Eric's Beijing Diary

Evangeline and I went to the office of the China Development Brief today.   I was going to go alone, because those guys all speak English, but it's a good thing I had Evangeline with me, because that place is really hard to find.    We started to take a taxi, but the taxi driver said he didn't know how to get there.   Fortunately, Evangeline knows the bus system pretty well.  The office was situated in a traditional Siheyuan, or courtyard dwelling buried in an old Beijing hutong.   

The guy we talked to was very helpful.  He gave me the basic rundown re:  putting together an NGO in China.  To start an NGO, you must first find a government sponsor.  This means that some kind of government agency that is involved in work similar to what you are going to be doing, must agree to provide oversight of your activities.  Once you have obtained this sponsorship, you can then go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, or the local Civil Affairs Department, and register.    This process is a bit onerous, and some groups try to get around it by simply setting up their NGO as a business.   But another perfectly legitimate way to avoid the bureaucracy is to set up within the purview of another organization, such as a university.   This may be an option we will need to consider. 

After we got back, we went to dinner with a couple of ladies from Sweden who were studying at Beida.  Actually, one of them has completed her studies and is returning to Sweden, hence the dinner.    It struck me as kinda ironic that I should be sitting in a restaurant in Beijing eating a delicious Chinese meal, and talking with a couple of Swedes about the important questions of the day, like why people eat lutefisk.  The professor who was hosting the farewell took us to a tea house afterwards.  At the tea house, we were ushered into a private parlor area where we could sip tea and talk.  China's tea houses really are a nice way to visit with a group of people in a quiet, pleasant environment.  A very nice way to end the evening.