Yiping Cai

The two concepts—gender and non-governmental organization—were introduced into China in the mid-1990s when China hosted the Fourth World Conference on Women and NGO Forum in 1995. Three decades later, both concepts remain unsettled in Chinese social and political context as they have continuously been labelled by the state as western and foreign. Meanwhile, China state co-opts gender equality issues and Chinese NGOs—or social organizations in Chinese political lexicon—to serve its own economic and geopolitical interest as a part of global strategy. This project analyzes the complex dynamics of state, NGO, and transnational feminism in the context of Global China by examining the internationalization of Chinese NGOs, particularly their gender-related programs.