On May 8, Guangdong’s Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper, known for its relatively strong news reporting and its liberal, pro-reform stand on many current issues in China, published an essay on the importance of civil society by Yu Keping (俞可平), one of China’s most prominent intellectual figures. In the essay, Yu Keping, perhaps best known for his 2007 essay “Democracy is a Good Thing,” argues that civil society development has been strong in China in recent years, but that more needs to be done to relax government restrictions and change public attitudes, encouraging involvement in all aspects of social, economic and political life.
The Southern Metropolis Daily essay, introduced as the first in a series of related pieces, is drawn from a speech Yu Keping gave at a recent forum on “Civil Society and the Harmonious Society” held at the Civil Society Research Center at Peking University, where Yu serves is a professor of politics.
In the essay, Yu makes reference to a 2009 collection of discussions on democracy and civil society. That collection is available here from the liberal CCP journal Yanhuang Chunqiu. [Purchase an English edition of “Democracy is a Good Thing” from the Brookings Institution Press here].

“Moving Toward Shared Governance by the Government and the Public”
Southern Metropolis Daily
May 8, 2011
By Yu Keping (俞可平), Director of the Compilation and Translation Bureau of the CCP Central Committee
Our whole society needs to change its understanding of civil society, and transform its attitude toward civil society. In particular, the Party and government officials at all levels need to have a deep understanding of the strategic significance of civil society, and from there take a posture of active encouragement, cooperation and support. The Party and the government must further improve laws and regulations, carrying out regulation of social organizations according to law. They must accelerate the relaxing of restrictions on social organizations, better cultivating and sustaining them. Governments at various levels must invite the participation of social organizations in public policy-making, in particular actively utilizing the important role social organizations have in the innovation of public administration, encouraging them to take on more public services, working hard to create a social governance pattern of shared governance by the government and the public.
Civil society is steadily maturing in China, and we should say that it is increasingly drawing attention, and is of increasing importance. For the first “China Social Innovation Prize” (中国社会创新奖) last year, we had more than 160 civil organizations apply, and many of these projects were excellent, their significance for the country and for citizens substantial. Research on civil society has also steadily deepened, which shows that not only has Chinese civil society already become a major force, but scholars researching civil society also now form an environment and force of strength [for civil society development].
This demonstrates the principle that so long as something suits the logic of social development, so long as it suits the demands of social progress, it will, like the first shoots of Spring after the rains, [shoot forth] and please the eyes of all, unstoppable by any force. In 2007, we released a lengthy interview and discussion on the topic of civil society and the harmonious society. We expounded quite comprehensively on the inherent connection and significance of civil society and social harmony. One point we came to was that without a healthy civil society, it is impossible to create a truly harmonious society. As that discussion has already been released, and has moreover been included in my published interviews, I don’t want to repeat it here. Here I would like to talk about “The Current State and Future of Chinese Civil Society.”
Over 30 years of opening and reform, the structural differentiation of Chinese society has taken full shape: a national [government] system with government officials as the representatives and government organizations as the foundation; a market system with enterprise bosses as the representatives and enterprise organizations as the foundation; and a civil society system with citizens as the representatives and social organizations or civil organizations or as the foundation. After [the start of] economic reform and opening, the first differentiation to take place was between the political state (政治国家) and the citizen society (市民社会), or economic society (经济社会) — and this breakthrough was the separation of enterprises from administration. Generally beginning in the 1990s, large numbers of civil organizations (民间组织) or people-run non-enterprise units (民办非企业单位) emerged [in China], and a relatively independent civil society began to take shape, so that state and society began drawing apart.
Right now, officially registered social organizations [in China] number some 450,000, and community organizations (社区组织) on record number around 250,000, but the actual numbers are more like three million. They are growing at a rate of around 8-10 percent a year. These civil organizations cover perhaps every aspect of social life: science and technology, education, culture, health and sanitation, labor, civil administration, sports, environmental protection, law, charity and other socially beneficial areas, commercial services, and they have tentatively formed a system. Just more than 60,000 industry associations bring together some 20 million enterprise members, more than 40,000 academic groups bring together more than five millions academics and experts, and professional associations bring together more than 10 million professionals.
The economic power of the various social organizations has also begun to manifest more clearly. Statistics suggest that up to the end of 2010, social organizations held fixed assets of around 108.9 billion yuan, with annual income of around 124.7 billion yuan. These are just approximate statistics, and the actual figures should be much, much higher.
China’s civil organizations have begun to move out internationally. This has been one of the most eye-catching developments in recent years. Up until recently, leaders or members of national community organizations already hold leading positions at 122 international organizations, and serve as directors of 92 international organizations.
As the foundation of civil society, various social organizations or civil organizations are having a crucial day-to-day role in economic, political and cultural life [in China].
In terms of economic life, social organizations promote economic cooperation and encourage economic development through active participation in various economic activities. In providing job opportunities, they expand channels for employment. Employees of various social organizations are rapidly increasing in number, with 5.4 million full-time employees, more than five million part-time employees, and a further 25 million registered volunteers. Many economic-related social organizations and industry organizations have a role in regulating industry conduct, having an irreplaceable role in maintaining market order.
In terms of political life, social organizations are an important channel for citizen participation, and an important force in furthering grassroots [development]. Civil organizations also serve as a bridge connecting the government and citizens, benefitting increased trust between the government and the public. Social organizations are playing an ever more important role in influencing the policy decisions of the government at various levels, benefitting the promotion of rational and democratic government decision-making. In recent years, social organizations in many local areas have begun to take on in part the [provision of] government public services, making achievements in improving the quality of public services.
In terms of public benefit, various social organizations have always played a strong role in poverty alleviation and promoting charitable activities. After the [2008] Wenchuan earthquake [in Sichuan province], the government reached a new recognition of the role of social organizations, and social organizations began having substantive cooperation with the government in the area of social disaster relief. The public benefit function of social organizations has also been patently shown in the area of ecological protection, improving the environment, preserving public safety and promoting social harmony.
Culturally, social organizations benefit the creation of popular norms, and they preserve social unity. Particularly in the area of enriching the cultural life of the people, social organizations have a clear role. For example, many community sports and cultural events are initiated and organized by community organizations, and these have an important role in lifting the general character of society.
Our society’s recognition of civil organizations has undergone fundamental change, and the shift has begun from the previous denial and doubt [concerning these organizations] to an attitude of acknowledgement and support. But a number of serious prejudices remain, particularly the idea that social organizations must somehow naturally work at cross purposes with the government. The institutional environment for social organizations has begun to improve, particularly as a number of local and regional regulations have seen substantial improvement. For example, in some areas, registration systems have already been put in place for grassroots social organizations in the public benefit. But in a broader sense, the institutional environment for Chinese social organizations is geared more toward restriction than encouragement, and important laws and regulations are still deficient.
The Party and the government have already begun the transition from focusing on control in dealing with social organizations to focusing on nurturing and encouragement. In the current 12th Five-Year Plan, “strengthening the building of social organizations” is raised for the first time in a prominent position [as a priority]. This is a substantial transformation. And along with the major shift, there has been a clear improvement in the supplying of resources to civil society. Government financial aid, subcontracting of services and social welfare spending have begun to increase. Yet still provision of resources is far from adequate.
There has been clear improvement in terms of the self-building of civil society [in China], and citizenship [in terms of conduct and attitude] has generally improved, particularly in the clear strengthening of civic consciousness. In terms of manpower, systems, management and funding, social organizations are doing far better than in the past. But Chinese civil society still faces many problems of its own. Self-discipline is inadequate among social organizations, manpower is still insufficient, and excessive bureaucracy still exists [NOTE: what I have translated “bureaucracy” refers to administration procedure being the standard or center of organizations, and other functions serving the needs of administration.].
Our whole society needs to change its understanding of civil society, and transform its attitude toward civil society. In particular, the Party and government officials at all levels need to have a deep understanding of the strategic significance of civil society, and from there take a posture of active encouragement, cooperation and support. The Party and the government must further improve laws and regulations, carrying out regulation of social organizations according to law. They must accelerate the relaxing of restrictions on social organizations, better cultivating and sustaining them. Governments at various levels must invite the participation of social organizations in public policy-making, in particular actively utilizing the important role social organizations have in the innovation of public administration, encouraging them to take on more public services, working hard to create a social governance pattern of shared governance by the government and the public.
(This essay was delivered as a speech by the author at the forum “Civil Society and the Harmonious Society,” held at Peking University’s Civil Society Research Center.)