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While the group's activities were greatly appreciated by local citizens, it failed to find a government body willing to act as its sponsor. This meant it could not legally register and was forced to disband.
At the end of last year, the city of Shenzhen in southern China also banned two groups, the Shenzhen Association for Migrant Workers and the Shenzhen Laborers Mutual Help Association. This action closed the channels through which ordinary people, especially underprivileged migrants, could help themselves and help each other.
More than 10 years ago, 164 Chinese ophthalmic experts prepared to found a civil organization called the China Loving Eye Association. The organization aimed at disseminating knowledge on protecting people's eyes and curing eye diseases. Although the government accepted the doctors' proposal of holding a Loving Eye Day, the group has still not been allowed to register as a legal organization.
The Chinese government implements a system of double management of all social organizations -- they are answerable to the Civil Administration Bureau and must also have a sponsoring government body. The Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Social Organizations, released in 1998, stipulate that all such groups must have a government sponsor in order to register at the local Civil Administration Bureau. But in fact, hardly any government bodies are willing to be responsible for a social organization. As a result, there are all kinds of difficulties involved in setting up and running a non-governmental organization in China.
The root cause of the difficulties is that volunteering and charity work have been politicized in China. Government departments cut off or prevent such work rather than encouraging it, which is contrary to the demands of civil society and the market economy.
Volunteer service is the embodiment of good citizenship and non-profit organizations are the symbols of a civilized country. The goal of volunteers is to encourage a sense of humanity, justice and a public spirit; to spread modern civilization, to make up for the shortcomings of materialist culture, and to uplift the individual and the soul.
This kind of service should be strongly encouraged. Modern civilization is not just the egoism of the market economy; it is also the charity of civil society. We can say that a market economy and a charitable society are two wheels of modern civilization.
As far back as the 17th century Britain passed laws to provide charity and relief to the poor. The United States, the most developed market economy in the world, is not as egoistic as is often imagined. The well-known French political thinker, Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), pointed out that individualism in the United States was controlled by volunteer organizations.
On one hand, Americans pursue individual interests; on the other hand, they do a lot of charity and volunteer work. Some 50 percent of Americans are active volunteers, devoting an average of four hours each week; 75 percent of Americans make frequent donations to charity, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
The United States has 1.2 million volunteer organizations, 730,000 charity organizations, and more than 56,600 charity foundations. Most U.S. secondary schools require their students to spend set amounts of time on volunteer service. U.S. universities, especially the famous Ivy League institutions, strongly emphasize a record of volunteer work in recruiting students. Between 2004 and 2005, there were 3.3 million university students doing volunteer work.
By comparison, in modern China there is a lack of public spirit and moral sense that would lead to charity work. According to reports, 75 percent of the donations received by the China Charity Federation come from overseas; 70 percent of the donations received by the Song Qingling Foundation come from overseas; half the funds for Project Hope come from multinational companies, and 99 percent of Chinese enterprises have no record of ever donating money. In 2000, charitable donations from Chinese citizens amounted to less than 1 yuan (US$0.10) per person, whereas United States citizens gave an average of US$900. In China there are only around 100 charity organizations -- there were no national-level private foundations until 2005. Not till the end of 2004 did China have its first charity clinic, providing Chinese therapy free for needy patients.
How many people in China are in need of help? Each year, 60 million people suffer from natural disasters; 22 million city people receive only the minimum social allowance; 75 million farmers live close to the poverty line; and 60 million handicapped people, farm workers, laid-off laborers, orphans, elderly people, homeless people, and AIDS patients need help from society.
The fact that volunteer organizations cannot easily register or maintain legal status is against the interests of ordinary people, especially underprivileged people. This also damages the image of the government. As soon as possible, China should formulate laws to permit social organizations and charities to function freely, to ensure the healthy development of civil society.
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(Hu Xingdou is professor of economics and China issues at the Beijing Institute of Technology, and an expert on social problems. This article is translated and edited from the Chinese by UPI Asia Online. ©Copyright Hu Xingdou.)
