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Abstract
In China, the Chinese Communist Youth League (CYL) has been the most important impetus for formal volunteering since the early 1990s. This article begins by scrutinising the historical and institutional impulses that motivate the CYL to promote volunteering, and examines the CYL's major role in legitimatising volunteering in the past 20 years. Findings suggest that the ascribed political capital of the CYL has bestowed enough power to legitimise volunteering under the current regime, and in turn, the efforts in legitimising possibly re-enhanced the CYL's political capital. First, as a policymaker, the CYL has established a national monitoring system to legitimise volunteering. Second, as a policy executor, the CYL prefers to legitimatise grassroots voluntary service organisations in a flexible way, rather than just strictly following the written rules. In addition, the CYL's special political status affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party also indicates that, in essence, the CYL's potential in legitimisation is contingent on broader institutional change in China.
Acknowledgements
I sincerely thank Prof. Ngai Ngan-pun for his thorough reading of the first draft of this article and for his constructive advice on the study. I also convey special thanks to the anonymous reviewers who provided valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the article.
