Lessons from abroad: Foreign influences on Chinas emerging civil society

Abstract

Over the past decade, a number of foreign grantmakers and international NGOs have funded, initiated and/or designed training programs that introduce their Chinese grantees to "best practices" in "NGO management". Drawing on several years of fieldwork, this article sheds light on the origins and lessons conveyed by two such "capacity- building" programs. Rather than being grounded in the actual, lived experience of Chinese civil society organizations and emerging organically from the bottom up, these programs are shown to reflect more accurately the concerns of foreign donors and the professionalized segment of the North American nonprofit world. The article concludes by suggesting that, desp..