With the 2016 Charity Law, Chinese legislators created a public-private hybrid model for the governance of charitable trusts. By endowing private actors with greater rights in the creation and management of charitable trusts, this hybrid model demonstrates the State's intention of changing the functioning of the charitable trust sector from complete dependence on the State to a partnership. However, embedded in China's particular institutional environment, the partnership relationship still bears the mark of strict government control, which is secured by granting extensive powers to regulators. This article analyzes the newly established regulatory framework for charitable trusts and outlines how regulators exercise their power in practice. The findings show that the tradition of regulators being subject to intense administrative pressures remains unchanged and that political concerns permeate every aspect of the regulation of charitable trusts.

This thought-provoking book explores the functions of charitable foundations in the People's Republic of China. Using both empirical fieldwork and extensive textual analysis, it examines the role of foundations in Chinese society and their relationship with the Chinese government, and provides a new, functional perspective on the role of foundations, complementing mainstream civil society and corporatist perspectives.

Adopting a critical multijurisdictional approach to charity law, this thought-provoking book provides a comprehensive analysis of the challenges facing charitable organisations. Exploring the contrasting approaches to charity governance and regulation in both common law and civil law jurisdictions, the book imparts practical guidance for a vast array of stakeholders in the charity law field.

The nonprofit sector in China (including nongovernmental organizations, foundations, and charities) is fairly new, especially to foreigners, since the rapid development of this "third sector" has not been widely studied in Western scholarship. The contributors to this volume have been engaged in research of China's nonprofit sector for many years, and are intimately familiar with the operation of Chinese nonprofit organizations. China's Nonprofit Sector describes the development of China's nonprofit sector since 1995, including discussions on the rise of corporate responsibility and charitable foundations, grassroots organizations, and the microphilanthropy that arose after the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. It enumerates the shifting legal framework, the complex relationship between government-affiliated and private sector organizations, the media's role, the emergence of microphilanthropy, and the lack of knowledge of the general public regarding philanthropic enterprises. This volume, in Transaction's Asian Studies series, directly addresses the topic of China's nonprofit sector and gives a coherent and comprehensive account of its development and challenges. This work will be of value for all policy specialists, Asian Studies scholars, and all individuals interested in China.

This book is the first monograph to provide a multilevel analysis of power dynamics underlying the governance of philanthropic foundations in the authoritarian context of China. As a special kind of organization with a democratic culture, Chinese foundations’ governance is under more pressure than we realize. The government has been evolving its methods to impose stringent control over foundations (Chapter 3) and “purer” foundations highly dependent on individual donations are more likely to adopt authoritarian leadership styles rather than being mechanisms spreading democratic values in Chinese society (Chapter 4). However, this practice does not come without a price. Given power’s double-edge of both enabling and constraining effects, although strongman leaders may use their power to get things done, their power may also cause the problem of accountability (Chapter 5). Overall, Chinese society is a stable system with authoritarian power modes. This system is not static but in constant flux, homogenizing incompatible parts until all units of the system adopt the same power mode. This book establishes a comprehensive and bleak picture of the unfavorable conditions foundations in China face and provides valuable insights to understand the future of the nonprofit sector in China. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in the fields of sociology, political science, and nonprofit studies (NGO management). It will also be a valuable resource for NGP practitioners.