Activism and Social Change in China

The emergence of civil society and nongovernmental organizations in China reflects the rise of new social and political issues that have proven challenging for the Chinese state to address effectively. This subject examines the conditions under which certain ideas, organizational forms, and associational practices have taken hold as well as the ways they have been contested, transformed, and adapted. It explores various social problems – like the rise of gender inequality, labour rights, LGBT concerns, environmental problems, and others – that civil society organizations in China have sought to tackle and examines the broader context in which civil society actors work. The subject includes the comparative study of civil society and social change in Taiwan and Hong Kong, two places that have followed their own distinctive historical trajectories but which are inevitably influenced by and influence the situation in mainland China.