


Visually Understanding the Data on Foreign NGO Representative Offices and Temporary Activities
The China NGO Project has created the following visualizations based on data available on the Ministry of...
A Look Back at Foreign NGOs in China in 2020
2020 saw something of a lull in foreign NGO activity in China. According to Ministry of Public Security data, fewer foreign NGOs registered new representative offices or initiated temporary activities than they had in the previous two years. Of...
No Foreign NGO Representative Offices Registered in May
Public security officials did not register any new foreign NGO representative offices in the month of May, marking the...
Four Additional Foreign NGOs De-Register in 2019
According to information on the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) website, Colleges and Institutes Canada, South Korea Shipbuilders’ Equipment Association, Miyazaki Local Products and Trade Promotion Center (Japan), and the Beijing office of...
First Group from Pakistan Registers Representative Office
On December 4, an NGO from Pakistan registered a representative office in China, making it the first Pakistan-based organization to either register an office or file for a temporary activity since the Foreign NGO Law went into effect in 2017.
Two More Foreign NGOs De-Register Their China Representative Offices
Two South Korean NGOs shuttered their representative offices in China in recent months, according to information on the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) website. This makes for a total of nine foreign NGOs that registered a representative office...
Zhejiang PSB Issues Certificate, Hong Kong Youth Visit Hubei
Since the establishment of the Guangdong PSB’s Foreign NGO Management Office on November 28, 2016, the office has provided registration and filing services. A total of 33 foreign NGO representative offices have been registered in Guangdong, and...
United Front Work Department’s Austrian Chapter Registers as a Foreign NGO in China
The Austria-China Peaceful Reunification Promotion Association (奥地利中国和平统一促进会) registered a representative office in China on May 29, 2019. This is particularly noteworthy not only because it is the first Austrian group to register an office under...
Five More Foreign NGOs De-Register Representative Offices
According to information on the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) website, five foreign NGO representative offices have de-registered in recent months. This makes a total of seven foreign NGOs that registered after the Foreign NGO Law went into...
Where Can My NGO Find Contact Information for Public Security NGO Offices to Register or Report a Temporary Activity?
Foreign NGO registration occurs at the level of the province, which includes five autonomous regions (Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia, and Xinjiang) and four municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing). Each province has...
What Is the Difference between Registering a Representative Office and Filing for Temporary Activities?
A representative office allows for the establishment of a full-time presence in mainland China. For organizations that do not require such a constant in-country presence, filing to hold a single or multiple temporary activities is an alternative...
How Can My NGO Operate Before It Finds a Professional Supervisory Unit?
The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has not offered formal guidance on this point, though it is becoming more pressing for NGOs who have been unable to obtain sponsorship from unresponsive Professional Supervisory Units (PSUs). Several NGOs...
New Temporary Activity Analysis from China Development Brief
A recent report from China Development Brief (CDB) discusses how some foreign NGOs are choosing to carry out multiple, long-term temporary activities as an alternative to registering for a representative office. Pointing to a decline in the...
Have Any Foreign NGOs Been Denied Registration or Had Their Temporary Activities Shut Down?
The China NGO Project is not aware of any groups who have been explicitly denied registration by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) or by a provincial Public Security Bureau (PSB). Similarly, we are not aware of any groups who have had their...
If My NGO Wants to Work Throughout China Does It Need a National-Level Professional Supervisory Unit?
Though the Ministry of Public Security does not appear to have issued official written guidance on this point, the registrations of multiple foreign NGO representative offices show that groups registered at the provincial level can indeed work...
How Many Foreign NGOs Have Registered Offices in China and Where Are They?
A list of successfully registered NGOs is available here (in Chinese) on the Ministry of Public Security’s main NGO website. The China NGO Project also maintains a map with information about approved NGOs, including their location of registration...
North Korean Group Establishes Second Representative Office
According to information available on the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) website, the North Korea International Trade Promotion Council successfully registered a representative office in Dalian city, Liaoning province on April 11. This is the...
Two Years of the Foreign NGO Law: How Did 2018’s Registrations and Filings Stack up against 2017’s?
As we greet 2019, we have now seen two full years of Foreign NGO Law implementation in China. If foreign NGOs thought that 2017 had a “crossing the river by feeling for stones” sense to it, 2018 was the year that registration and filing processes...
‘Scientific’ Programming, Annual Plan Guidance, and Foreign NGO Law Publicity
Recently, the Fujian Public Security Bureau (PSB) Foreign NGO Management Office issued a registration certificate to...
Second NGO De-Registers Representative Office
According to information on the Ministry of Public Security website, the...

Does China’s Foreign NGO Law Present a Non-profit Opportunity for Taiwan?
from The News LensEstablishing operations in Taiwan wasn’t the most logical option for international organizations whose missions demanded they be on the ground to engage with the challenging but dynamic “wild west” of civil society work in the P.R.C. Could the...
Only Two New Representative Offices in June
Only two new representative offices were registered in June. The last time we saw such low registration numbers was between mid-February and mid-March of last year (right after the Foreign NGO Law came into effect). We don’t yet know if this drop...
Greening the Inner Mongolian Desert, Temporary Activities for Eye Health, Shandong PSB Inspection Visits
Today, two Japanese NGOs involved in desert greening in Inner Mongolia became legally registered. In an official ceremony, the Inner Mongolia Public Security Bureau (PSB) Foreign NGO Management Office presented the representative offices of the...
What Is the Scope of Work Permitted under the Foreign NGO Law?
Foreign NGOs may conduct work in “fields such as economics, education, science, culture, health, sports, and environmental protection, and for areas such as poverty relief and disaster relief.” Foreign NGOs’ work “must not endanger China’s...
What if There Is No Professional Supervisory Unit for the Type of Work My NGO Does?
The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) is approving new Professional Supervisory Units (PSUs) to sponsor foreign NGOs, in addition to those that were originally included on the 2017 list of eligible PSUs. As of May 1, at least 11 unlisted PSUs...
First Registration in Hainan, Information Sessions in Zhejiang and Qinghai
Today, the Zhejiang Public Security Bureau (PSB) Foreign NGO Management Office held information and education sessions on the Foreign NGO Law at multiple colleges and universities in Hangzhou. Utilizing infographics, posters, video broadcasts,...
Will 2018 Be the Year of a Silent Foreign NGO Exodus?
Despite People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) officials’ statements to the contrary, it is...
Foreign NGO Registration and Filing Data Now Available through April 2018
Statistics showing the number of foreign NGOs that have filed for temporary activities or established representative offices from January 2017 through April 2018 are now available as part of our suite of data visualizations.
First North Korean NGO Registers, Additional Registrations in Fujian and Beijing
Today, the George Institute for Global Health (Australia) registered a representative office in Beijing. Established in Sydney in 1999, the Institute began working in China in 2007, conducting research on cardiovascular disease, diabetes,...
North Korean Group Establishes Foreign NGO Representative Office in Jilin Province
According to information on the Ministry of Public Security website, on April 3 a North Korean organization successfully...
Inspection Visits in Jiangxi and Beijing, High-Level Poverty Alleviation Conference
Today, the Jiangxi Foreign NGO Management Office and the provincial Department of Civil Affairs sent personnel to Pingxiang City to visit the Luxi County Children’s Care Center, run by The Chinese Agape Foundation (United States). The government...
More Annual Report Training; Registrations in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangxi
Following the lead of the Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB) Foreign NGO Management office, the Shanghai PSB Foreign NGO Management Office held a training on how to complete annual reports for 2017. In attendance were representative and...
Operational Guide for Foreign NGOs Completing Annual Reports Online
As detailed in a February 9 Ministry of Public Security WeChat post, the Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB) Foreign NGO Management Office held a special...
February Foreign NGO Data Now Available—with a Few Changes to Our Categorization Scheme
We’ve updated our monthly tallies of foreign NGO temporary activities and representative offices as well as our graphics showing which Chinese government entities are serving as Professional Supervisory Units (and which are not). As we do...
Ministry of Public Security Hosts Conference for Foreign NGO Representatives
Today, the Ministry of Public Security Foreign NGO Management Office, together with the Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB) Foreign NGO Management Office, held a conference with representatives of foreign NGOs in China.
Provincial Public Security Bureaus Commemorate One Year of the Foreign NGO Law, Conduct Outreach
Today, the Zhejiang Public Security Bureau (PSB) Foreign NGO Management Office used new media to heighten awareness of the Foreign NGO Law after one year of implementation, resulting in a number of provincial and local news sites re-sharing and...
Meetings with Professional Supervisory Units in Guangxi and Shanxi, Annual Report Training in Beijing
Today, Shanxi held a meeting for foreign NGO Professional Supervisory Units (PSUs). Representatives from each of the province’s 42 PSUs participated. (Note: This likely refers to eligible PSUs, as Shanxi had registered no representative offices...
Upgrades to Our Temporary Activity and Representative Office Tables
In response to reader feedback, we’ve made two big changes this week to our tables that contain translated Ministry of Public Security information on representative offices and temporary activities: First, we’ve enabled a filter/search function...
Temporary Activity and Representative Office Data through January 2018 Now Available
We’ve just posted the latest information about all the foreign NGO temporary activities and representative office registrations that took place as of January 31, 2018. Of note, registrations of representative offices were down somewhat in January...
Reams of Paperwork: Preparing Documents to Get Official Status in China
Any foreign NGO seeking to register a representative office or file for a temporary activity in China must prepare a number of official documents in the location where it is headquartered. These documents must be notarized and authenticated in...
Has the Foreign NGO Law Changed the Work of Foreign NGOs in China?
Italian NGO Emphasizes Localization, Communication in Interview with CPRI
On December 14, the Charity Philanthropy Research Institute (CPRI) at Beijing Normal University published an interview with OVCI la Nostra Famiglia (OVCI Our Family) about their registration process under the Foreign NGO Law. OVCI stressed the...
Tianjin Public Security Bureau Donates to Orphans, Tibet Public Security Bureau ‘Braves the Winter Cold,’ Shandong Public Security Bureau Meets with Locally-Registered Foreign NGOs
Today, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) released statistics showing foreign NGO representative offices and temporary activities from January to November of this year.
China Development Brief Holds Workshop for Foreign NGOs
On December 1, China Development Brief (CDB) held a workshop in Beijing for foreign NGOs in China. NGOs that had already registered a representative office in China shared their experiences related to finding a Professional Supervisory Unit,...
November Data Now Included in Data Visualizations
We’ve updated our suite of data visualizations to include information through the end of November. ...
Forestry Administration Holds Internal Foreign NGO-Related Meeting; Tianjin, Chongqing, and Jiangsu Public Security Bureaus Hold Trainings
On November 21, the State Forestry Administration convened a meeting on the Foreign NGO Law, attended by 28 provincial- and city-level Forestry offices as well as by the Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB) Foreign NGO Management Office....
A Statistical Analysis of Foreign NGOs’ Registrations and Temporary Activities
China Development Brief (CDB) has translated and published a statistical analysis of foreign NGO representative office registrations and temporary activity filings for the first nine months of the year. The analysis, originally published in...