On January 5th, a press conference was held in Beijing for the Blue Book of Charity, published by the China Lingshan Charity and Philanthropy Promotion Association (中国灵山公益慈善促进会).
The meeting reviewed and commented on the development of Chinese philanthropy in 2019. Huang Haoming, vice-president of the China Global Philanthropy Institute, gave a talk reporting on the internationalization of Chinese social organizations in 2019. In his talk, Dr. Huang went through what he sees as the ten highlights of the internationalization of Chinese civil society over the course of the year.
The ten highlights include:
1) Cooperation on charity was included in a summit between Chinese and foreign heads of state for the first time (referring to the Memorandum signed between China and Italy in March).
2) China’s charity organizations are turning the UN’s sustainable development goals into action.
3) The improving awareness of Chinese social organizations participating in global governance: out of the 72 Chinese organizations to receive consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, 10 received it in 2019, the highest figure ever for a single year.
4) A number of foundations are participating in the Belt and Road Initiative;
5) The charitable endeavours of large-scale private donors are gradually taking on an international perspective; the educational award started by Chen Yidan, co-founder of Tencent, which is the largest such award in the world, serves as an example.
6) The achievements of non-governmental and civil society organizations are starting to be internationally recognized; for instance, Alibaba’s “Ant Forest” project received the “Earth Defender” Award from the UN.
7) The Chinese experience on disaster prevention and mitigation is also achieving more international recognition.
8) Charitable organizations are actively promoting international exchanges in the field of culture and sports; for example, the Yao Foundation Charity games, started by basketball star Yao Ming, are having an impact outside of China.
9) Small Chinese social organizations have become a new force in terms of going out and working abroad.
10) A number of plans to create platforms supporting social organizations wanting to “go global” have been launched.
Edited by Gabriel Corsetti
