Launch of the Chinese NGO Internationalization Database

The Belt and Road Research Platform, an initiative co-founded by the LeidenAsiaCentre, has launched the Chinese NGO Internationalization Database. This database, which has been compiled by Ying Wang, a PhD student at Leiden University, contains information on the international humanitarian and development assistance projects and donations of Chinese non-governmental organisation (NGOs). The database hopes to assist scholarly work on the topic of Chinese NGOs going international and to be of use to NGOs themselves.

Click here to read a full introduction to the Chinese NGO Internationalization Database.

Chinese NGOs have been undergoing a process of internationalization in the last 10 years, expanding their development and humanitarian activities overseas. This is increasingly a topic of interest, as the Chinese government regards these NGOs as a major instrument for building “People-to-People Bonds”, one of the five top Cooperation Priorities（“五通”）of the Belt and Road Initiative.

While the overseas activity of Chinese NGOs is a topic of academic interest for both NGO scholars and contemporary China scholars, literature on the issue is often limited to case studies on individual NGOs. There is a paucity of studies from a macro perspective. One apparent reason is that there is lack of data on Chinese NGO donations and projects overseas.