Carol Lee Hamrin is an independent author, speaker and consultant for nonprofit organizations supporting the growth of China’s Third Sector. Dr. Hamrin provides a long-term perspective on the remarkable transformation underway in China. Her special expertise is analysis of the way economic dynamics drive changes in society, culture and religion, and the implications for China and the world.
This volume explores some of the social challenges facing China, including “rural-urban migration, unemployment, the healthcare crisis, the rise of religion, the desire for increased individualism, and new mass movements.”
Lavishly praised by world-class experts, this hard-hitting book predicted in 2010 that the financial crisis of the past few years would turn into a greater, even total, financial meltdown. A new edition, about to be released, updates these predictions and intensifies the warnings. Though they focus on the American economy, the authors emphasize that the impact of this coming crisis will devastate the world, including China. If they are right, the implications are sobering.
Developments since the publication of this book have only confirmed its main argument: “China’s rise is a watershed event that will change the global landscape and that is on par with the ascent of the United States of America as a global economic, political, and military power a century earlier.”
Does the Bible have anything to say about creating a harmonious society? Yes, according to a number of scholars who convened recently in Beijing for an international colloquium entitled, “Ancient Wisdom and Harmonious Society.”
Writing from England with a firm grasp of geopolitical realities, Martin Jacques has thrown down the gauntlet. Those who would dispute the thesis of this book, summed up in the title and sub-title, must marshal more evidence and more convincing arguments than he has.
The important role of religion in civil society is often overlooked by both Westerners and Chinese. And yet religious organizations, including the church, seminaries, “para-church” organizations, faith-based schools, and charities form a huge and even predominant part of American civil society, and they definitely are part of China’s remerging civil society today.
Religion is an important part of Chinese society, but often neglected by scholars and media commentators. The buds of civil society in China today include religious organizations and their offshoots—charitable, educational, and medical institutions.
With the growth of an urban middle class, there is underway a re-birth of an autonomous civil society in China. Two major developments have together shaped the Chinese society of today
In a modern China that has seen development at a pace shocking even in an age of economic boom stories, many have found their moorings coming undone in a sea of ever changing possibilities. The shape of China’s culture and...
China’s growth and manufacturing dominance are two of the biggest global trends of the last ten years. India’s technology, service, and outsourcing industries make it a valued partner [to American business], as well as a formidable competitor. “The stunning rise...
For too long, it has been hard to find balanced analyses of China’s prospects. The media tend to adopt a zero sum approach and exaggerate either China’s growing strengths as an inevitable “threat” to U.S. interests, or its weaknesses and impending failure, sometimes implicitly seeing this as favorable to the U.S.
In my presentation today, I will highlight the growing importance of faith-based NPOs (nonprofits) in China, both domestic and foreign, in shaping a rapidly changing society.
A Kingdom perspective could help adjust official U.S. foreign policy to better support bilateral social interaction, and inspire unofficial nongovernmental actors to develop a more fruitful engagement strategy.
Advocates for religious freedom—and perhaps especially American advocates—need a fresh approach to their engagement of countries like China that have records of egregious abuses of human rights.
Washington should pursue additional ways to support and engage the thickening web of private social and cultural ties that will introduce new ideas and values, as well as institutional experience and techniques, to promote sociopolitical progress in China.
Developing the third sector is essential for addressing the difficult challenges China now faces, and in turn could ease the transition to more democratic political institutions, increasing the chances for peaceful change as nonprofits play a stronger role in mediating between state and society.
Statement of Carol Lee Hamrin, Monday, MARCH 14, 2005 on NEW REGULATIONS ON RELIGION for the U.S. Senate - House of Representatives Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Washington, DC.
We need to understand, and gear our policy to, the PRC’S outdated and unpopular framework for religious policy, and the internal debate about it since 1987-88 attempt to draft a religion law.
February 28, 2013