官办慈善与民间慈善：中国慈善事业发展的关键问题

慈善行为既出自人们对弱者和贫困者同情的善良意志，反映了人性的光辉，也是整个社会文明程度的体现。慈善事业的发展既是政府鼓励和推进的事业，也需要全社会民众的积极参与。目前，官办慈善组织在组织公益慈善活动方面起了主导作用（甚至是支配作用），但近日诸多公共事件的发生使这一体制遭到许多批评，并使慈善议题成为大众舆论的焦点。因此，在有关慈善事业发展的研究中，我们既要考察目前慈善事业发展中政府所起的作用，更要思考如何调动社会组织和广大民众的积极性来共同参与。分析我国的官办慈善体制所存在的问题，思考我们如何推动民间慈善和私人慈善活动的发展，使慈善事业得到全面发展，是十分有必要的。

Evaluating the Charitable Efforts Made by the Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations: Key Issues in the Development of Charity in China

The charitable efforts made by those people demonstrating great compassion to the poor and marginal groups reflect the kindness of human nature and also the degree of civilization of society.Charity should be about the voluntary engagement of all people instead of a public affair promoted only by the government.Therefore,the issue on how to mobilize citizens into charitable engagement is more significant than the issue of how governmental agents promote charitable activities.With this understanding,we expose the problems in the operation of a state-directed system in China as it relates to charity.At present,this system plays a dominant role in determining the developmental process of charity in China.However,this system also suffers from widespread criticism among the public through channels like mass media due to various charity-related incidents that have occurred recently.This study explores the resolutions to these problems and concludes that strengthening civic organizations is the main way of enhancing charity in China. This study looks at the development of charitable organizations and the donation levels in China,but stresses that this development is accompanied with many incidents that have resulted in a strong sense of distrust among the public towards state-affiliated charitable organizations.This feeling of distrust was widely reported in the mass media after the ″ Guo Meimei″ incident and has had a strong influence on people’s views towards the strategy of development on charity.To deal with these issues,this work examines the charity situation in contemporary China through empirical studies based on data collected from opinion surveys and through social investigation into the behavioral orientations of these charitable organizations. Accordingly,this analysis consists of three dimensions of study in regard to the value,organizational features and the institutional features of this state-led charity system.We argue that the value system that influences people’s view on charity has gradually transformed into a new value system that is in support of public management in charitable efforts.Thus,it is not so much as a value issue but rather an organizational and institutional issue that has resulted in limited public participation in making donations.It is for these organizational reasons that some people complain that it is the lack of transparency in charitable efforts as being the major barrier for this development,but this study maintains that it is the shortcomings of this state-led charity system that is the major obstacle as it restricts the roles of NGOs to perform their charitable actions. Furthermore,by deploying a functional analysis about this state-led system of charitable organizations,the study illustrates several by-functions of the system on the development of charitable activities of civil organizations.This paper argues that there is a crucial need for the state to reform this system in order to modify the role of state in charitable operations.This should be the precondition for coming up with ways to further this development.Through analysis,the study raises policy proposals for strengthening the role of civil agents in the development of charity in China.In order to do so,it is very important to correct a popular viewpoint about the nature of charity;namely that it is an extension of social assistance and therefore should be undertaken by the state.Thus,with a goal of empowering civil agents in charitable efforts,we argue for a change in the governmental function in civil administration in the field of charity.The NGOs should have a space for development in the sphere of charity.