New Analysis: Are Social Enterprises Charities?

on April 30, 2019

Using the example of “mutual aid health communities” in China, contributor Caitlin Schultz digs into the questions surrounding entities known as “social enterprises”—hybrid organizations that do not fit neatly into either for-profit or non-profit categories. How are such organizations classified, or how will they be classified, in China’s regulatory landscape? Will Beijing view them as charitable organizations, falling under the scope of 2016’s Charity Law? Or might Beijing classify them as businesses and regulate them as such? How might society at large view these hybrid organizations?

Business, Charity, or Something Else?

How Do Social Enterprise Models Fit into Legal and Social Conceptions of ‘Charity’ in China?

By Caitlin E. Schultz on April 30, 2019

Around the world, the concept of “social enterprise” has blurred the line between doing business and doing good. Social enterprise seeks to combine traditional for-profit business practices with products or services that primarily aim to benefit the public. In many countries, these social enterprise organizations occupy a legal gray area, not fitting neatly into binary non-profit or for-profit regulatory categories. In China, given the Chinese Communist Party’s increasingly tight controls over all aspects of society, this gray area is all the more noticeable. This raises the question: As China’s philanthropic sector continues its rapid growth—and as Chinese society continues to develop new expectations regarding what services the government should or shouldn’t provide—how will such hybrid organizations fit into the People’s Republic of China’s regulatory landscape?

Trade: Parade of Broken Promises

By Elizabeth Economy on April 30, 2019

The trade war between the United States and China has not given either side much to cheer about. As of January, Washington has levied 10 percent tariffs on U.S.$250 billion in Chinese goods, and China has reciprocated with similar tariffs on U.S.$110 billion in U.S. goods. In the United States, the uncertainty over the future trade relationship has caused significant volatility in the stock market, created hardship for American exporters (particularly farmers and high-end manufacturers), and contributed to a dramatic drop in Chinese tourism and investment into the United States. At the same time, for China, the trade war has exacerbated the fallout from an already slowing economy. Shanghai was the world’s worst performing major stock market in 2018, losing more than one-quarter of its value; China’s much-vaunted tech sector is laying off workers; and consumer confidence is plummeting.

If the U.S. and China Make a Trade Deal, Then What?

A ChinaFile Conversation

By Michael Hirson, Graham Webster & more on April 30, 2019

The U.S.-China trade war has always been about more than just trade. Among other issues, it represents a move towards the decoupling of the two economies. Sometime within the next few weeks, Washington and Beijing may call a truce on the trade war. A potential deal could include steps to balance the trade deficit—a longtime frustration for President Donald Trump. What issues would the resolution of the trade war help solve? And what problems in the U.S.-China relationship are more likely to fester? How would a deal play in each country’s domestic politics, and how might that influence the overall state of the bilateral relationship?

Professional Supervisory Unit List Updated for 2019

on April 30, 2019

On April 29, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) published an updated list of approved Professional Supervisory Units (PSUs) and fields of activity for foreign NGOs working in China. This is the MPS’ first formal update to the original PSU list, published in December 2016. As the MPS noted in a related WeChat post, the 2019 list includes a number of new PSUs, such as the Chinese Communist Party International Liaison Department, the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, among others.

Erik Myxter-lino

on April 27, 2019

Erik Myxter-lino is a former Peace Corps China volunteer who currently works as a teacher’s assistant and second year Master’s Candidate at North Carolina State University’s School of Public and International Affairs. His research focuses on Chinese foreign infrastructure and industrial investment in East Africa. He is also the host of the Belt and Road Podcast.

Prior to graduate school, he led volunteer and paid staff teams as a Program Manager for The Fresh Air Fund, Work for Progress, and the National Security Language Initiative for Youth - China. He also formerly worked on audio post-production as an intern with the Sinica Podcast.

Humar Isaac-Wang

on April 26, 2019

Humar Isaac-Wang worked as a content editor for Tencent and Zhihu from 2010 to 2017. She was born and raised in a Uighur family, she was educated completely in Mandarin, which made her a misfit in both Uighur and Han communities. She writes about her experience on Chinese social media in Mandarin, hoping to help mainly Han Chinese readers understand the Uighur/Chinese minority situation and experience.

Chiang Mai’s Chinese Transfer Students

By YiChen & Ye Ming on April 26, 2019

On a chilly winter Friday in early 2013, seven-year-old Zou Yanhu came home from school, looking dejected. Yanhu was a first-grader attending a public primary school in Chengdu, Sichuan’s sprawling capital city. His weekend homework was to write eight textbook essays from memory and complete two exam papers. As he listed the assignments to his mother, An Lan, tears began pouring down his cheeks. That moment became a catalyst for An, who was already distressed about her only child’s workload at school. “He was so skinny,” she says. “There was so much pressure on him in China.” So the following summer, An sent Yanhu to a camp organized by Nakornpayap International School (NIS), in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, and in 2014, she enrolled him in second grade at the school.

Kelly Hammond

on April 25, 2019

Kelly Hammond is an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas. She has taught there since receiving her Ph.D. in East Asian Studies from Georgetown University in 2015. Hammond specializes in modern Chinese and Japanese history, and her work focuses on Islam and politics in 20th-century East Asia. She is currently completing a book manuscript called China’s Muslims and Japan’s Empire. Her recent work has been supported by the Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS China Studies postdoctoral fellowship, the Center for Chinese Studies in Taiwan, the American Philosophical Association, and the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, where she is currently a fellow-in-residence. Hammond serves on the editorial board of Twentieth-Century China. She is also a fellow in cohort VI of the Public Intellectual Program sponsored by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.