State, Space and NGOs in China: A Spatial Framework

• In Event: 392 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. The Third Sector in China

Abstract

The Chinese state is increasingly heterogeneous and is comprised of multiple layers and spaces. The state’s diversity is in part, attributable to the rise of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China. In this paper, I examine how state and NGOs transform each other. I demonstrate this through a case study of migrant non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Beijing and Shanghai, places where these NGOs are making great efforts to engage with central and local authorities. Based on four in-depth case studies, I offer a spatial framework to interpret the proliferation of NGOs in China and their subsequent engagement with different levels of the Chinese state. The local state is becoming more important in the work and activities of the NGOs. Moreover, I argue it is the growing presence of local states in this interaction that reinforces this spatial notion of the state. As NGOs proliferate across China, they will no doubt capture the attention of central and local states. As the authorities try to make sense of this change, local authorities will attempt to embrace and incorporate NGOs, or at the very least the presence of NGOs will register on the state’s radar as a way to ensure control and as a means to interpret their growth within the state’s own terms. Spaces of the state therefore multiply, as central and local states start to engage with these NGOs.

Author

• Jennifer YJ Hsu, University of Alberta