Title: The Political Economy of Compassion: China's ‘charity supermarket’ saga
Abstract: Abstract With a focus on Tianjin, this article examines the recent widespread establishment of 'charity supermarkets' in China's cities. Inspired by the example of certain 'thrift shops' in the US, charity supermarkets were set up for the purpose of assisting the urban poor. Several contrasting contemporary discourses within China concerning poverty, charity, business, and the proper roles of the market, state, and community in the delivery of social welfare are explored. The differing perspectives revealed throw an interesting light on why China's charity supermarkets have not, so far, developed as anticipated. This interesting urban social experiment is analyzed as a case study in the potential to achieve effective 'mutual empowerment' of state and society in the contemporary Chinese context. Notes *Vivienne Shue, FBA, received a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard, taught Chinese politics at Yale and Cornell Universities for more than two decades, and now heads Oxford University's Contemporary China Studies Programme. She has published numerous books and articles on Chinese political affairs, exploring the nature of governmental authority, evolving structures of state administration, and changing state–society relations. The author can be reached by email at [email protected] 1. For example, John Abbott Worthley and King K. Tsao, 'Reinventing government in China: a comparative analysis', Administration and Society 31(5), (1999), pp. 571–587; Maria Edin, 'Remaking the communist party state: the responsibility system at the local level in China', China: An International Journal 1(1), (2003), pp. 1–15; Andrew Nathan, 'Authoritarian resilience', Journal of Democracy 14(1), (2003), pp. 6–17; Dali Yang, Remaking the Chinese Leviathan: Market Transition and the Politics of Governance in China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004); André Laliberté and Marc Lanteigne, The Chinese Party–State in the 21st Century (New York: Routledge, 2007); and David Shambaugh, China's Communist Party: Atrophy and Adaptation (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008). 2. For example, Tony Saich, 'Negotiating the state: the development of social organizations in China', The China Quarterly no. 161, (2000), pp. 124–141; Guobin Yang, 'Environmental NGOs and institutional dynamics in China', The China Quarterly no. 181, (2005), pp. 46–66; Qiusha Ma, Non-governmental Organizations in Contemporary China: Paving the Way to Civil Society? (London: Routledge, 2006); Peter Ho and Richard Louis Edmonds, eds, China's Embedded Activism: Opportunities and Constraints of a Social Movement (London: Routledge, 2008); Yiyi Lu, Nongovernmental Organizations in China: The Rise of Dependent Autonomy (New York: Routledge, 2008); Jonathan Unger, ed., Associations and the Chinese State: Contested Spaces (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2008); Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh, eds, State and Society Responses to Social Welfare Needs in China: Serving the People (New York: Routledge, 2009). 4. Vivienne Shue, 'State power and social organization in China', in Joel Migdal, Atul Kohli and Vivienne Shue, eds, State Power and Social Forces: Domination and Transformation in the Third World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 66. 3. Xueliang Ding, 'Institutional amphibiousness and the transition from communism: the case of China', British Journal of Political Science 24(3), (1994), pp. 293–318. 5. Atul Kohli and Vivienne Shue, 'State power and social forces: on political contention and accommodation in the Third World', in Migdal et al., eds, State Power and Social Forces, p. 323. 6. Atul Kohli and Vivienne Shue, 'State power and social forces: on political contention and accommodation in the Third World', in Migdal et al., eds, State Power and Social Forces, p. 320. 7. (Liu Ke), '' ['Charity supermarkets quietly springing up'], [China Today] 5, (2005), pp. 57–58; '' ['World's largest charity supermarket'], Beijing Ribao, (31 October 2007), available at: [www.bjd.com.cn]; (Wang Xianjin), '' ['Present characteristics and development difficulties of China's charity supermarkets'], [Journal of Guangdong Youth Leaders College] 21(69–8), (2007), pp. 53–58; (Jiang Jiwei), '' ['On marketizing charity supermarkets'], [Journal of Guangdong Institute of Public Administration] 20(8), (2008), pp. 90–93. 8. '' ['Experimenting with charity supermarkets in rural China'], [Dahe Bao], (26 July 2006), available at: [Dahe Net (Dahe.cn)]. 9. On the multiple factors contributing to the rise in urban poverty in the 1990s see Azizur Rahman Khan and Carl Riskin, Inequality and Poverty in China in the Age of Globalization (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001); Athar Hussain, Urban Poverty in China: Measurement, Patterns and Policies (Geneva: ILO, 2003); Fulong Wu, 'Urban poverty and marginalization under market transition: the case of Chinese cities', International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 28(2), (2004), pp. 401–423; Yaping Wang, Urban Poverty, Housing and Social Change in China (New York: Routledge, 2004). 10. 'China's urban poverty warned', China Facts and Figures 2002, available at: China.org.cn. 11. Christine Wong, 'Can the retreat from equality be reversed? An assessment of redistributive fiscal policies from Deng Xiaoping to Wen Jiabao', in Vivienne Shue and Christine Wong, eds, Paying for Progress: Public Finance, Human Welfare and Changing Patterns of Inequality (London: Routledge, 2007), pp. 12–28; Christine Wong and Richard Bird, 'China's fiscal system: a work in progress', in Loren Brandt and Thomas G. Rawski, eds, China's Great Economic Transformation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 429–466. 12. Jane Duckett, The Entrepreneurial State in China (London: Routledge, 1998). 13. (Wu Teng), (Sun Xia) and (Han Bingbing), '' ['On the significance of NPO participation in social relief in China'], [Journal of Hunan Radio and TV University] 35, (2008), pp. 89–91. 14. Vivienne Shue, 'State power and the philanthropic impulse in China today', in Warren Ilchman, Stanley Katz and Edward Queen, eds, Philanthropy in the World's Traditions (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998), pp. 332–354. 15. Liu Ke, 'Charity supermarkets quietly springing up'; Wang Xianjin, 'Present characteristics and development difficulties of China's charity supermarkets'. Most sources give Shanghai credit for setting up China's first 'charity supermarket' () in 2003. There had already been a move to do something similar in Shenyang, however (Jiang Jiwei, 'On marketizing charity supermarkets'). Shenyang, in Liaoning Province, had set up what it called 'anti-poverty supermarkets' () in 2002, but these shops differed in key respects from the Shanghai model whose chosen appellation 'charity supermarket' was to become the one most commonly used across the country. [In some areas the term 'compassionate supermarket' () is used instead, and in Beijing these shops are referred to as , literally 'compassionate homeland'.] Hu Jintao noted the institutional innovations in Liaoning in 2002, which he saw as a means to help meet the emergency needs of urban dwellers in distress, and he approved a proposal to carry out broader experimentation in setting up such supermarkets in other selected cities. Then, shortly afterward, the Shanghai venture was launched. 16. For a brief history of Goodwill, which (as Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries) was founded in Boston by a Methodist minister, and is now well developed on the American east and west coasts, see www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Goodwill-Industries-International-Inc-Company-History.html. 17. For more on the experiences of the Shanghai charity supermarket, see (Fang Suqin), '' ['Analysis of the current condition of Shanghai's charity supermarkets'], [China Disaster Relief] 12, (2007), pp. 26–27. 18. Liu Ke, 'Charity supermarkets quietly springing up'. 19. Wang Xianjin, 'Present characteristics and development difficulties of China's charity supermarkets'. 20. (Ma Defeng), '' ['Investigation of the types of charity supermarkets established in the communities of Suzhou'], [Jiangnan Tribune] 7, (2008), pp. 37–39. 21. ' ' ['On extending the establishment of "charity supermarkets" in large and medium-sized cities'], Ministry of Civil Affairs Document 109, (2004), available at: [www.wuhan.gov.cn] (accessed 22 May 2010). 22. (Jiang Jiwei), '"" : "" ' ['A policy appraisal of "charity supermarkets": policy factors inhibiting the development of charity supermarkets'], [Social Science Research] 2, (2008), pp. 133–137. Underscoring how important it now was for other areas to study the Liaoning model, Liaoning Province issued its own document in September 2004 explaining, in 16 points, its approach to running what it referred to as 'anti-poverty supermarkets'. '' ['How Liaoning Province manages anti-poverty supermarkets'], Liaoning People's Government Document, 12, (2004), available at: www.mca.gov.cn/article/zwgk/dfwj/200711/20071100004107.shtml (accessed 23 May 2010). 23. Ma Defeng, 'Investigation of the types of charity supermarkets established in the communities of Suzhou'. 24. Wang Xianjin, 'Present characteristics and development difficulties of China's charity supermarkets'. 25. Jiang Jiwei, 'On marketizing charity supermarkets'. 26. (Li Xueping) and (Chen Weidong), '' ['Community charity supermarkets: charity as the basis, market as the means'], [Socialism Studies] 4, (2006), pp. 71–74; (Gao Gongjing), ': ' ['Models for the operation of charity supermarkets: an analysis of the Jinan case'], [Social Science] 3, (2006), pp. 121–126; (Zhang Liangshi), '' ['A public services perspective on the construction and development of charity supermarkets'], [China Civil Affairs] 8, (2007), pp. 33–34; Wang Xianjin, 'Present characteristics and development difficulties of China's charity supermarkets'; Wu Teng et al., 'On the significance of NPO participation in social relief in China'; Jiang Jiwei, 'On marketizing charity supermarkets'; Jiang Jiwei, 'A policy appraisal of "charity supermarkets"'; and (Lü Hongye), ': ' ['How to create enduring mechanisms for charity supermarkets: examples from Beijing and Liaoning'], [Journal of the Gansu College of Administration] 1, (2008), pp. 78–81. 27. Interviews in Tianjin confirmed that this was also the case there. In a conversation with Tong Shuhai, Secretary General of the Tianjin Municipal Charity Association, he explained how, when the Municipal MOCA began pressing a campaign to create charity supermarkets around the city, he and some other leading members of the Association had gently pointed out to ministry officials that since the supermarkets were to be established in the name of 'charity' (), not social welfare (), it really ought to be the Charity Association that took the main role and responsibility for promoting, organizing, and supervising them. 'But', he said, 'ministry officials were so very keen then to do it themselves, and since after all it was going to involve spreading and popularizing the idea of charity, we could hardly oppose it. So we went along'. Interview, Tianjin, 9 December 2008. 28. Wang Xianjin, 'Present characteristics and development difficulties of China's charity supermarkets'. 29. Wang Xianjin, 'Present characteristics and development difficulties of China's charity supermarkets' 30. This sketch is based on interviews carried out in Tianjin with the Secretary General of the Tianjin Municipality Charity Association in December 2008; with officials in Tianjin's Hedong, Hebei, Hexi, and Heping Districts in April, May, and June, 2009; and Wang Xianjin, 'Present characteristics and development difficulties of China's charity supermarkets' 31. It is routine to station a sheqü committee member or someone else in authority at the door to check entitlements. See Li Xueping and Chen Weidong, 'Community charity supermarkets'. 32. Jiang Jiwei, 'A policy appraisal of "charity supermarkets"'. 33. Wang Xianjin, 'Present characteristics and development difficulties of China's charity supermarkets'. 34. Wu Teng et al., 'On the significance of NPO participation in social relief in China'. 35. For example, Jiang Jiwei, 'A policy appraisal of "charity supermarkets"'. 36. Zhang Liangshi, 'A public services perspective on the construction and development of charity supermarkets'. 37. Wu Teng et al., 'On the significance of NPO participation in social relief in China'. 38. Li Xueping and Chen Weidong, 'Community charity supermarkets'. 39. Lü Hongye, 'How to create enduring mechanisms for charity supermarkets'. 40. Li Xueping and Chen Weidong, 'Community charity supermarkets'. For a very brief history of the 'United Way', its Jewish and Christian roots, and its relationship to the proliferation of 'community chests' in American urban settings, see www.unitedwaybroome.org/pages/What%20Is%20United%20Way/history.htm. 41. Wu Teng et al., 'On the significance of NPO participation in social relief in China'. 43. Further interviews and visits to three other Tianjin districts confirmed that this small 'warehouse' model, rather than the commercial enterprise or shop model, is the norm not only for Hexi, but across most of the municipality. [Interviews in Hedong (Dawangzhuang jiedao), 17 April 2009; Heping (Qingyouxili jiedao), 27 May 2009; and Hebei (Jiangdulu jiedao), 4 June 2009.] When the informant in Hebei was asked, 'Why is it that you don't sell items? It seems the supermarket is more like a warehouse than a real supermarket', this was the reply: 'As soon as selling things is involved—as soon as there's money involved—then the matter becomes difficult for us. First of all, we are the Neighborhood Committee, a government department. We can't—we mustn't—get involved with money. And besides, how would we sell the things that the people have donated? Who would set the prices? Prices aren't so easy to set. The potential buyers are not in a position to decide the price! Would we distribute the proceeds to everyone in the community? Or only to those in need? And besides, we don't have the numbers of personnel to run such an operation as that'. 42. These are extracts from interviews carried out in Hexi and Heping Districts in Tianjin during spring 2009. Heping, in Tianjin's central business district, is a relatively high-income area. Hexi, by contrast, enjoys less commercial tax revenue and the income gap between its wealthiest and poorest residents is wide. The Hexi informants were high-level officials of the district's Charity Association who also held posts in MOCA. The Heping informant was the party secretary of the district MOCA, a senior leader who had previously served as the ministry's Heping District Bureau Chief. 44. Vivienne Shue, 'Legitimacy crisis in China?', in Peter Gries and Stanley Rosen, eds, Chinese Politics: State, Society and the Market (New York: Routledge, 2010), pp. 41–68.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-11-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 17
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