Despite the authoritarian nature of the Chinese state, non-governmental organizations have increased dramatically since the 1970s. With labourers migrating to cities en masse in search of higher wages and better standards of living, central and local states allowed migrant NGOs to deliver community services to workers in Beijing and Shanghai. Engaging a new conceptual framework, Jennifer Hsu reveals how NGOs interact with spaces and layers of the state and a complex web of government bodies, lending stability to, and forming mutually beneficial relationships with, the state.