How Outsiders View ‘Civil Society,’ the Stages of Chinese Charity, and Partnering with Domestic NGOs

A Roundup of Recent NGO-Related Content from around the Web

on November 30, 2018

Several of the recommendations made during the UN Human Rights Council’s recent Universal Periodic Review of China’s human rights record pertain to civil society and NGOs. Bin Xu, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Emory University, discusses how the Sichuan earthquake affected civic engagement in China, and also explains the differences in domestic and international perceptions of “civil society.” Huo Weiya, founder of a charity-related social enterprise, writes in China Development Brief that the development of the People’s Republic of China’s charity sector can be divided into four phases. Ding Yongqing, Shin Shin Education Foundation (欣欣教育基金会) Chairperson and Chief Representative of its Beijing office, recently gave an interview (in Chinese) to China Philanthropy Times about “transmitting a charitable spirit to more entrepreneurs.”

Cut out of the Operating Room

Only a Tiny Fraction of Surgeries in China Are Performed by Young Doctors

By Christopher Magoon on November 30, 2018

In June 2015, doctors told 69-year-old Shuai Shuiqing she had stomach cancer and would need surgery. She left her home in the city of Chongzhou in Sichuan province and traveled 20 miles to visit Chengdu’s Huaxi Hospital, which is ranked second best in all of China. There, she waited six weeks to see a surgeon. By the time she went under the knife, she had already gone into shock. The surgeons found the cancer had metastasized to other organs, and she died a year later.

Beijing’s Long Struggle to Control Xinjiang’s Mineral Wealth

By Judd C. Kinzley on November 28, 2018

The Silk Road Economic Belt—the overland component of Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—promises to bind China to Central Asia and beyond through a new infrastructural network. Connecting through China’s far western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, the belt, alongside a network of pipelines and highways constructed since the early 2000s, is part of a larger effort to stake a Chinese claim to the resource wealth of Central Asia.

How to Be a Chinese Scientist without Being China’s Scientist

A ChinaFile Conversation

By Yangyang Cheng, Yu He & more on November 27, 2018

As trade tensions between the United States and China worsen, a new technological cold war looms, casting its shadow over American universities and research institutions. How should individual scientists of Chinese origin decide whether to accept a lucrative position in their country of birth? Is there an inherent conflict between science as a global enterprise, and scientific research being primarily government-funded? How should the international community engage China and Chinese scientists, without compromising academic freedom or increasing the risk of technological abuse and industrial espionage?

Alex Joske

on November 26, 2018

Alex Joske is a Researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre. His work examines Chinese Communist Party political influence and technology transfer.

Jenny J. Lee

on November 26, 2018

Jenny J. Lee is a Professor at the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cape Town. She is currently a NAFSA Senior Fellow, Associate Editor of the Review of Higher Education, and co-editor of the book series Studies in Global Higher Education. Lee’s ongoing research on the internationalization of higher education, xenophobia, and migration in the U.S., South Africa, Mexico, and Korea over the past decade have been published in top journals and cited widely.

Yu He

on November 26, 2018

Yu He is a postdoctoral research scholar at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, an affiliate at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and a docent at the Stanford Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Science from the University of Science and Technology of China.

Second NGO De-Registers Representative Office

on November 26, 2018

According to information on the Ministry of Public Security website, the Japan External Trade Organization (日本贸易振兴机构, JETRO) de-registered its representative office in Guangzhou, as of June 29, 2018. Until de-registering, it was permitted to operate in Fujian, Guangdong, and Hainan provinces as well as in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on trade-related issues.

Why the Taiwan Midterm Elections Matter

By Lev Nachman & Brian Hioe on November 23, 2018

On November 24, millions of Taiwanese will vote for more than 11,000 mayors, councilors, and other officials nationwide in a key midterm election—only the country’s fifth since the victory of Chen Shui-Bian in 2000 ended decades of continuousrule by the Kuomintang party. Four factors from the midterms will impact the 2020 presidential election, cross-Strait relations, and the future of the 23.5 million people living in this island nation. These key issues have critical implications that observers watching both sides of the Taiwan Strait should focus on.