Chinese Civil Society

The very notion of Chinese civil society could be a subject of controversy: media control, social inequality, judicial independence are hitherto a subject of critical scrutiny. Although conventional media (newspaper, radio and TV) has been under grip by the Chinese communist party, e-participation (micro-blogs, Chinese netizens) has made its way into every corner of China, unlike in other socialist countries such as North Korea and Cuba. Despite the ambivalence of government attitudes at different stages, the positive role of civil organizations has been repeatedly affirmed by various documents and political leaders in China. The paradigm of Chinese NGOs is experiencing an efflorescence. It is too early to foretell in which trajectory they shall evolve. However, one thing is certain: they are growing and reconfiguring, but they do not have to, nor might they ever, meet the standard definition in the liberal western textbook.