INTRODUCTION

While China has achieved rapid economic growth under its policy of reform and opening, the adverse effects of this growth, among them income disparities and environmental problems, are beginning to manifest themselves. At the same time as the state has reduced its function of resource distribution, including in the area of social policy, it has found itself compelled to seek the co-operation of non-governmental orgnizations (NGOs) in order to moderate the unfavourable effects of growth.

In the past the term “social association” (shehui tuanti or shetuan) was in common use, meaning an association of people with a certain common objective, and actually such organizations existed in various forms (Wang et al. 1993). However, a process of selection occurred in the course of the socialist revolution following the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and only some of these organizations were officially approved by the government and allowed to continue their existence as formal social associations. Meanwhile, after the government began its policy of reform and opening, these officially approved NGOs developed and changed, and new NGOs, which were outside the earlier framework, made their debut. The Western concepts of “NGO” and “NPO” (non-profit organization) came to be applied to these organizations. At present the state is seeking a way to structure a new system for these organizations, starting from the premise that the conventional political system be protected.

Before looking at the conditions of NGOs in China during the current transitional period of social restructuring, it is necessary to draw a general historical picture of social organizations. In view of this, this chapter will draw a clear line of demarcation between previous social associations and the new NGOs which made their appearance in the period of reform and opening, while tracing the process of reorganization of social associations from around the time of the establishment of the People's Republic up to the present day. This is done in order to characterize the relations of NGOs to the state before and after the policy of reform and opening.