ABSTRACT
This chapter describes and analyzes the nonprofit sector in China. It was found that the conventional Western definitions and characterizations of civil-society organizations (CSOs) are not entirely applicable to the Chinese context. The chapter contributes to a better understanding of the evolving nonprofit sector in China before the 2008 Sichuen earthquake disaster by problematizing the sector's idiosyncratic mode of development, which is exemplified above all in its ambiguous relationship with the state. It analyses the six selected cases from the following four perspectives. First, the open system perspective analyzes the relationship between an organization and its external stakeholders, such as the government and the private sector. Second, the rational goal perspective examines the impact of legislation and public policies on the development of an organization; third, the natural system perspective investigates the internal operations of the organization. And finally, the internal process perspective probes into an organization's system of self-regulation.
