PDF《Mapping炉he燣andscapes? ?》

1? Associational?Revolution?in?China:? ? Mapping?the?Landscapes? ? ? Shaoguang?Wang? Jianyu?He?? ? ? ? ? Abstract? ? In?recent?years,?we?have?observed?a?striking?up\ surge?of?organized?voluntary?activity?and?the?creation? of? private,? nonprofit? or? non\governmental? organiza\ tions?around?the?world.

?This?study?explores?to?what? extent?China?is?part?of?the?global?associational?revolu\ ??Shaoguang?Wang?is?Professor?at?the?Department?of?Government?and?Pub\ lic?Administration,?the?Chinese?University?of?Hong?Kong,?and?the?Chief? Editor?of?the?China?Review.?He?has?authored,?co\authored,?and?edited?19? books?in?Chinese?and?English.?E\mail:[email protected].? ???Jianyu?He?is?a?Ph.D.?Candidate?in?the?Department?of?Government?and? Public? Administration,? the? Chinese? University? of? Hong? Kong.? E\mail:? [email protected].? ? Korea?Observer,?Vol.?35,?No.?3,?Autumn?2004,?pp.?0\0.? ??2004?by?THE?INSTITUTE?OF?KOREAN?STUDIES.? ? 2? ? Shaoguang?Wang?and?Jianyu?He? tion.?It?aims?at?charting?the?size,?scope,?and?structure? of?the?associational?world?in?China,?in?a?way?that?not? only? yields? solid? and? objective? information? about? China,? but? also? makes? it? possible? to? undertake? cross\society?comparisons?later.? ? ? Key?Words:?Association,?China,?Civil?Society,?Social? Capital? ? ? I.?Introduction? ? In?recent?years,?political?and?scholarly?interest?in?associa\ tional?life?has?increased?noticeably,?because? a?striking?upsurge? is?under?way?around?the?global?in?organized?voluntary?activity? and?the?creation?of?private,?nonprofit?or?non\governmental?or\ ganizations ?(Salamon,?1994).?However,?little?is?known?about? associational?life?in?China,?the?world'

s?most?populous?country? with?an?estimated?population?of?1.25?billion.?If?we?are?indeed?in? the? midst? of? a? global? associational? revolution ? as? Salamon? (1994)? proclaims,? it? is? quite? important? and? timely? to? ask? whether?China?is?part?of?the?revolution.? Some? outside? commentators? often? assume? that? associa\ tional? life? is? repressed? and? therefore? insignificant? under? the? communist?rule?(Mathews,?1997).?In?fact,?the?situation?in?China? does?not?appear?to?be?very?different?from?the?above\mentioned? worldwide? trend.? After? 30? years? of? omnipresent? government? control,?the?Chinese?state?began?in?the?late?1970s?to?step?back? Associational?Revolution?in?China:?Mapping?the?Landscapes? ? 3? from?its?effort?to?program?totally?all?of?social?life.?As?the?econ\ omy?and?society?become?more?pluralistic?and?as?the?people?en\ joy?more?freedom?than?ever?before,?it?is?only?natural?for?Chi\ nese?to?pursue?a?more?active?associational?life.?Now?a?signifi\ cant?number?and?wide?range?of?associations?are?in?operation?in? the?country.?The?problem?is?that,?except?few?aggregated?num\ bers,?we?know?very?little?about?this?aspect?of?modern?Chinese? society.? For? this? reason,? improving? the? base? of? knowledge? about? Chinese? associational? life? in? a? systematic? fashion? is? a? matter?of?great?academic?interest.?The?purpose?of?this?study?is? to?do?just?that?\\?contributing?to?our?understanding?of?associa\ tional?landscapes?in?China.? ? ? ? II.?Rationale? ? Since?the?early?1990s,?the?expanding?social?space?between? the?individual?and?the?state?has?attracted?growing?interest?from? China?specialists.?The?focus?of?the?field?has?been?on?so\called? civic? associations. ? Some? studies? examine? specific? types? of? membership?organizations,?such?as?trade?unions?(Chan,?1993;

? Perry,? 1994),? business? and? professional? associations? (Pearson,? 1994;