China News Service:

Social groups and charities are important forces different from the market and government. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, social organizations and charities have thrived and played an active role in poverty alleviation, prevention and control of the pandemic, and emergency rescue and disaster relief. Can you introduce more about that? Thank you.

Zhan Chengfu:

I will take this question.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, social groups and charities in China have made historic achievements and undergone historic changes, which can be mainly demonstrated in the following aspects.

First, the Party's overall leadership over social groups and charities has been strengthened. Over the past decade, the function of the Party organization in social groups has been further clarified, and the working institutions and mechanisms of Party building have been improved. By the end of last year, there were a total of 171,000 community-level Party organizations in social groups. Upholding the Party's leadership and the Core Socialist Values have been generally incorporated into the charters of social groups. It has become commonplace for the heads of social groups and the heads of party organizations to enter each other's organizations and take rotating posts.

Second, the environment for the development of social groups and charities has been continuously optimized. Over the past decade, China has formulated laws and regulations such as the Charity Law, the Civil Code, and the Regulation on Volunteer Services. Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Social Groups, Regulations on Administration of Foundations, Provisional Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Non-Governmental Nonprofit Units are being revised and improved. The government has continued to improve a series of policies regarding the qualification of the tax-exempt status of nonprofit organizations, pre-tax deduction for charitable donations, donation of equity shares to public welfare organizations, tax exemption for membership fees of social groups, and the use of donation bills. The central government has allocated special funds to support social groups to carry out social services for many years. The State Council has clearly stipulated that opinions of industry associations and chambers of commerce should be fully solicited when formulating administrative regulations and normative documents of government. All these have contributed to fostering a sound environment for social groups to survive and thrive, especially charity organizations.

Third, social groups and charities have been rejuvenated with vigor and vitality. Over the past decade, 729 national industry associations and chambers of commerce and 69,699 local industry associations and chambers of commerce have been delinked from administrative organs. We have developed a large number of community-based social groups featuring direct participation of ordinary people. Internet-based charity has been thriving, with an annual growth rate of over 20% in donations raised online. 

Fourth, the stage for social groups and charities to play their roles has become broader. The past decade has witnessed the most rapid development of social groups. At present, social groups registered have reached 900,000, which is 20,000 times the number in the early days of the founding of the PRC and 150 times that in the early days of reform and opening up if we compare the data. There are over 10,000 charity organizations registered in China at present. In 2020, charitable donations in China exceeded 200 billion yuan, an increase of 155% from 2012. Especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, social groups and charities of all types have been widely engaged in poverty alleviation. They have implemented over 92,000 poverty relief projects according to primary statistics and guided the investment of 124.5 billion yuan from all kinds of funds. Social groups have taken actions to maintain the market order for fair competition, participating in the formulation of 2,499 national standards and 364 international standards. At current, private nonprofit elderly care institutions account for 44.7% of the elderly care institutions nationwide. That number is large, and the multi-level and multi-faceted needs of the people have been effectively met.

In the final analysis, over the past decade, achievements in the development of social groups and charities can be attributed to the successful development of a path with Chinese characteristics for the growth of social organizations. We will continue to go down this path and we believe that the path will be wider and wider. Thank you.