The impact of the current economic crisis is as deep as diversified. The first part of the seminar will describe the peculiar way the worldwide economic downturn seems to be affecting the Chinese market. While on the one hand, as an export driven market, the country has been hit hard by the slum in global demand, causing massive dismissals both in big and medium size enterprises and a significant contraction in the GDP (gross domestic product) growth. On the other, over half of China’s exports go to other emerging economies where demand remains stronger. Moreover China’s holding of large amount of cash amidst such a severe worldwide recession, offers a range of unprecedented opportunities for domestic entrepreneurs to invest in accelerating their globalization strategy and for revitalizing main industrial sectors in order to be more competitive on the global stage. In such a new scenario, two main questions regarding the future of sustainable development policies in China may arise and will be the object of the second part of the seminar. First, will the dominant political discourse on harmonious society be affected as a result of the crisis? and second what will the consequences for foreign as well as domestic companies engagement in Csr policies and activities be?