Guangdong province in South China plans to unveil the country's first local law on social organizations in two years, Nanfang Daily reported.

Liu Hong, director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, made the announcement during a group discussion at the 2nd session of the 11th Guangdong Provincial Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at the weekend.

The law will help standardize operations, improve management and ensure the legal rights and interests of social organizations in the southern province, which borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Guangdong has China's largest number of social organizations.

By the end of September, the province had registered 42,582 social organizations, up from less than 8,000 at the end of 2000.