China Philanthropy

Vocabulary Lesson #4: Left-behind Children

n. Left-behind children (留守儿童: liú shǒu ér tóng)

As millions of workers have migrated from China’s rural areas to factories and urban areas, they have left behind millions of children. In 2005, China Daily reported that approximately 10 million children are growing up without their parents and in 2007, the All-China Women's Federation estimated 40 million children under 15 have been left-behind (click here for a map of where these children live).These children are often cared for by a remaining parent, grandparent, or family member and do not see their parent(s) for months or even years at a time. Parents are, of course, reluctant to leave their children, but with the lack of employment and the promise of work in cities, they feel that leaving is the best way to provide for their families. While they send money home, the kids left behind are also left to their own devices.

Vocabulary Lesson #3: The Three Rural Issues

n. The Three Rural Issues (三农问题S­ān Nóng Wèntí)

In the 1990s researchers designated Agriculture (农业 nóngyè), Rural Areas （农村 nóngcūn）, Farmers （农民 nóngmín) as three issues vital to the development of China, all three in need of significant restructuring to improve the country’s health. Both Deng Xiaoping and Wen Jiabao publically addressed the need for reform in these three areas, but the past five years have seen increased dissonance in rural areas and consequently, increased attention on the subject.

Vocabulary Lesson #2: Ministry of Civil Affairs

n. Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People’s Republic of China (MCA)

 中华人民共和国民政部--zhong hua ren min gong he guo min zheng bu

Part of the State Council, MCA was first established in 1949 as the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was abolished in 1969, but founded again under its current title in 1978. In 2003, Li Xueju (李学举) was appointed the sixth minister of MCA.

MCA is comprised of 10 departments including the non-governmental organizations bureau, disaster and poverty relief department, social welfare and social security, foreign affairs department, and education department and heads social administrative affairs. China Detail provides an extensive list of MCA‘s responsibilities which include everything from standardizing the Chinese names of ethnic minorities and foreign places to overseeing democratic elections in villages to providing guidance in domestic and foreign adoptions.

Another Interesting Perspective on GONGO’s

Following our post about GONGO’s below, I found this interesting perspective in an article from NPI today from Xu Yongguang, Director of Narada Foundation, one of the few private foundations in China, about the nature of GONGOs (translated from Chinese):

When GONGOs were set up in the early days, they were designed to be reliant on the government. The good thing about being reliant is that costs are very low, low to a point that when projects are running sometimes the overhead is actually zero. 

China Charity Vocab Lesson #1: GONGO

In order to understand the landscape of Chinese philanthropy, we'll be regularly covering here some "vocabulary lessons" on common terms that might not be familiar to everyone. We'll also include the Chinese characters and pronunciation where applicable.  Feel free to also send us requests for terms you'd like us to cover.  Don't worry--there will not be a test!

This first lesson is everyone's favorite oxymoron in the Chinese nonprofit sector.