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Chinese Open Wallets for Quake Aid
Workers at the Red Cross headquarters in Shanghai process donations from people who waited in long lines with cash to help earthquake victims.
(By Eugene Hoshiko -- Associated Press)
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Experts said the gifts fill an enormous need in a country that does not yet have a fully developed civil society.
"The Chinese value of helping others is never a problem for the people. The only problem is that there are institutional obstacles that have stopped them from showing this," said Liu Junning of the Chinese Cultural Research Institute. "There are no independent NGOs in China; even the foreign NGOs working in China have to register with the government. Real NGOs are more experienced in encouraging ordinary people to help and also in rescue work."
In an acknowledgment that many Chinese mistrust the way the government doles out financial aid, officials have promised to allow public supervision of how donation funds are spent and to submit to an audit process at the end of the relief effort, "lest misappropriations occur," said Wang Zhenyao, director of disaster relief with the Civil Affairs Ministry.
Jia Jia, 28, a Beijing-based magazine journalist, said it was his "basic duty" to donate in the wake of such a national tragedy. He also encouraged his friends to give. But when it came time to donate his $63, he went to the Web site of the Hong Kong Red Cross.
"I don't trust Chinese NGOs, because there has been a lot of corruption in the past," Jia said. "It's a custom that's formed over the years that if you want to help people, you will choose other channels. I have to be responsible with my money."
He added that he checked the Web site of the Chinese Red Cross but couldn't find details on expenditures.
"I'm not criticizing the Chinese government-controlled NGOs, I'm just cautious," he said. "The heads of many Chinese NGOs are retired top officials, and those NGOs are registered and supervised by government departments."
China is also accepting financial aid from other governments. Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing considers a part of China, promised $65 million. Saudi Arabia has pledged $50 million in cash and $10 million in relief materials. The U.S. ambassador to China, Clark T. Randt Jr., presented a $500,000 check from the U.S. Agency for International Development as an "initial contribution."
Yet it is the public donations that have been notable here.
"China has been through such rapid economic development in the last 30 years. So now it can raise such an impressive amount in such a short time," said Qian Gang, author of a book about the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed 250,000 people, a death toll that was a state secret for many years. "Thirty years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine this."
Researcher Liu Songjie contributed to this report.
