After four decades of communism, China is moving towards free markets. But as the state goes out of the business of providing for all the needs of the largest population on Earth, who will pick up the slack?
A Penn professor thinks it will be charitable foundations.
From October 14 to 28, seven leaders of China's largest foundations will visit Penn, New York and Washington, D.C., to see how their western counterparts function. And they will offer a look at modern China and its future. "It's like lifting the corner of a blanket to see what's underneath," said Richard Estes, Penn professor of social work who helped organize the conference.
"With the economic reforms and the emergence of private investment, part of the plan of the Chinese leadership for converting the country to socialism is to have foundations provide social services," explained Dr. Estes, who has been studying China for 12 years. "There's no going back again to communism, at least not in its old form."
Dr. Estes hopes his experience in organizing the conference will offer lessons for the delegation: "We've funded it entirely with private resources. There's not a dime of public money," he said. "This [raising private funds] is what they'll be doing in China.
"The visit will provide the delegation an opportunity to observe how fund raising works in a free-market society. Their system [of charity] is sort of like our United Way--every year they need to collect money. There's no endowment. In fact, Chinese law prohibits private organizations from establishing endowments, and we're trying to change that."
Partial funding of the conference comes from the Aspen Institute, Delaware Valley Grantmakers, the William Penn Foundation, the Cigna Foundation, and Penn's School of Social Work. Other philanthropic groups will provide for nonmonetary support, such as meals, translators and local transportation.
The visiting delegation members represent the China Charity Federation, China Children and Teenager's Fund, International Department of the China Literature Foundation, the China Writer's Association, China Association of Science Foundations, China Film Foundation, Chinese Literature Foundation, and Non-financial Institutions Department of Peoples Bank of China.
While in Philadelphia, the delegation will be honored by Provost Stanley Chodorow and School of Social Work Dean Ira Schwartz at a reception October 17. Dean Schwartz will host a luncheon the next day, and the Chinese community will host a dinner at a Chinatown restaurant on October 20, to which representatives of the Chinese Embassy and the U.S. government have been invited.