CDB Reports

Analysis

In-depth analyses on the issues facing Chinese civil society. Most of these articles have been written by CDB’s staff or translated from Chinese sources, while others are guest contributions from academics and NGO practitioners inside and outside of China.

View from the Media: The Mysterious Decimal Point

This week we revisit the China Charity Aid Foundation for Children's “decimal point” incident from the end of last year. The reverberations caused by this controversy are perhaps surpassed only by the infamous 2011 “Guo Meimei” incident in terms of arousing public misgivings concerning public foundations' financial management.

A View from the Media: Who’s Responsible for Watching our Water?

One of the latest controversies in Chinese society has been the issue of groundwater pollution in Shandong and other provinces. Disillusioned by the ineffectuality of the government agencies responsible for monitoring pollution, a number of civil society advocates have emphasized the role of NGOs and the public in efforts to eradicate pollution

In Defense of the Grassroots

Yu Fangqiang, executive director of Justice for All, uses a blend of sarcasm and argument to defend grassroots NGOs from those who feel grassroots organizations need to be more professional and move to the mainstream of society.

Editorial: The Fight for Women’s Rights

In their editorial, CDB staff writers discuss some of this year’s issues and events that have brought the struggle for women’s rights to a wider audience in China.…

Joining Forces to Integrate Gender and Development

Guo Ting, reports on Chinese women and environmental organizations joining international development NGOs on the eve of the Rio+20 meeting in calling for greater emphasis on gender considerations in future sustainable development discussions

View from the Media: A Long Way Home for Migrant Workers

As Chinese prepare for the massive annual chunyun (Chinese New Year migration), a number of incidents reported by mainstream media have generated a public debate concerning the role and responsibilities of the government and private citizens in providing aid to migrant workers

What Should China’s NPOs Do to Promote Rural Education?

n this summary of a longer published article, Professor Zhou goes beyond the truism that NPOs have a role to play in filling gaps in government services, by offering specific insights and recommendations on what those gaps are in the area of rural compulsory education, and how Chinese NPOs can better fill those gaps.

View from the Media: Fire and Ice

As a supplement to CDB's Weekly Civil Society News feature, we are launching View from the Media, a weekly column which will summarize and provide analysis of some of the major stories concerning civil society that appear in the Chinese media.

POLICY BRIEF NO. 12: A New Dawn After the 18th Party Congress?

After the 18th Party Congress, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, who have been anointed to become the new president and premier respectively made a number of public appearances that gave observers some optimism that the new leadership will be supportive of reforms strengthening China’s civil society, but we will have to wait and see if they follow up with actions, and not just words.

POLICY BRIEF NO. 11: Supporting and Micromanaging NGOs?

In the run-up to the 18th Party Congress which opened November 8 and ended November 15 with the announcement of China’s new leadership core, the news falls into two categories of policy trends that we have been seeing over this…