Layers of the Urban State: Migrant Organisations and the Chinese State

This paper explores the development of migrant non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and their interactions with central and local Chinese state. The paper suggests that, while the central state is actively managing NGOs in Beijing and Shanghai with a strong regulatory framework, the urban local state, particularly at the district level, is increasingly an important actor in ensuring the effectiveness of migrant NGOs’ activities. In this vein, the paper presents a model of state–migrant NGO relations, the subsequent informal rules that emerge from this reality and the implications thereafter for state-society relations in China.