LI JIANGUO, vice chairman of National People's Congress Standing Committee, introduced the draft of China's first charity law to the national legislature on Wednesday. The draft marks a significant development of philanthropy in China as it provides stipulations on how charities should be registered and operate, People Daily said on Thursday:

As China enters a new historical period and is endeavoring to achieve broad and profound social and economic development, the draft charity law aims to establish a comprehensive system to regulate philanthropy in the country, so it helps eliminate poverty and contributes to achieving the goal of building a moderately prosperous society. In order to establish a comprehensive system for charitable activities, the law covers the management of social organizations and individuals, and is based on the reality of the country and international experience.

The draft law defines charity as "bigger philanthropy". Historically, charity was only defined in relation to poverty, and was complementary to national poverty alleviation efforts. Now charity has expanded to education, healthcare, culture, sports, environmental protection and social services, and the development of philanthropy and society are organically combined.