New rules relating to registration and donations are expected to see social organizations play a greater role in the provision of services, as He Dan reports.

It took 10 years for Zheng Xiaojie to obtain legal recognition of the nonprofit organization she founded with her husband in 2003.

However, thanks to the reform of the registration procedures for social organizations that came into force in March 2013, Zheng's last shot was so easy she could hardly believe it. In China, the term "social organizations" refers to associations, charitable foundations and noncommercial private organizations. Essentially, they are NGOs.