[1][2] Among the central features of the Guangdong model is the greater role it allows for civil society, including NGOs and trade unions.

During his tenure, however, Wang Yang prodded unions to more actively advocate for workers' rights and engage in collective bargaining.

[1] Under the Guangdong model, non-government organizations face less stringent restrictions than elsewhere in the country, with several categories of NGOs being allowed to register without sponsorship from a government agency.

[5] Wang sought to achieve this by encouraging private enterprise and small-and medium businesses, as well as by implementing economic reforms that moved the province up the "technology value chain.

As noted by Xiao Bin, a professor of public affairs at Sun Yat-sen University, the Guangdong model has been evolving since the start of China's economic reforms in the late 1970s and 1980s.