Enthusiasm crushed by apathy : the survival condition of the NGOs under a social management system in Mainland China

The Chinese government is currently endeavouring to establish a new social management system, with the participation of the government and different parties in society, among whom NGO participation in social management is considered the essential approach for social management system innovation. The post-disaster relief and reconstruction of the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 left an indelible mark in the developmental history of Chinese NGOs, and provides an opportunity for us to examine the survival condition of NGOs. For this paper, we use a qualitative research method to trace the four-year relief and reconstruction process of a severely afflicted township in Sichuan Province during the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, and examine the work of NGOs at different stages of the post-disaster operation, the role that NGOs played during the relief and reconstruction process, and the survival conditions of NGOs in China's contemporary social management pattern. By analysing the obstacles that NGOs have encountered in the participation of social management, this paper offers suggestions for the innovation of the social management system.Department of Applied Social Science