ABSTRACT
China’s NGO sector, consisting of both International and Chinese NGOs, began developing in the 1990s. I consider the new influx of “foreign devils” (foreign NGOs) as resulting from the convergence of two processes. One was a global process of civil society development, due to the donor community’s emphasis on civil society assistance after the end of the Cold War. The other was a Chinese domestic process. The party-state became more sensitive to global agendas, such as the environment and women’s rights, in order to improve its self-image within the international community in the post-Tiananmen Square protest era (1989 onward). During the first decade of the twenty-first century, the number of Chinese NGOs more than doubled. At the same time, the party-state set limits on the roles of NGOs by framing them as social service providers who complement the government’s work. The chapter first describes how the convergence of these processes brought both uninvited and invited foreign influences to China. Then, it examines the state’s legal and ideological control over the NGO sector, including the 2016 Charity Law and the 2017 Overseas NGO Law.
