A new China emerging. --Free China, Free Tibet (shall happen) ** A bourgeois class of perhaps 300m people has emerged—and they have their own views on the sort of place China should become. At the same time, the party has retreated from most people’s daily lives, no longer even pretending to provide cradle-to-grave benefits. Many weaker, poorer members of society are suffering. Enter the Chinese NGO. A vast array of new non-governmental organisations are trying to meet both middle-class aspirations to participate and also society’s need for services (see article). Some 500,000 NGOs have registered over the past 25 years, a figure that some think will double over the next couple of years, as rules are relaxed. Many of these, admittedly, are quasi-state bodies, like an official youth foundation, or businesses in disguise, like private schools, but a growing number are the real deal. And a further 1.5m-odd NGOs operate without being registered, including some that the party suspects of being too independent or confrontational. They include everything from self-help groups for the parents of autistic children to outfits defending the rights of migrant workers to house-church groups looking after the elderly.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:12:17 +0000
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