https://www.scmp.com/rss/324568/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Having lived and worked in Africa for 15 years, I have seen the enormous investments China has made in the continent, and the misunderstandings, tensions and criticism that have followed. One of the most profound differences between China and the West in foreign engagement lies in the approach to aid and public image. While China relies heavily on centralised state power, Western countries have developed a vast, decentralised network of non-governmental organisations. Through years of... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3307330/china-could-build-its-own-model-soft-power-africa-through-ngos?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3307330/china-could-build-its-own-model-soft-power-africa-through-ngos?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Apr 2025 01:30:08 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow On a rainy Saturday evening, more than 100 attendees are crammed into a small community centre in Shanghai’s leafy Xinhua Road to listen to a conversation between Australian philosopher Peter Singer and Chinese political scientist Lin Yao. The topic of discussion: how to live an ethical life. The talk last October was one of several community events organised by Charity Box, a Shanghai NGO, as part of its “1% Pledge” campaign, which asks ordinary Chinese people to donate 1 per cent of their... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3305609/how-shanghai-ngo-simplifying-concept-charity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3305609/how-shanghai-ngo-simplifying-concept-charity?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Apr 2025 10:15:12 +0000 I was born in Hong Kong in 1975, the youngest of three children. When I was three, my two older brothers, who were then six and nine, went to boarding school in Wales. I was effectively an only child. There was hardly anyone at home, aside from my father. He was a barrister. He and I had breakfast together. He’d ask me to choose a newspaper article and read it out loud to him over breakfast and we would talk about it in the car on my way to Kellett School. My mother came from a very privileged... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3271987/jo-soo-tang-loving-hong-kong-volunteering-and-making-her-days-count?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3271987/jo-soo-tang-loving-hong-kong-volunteering-and-making-her-days-count?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Jul 2024 09:00:14 +0000 Proposed revisions to a 2016 law governing charities in China aim to have all such bodies overseen by a wider range of law enforcement agencies, including anti-espionage officials. Draft revisions to the Charity Law were posted on the website of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature, on Wednesday. Lawmakers had discussed the proposals in a session that ended on Tuesday, and they will remain open for public consultation for 30 days, the post said. The revisions, if... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3239325/all-china-charities-be-overseen-police-anti-spying-agencies-under-proposed-revisions-2016-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3239325/all-china-charities-be-overseen-police-anti-spying-agencies-under-proposed-revisions-2016-law?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Oct 2023 13:35:10 +0000 The Chinese humanitarian group GX Foundation was set up to provide cataract surgery, but it has also helped promote the image of China and its state-owned enterprises across the developing world. The Hong Kong-based foundation has sent Chinese medical practitioners to perform more than 3,600 eye operations, helping to clear the backlog of cataract patients in countries including Cambodia, Laos, Mauritania and Senegal. The non-governmental organisation (NGO) has also performed hundreds of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3231603/chinese-ngo-fixes-eyes-while-helping-state-owned-companies-build-community-ties-overseas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3231603/chinese-ngo-fixes-eyes-while-helping-state-owned-companies-build-community-ties-overseas?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Aug 2023 04:00:16 +0000 Planned TED talks in the Chinese city of Guangzhou have been called off after police contacted the organisers to express concern that it was associated with a foreign non-governmental organisation. The TEDxGuangzhou 2023 conference, planned for August 13, would have been the first since the start of the Covid pandemic and was expected to attract 800 attendees. The schedule included 12 talks by artists, researchers, entrepreneurs and campus anti-bullying advocates. The event brochure also said it... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3229484/chinese-ted-talk-called-after-police-express-concern-about-links-foreign-organisation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3229484/chinese-ted-talk-called-after-police-express-concern-about-links-foreign-organisation?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Jul 2023 08:25:58 +0000 China is experiencing an unprecedented climate-driven environmental crisis this summer. Half the country has been hit by a record-breaking drought, made worse by more than 70 days of intense heat. Sections of the largest river have run dry – a situation long feared by conservationists – crippling water and power supplies for megacities Shanghai and Chongqing and millions more in the Yangtze River basin. Chinese meteorologists have warned that extreme heat events will be the “new normal”. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3190714/chinas-extreme-summer-now-time-beijing-let-green-groups-get?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3190714/chinas-extreme-summer-now-time-beijing-let-green-groups-get?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Aug 2022 10:42:54 +0000 Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. I am writing in response to the turnover rate of native English teachers (NETs) in Hong Kong (“Hong Kong must do more to retain native English teachers”, July 2). I turned 60 after 16 happy years... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3185246/help-hong-kong-retain-native-english-teachers-addressing-retirement?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3185246/help-hong-kong-retain-native-english-teachers-addressing-retirement?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Jul 2022 06:30:19 +0000 I have always liked the Arab proverb, “If you have much, give of your wealth. If you have little, give of your heart.” That encapsulates the generosity of the community during this fifth Covid-19 wave, as we have all pitched in to help Hong Kong. I would like to salute and thank all those who have given to the city’s Covid-19 relief efforts – from developer land loans to monetary donations, from people who lend their expertise to those who volunteer their time. Too many to mention; due to space... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3173299/hongkongers-generosity-during-covid-19-fifth-wave-shows?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3173299/hongkongers-generosity-during-covid-19-fifth-wave-shows?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Apr 2022 22:45:11 +0000 As managing director at UBS Wealth Management and a mother to three children, Belinda Koo also makes time for other passions that are close to her heart, such as the NGO she founded, the One Ten foundation, a social enterprise that empowers the next generation with tools to build emotional literacy. “Youth empowerment is dear to my heart. That’s why One Ten foundation, a charity I founded a few years ago, is picking up the pace to nurture a generation of emotionally intelligent and resilient... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/well-being/article/3165386/meet-belinda-koo-hong-kong-entrepreneur-and-healer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/well-being/article/3165386/meet-belinda-koo-hong-kong-entrepreneur-and-healer?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Feb 2022 01:00:23 +0000 Over the past few decades, the growing body of philanthropists in Asia has primarily been drawn to education, medical support or poverty relief. But changes in decision-makers for families as well as pressing causes has created a shift in focus to sustainability and protecting the environment for the next generation. This evolution means an increasing interest in understanding what local and regional needs exist, combined with a strengthening desire to improve the application of private wealth... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/asia/article/3150031/how-esg-lens-can-help-asian-philanthropists-drive-change?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/asia/article/3150031/how-esg-lens-can-help-asian-philanthropists-drive-change?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Sep 2021 07:30:21 +0000 A controversial public funding system for Hong Kong’s social welfare organisations is here to stay, but top executives will be forced to disclose their pay in a bid to improve transparency and accountability, a government review has recommended. Industry representatives denounced the plan on Monday as too little, too late. It failed to address concerns about a key funding calculation formula they claim has enriched the top, led to problems in frontline talent retention and worsened services amid... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3139915/proposed-fixes-government-funding-ngos-hong-kong-criticised?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3139915/proposed-fixes-government-funding-ngos-hong-kong-criticised?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Jul 2021 13:16:27 +0000 A long way from Oz: I was born in Sydney in 1975. My father was a partner in an accounting firm and my mother was in PR, and they had a very comfortable life. When I was three and my younger brother was one, we moved to the Philippines, where my parents were involved in helping people in need across Asia. My family did extensive travel to the former Soviet bloc and I spent a lot of time as a little kid in Romania, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia, attached to a medical team, so I saw a lot of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3135102/ngo-head-who-got-richard-branson-ban-ki-moon-live-refugees?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3135102/ngo-head-who-got-richard-branson-ban-ki-moon-live-refugees?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 May 2021 09:15:11 +0000 China has announced a nationwide crackdown on “illegal social organisations” in the run-up to the Communist Party’s centenary celebrations in July. On Monday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which supervises groups such as non-governmental organisations, said the latest crackdown focused on bodies that had not registered with the authorities and those that continued their activities after being banned from operating. The ministry’s website said it had banned at least 77 illegal social... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3126501/china-prepares-communist-party-celebrations-crackdown-illegal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3126501/china-prepares-communist-party-celebrations-crackdown-illegal?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Mar 2021 05:03:15 +0000 Remember all those articles last year about ringing in the new decade with exuberance? We were making resolutions not just for the new year, but the new decade. It wasn’t just the annual “new year, new you”; it was the new decade that demanded so much more pomp and circumstance. Only, all that explosive enthusiasm was curbed by microscopic lumps of protein coated with fat that aren’t even considered alive. And that’s the reason Christmas and the new year and, before that, birthdays and all... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3115162/new-year-hong-kongs-spirit-giving-can-light-way-better-times?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3115162/new-year-hong-kongs-spirit-giving-can-light-way-better-times?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Dec 2020 00:45:07 +0000 Afternoon sunshine floods the three-bedroom flat, the silence broken by the hum of fans labouring against the intense summer heat. In the living room, baby clothes and toys are stacked neatly alongside packets of rice and noodles. One bedroom is decorated with balloons that were hung up recently to celebrate the arrival of a baby girl, who is sleeping on a baby bouncer. The balloons will stay up for a while: two more babies – also girls – are due later this month. A baby boy will arrive in a few... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3100792/they-are-pregnant-out-work-and-stranded-covid-19?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3100792/they-are-pregnant-out-work-and-stranded-covid-19?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Sep 2020 04:33:51 +0000 When Hong Kong native Lo Sze-ping went to mainland China in 2000 to help Greenpeace set up its first branch there, in Beijing, he found the concept of non-governmental organisations helping to conserve the environment was not taken seriously. “I felt like Don Quixote tilting at windmills,” recalls Lo, the former CEO of Greenpeace China and outgoing CEO of WWF China. His first idea for a campaign at Greenpeace China was given short shrift even by the liberal Chinese media. Lo, now 47, was... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3097621/20-years-progress-environment-china-former-greenpeace-china-and-wwf-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3097621/20-years-progress-environment-china-former-greenpeace-china-and-wwf-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Aug 2020 21:15:15 +0000 When Xiao Jia lost her sight at the age of 14, she was told that a “respectable” career choice would be for her to become a massage therapist. But she and many other practitioners later discover that the risk of sexual abuse and assault is a grim reality of their work. https://www.scmp.com/china/blind-women-face-sexual-abuse-and-assault-respectable-jobs-massage-therapists-china/article/3097343?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/china/blind-women-face-sexual-abuse-and-assault-respectable-jobs-massage-therapists-china/article/3097343?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Aug 2020 09:32:02 +0000 At the age of 37, Peter Leung Chi-kin’s life ran into a dead end. Jobless, homeless, penniless, with no immediate family and other relatives too poor to help, eking out an existence on the streets of Hong Kong’s Kowloon peninsula was his only option. “If I could find a seat in an all-night McDonald’s, I’d go there,” says Leung, who over the years worked as a waiter, air-conditioning mechanic, cleaner and odd-job man. “Otherwise, I’d doss down in a park. It happened this January, so it was cold,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3091707/homeless-and-rock-bottom-charity-fed-him-gave-him-work-serving-fellow?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3091707/homeless-and-rock-bottom-charity-fed-him-gave-him-work-serving-fellow?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Jul 2020 23:15:05 +0000 We have all become familiar with the concept of social isolation during the Covid-19 outbreak. Many of us are having to physically cut ourselves off from the outside world altogether. This has its costs, one of which could be to our mental health, and whereas adults may be able to articulate their predicament and reach out for help, children are not so well equipped. Social isolation is one of the markers we at Viva, a global charity focused on helping vulnerable children, use when deciding who... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3087536/coronavirus-social-isolation-how-let-kids-know-they-are-not-alone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3087536/coronavirus-social-isolation-how-let-kids-know-they-are-not-alone?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Jun 2020 00:15:08 +0000 Walking stick in hand, 91-year-old Lau Yuet-chun sets a brisk pace crossing the courtyard of the Sau Mau Ping Estate, one of Hong Kong’s oldest public housing estates located in Kwun Tong district and a place she has called home for 50 years. Her secret to longevity is simple: “Eat less and light.” While Lau’s mind is sharp, her body is letting her down. She has knee problems, hypertension and high cholesterol. Thirty years ago she had a kidney removed. “I also have type-2 diabetes,” she adds,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3084501/social-isolation-adds-loneliness-elderly-charities-reach?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3084501/social-isolation-adds-loneliness-elderly-charities-reach?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 May 2020 05:00:09 +0000 Online giving is changing charity in Asia. Crowdfunding, especially, changes the way the social sector operates, and its reach is growing rapidly. Nowhere is this more true than in mainland China, where crowdfunding has skyrocketed in recent years.  According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, in 2018, of the 8.46 billion yuan (US$1.22 billion) in donations made to charitable organisations, 3.17 billion yuan went to the 20 outline platforms available on the mainland. This is a 26.8 per cent... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3015381/crowdfunding-charity-why-mainland-china-leads-hong-kong-online?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3015381/crowdfunding-charity-why-mainland-china-leads-hong-kong-online?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Jun 2019 09:00:14 +0000 At the age of 18, on the cusp of what he hoped would be a dazzling future, Raymond Sun Jingrui was stricken with blindness and found his life suddenly changed. “It was like falling from the sky down to earth. I thought I had been thrown on the scrap heap,” he says. Locking himself away at home for four years, the Guangzhou youngster finally worked his way through all the mental torment, developing an interest in psychology in the process. But Sun soon realised the only realistic career open to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3005824/offering-young-people-disabilities-clearer-path?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3005824/offering-young-people-disabilities-clearer-path?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Apr 2019 04:00:15 +0000 French journalist and filmmaker Frederique Bedos is sitting in the “bunker” at Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club. It’s day two of her three-day visit to the city to raise awareness about her NGO, Le Projet Imagine – The Humble Heroes, and to identify unsung heroes in the region. The television screen above us is playing coverage of the Christchurch attacks in a frenzied loop. Glancing up at mass murderer Brenton Tarrant, she sighs. The blanket coverage is making the man who live-streamed... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3004153/french-journalist-and-filmmaker-mission-find-asias-humble-heroes-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3004153/french-journalist-and-filmmaker-mission-find-asias-humble-heroes-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Apr 2019 11:15:13 +0000 Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor’s arrest this week in the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong shines a light on the precarious existence of foreigners who live and work along the ultra-sensitive border between China and North Korea. Spavor, a prominent North Korea watcher and founder of Dandong-based organisation Paektu Cultural Exchange, is the latest in a series of businessmen, aid workers and missionaries to run afoul of authorities in the tense, heavily surveilled border region. The... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/2178045/michael-spavor-arrest-shows-perils-faced-foreigners-dandong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/2178045/michael-spavor-arrest-shows-perils-faced-foreigners-dandong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Dec 2018 11:01:31 +0000 Last Saturday starting at 8am, five-year-old Kaishori Crosbie carefully placed cans of meat and fish one by one into goodie bags that also contained toiletries. She and her mother, Sharanya Jayawickrama, were taking part in a charity food drive preparing basic necessities for needy families in Hong Kong. Distribution was slated for this Saturday. The pair spent three hours packing, and Jayawickrama, who is in her 30s, said she wanted her daughter to learn sympathy for others. “She was surprised... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2145847/mother-and-child-volunteers-hong-kong-show-how-citys-needy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2145847/mother-and-child-volunteers-hong-kong-show-how-citys-needy?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 May 2018 23:48:59 +0000 Thirty-two Hong Kong social service groups supported by the government paid out more than HK$7.8 million in cash subsidies in the 2016-17 financial year to their top executives, whose basic salaries were often higher than civil servants of the same rank, a survey by a social workers’ union has revealed. At the Hong Kong Lutheran Social Service, the study found a typical inverted triangle salary structure, with its chief social work officer seeing her basic annual salary rise from HK$1.05 million... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/2140156/runaway-pay-hong-kong-ngo-managers-criticised-after-hk78?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/2140156/runaway-pay-hong-kong-ngo-managers-criticised-after-hk78?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Apr 2018 13:51:31 +0000 Private English lessons have long been viewed as an unaffordable luxury by many low-income families in Hong Kong, who are desperate to improve their children’s prospects amid an increasingly competitive job market. But an international NGO is hoping to change that by offering free English tutoring sessions to Hong Kong children and their parents by partnering with a local youth group. Founded by American teenager Chance Wilson in 2014 when he was just 14 years old, WGI now operates in seven... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2130755/how-louisiana-boys-global-ngo-helping-hong-kong-parents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2130755/how-louisiana-boys-global-ngo-helping-hong-kong-parents?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Jan 2018 04:48:38 +0000 Hongkongers have a reputation of being generous in donating to charities. While many have no problem in giving money to some good causes, they are less generous with their time. According to a survey by data research firm Nielsen and non-profit group HandsOn Hong Kong, only 25 per cent of respondents had engaged in volunteer work during the past 12 months, even though seven in 10 said they intended to do so. The findings, which came on the eve of the International Volunteer Day last Wednesday,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2123651/donating-time-can-be-just-generous?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2123651/donating-time-can-be-just-generous?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Dec 2017 17:44:45 +0000 Fewer than a third of Hongkongers undertook any volunteering work in the past year, despite a majority agreeing they should give back to the community by doing so, a survey has found. Although 70 per cent of 1,000 people polled said they intended to volunteer, only 26 per cent had pitched in over the past 12 months, the results showed. Out of those who had volunteered, each person only did so an average of 1.3 times. Data research firm Nielsen, in collaboration with non-profit group HandsOn Hong... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/2122734/70-cent-hongkongers-say-they-intend-do-volunteering-work?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/2122734/70-cent-hongkongers-say-they-intend-do-volunteering-work?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Dec 2017 02:02:17 +0000 All the Zellwegers come from the same area in Switzerland where I was born, the eastern part. Quite often, when I enter the United States, the immi­gration officer asks about (Hollywood actress) Renée. I always say she’s my very distant cousin. Switzerland was a bit too enclosing for me, so I came to Hong Kong in July 1978 on a two-year contract. In Switzerland, I’d been a probation officer for young offend­ers and women. I always wanted to work with people at the fringe – overlooked people, not... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2122302/my-22-years-helping-north-koreans-hong-kong-aid-worker?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2122302/my-22-years-helping-north-koreans-hong-kong-aid-worker?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Dec 2017 10:49:13 +0000 When Yang Changhe decided to help migrant workers thrown out of their homes in a citywide safety crackdown in Beijing, he didn’t expect it would end in his own eviction. Yang, who moved to the Chinese capital from Hunan in 2009, ran a drop-in centre for other migrants in his spare time and was one of many members of the public who rallied to help the tens of thousands of people given just days – and in some cases hours – to leave their homes on the fringes of the city. Chinese intellectuals urge... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2121647/welcome-beijing-where-helping-homeless-can-get-you?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2121647/welcome-beijing-where-helping-homeless-can-get-you?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Nov 2017 01:02:22 +0000 When Abigail Anderson and ­Bingjie Turner returned to China’s Qinghai province, and the children’s home where they lived before being adopted and taken to the United States 14 years ago, the most poignant moment was a ­reunion with friends they had left behind. “There were a lot of tears,” says Anderson, now 28. “They couldn’t believe we were really there. We had to say to them, ‘Stop crying, stop crying.’” The main reason they wanted to go back, she says, was to meet the other orphans they’d... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/families/article/2115493/chinese-orphans-return-their-childrens-home-after-14-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/families/article/2115493/chinese-orphans-return-their-childrens-home-after-14-years?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Oct 2017 10:45:15 +0000 Jiang Ying and her team at a Beijing-based children’s charity joke that they work 362 days a year for three days in September. That’s when donations flood in from across the country via e-commerce platforms as part of “9/9 Philanthropy Day”. The digital cash injections account for the bulk of China Charities Aid Foundation for Children’s annual funding and are growing rapidly. This year the foundation took in 200 million yuan in e-contributions between September 7-9 – more than its budget for... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2114320/chinas-charity-apps-gift-may-not-keep-giving?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2114320/chinas-charity-apps-gift-may-not-keep-giving?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Oct 2017 01:03:35 +0000 The classroom wall is adorned with colourful children’s drawings and riddled with bullet holes. This is not the first time Arnaud de Baecque has visited a war zone, but it is his first in Hong Kong. A lawyer by training, the Frenchman is the deputy regional director for Asia and the Pacific at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He has been dispatched to conflict zones from Afghanistan to the Central African Republic since he joined the Geneva, Switzerland-based organisation in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2112029/why-red-cross-wants-show-peaceful-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2112029/why-red-cross-wants-show-peaceful-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Sep 2017 10:47:43 +0000 Only about 1 per cent of the foreign NGOs believed to be operating in mainland China have registered as required by a new law, meaning that thousands could be operating in a risky legal limbo. The law, which came into effect on January 1, subjects foreign NGOs to close government scrutiny with stringent registration and reporting requirements and gives the police broad powers to question their workers, inspect their offices, look into their documents and even seal off their premises and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2097923/why-foreign-ngos-are-struggling-new-chinese-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2097923/why-foreign-ngos-are-struggling-new-chinese-law?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Jun 2017 14:00:15 +0000 Thirty-six Chinese lawyers have offered to advise foreign non-governmental organisations after a controversial law came into effect on January 1. The lawyers, mostly from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, said they would form a foreign NGO legal services group to advise the foreign organisations, their local units or individuals who operate on their behalf in more 20 sectors. German Chancellor Merkel to raise EU fears over Beijing’s new NGO law and steel production during China visit The new Law... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2059040/chinese-lawyers-help-foreign-ngos-navigate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2059040/chinese-lawyers-help-foreign-ngos-navigate?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Jan 2017 01:03:11 +0000 Overseas non-governmental organisations on the mainland are feeling growing unease about their future with just two months to go until a new law comes into effect giving the police broad powers to regulate the sector. Released in April, the Law on Management of Domestic Activities of Overseas Non-governmental Organisations stipulates such NGOs must register with and obtain approval for their annual plans from police rather than the civil affairs authority, which had previously overseen the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2039279/overseas-ngos-china-uneasy-about-new-oversight-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2039279/overseas-ngos-china-uneasy-about-new-oversight-law?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Oct 2016 15:44:06 +0000 The mainland’s adoption of a law governing overseas NGOs has sent a chill throughout the sector in Hong Kong that operates there, with some groups saying they had stopped work over the border, a study has found. The research, released by the China Philanthropy Research Institute and China Global Philanthropy Institute, found many non-governmental organisations in the city felt alienated and uncertain after the law was passed in April. They said it was especially troubling the law categorised... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2038791/hong-kongs-ngos-isolated-and-confused-mainland-chinas-new-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2038791/hong-kongs-ngos-isolated-and-confused-mainland-chinas-new-law?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Oct 2016 23:00:34 +0000 The latest draft of China’s controversial new law for regulating foreign non-governmental organisations envisages greater police oversight and financial scrutiny of these organisations, while easing some administrative restrictions proposed in the previous version. Experts said the changes reflected a new approach to foreign NGOs that was intended to give groups deemed useful to the authorities more space and support while driving out those considered dangerous to the authorities. The proposed... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1938490/chinas-controversial-new-law-foreign-ngos-include?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1938490/chinas-controversial-new-law-foreign-ngos-include?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Apr 2016 17:00:00 +0000 Beijing has made “cracking down on infiltration and subversion by hostile forces” one of its key priorities after a year that saw convictions for state security ­offences double, according the nation’s top prosecutor’s office. In a move that raises concerns that the crackdown on activists and non-governmental organisations will intensify, chief prosecutor Cao Jianming highlighted the fight against terrorism, separatism and extreme religious activities in the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1924476/beijing-pledges-get-tough-state-security-raising-fears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1924476/beijing-pledges-get-tough-state-security-raising-fears?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Mar 2016 15:30:45 +0000 The United States, Canada, Germany, Japan and the European Union have written to China to express concern over three new or planned laws – including one on counterterrorism – in a rare joint bid to pressure Beijing into taking their objections seriously. The US, Canadian, German and Japanese ambassadors signed a letter dated January 27 addressed to State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun, voicing unease about the new counterterrorism law, the draft cybersecurity law, and a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1919121/major-world-powers-team-pressure-china-over-new-laws?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1919121/major-world-powers-team-pressure-china-over-new-laws?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Mar 2016 10:15:30 +0000 A slew of crackdown on non-government organisations on the mainland in the past couple of years, culminating in Swedish NGO worker Peter Dahlin being paraded on state TV this week, has left many charity workers feeling jittery about their future. State media on Tuesday accused Peter Dahlin, 35, of setting up Chinese Urgent Action Working Group with rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang to carry out activities that “endanger state security”. It also accused the Hong Kong-registered group of receiving... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1903724/charity-workers-china-say-ngos-being-pulled-out-roots?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1903724/charity-workers-china-say-ngos-being-pulled-out-roots?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Jan 2016 16:02:38 +0000 A colleague of detained Swedish NGO worker Peter Dahlin has refuted Chinese state media’s accusation that his Hong Kong-registered group was carrying out works that undermined China’s state security. Dahlin, 35, a co-founder of the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, has been detained since January 3. His Chinese girlfriend Pan Jinling disappeared around the same time, according to Michael Caster, Dahlin’s co-worker in the group. State news agency Xinhua on Tuesday accused Dahlin of setting up... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1903454/detained-swedish-ngo-worker-peter-dahlins-colleague?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1903454/detained-swedish-ngo-worker-peter-dahlins-colleague?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Jan 2016 10:00:30 +0000 A Swedish NGO worker detained on the mainland has been accused of setting up a non-profit organisation – that is registered in Hong Kong as a company – with a Chinese rights lawyer to carry out activities that “endanger state security” – including helping the teenage son of a detained lawyer flee abroad. State security organs and police authorities jointly “smashed an illegal group which worked under the name of Chinese Urgent Action Working Group that received long-term overseas funding to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1903305/swedish-ngo-worker-detained-criminal-coercive-measures?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1903305/swedish-ngo-worker-detained-criminal-coercive-measures?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Jan 2016 15:15:00 +0000 A non-governmental organisation said a Chinese court in Tianjin had accepted its lawsuit against Volkswagen China, accusing it of worsening air pollution and breaking product quality laws. China changed environmental laws earlier this year to make it easier for NGOs to sue suspected polluters, and the legal action comes after VW admitted to faking emissions tests overseas. READ MORE: ‘An unbroken chain of errors’: Volkswagen claims pollution-cheating scandal was result of mistakes dating back to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1891347/chinese-court-accepts-ngo-lawsuit-against-volkswagen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1891347/chinese-court-accepts-ngo-lawsuit-against-volkswagen?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Dec 2015 08:15:45 +0000 A non-profit organisation in Beijing shut down its social media account after its post criticising a woman for breastfeeding on the subway caused a stir online, a mainland news portal reported. According to The Paper.cn, the NGO called Beijing Tale posted on its Weibo account a photo of a woman in a red coat breastfeeding her baby on a crowded subway carriage, The post said: “Mind you behaviour in public, and don’t expose sexual organs.” The post continued, as if talking directly to the woman:... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1884926/chinese-ngo-suspends-weibo-account-after-criticising-woman?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1884926/chinese-ngo-suspends-weibo-account-after-criticising-woman?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Nov 2015 11:00:00 +0000 China’s Communist Party is calling on NGOs, trade unions and foundations to increase the presence of party members within their organisations, state media reports. The Organisation Department of the party’s Central Committee said the initiative to strengthen party organs in such organisations was necessary to “guide them in the right political direction” through promoting and carrying out party policies, the Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. The party groups installed in these organisations... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1862416/china-boost-communist-party-presence-mainland-ngos?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1862416/china-boost-communist-party-presence-mainland-ngos?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Sep 2015 10:15:00 +0000 Chinese President Xi Jinping told American business leaders on Wednesday that foreign organisations in China should “obey Chinese law”, after draft legislation raised fears of a crackdown on overseas groups. China is expected to pass a law this year covering foreign charities, business associations and academic institutions operating in the country. It comes as Beijing clamps down on domestic civil society activists, prompting fears among charity workers that their actions in China will be... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1860724/obey-chinese-law-xi-issues-warning-foreign-ngos-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1860724/obey-chinese-law-xi-issues-warning-foreign-ngos-china?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Sep 2015 07:15:30 +0000 The mainland's public security chief has sought to ease fears about a proposed new law governing foreign NGOs, pledging to help the non-governmental organisations operate. Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun told representatives from a group of NGOs in Shanghai on Friday that the authorities appreciated their contributions to the country's social development. Guo also said the mainland would learn from their professionalism to deepen cooperation with other countries in economics, science,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1843921/chinas-public-security-chief-tries-ease-fears-about?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1843921/chinas-public-security-chief-tries-ease-fears-about?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Jul 2015 15:30:38 +0000