FAQ
We regularly update this list of questions with information drawn from Chinese law, official statements, and our interviews about NGOs’ on-the-ground experiences
Per information provided at a meeting between Ministry of Public Security (MPS) representatives and foreign diplomats in 2016, a foreign NGO’s representative office may have activities in multiple locations as long as the geographic scope of its work is consistent with the information it provided in its registration documents. If an NGO has multiple representative offices, the area of operations for these offices should not overlap; one office may not carry out activities in the...Read more
Though the Ministry of Public Security does not appear to have issued official written guidance on this point, the registrations of multiple foreign NGO representative offices show that groups registered at the provincial level can indeed work throughout all of China if their Professional Supervisory Units (PSUs) agree. As of March 2019, there are approximately 90 groups, registered in Anhui, Beijing, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Sichuan, Tianjin, Yunnan, and Zhejiang, that have...Read more
Yes. Guidance provided by Beijing Normal University’s Charity Law Center states that foreign NGOs wishing to donate funds to an activity or program taking place in China—even one held by another foreign NGO—must do so through a temporary activity filing. This guidance appears to only apply to foreign NGOs without representative offices in China, however; groups that have established representative offices will use their annual activity plan to report any anticipated transfer of funds to...Read more
Per information provided at a meeting between Ministry of Public Security (MPS) representatives and foreign diplomats in 2016, a foreign NGO that works in multiple sectors (for example, environment and education) should identify the “main” sector of their work and select a Professional Supervisory Unit (PSU) in that field. The PSU will then coordinate its supervision of the NGO with other government organs in other sectors to supervise the NGO’s work. The MPS has offered...Read more
A list of successfully registered NGOs is available here (in Chinese) on the Ministry of Public Security’s main NGO website. The China NGO Project also maintains a map with information about approved NGOs, including their location of registration, sector of work, and Professional Supervisory Unit.Read more