Development Brief April 2007

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:02:26 +0100

The editorial in this edition argues that Chinese “Government-Organised NGOs” are unlikely to wither away any time soon—but that some need to wake up and clean up their act.

An accompanying feature article looks at the plans of governments and multinational corporations to boost China’s non-profit sector through a variety of “platforms” designed to increase visibility, but also transparency and accountability.

Rather than treating child trafficking as an isolated issue, the government of China should respond by creating comprehensive and integrated child protection mechanisms, Save the Children’s Kate Wedgwood, He Ye (何叶) and Sun Tiezheng (孙铁铮) argue in an article excerpted from a recent presentation to the Foreign Correspondents Club in Beijing.

Non-profit sector: The management scientists are coming

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 02:14:58 +0100

China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs is campaigning to promote charitable giving, while also hoping to encourage higher standards of non-profit performance and accountability. Meanwhile, reports Chang Tianle (常天乐), multinational corporations and management consultants are also hoping to bring business models—or, at least, a more businesslike approach—to the non-profit sector.

Child trafficking: Protecting children in a society on the move

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:23:25 +0100

Rather than treating child trafficking as an isolated issue, the government of China should respond by creating comprehensive and integrated child protection mechanisms, Save the Children’s Kate Wedgwood, He Ye (何叶) and Sun Tiezheng (孙铁铮) argue in the following excerpts from a recent presentation to the Foreign Correspondents Club in Beijing.

China Development Brief Feb. and Mar. 2007

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 02:38:37 +0100

Our February and March issue mainly concerns about rural situation in China. Editorial "Show Some Respect Amnesty" focus on rural migrants in China cities; "Capitalist Fillip for China's New Socialist Countryside" was written about rural funance; "Getting Together Again" pay attention to rural co-operation; First person "My Fortune Started with Two Rabbits and a Sickle" shows a story of a farmer, whose journey from poverty to ralative prosperity in rural Sichuan, and how this led him to become a social entrepreneur. There are also some short news in this issue.

Capitalist fillip for China’s new socialist countryside

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:29:39 +0000

At the end of 2005, the People’s Bank of China (China’s central bank) launched a pilot initiative to create new, privately invested lending institutions in some of China’s poorest areas. A year later, the China Banking Regulatory Commission announced measures to stimulate new “village banks” and financial cooperatives, and on the last day of 2006 it also licensed the Post Office Savings Bank to enter the rural credit market. Rural finance experts have welcomed the new measures. But, Nick Young reports, many earlier efforts to encourage rural credit have faltered and it may be some time yet before financial services trickle down to the poor.

Rural Cooperatives: Getting together again

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:48:13 +0100

In January the Ministry of Agriculture launched a month-long drive to inform farmers and local officials about the new Law on Farmer Professional Cooperatives (农民专业合作社法). Given China’s long and varied experience of things called “cooperative” it might take longer than a month to get the message through, Chang Tianle (常天乐) concluded after visiting Anhui, Sichuan and Yunnan.

Editorial: Show some respect, Amnesty

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 02:53:42 +0100

Rural migrants to Chinese cities are having a very tough time, according to a report issued in March by Amnesty International. True enough. But hardly news to anyone at all familiar with the subject. Any well-informed broadsheet newspaper reader in the West knows this already, and so of course do all Chinese people who have been out of their village. So what was the point?

First Person: "My fortune started with two rabbits and a sickle”

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 04:16:06 +0100

Although average rural incomes have failed to keep pace with rising urban incomes, some people in China’s countryside are managing to thrive. Here, Ren Xuping (任旭平) tells Chang Tianle (常天乐) about his journey from poverty to relative prosperity in rural Sichuan, and how this led him to become a social entrepreneur.

>HOW MUCH INEQUALITY CAN CHINA STAND?

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 06:03:19 +0000

This monograph is based on a presentation by Nick Young to a Wilton Park Conference in Steyning, UK, in October 2006.

Section I (pp 3-11) describes the range and nature of growing inequalities in China, citing indicators that are largely drawn from Chinese government sources. (This section was published in our December 2005 newsletter)

Section II (pp 11-22) discusses the role of inequality in the economy, also placing this in a historical and global context. It argues that inequality in land and labour markets has been a driver of growth but now constrains change in the nature of that growth.

Section III (pp 22-35) considers the political sustainability of inequality. It sketches emerging class stratification, noting that the wide gap between top and bottom income groups is occupied by a “bulging middle,” comprising roughly half the population, whose incomes are rather low and whose fortunes and attitudes will be critical to future stability. This section concludes that palliative measures and policies the government is now putting in place will, given continued, steady economic growth, probably suffice to avoid widespread unrest. But, this section also argues, incremental political reform to increase administrative accountability will be increasingly necessary to satisfy rising social expectations.

Newsletter January 2007

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 05:34:11 +0000

Chinese environmentalists, whether from government, research institutes or NGOs, should be seen as comprising a “community”, not a “movement,” argues the editorial. A feature article explores the critically important but also extremely complex field of fiscal reform; while another feature article, contributed by Seattle University professor, Rob Efird, describes and discusses the activities in China of Japanese environmental NGOs. Shorter news pieces report on efforts by international NGO, Plan, to improve the registration procedures for rural children; on progress in an ADB-supported project to foster government-ngo partnerships in poverty alleviation; on changes in emphasis for a Hong Kong charity, Sowers Action, which supports education on China’s mainland, and on the findings of a study on maternal and child health published by Unicef, WHO and the Ministry of Health.

China Development Brief December 2006

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:33:33 +0000

If China is to develop a globally competitive media industry, more freedom will have to be given to media professionals, argues the editorial. Professional development is also the theme of a feature article that discusses the status of social work in China. An analytical essay asks how much inequality China can stand. Shorter news stories report on: NGO “learning networks;” a “case bank” of gender experiences; greener consumption; the impacts of WTO on Chinese farmers and NGO networking in Qinghai Province.

Editorial: It's a community, not a movement

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:12:14 +0000

A paper published last year in The China Quarterly concludes, on the basis of interviews with Chinese university students, that “There is little likelihood of environmentalism among students transforming into an independent grassroots movement or becoming a source of pressure for political change.” The most revealing aspect of this study is not the finding but the fact that the researchers chose to pursue such a line of enquiry.

Why are watchers of China’s civil society so preoccupied with looking for signs of nascent, oppositional movements? The prevailing paradigm for social and political change, it seems, sees a necessary role at some point for barricades (or, at least, a “non-violent” variant.) Such a view is not only anathema to the Chinese authorities, inviting the kind of heightened security surveillance that we have seen over the last 18 months, it also implicitly discards—as naïvely idealistic, no doubt—the hope that rational debate and enlightened self-interest may deliver meaningful progress. Yet in a world that is melting at the seams that may be our best hope.

Fiscal reform: Disentangling the public purse strings

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 05:24:24 +0000

For more than a decade, China’s total government revenues have been rising faster than GDP, recording 19.9% growth in 2005 alone. This sounds like great news for the government’s efforts to promote more equitable development with greater equality of opportunity and more robust social protections for the poor. But, as Chang Tianle (常天乐)reports, although reform efforts are gathering pace,the fiscal system is fraught with problems that tend to perpetuate, rather than reduce, inequalities.

In 1994 China’s total government revenue was just 10.8% of GDP. By 2005 it had risen to 17.3% of GDP—a larger share of a much larger cake, but still well below international norms of 30-50%. Nevertheless, the steady rise in revenues brings into sharper focus the issue of how those revenues are distributed across regions and sectors. Chinese officials, economists and development specialists are engaging in important debates on this topic, and international agencies are also flagging it as critical to China’s sustainable and harmonious development.

Japanese environmental NGOs in China

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 06:10:14 +0000

Less vocal and publicity-seeking than their Western counterparts, Japanese environmental NGOs have nonetheless achieved a substantial presence in China, reports Robert Efird

Japan and China have been described as “neighbors separated by a mere strip of water,” an expression that emphasizes both the physical proximity of the two nations as well as their extensive and longstanding cultural affinities. These historical and cultural connections help to explain why more Japanese NGOs are engaged in exchange with China than with any other country, while the shared geography is one reason why so much Japanese NGO activity in China is focused on the environment. Yet the activities of Japanese environmental organizations in China remain largely unknown to both non-Japanese NGOs and the Chinese public. This is unfortunate, for though often small in scale and constrained by uncertain funding and scarce institutional support, a number of these NGOs have nevertheless established strong, successful relationships with Chinese counterparts and made significant contributions to Chinese social welfare and environmental protection.