Joshua Wickerham

terms of development: the uncertain state of Shanghai’s non-governmental organizations

by Joshua Wickerham for that’s Shanghai, September 2006

For those interested in Shanghai’s grassroots organizations, this year’s publication of the city’s first NGO Yearbook, a comprehensive directory of Shanghai-based Non-Governmental Organizations, is a fascinating read. Nearly 800-pages long, it lists thousands of civil-minded groups, and gives the impression, at least to the casual reader, that such organizations are thriving; indeed, that they are multiplying faster than cicadas in summer.

It is certainly true that the city boasts more NGOs than ever before, although the number depends on how the term is defined. All but a few dozen listings are quasi-governmental entities, known as “Government organized NGOs”, or GONGOs.

GoNGO is a term unique to China, though one that fails to indicate the highly-complicated regulatory environment that governs development work and non-profit organizations in Shanghai. According to John Kielty, placement coordinator for the Queens University-Fudan University course on Social Development, already in its second year this fall, “An organization’s official status is always an issue. It is key to have clear communication and a mutually understood set of goals [when dealing with the government]. Motives and goals,” he stresses, “aren’t always the same.”

That both parties see eye to eye is increasingly important in light of society’s more generous attitude towards charity. Donations, particularly from China’s nouveau riche, have been growing as fast as the economy, and consequently, those groups seeking to attract funds must legitimize their standing.

Dan Guttman, a visiting American Fulbright professor who taught Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s first class on NGOs, says that government plays a necessary role in a harmonious society, but that its means are limited. “I discovered that Americans and Chinese are using the same vernacular–words like rule of law, privatization, and civil society,” he says.

NGOs are often more effective in providing aid than under-funded government agencies, particularly in areas where commercial enterprises have little interest or expertise. Put another way, NGOs can address touchy subjects such as minority education, the environment, sexuality, disabilities, anti-discrimination, and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment at a grassroots level, and therefore with greater efficiency and at less cost.

That said, for a number of reasons these organizations have great difficulty obtaining permanent legal status in China. Take the Rotary Club, for example, one of the oldest NGOs in China. This international service and professional group holds weekly meetings, funds scholarships, and gives time and money for projects like building potable water systems in remote villages.

The Shanghai branch held its first meeting 87 years ago, but only received “provisional” status this year. Why now? Perhaps because of their improved relations with one of the city’s largest GoNGOs, the Shanghai Charity Foundation, with which the Rotary Club partnered in a fundraising event for HIV/AIDS this summer.

While partnership with local organizations may be one path to legitimacy, the main criterion is absolute neutrality. As Rotary Club member Frank Yih, says, “We have two ground rules: no religion and no politics.” He says it jokingly, but it’s true.

Yih is president of Hua Qiao, an umbrella organization he founded along with several Rotarians. Hua Qiao has chosen to register for legal non-profit status in the United States. The name means “China bridge”, and is homophonous with “overseas Chinese”. It is no surprise then that all its members fit both descriptions. The group’s main activities include providing medical care, tuition payments, and dwellings for AIDS orphans. It also sends wheelchairs to North Korea, while its Alliance for Smiles program arranges cleft lip surgery. Another affiliated group, Gift of Life, helps patients with congenital heart disease. William Chiang, Hua Qiao‘s executive director finds the work rewarding, in itself, and in the sense of learning more about China.

A sentiment with which John Kielty agrees. In addition to his academic role, he is president of Roteract, a young Rotarian group, and has organized sports activities for migrant, and intellectually-challenged, children. He hopes these events have helped educate the public about the challenges and potential of the intellectually disabled community, and promote interest in the Special Olympics, to be held in Shanghai next year. In addition, like Chiang, Kielty says he has benefited from, and hopes to tighten, cooperative relations with the Shanghai Charity Foundation.

Of course, some people remain suspicious of the role of NGOs in Chinese society. Says Yih of Rotary Club activities, “Many people are cynical about what we do, but we are a service organization.” For the Rotary Club, an organization that has never professed politic or religious affiliations, maintaining its presence in China is relatively easy, but for others–the Young Man’s Christian Association for instance–even its name requires explanation. Missionary groups, which are barred from China, are considered by many Chinese to be the historical genesis of modern-day aid organizations. But today’s groups don’t necessarily package faith with service. Even many charities that started as faith-based entities offer aid without religious strings attached.

Shi Jian, a program coordinator at the YMCA, says the most important difference between the Shanghai branch and those in other parts of the world, is that Jesus plays no role in their activities. “We’re interested in public welfare,” she says of the Shanghai branch, founded in 1900. “OK, we do have a Christmas party every year, but that’s it.” Still, the group does organize fundraisers and educational activities with many of the city’s Protestant church groups.

Roots & Shoots (R&S), a part of the Jane Goodall Institute Shanghai, recently became the first foreign NGO registered by the Chinese government. Yet Zhong Zhenxi, R&S’s coordinator, says the term NGO is not quite accurate, a better designation is she tuan which roughly translates as “civil group”.

So what does this civil group do? One of its most successful programs, Dragon Recycling, is a partnership with computer giant Hewlett Packard, local schools and government offices. Dragon Recycling aims to recover and recycle used printer ink cartridges. Interestingly, socially responsible programs such as this blur the line between public and private interests. But its overall aim is simply to serve the public good, whatever the organizational structure. Trouble is, serving the public good has its limits; current regulations specify that each sector–be it the environment or sports–must be served by just one non-profit NGO, government-linked or otherwise. For organizations that make a profit, however, there is no limit on their number.

Earlier this year, Shanghai lawyer Zhou Dan founded Yu Dan, an NGO masquerading as a “for profit” organization. Yu Dan is devoted to upholding the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBT) people. Says Zhou, “Since Shanghai already has three groups devoted to the LGBT community, we formed a ‘for profit’ corporation. Of course, there’s no law that says a for-profit has to, in fact, turn a profit.”

Indeed, the law seems designed to provide for exceptions. R&S, a group devoted to people, animals, and the environment, is in a sense both a non-profit, and a “for profit” entity, with unique bookkeeping issues. R&S, which relies largely on sponsorship from international corporations, has its “profits” taxed. “If we have a balance in our account at the end of the year, we have to pay 25 per cent to the government,” says Zhong. “It feels like we’re basically writing the tax code as we go along.”

But DKT International, a Washington-based group, is one non profit that actually does turn a profit. This group has been praised for the way it merges the marketing techniques of the private sector with the social consciousness of an aid organization.

As one of the largest distributors of condoms in China, DKT’s ingenious form of “social marketing” brings greater public awareness of safer sex through marketing its own brand of condoms. The organization then funnels profits from retail condom sales into condom distribution. Jimmie Cai, chief representative of the China office in Shanghai, says that being financially independent is the company’s first aim, second only to helping those persons at risk of sexually transmitted diseases.

Lastly, there exist certain groups that seem to get by just fine without official legal status. For long-established organizations like the World Wildlife Federation (WWF), their provisional status does not keep them from participating in massive conservation efforts. The WWF’s China partnership began in 1979 with a unique agreement between China’s home-grown conservation organizations and the WWF’s international network. Its first effort focused on panda conservation, and such was its success, that the panda became the WWF’s mascot.

Since then, thousands of Chinese environmental groups have been formed. And as the government attempts to steer the economy away from breakneck growth to sustainable development, these groups, and others like them, will surely have a bigger role to play. In large part, their ability to function and thereby benefit society as a whole is yet to be determined. What is certain is that 2007’s NGO Yearbook will be a weightier volume still.