The system has no outlets for compassion
By Xiao Shu (笑蜀) [原文在这里］

There was a bewildering bit of news this week.  Media revealed on December 1 that the Ministry of Civil Affairs is thinking about adjusting the registration process for non-governmental organizations, allowing more organizations to apply for and gain legal status.  The next day a response came, however, saying that the news did not come through official channels.    There is at present still no confirmation.

It is quite significant that a piece of unofficial news could go viral so quickly.  It seems that this is a barometer of public sentiment.  Topics such as the barriers to NGO registration and their entire survival have an important place on the public agenda, which now has been thrown into sharp relief. 

This is a reflection of a fundamental conflict in our society, namely that there is a massive gap between the need for public welfare and what the system can offer.  This is similar to the artificial suppression of cultural and spiritual activities, which has long wearied cultural industries.   The complicated lot of Chinese NGO’s is a direct result of the public’s increasing demands on welfare and public life, which cannot go on indefinitely.

There was once a very brief time when the power of Chinese NGO’s came pouring out.  This was the Wenchuan Earthquake of last year.  They vied with each other to bring relief to different disaster areas. They proved invaluable in providing stability and recovery to these areas.  This gave people hope.  They wondered if this was the opportunity for civil society to advance into a Sunshine System, or if this was history’s way of compensating those who had suffered for so long.  Unfortunately, it was an ardent hope that people were not able to realize.  The NGO’s completely left Wenchuan after the disaster.  Everything gradually became quiet again, as if going back to normal. 

Chinese people do not lack compassion.  The explosion of non-governmental support during the Wenchuan Earthquake is testimony enough.  However, having only the compassion and welfare resources of this sector of society is not enough.  It is similar to the development of the economy which requires highly efficient public services from the government, especially in terms of infrastructure.  The emergence of civil society and especially that of NGOs requires systematic links to and cooperation with this infrastructure. 

The biggest frustration of NGOs and civil society is the difficulty of setting up these relationships.  The system lacks outlets for the compassion of society, which constitutes a deadly bottleneck in our social development.  Investing oneself in the public good should be a joyful and satisfying process.  This is precisely what evokes even more compassion and brings even more resources.  Public service is then able to grow accordingly.   But if the reality is that the costs in the system are too expensive, such that it is beyond the means of average people, they will inevitably see this as a perilous undertaking.  Talking about how the world should be full of love in light of things like this is as absurd as climbing a tree to catch a fish.  Society will inevitably become more apathetic because of it. 

It would not be difficult to spur our social development to catch up [with our economy] by means of the material wealth we own and through the great humanist tradition we have of filial piety and providing for the betterment of those within our families and also those without.   The reality however is rather depressing.  One must admit that Chinese NGO’s are still in their infancy, much like the stage of the private economy in the 1980s.  Many of them are stuck at the level of a workshop.  Along with other developing countries such as India and Brazil, Chinese civil society and NGOs in particular are greatly inferior to advanced nations.  We must admit that in comparison to the rapid rise of our economy and our place in the world as a great nation, the level of our social development, particularly civil society and NGOs, does not even come close.

The childlike state of NGOs is reflection of the impoverishment of our civil society and compassion, and if we are to gradually escape this poverty, it is urgent that there be systemic reform.  At the very least we cannot maintain that a registration system which shuts out nearly 90% of grassroots NGOs and does not even allow them to fight for a legal identity is normal.   Social development in China cannot skirt the issue of how to reform the system so that it becomes more open on the inside, giving a new dynamism to its people, so that the public good has more outlets and love has more opportunity.  The stir caused by the news that the Ministry of Civil Affairs has adjusted its regulations on NGO registration was a clear reflection of the worry and concern people have over this. Whether it’s through public opinion boiling over, pressure or sheer force, why don’t the gentlemen in power just help the situation along? 

NOTE: This article is a translation.  The original appeared in Southern Weekly on December 3, 2009.