Interactive NGOs: Bridging Civil Society and the Public Sphere in China

NGOs play a crucial role in the budding civil society in China. Yet the restrictive political climate means that the degree of autonomy these organizations enjoy is relatively low – especially when dealing with politically sensitive subjects. Successful NGOs have found ways of carving out a sphere of action for themselves within the complex state-society relations in China, becoming in Peter Ho’s words embedded in the Chinese State corporatism. However, an added challenge for these NGOs is how to negotiate the complicated political sphere while at the same time maintaining a degree of legitimacy through their linkage with the general public; engaging with their members as well as the rest of the population in the public sphere. This chapter explores how Chinese NGOs attempt to negotiate these two challenges: dealing with the Chinese government bureaucracy and the restrictions placed on them, while seeking to create civic engagement in the public sphere through their Internet presence.