Over the last thirty years, social entrepreneurship has boomed in the People’s Republic of China. Today there are hundreds of thousands of legally registered NGOs, and millions more unregistered, working in the areas of the environment, education, women’s issues, disability services, community development, LGBTQ rights, and healthcare. The rise of these Chinese NGOs and their implications for civil society merits the focus of significant scholarly attention.

This book draws upon the personal stories of social entrepreneurs in China, as well as their supporters and beneficiaries, in order to examine what the rapid growth of social entrepreneurship reveals about China's complex and dynamic society in the 21st century. It discusses the historical, cultural, and political circumstances that allowed and inspired people to become social entrepreneurs and create new forms of democratic engagement. Examining what social entrepreneurship with Chinese characteristics looks like, the book explores how it is changing the relationship between Chinese citizens and the state, and goes on to explain the subsequent effect on Chinese society.

Highlighting the importance of citizen activism in the PRC from an interdisciplinary perspective, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese Studies, Chinese Politics, Civil Society and Sociology.