While China’s market reforms and integration into the global economy contribute to changes in the economic and social situation in many countries, the effects of globalization have brought dramatic changes to the lives of Chinese people.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation's looks at both phenomena. On the one hand we try to understand how market reform and globalization change economic and social patterns in China, e.g. in labour and social security. We also support research, with partners in the Chinese government and academia, which tries to understand the implications of global trade and exchange for China, Germany and their respective partner countries world wide.

The majority of China’s trade is, however, within the region and China itself has become an important investor in the countries of the south, especially in South East Asia, Africa and Latin America. The effect of these trade and investment flows on the global environment has to date not been the focus of a debate within China, while, on the other hand, China is facing criticism from Western observers, for undermining environmental and governance standards in her trade and investment projects.

Undertaken together with the Center for Human Development (CHEDS) at Peking University, this projects aims to stimulate academic research and political debate on these issues in order to gain a clearer picture and to facilitate a constructive international dialogue.

A symposium to identify key areas of research and to form a working group  has beenwas organized by CHEDS at Peking University in July 2007. Participants included representatives of Peking University, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Land Resources, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, local NGOs, and others.

In 2008 there will be additional workshops and an international conference, the 2nd CHEDS Human and Development Conference, dedicated to this topic.

The topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) now attracts a great deal of attention by a wide range of Chinese institutions, from government organizations to academic circles and from enterprises to social organizations. However, promotion of CSR in China is still in its initial stage. Investigations undertaken by the China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO) and funded by the Heinrich Boell Foundation determined that a recognition of CSR in under-developed areas in China is comparatively low. Among these areas, Ningxia Autonomous Region, situated on the northwest loess highland was identified and chosen for the project because there was basically no promotion of CSR. As Ningxia’s economic development is speeding up causing serious problems in areas such as labor relations, the widening wealth gap and environmental pollution, it is, therefore, necessary to start local promotion of CSR immediately.

The project will be implemented by CANGO in three phases. The first phase will be training preparation. The schedule and training will be designed based on extensive discussion with experts and the local partner concerning a needs assessment of trainees and the characteristics of Ningxia. In the next step, training activities will start by providing the basic concepts of CSR and then move on to specific fields such as labour law, environmental management and community development. Gender issues and especially labor standards will be part of the analysis and training exercise. An evaluation of the training, its output and effects will take place in the third phase.

A website for CSR will be created and linked to the websites of CANGO and Heinrich Boell Foundation.