Emergence of Chinese Charitable Organizations in the MENA Region: A New Moral Paradigm in a Globalized Charitable Market

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Abstract

China’s deepening ties with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the last decade, spurred by the Belt and Road Initiative, have fostered the rise of Chinese private charities in the region. These charities come in two forms: overseas branches of mainland Chinese NGOs and grassroots initiatives within overseas Chinese communities, with Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine being the primary recipients of Chinese charitable aid. Existing research identifies three key drivers for the global expansion of Chinese charities: state encouragement aligning with geopolitical and soft power goals, resource influx from the BRI, and internal competition mirroring Western NGO expansion. Through case studies of Chinese charities operating in Muslim-majority Arab countries, this paper examines the factors influencing their emergence and growth, with a particular emphasis on the often-neglected role of religion. The study aims to understand the motivations, strategies, and impact of these Chinese charities within the complex MENA geopolitical landscape. It further seeks to shed light on a new moral framework emerging within China’s middle class and private charitable organizations, despite constraints on civil society by the state.

Speaker's Bio

Yuting Wang is Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of International Studies at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, a Non-resident Research Fellow at the Center on Religion and the Global East at Purdue University, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Chinese and History at the City University of Hong Kong. She has previously held visiting positions at Northwestern University, Purdue University, the University of California-Berkley, and the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has published widely on immigrant Muslims in the United States, Chinese Muslims, overseas Chinese, and Sino-UAE relations. She is the author of Between Islam and the American Dream: An Immigrant Muslim Community in Post-9/11 America (Routledge, 2014) and Chinese in Dubai: Money, Pride, and Soul-Searching (Brill, 2020).

Organizer

Global China Local Cultures (GCLC), ASIAR Research Cluster, HKIHSS, HKU