Local-level giving has a strong history in China, according to Emily Baum, an associate professor of Chinese history at the University of California Irvine, but it has also long been a source of tension between individuals and the state, whether that was imperial China or the current People’s Republic. If that giving created greater influence beyond a locality or undermined the perceived authority of the state to provide social services or public works, it has often proved problematic. “It remains to be seen what the future of philanthropy is going to look like when we have these two forces butting heads,” Baum said of the state versus nationally prominent entrepreneurs.

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