How do Chinese civic associations respond to the internet? Findings from a survey

China Quarterly

Volumn , Issue 189, 2007, Pages 122-143

  Yang, Guobin ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CIVIL SOCIETY; EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS; GRASSROOTS LEVEL; INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION; INTERNET; SOCIAL CHANGE;

EID: 33947405129     PISSN: 03057410     EISSN: 14682648     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S030574100600083X     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. I use "civic association" as a generic term to refer to voluntary and non-profit organizations. Other similar terms in the social science literature are civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and non-profit organizations (NPOs).
2. Eleanor Burt and John Taylor, "Information and communication technologies: Reshaping voluntary organizations?" Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2000), pp. 131-43;
3. Eleanor Burt and John Taylor, "When 'virtual' meets values: Insights from the voluntary sector," Information, Communication & Society, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2001), pp. 54-73.
4. Jonathan Bach and David Stark, "Innovative ambiguities: NGOs' use of interactive technology in Eastern Europe," Studies in Comparative International Development, Vol. 37, No. 2 (2002), pp. 3-23.
5. László Bruszt, Balázs Vedres and David Stark, "Shaping the web of civic participation: Civil society websites in Eastern Europe," Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 25, No. 1 (2005), pp. 149-63.
6. See J. G. McNutt and K. M. Boland, "Electronic advocacy by non-profit organizations in social welfare policy," Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4 (1999), pp. 432-51;
7. Christopher Mele, "Cyberspace and disadvantaged communities: The internet as a tool for collective action," in Marc A. Smith and Peter Kollock (eds.), Communities in Cyberspace (New York: Routledge, 1999), pp. 290-310;
8. and Elisabeth Jay Friedman, "The reality of virtual reality: The internet's impact within gender equality advocacy communities in Latin America," Latin American Politics and Society, Vol. 47, No. 3 (2005), pp. 1-34.
9. The literature is large. For a few samples, see Anita Chan, "Revolution or corporatism? Workers and trade unions in post-Mao China," The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, No. 29 (1993), pp. 31-61;
10. Gordon White, Jude Howell and Xiaoyuan Shang, In Search of Civil Society (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996);
11. Christopher Earle Nevitt, "Private business associations in China: evidence of civil society or local state power?" The China Journal, No. 36 (1996), pp. 25-43;
12. Timothy Brook and B. Michael Frolic (eds.), Civil Society in China (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997);
13. Margaret Pearson, China's New Business Elite: The Political Consequences of Economic Reform (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997);
14. Anthony Saich, "Negotiating the state: The development of social organizations in China," The China Quarterly, No. 161 (2000), pp. 124-141;
15. Kenneth W. Foster, "Embedded within state agencies: Business associations in Yantai," The China Journal, No. 47 (2002), pp. 41-65;
16. and Bruce J. Dickson, Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
17. Guobin Yang, "The internet and civil society in China: A preliminary assessment," Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 12, Issue 36 (2003), pp. 453-75;
18. Chin-fu Hung, "Public discourse and 'virtual' political participation in the PRC: The impact of the internet," Issues and Studies, Vol. 39, No. 4 (2003), pp. 1-38;
19. Kathleen Hartford, "Dear mayor: Online communications with local governments in Hangzhou and Nanjing," China Information, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2005), pp. 217-60;
20. Randy Kluver, "The architecture of control: A Chinese strategy for e-governance," The Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 25, No. 1 (2005), pp. 75-97;
21. and Yongming Zhou, "Living on the cyber border," Current Anthropology, Vol. 46 (2005), pp. 779-803.
22. Most questionnaires were returned in or before December 2003, a few in January 2004. In this article, I consider December 2003 as the cut-off point of my data.
23. International Telecommunication Union, Yearbook of Statistics: Telecommunication Services Chronological Time Series 1989-1998 (Geneva, Switzerland: Place des Nations, CH-1211, 2000).
24. Following the definition used by the International Telecommunication Union, I define computer hosts as computers directly connected to the worldwide internet network. See International Telecommunication Union, Yearbook of Statistics: Telecommunication Services Chronological Time Series 1989-1998.
25. What I refer to as internet capacity may be called "information technology capacity" more generally (as is consistent with the language of the ITU). My emphasis, however, is on the internet.
26. A main challenge for conducting the survey was sampling. There are no comprehensive and up-to-date directories of civic associations for drawing a random sample. Minxin Pei's study is based on A Comprehensive Handbook of Chinese Civic Associations edited by Fan Bojun, a handbook that is limited to organizations registered before 1992.
27. See Minxin Pei, "Chinese civic associations: An empirical analysis," Modern China, Vol. 24, No. 3 (1998), pp. 285-318. Another similar directory is A Compendium of Social Organizations edited by Chen Dongdong, which is also confined mostly to organizations formed before 1990.
28. See Chen Dongdong (ed.), Zhongguo shehui tuanti daquan (A Compendium of Social Organizations in China), 3 vols. (Beijing: Zhuanli wenxian chubanshe, 1998).
29. On issues and challenges of doing survey research in China, see Melanie Manion, "Survey research in the study of contemporary China: Learning from local samples," The China Quarterly, No. 139 (1994), pp. 741-65.
30. China Development Brief (ed.), 250 Chinese NGOs: Civil Society in the Making (Beijing, 2001).
31. Tsinghua University NGO Research Center (ed.), 500 NGOs in China (Beijing: United Nations Center for Regional Development and Tsinghua University, 2002).
32. Three cases are over 92 in organizational age, while the median organizational age of the data set is 10. Another three report full-time staff members of 150, 180 and 219 respectively, when the median number of full-time staff members is seven. The final three outliers respectively have 180, 150, and 200 computers, while the median number of computers in our sample is only four.
33. Minxin Pei, "Chinese civic associations: An empirical analysis."
34. Shaoguang Wang and Jianyu He, "Associational revolution in China: mapping the landscapes," Korea Observer: A Quarterly Journal, Vol. 35, No. 3 (2004), pp. 485-533.
35. As Pei notes, however, the increase in the number of civic associations in 1989 in his sample is surprising, given the political conservatism after the crackdown of the student movement. This trend is not discernible in my sample, where compared with 1988, 1989 marked a visible decline in the number of civic associations founded.
36. Minxin Pei, "Chinese civic associations: An empirical analysis," p. 294.
37. Jude Howell, "New directions in civil society: Organizing around marginalized interests," in Jude Howell (ed.), Governance in China (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004), p. 145.
38. Several other studies have similarly drawn attention to the rise of new types of grassroots organizations since the 1990s. See Xiaoyuan Shang, "Looking for a better way to care for children: Cooperation between state and civil society in China," Social Science Review, Vol. 76, No. 2 (2002), pp. 203-28;
39. Ronald C. Keith, Zhiqiu Lin and Huang Lie, "The making of a Chinese NGO: The research and intervention project on domestic violence," Problems of Post-Communism (November/December 2003), pp. 38-50;
40. and Zhang Xin and Richard Baum, "Civil society and the anatomy of a rural NGO," The China Journal, No. 52 (2004), pp. 97-112.
41. Jude Howell, "Post-Beijing reflections: Creating ripples, but not waves in China," Women's Studies International Forum, Vol. 20, No. 2 (1997), pp. 235-52.
42. Ping-chun Hsiung and Yuk-Lin Renita Wong, "Jie Gui - connecting the tracks: Chinese women's activism surrounding the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing," Gender & History, Vol. 10, No. 3 (1998), pp. 470-97.
43. Howell, "New directions in civil society," p. 165.
44. Keith et al., "The making of a Chinese NGO," p. 39.
45. On the role of international NGOs in the growth of Chinese environmental organizations, see Guobin Yang, "Environmental NGOs and institutional dynamics in China," The China Quarterly, No. 181 (2005), pp. 46-66.
46. Howell, "New directions in civil society," p. 147.
47. Mark Surman, "From access to applications: How the voluntary sector is using the internet," prepared for the Government of Ontario, Ministry of Citizenship, November 2001. http://www.volunteersonline. ca/news/From%20Acess%20to%20Applications%20-%20V@O%20Environment% 20Scan%20-%20English%20-%20Nov%202001.PDF
48. Eric Harwit, "Spreading telecommunications to developing areas in China: Telephones, the internet and the digital divide," The China Quarterly, No. 180 (2004), pp. 1010-30.
49. In December 2003, there were 30.89 million computer hosts and 79.50 million internet users in China, with a proportion of 0.39. See CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Centre) survey report, January 2004 at www.cnnic.net.cn.
50. Surman, "From access to applications."
51. Ibid. p. 10.
52. Friedman, "The reality of virtual reality."
53. Susana Finquelievich, "Electronic democracy: Buenos Aires and Montevideo," Cooperation South Journal No. 1 (2001), pp. 61-81. http://tcdc.undp.org/coop_south_journal/2001_oct/061-081.pdf, accessed June 2003.
54. OneWorld International and the Open Society Institute, "The use of information and communication technologies by non-governmental organizations in Southeast Europe," 2001. http://www.southeasteurope.org/documents/NGODoc.pdf, accessed June 2003.
55. CNNIC, "15th statistical report of the development of Chinese internet," 2005. http://www.cnnic.net.cn/.
56. Surman, "From access to applications," p. 15.
57. Eleanor Burt, email to author on 7 March 2005.
58. There is no systematic account of why Chinese BBS culture is popular. Most studies emphasize that BBS offers an alternative space for public expression. See Guobin Yang, "The internet and civil society in China"
59. Chin-fu Hung, "Public discourse and 'virtual' political participation"
60. Michel Hockx, "Links with the past: Mainland China's online literary communities and their antecedents," Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 13, No. 38 (2004), pp. 105-127;
61. Geremie R. Barme and Gloria Davies, "Have we been noticed yet? Intellectual contestation and the Chinese web," in Edward Gu and Merle Goldman (eds.), Chinese Intellectuals Between State and Market (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004), pp. 75-108;
62. and Yongming Zhou, "Living on the cyber border."
63. An example is the debate in the first half of 2005 between Fang Zhouzi and Chinese environmentalists on the practices of environmental protection in China. See special features on the debate in Fang Zhouzi's web site New Threads (www.xys.org) and the BBS forums run by Friends of Nature (www.fon.org.cn).
64. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating the most important, email scores 4.63, fax 4.03, telephone 3.87, and regular mail 2.76.
65. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating the most important, telephone scores 4.44, email 4.06, fax 3.80, and regular mail 3.03.
66. See for example S. O'Lear, "Networks of engagement: Electronic communication and grassroots environmental activism in Kaliningrad," Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, Vol. 81, No. 3 (1999), pp. 165-78.
67. The similarity between older organizations and business associations may be due to some degree of correlation between the two types. On average, business associations are older than others. Their average age is 11.3 (n=53) in 2003, while the mean age of all sampled organizations is 9.5.
68. CNNIC, "Statistical report on the development of the internet in China," January 2004. http://www.cnnic.net.cn.
69. Michael T. Hannan and John Freeman, "Structural inertia and organizational change," American Sociological Review, No. 49 (1984), pp. 149-64.
70. Rebecca M. Henderson and Kim B. Clark, "Architectural innovations: The reconfiguration of existing product technologies and the failure of established firms," Administrative Science Quarterly, No. 35 (1990), pp. 9-30.
71. Doug Guthrie, "A sociological perspective on the use of technology: The adoption of internet technology in US organizations," Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 42, No. 4 (1999), p. 586.
72. OpenNet Initiative, "Internet filtering in China in 2004-2005: A country study," 14 April 2005. http://www.opennetinitiative.net/ studies/china/ONI_China_Country_Study.pdf, accessed 24 May 2005.
73. Elisabeth Jay Friedman's study of civil society organizations in Latin America confirms this finding. See Friedman, "The reality of virtual reality."
74. Roberto Bissio, "The network society, 1990 2000: Electronic conferences, global summits, getting together for good purposes," in The Association for Progressive Communications, APC Annual Report, pp. 22-26. http://www.apc.org/english/about/index.shtml, accessed 16 May 2003;
75. Patti Whaley, "Human rights NGOs: Our love-hate relationship with the internet," in Steven Hick, Edward F. Halpin, and Eric Hoskins (eds.), Human Rights and the Internet (New York: St Martin's Press, 2000, pp. 30-40.
76. Craig Warkentin, Reshaping World politics: NGOs, the Internet, and Global Civil Society (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), p.144.