The Making of a Chinese NGO: The Research and Intervention Project on Domestic Violence

Problems of Post-Communism

Volumn 50, Issue 6, 2003, Pages 38-50

  Keith, Ronald C ^a   Lin, Zhiqiu ^b   Lie, Huang ^c,d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY   (Canada)

^b CARLETON UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^c CHINESE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES   (China)

^d Info Ctr for Res IADV

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0344196722     PISSN: 10758216     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2003.11656062     Document Type: Review

References (61)

1. Western views of the political reality of organizations in Chinese society differ. For the sake of clarity, this article accepts the distinction between organization in Chinese society (shehui zuzhi) and social organization (shehui tuanti). The former includes all state and non-state organizations, and the latter, organizations that are not part of the state.
2. These questions are pursued in David Ding's application of Philippe C. Schmitter's analysis of corporatism and pluralism in "Corporatism and Civil Society in China: An Overview of the Debate in Recent Years," China Information 12, no. 4 (spring 1998): 45-46.
3. Ding cites Sun Bingyao, "Zhongguo shehui tuanti guanmin erchongxing wenti" (The Dual Nature of China's Associations), Zhongguo xuehui kexue jikan (Chinese Social Science Quarterly), no. 6 (February 1994): 18.
4. Gao Bingzhong, "The Rise of Associations in China and the Question of Their Legitimacy," Social Sciences in China, no. 1 (spring 2001): 73.
5. See U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2000 (www.state.gov/g/drl/hrrpt/2000/), p. 33. The March 2, 2002, report (www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrp/2002/, p. 2) makes briefer reference to NGOs but repeats the point that the government does not allow independent domestic non-governmental organizations to monitor human rights.
6. See U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2000 (www.state.gov/g/drl/hrrpt/2000/), p. 33. The March 2, 2002, report (www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrp/2002/, p. 2) makes briefer reference to NGOs but repeats the point that the government does not allow independent domestic non-governmental organizations to monitor human rights.
7. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2002, p. 17.
8. China Development Brief, 250 Chinese NGOs: Civil Society in the Making, available at www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com. This directory lists a range of non-profit Chinese organizations. The counting of NGOs is indeed problematic. See also Xinhua (November 23, 1998). Jude Howell reports that it is difficult to accurately estimate the number of foreign NGOs operating in China because there is no formal system of registration and NGOs tend to concentrate their activities in a single province. Howell estimated there were fifteen foreign NGOs in China in 1995, including Oxfam Hong Kong, the British Save the Child Fund, the German Friedrich-Naumannstiftung, and the U.S. Peace Corps. In order to operate in China, foreign NGOs must attach themselves to "a government department which, as well as having a supervisory function, will also mediate on their behalf within the state structure." Jude Howell, "Prospects for NGOs in China," Development in Practice 5, no. 1 (February 1995): 8.
9. China Development Brief, 250 Chinese NGOs: Civil Society in the Making, available at www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com. This directory lists a range of non-profit Chinese organizations. The counting of NGOs is indeed problematic. See also Xinhua (November 23, 1998). Jude Howell reports that it is difficult to accurately estimate the number of foreign NGOs operating in China because there is no formal system of registration and NGOs tend to concentrate their activities in a single province. Howell estimated there were fifteen foreign NGOs in China in 1995, including Oxfam Hong Kong, the British Save the Child Fund, the German Friedrich-Naumannstiftung, and the U.S. Peace Corps. In order to operate in China, foreign NGOs must attach themselves to "a government department which, as well as having a supervisory function, will also mediate on their behalf within the state structure." Jude Howell, "Prospects for NGOs in China," Development in Practice 5, no. 1 (February 1995): 8.
10. American Chamber of Commerce-PRC, "White Paper 2002: American Business in China," available at www.amcham-china. Also Kai Xu, "The Rise of Chinese NGOs: Bargaining Between State and Society," unpublished manuscript, p. 13.
11. American Chamber of Commerce-PRC, "White Paper 2002: American Business in China," available at www.amcham-china. Also Kai Xu, "The Rise of Chinese NGOs: Bargaining Between State and Society," unpublished manuscript, p. 13.
12. Chinese scholars seem to use these terms interchangeably. They agree that there is currently an exponential growth in the number of associations in China but differ over the extent to which such a society has been fashioned. See, for example, Xie Haiding, "Jinqi Zhongguo shetuanfa yujiuzhongde jige redian wenti" (Several Hot Issues Concerning Recent Research on Chinese Association Law), Huanqiu falu pinglun (CASS Journal of Law) (summer 2002).
13. See, for example, Chen Guangyao, Deputy Bureau Director, Non-Governmental Organizations Administrative Bureau, Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs, Speech to World Congress of Association Executives, August 12, 2000, pp. 2-3.
14. C.V. James, ed.; CASS, comp. and trans., Information China, 3 vols. (Oxford: Pergamon, 1988), p. 433, as cited in R.C. Keith, China's Struggle for the Rule of Law (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994), p. 30. For contemporary discussion of this concept, see Tian Pingan et al., Dangdai fa zhexue yanjiu yu shensuo (Research and Inquiry on the Contemporary Philosophy of Law) (Beijing: Falu chubanshe, 2000), pp. 502-3, Kang Damin charts the concept in Gong'an lun (On Public Security) (Beijing: Qunzhong chubanshe, 1998), p. 482
15. C.V. James, ed.; CASS, comp. and trans., Information China, 3 vols. (Oxford: Pergamon, 1988), p. 433, as cited in R.C. Keith, China's Struggle for the Rule of Law (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994), p. 30. For contemporary discussion of this concept, see Tian Pingan et al., Dangdai fa zhexue yanjiu yu shensuo (Research and Inquiry on the Contemporary Philosophy of Law) (Beijing: Falu chubanshe, 2000), pp. 502-3, Kang Damin charts the concept in Gong'an lun (On Public Security) (Beijing: Qunzhong chubanshe, 1998), p. 482
16. C.V. James, ed.; CASS, comp. and trans., Information China, 3 vols. (Oxford: Pergamon, 1988), p. 433, as cited in R.C. Keith, China's Struggle for the Rule of Law (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994), p. 30. For contemporary discussion of this concept, see Tian Pingan et al., Dangdai fa zhexue yanjiu yu shensuo (Research and Inquiry on the Contemporary Philosophy of Law) (Beijing: Falu chubanshe, 2000), pp. 502-3, Kang Damin charts the concept in Gong'an lun (On Public Security) (Beijing: Qunzhong chubanshe, 1998), p. 482
17. C.V. James, ed.; CASS, comp. and trans., Information China, 3 vols. (Oxford: Pergamon, 1988), p. 433, as cited in R.C. Keith, China's Struggle for the Rule of Law (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994), p. 30. For contemporary discussion of this concept, see Tian Pingan et al., Dangdai fa zhexue yanjiu yu shensuo (Research and Inquiry on the Contemporary Philosophy of Law) (Beijing: Falu chubanshe, 2000), pp. 502-3, Kang Damin charts the concept in Gong'an lun (On Public Security) (Beijing: Qunzhong chubanshe, 1998), p. 482
18. This new term was discussed in an interview with Huang Lie in Beijing on October 25, 2001.
19. As discussed in the first draft chapters of a Routledge book manuscript, R.C. Keith and Zhiqiu Lin, New Crime in China: Public Order vs. Human Rights, forthcoming 2004.
20. Howell, "Prospects for NGOs in China," p. 7.
21. I b i d.
22. See Mary Yee, "The Women's Movement and the Women's Federation," M.A. thesis, University of Calgary, April 2002.
23. This is the view of Chen Jinluo as cited in Li Yong, "Chinese NGOs Struggle to Survive," report by the World and China Institute, available at www.world-and-china.com. The authors thank University of Calgary doctoral candidate Xu Kai for drawing our attention to this article.
24. Howell, "Prospects for NGOs in China," p. 7.
25. R.C. Keith and Zhiqiu Lin, Law and Justice in China's New Marketplace (New York: Palgrave, 2001), pp. 68-81.
26. Howell, "Prospects for NGOs in China," p. 8.
27. Xinhua (November 23, 1998).
28. Xin Chunying and Zhang Hua, "Quanqiuhua jieshe geming yu shetuan lifa" (Global Revolution of Associations and Social Organization Legislation), Faxue yanjiu (CASS Journal of Law) 20, no. 3 (May 1998): 117.
29. Renmin ribao (December 12, 1984).
30. Zhongguo falu fagui daquan (Complete Collection of Chinese Laws and Regulations) (Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2001).
31. I b i d.
32. I b i d.
33. I b i d.
34. See, for example, Chen Sixi, "Bi tan si ze: Xian zhuang yu wei lai: Woguo shetuan lifa zhuangkuang shuping" (Four Written Opinions: The Present and Future: A Review of the Status of China's Law on Association), Huanqiu falu pinglun (Global Legal Review) (summer 2002); Xie Haiding, "Bi tan si ze: Jinqi Zhongguo shetuanfa yanjiuzhongde redian wenti" (Four Written Opinions: The Hot Issues in the Research of China's Present Law on Social Organization), in ibid.; Chen Jinluo, "Zhuti fayan: Zhongguo minjian zuzhide falu yanjiu" (Discussion Topic: Legal Research on Chinese Popular Association), Qinghua NGO Research Center Brief Report, no. 18 (May 25, 2002).
35. See, for example, Chen Sixi, "Bi tan si ze: Xian zhuang yu wei lai: Woguo shetuan lifa zhuangkuang shuping" (Four Written Opinions: The Present and Future: A Review of the Status of China's Law on Association), Huanqiu falu pinglun (Global Legal Review) (summer 2002); Xie Haiding, "Bi tan si ze: Jinqi Zhongguo shetuanfa yanjiuzhongde redian wenti" (Four Written Opinions: The Hot Issues in the Research of China's Present Law on Social Organization), in ibid.; Chen Jinluo, "Zhuti fayan: Zhongguo minjian zuzhide falu yanjiu" (Discussion Topic: Legal Research on Chinese Popular Association), Qinghua NGO Research Center Brief Report, no. 18 (May 25, 2002).
36. See, for example, Chen Sixi, "Bi tan si ze: Xian zhuang yu wei lai: Woguo shetuan lifa zhuangkuang shuping" (Four Written Opinions: The Present and Future: A Review of the Status of China's Law on Association), Huanqiu falu pinglun (Global Legal Review) (summer 2002); Xie Haiding, "Bi tan si ze: Jinqi Zhongguo shetuanfa yanjiuzhongde redian wenti" (Four Written Opinions: The Hot Issues in the Research of China's Present Law on Social Organization), in ibid.; Chen Jinluo, "Zhuti fayan: Zhongguo minjian zuzhide falu yanjiu" (Discussion Topic: Legal Research on Chinese Popular Association), Qinghua NGO Research Center Brief Report, no. 18 (May 25, 2002).
37. Xin Chunying and Zhang Hua, "Quanqiuhua jieshe geming yu shetuan lifa" (Global Revolution of Associations and Social Organization Legislation), Faxue yanjiu (CASS Journal of Law) 20, no. 3 (May 1998): 120.
38. For analysis of reform thinking on the market economy and the need to decrease state and increase societal responsibility for human justice. see Keith and Lin, Law and Justice in China's New Marketplace, pp. 238-39.
39. Chen Mingxia, "Gei funu yige meiyou baolide shijie" (For Women: A World Without Violence), Huanqiu falu pinglun (Global Law Review), no. 118 (spring 2001): 126-27.
40. This borrows from the World Order Model Project's distinction between geopolitics and "humane governance." The latter, a normative process that involves new patterns of international networking, deliberately seeks to augment "the proper ordering of political life at all levels of social interaction." See, for example, Richard Falk, On Humane Governance: Toward a New Global Politics (State College: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), p. 9. The Chinese connotations of "internationalization" and "localization" are explored in Ronald C. Keith, " 'Internationalization' and 'Localization' in the Chinese Search for Human Justice," in Globalization: Policies, Challenges and Responses, ed. Shereen Ismael (Calgary: Detslig, 1999), pp. 143-44. The second Globalization Forum, held by the Hong Kong-based Foundation for Globalization and Cooperation and by the PRC Ministry of Information in Beijing on January 12-14, 2001, noted that there were several competing definitions of globalization. These included the "social science" definition, stressing the strengthening of human interaction toward social development at the global level, the cultural definition, holding that "globalization is the dissemination of culture," and the economic definition, "the integration of various economies throughout the world in the fields of production, distribution and consumption." See "China and Economic Globalization," Beijing Review, no. 7 (February 15, 2001): 14.
41. This borrows from the World Order Model Project's distinction between geopolitics and "humane governance." The latter, a normative process that involves new patterns of international networking, deliberately seeks to augment "the proper ordering of political life at all levels of social interaction." See, for example, Richard Falk, On Humane Governance: Toward a New Global Politics (State College: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), p. 9. The Chinese connotations of "internationalization" and "localization" are explored in Ronald C. Keith, " 'Internationalization' and 'Localization' in the Chinese Search for Human Justice," in Globalization: Policies, Challenges and Responses, ed. Shereen Ismael (Calgary: Detslig, 1999), pp. 143-44. The second Globalization Forum, held by the Hong Kong-based Foundation for Globalization and Cooperation and by the PRC Ministry of Information in Beijing on January 12-14, 2001, noted that there were several competing definitions of globalization. These included the "social science" definition, stressing the strengthening of human interaction toward social development at the global level, the cultural definition, holding that "globalization is the dissemination of culture," and the economic definition, "the integration of various economies throughout the world in the fields of production, distribution and consumption." See "China and Economic Globalization," Beijing Review, no. 7 (February 15, 2001): 14.
42. This borrows from the World Order Model Project's distinction between geopolitics and "humane governance." The latter, a normative process that involves new patterns of international networking, deliberately seeks to augment "the proper ordering of political life at all levels of social interaction." See, for example, Richard Falk, On Humane Governance: Toward a New Global Politics (State College: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), p. 9. The Chinese connotations of "internationalization" and "localization" are explored in Ronald C. Keith, " 'Internationalization' and 'Localization' in the Chinese Search for Human Justice," in Globalization: Policies, Challenges and Responses, ed. Shereen Ismael (Calgary: Detslig, 1999), pp. 143-44. The second Globalization Forum, held by the Hong Kong-based Foundation for Globalization and Cooperation and by the PRC Ministry of Information in Beijing on January 12-14, 2001, noted that there were several competing definitions of globalization. These included the "social science" definition, stressing the strengthening of human interaction toward social development at the global level, the cultural definition, holding that "globalization is the dissemination of culture," and the economic definition, "the integration of various economies throughout the world in the fields of production, distribution and consumption." See "China and Economic Globalization," Beijing Review, no. 7 (February 15, 2001): 14.
43. For example, see Keith, " 'Internationalization' and 'Localization'."
44. Domestic Violence Project, Newsletter (in Chinese), no. 7 (August 2001): 6-20.
45. Ronald C. Keith, "Legislating Women's and Children's 'Rights and Interests' in the PRC," China Quarterly, no. 149 (March 1997): 42.
46. Ibid., pp. 36, 48.
47. Ibid., p. 33.
48. Domestic Violence Project, Newsletter (in Chinese), no. 1 (August 2000): 3.
49. The perils of registration were recently demonstrated in the deregistration of sixty-three organizations. See "Jinpingmei xuehui deng 63ge guojiaji shetuan yuan he jiti 'xiake' " (The Golden Flower Vase Society and Sixty-three Other National-Level Mass Organizations 'Dismissed' for Whatever Reason) (news.sino.comcn/c/2003-06-16/18511177304.shtml). The authors thank Chu Tianshu for this forwarded citation.
50. Domestic Violence Project, Newsletter (in Chinese), no. 7 (August 2001): 15.
51. Ibid., p. 12.
52. Ibid., pp. 15-16.
53. Ibid., no. 3, p. 10.
54. See Keith and Lin, Law and Justice in China's New Marketplace, chap, 2.
55. See "Apparent Text of Amended PRC Marriage Law," World News Connection (FBIS-CHI-2001-0429): 2, 7.
56. See "PRC Decides on Revising Marriage Law," World News Connection (FBIS-CHI_2001-0429), April 28, 2001.
57. For example, the project's Research Center's growing catalogue of foreign publications translated into Chinese includes: What Is Domestic Violence? Policing Domestic Violence; Crime Prevention and the Public/Private Divide; Legal Remedies and the Court System; Protecting Battered Women; Latest Trends in Civil Legal Relief; Domestic Violence: The Criminal Law Response; The Human Rights of Women.
58. U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2000, p. 33. With reference to the assumptions underlying the first claim, one might consider the implications of Becky Shelley's research on three U.S.-based NGOs that assisted the PRC Ministry of Civil Affairs in implementing Chinese village democracy in the face of local-level resistance. See Beckey Shelley, "Political Globalization and the Politics of International Non-Governmental Organizations: The Case of Village Democracy in China," Australian Journal of Political Science 35, no. 2 (July 2000): 231.
59. U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2000, p. 33. With reference to the assumptions underlying the first claim, one might consider the implications of Becky Shelley's research on three U.S.-based NGOs that assisted the PRC Ministry of Civil Affairs in implementing Chinese village democracy in the face of local-level resistance. See Beckey Shelley, "Political Globalization and the Politics of International Non-Governmental Organizations: The Case of Village Democracy in China," Australian Journal of Political Science 35, no. 2 (July 2000): 231.
60. For related discussion of these various functional areas of activity and the range of organizational types and its relation to civil society and corporatism, see David Ding, Chinese Democracy After Tiananmen (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press), p. 68.
61. See "Apparent Text of Amended PRC Marriage Law."