China's charity and voluntary sector is under the spotlight in the wake of a series of controversial online fundraising activities that made headlines in the past few months.
In the first episode of this year's series "Ask China: NPC's legislation role," CGTN sat down with three experts on charitable work in China. They weighed in on how China's Charity Law works and explained the trend in online donations in the country.
China’s first comprehensive charity law went into effect on Sept. 1, 2016. In August of the same year, 13 charitable organizations (now 12, as China Charity Information Center withdrew in July 2017), including those belonging to tech giants Tencent, Alibaba and Sina, were officially authorized to raise funds online.
CGTN Photo
Wang Lin, president and secretary-general of the China Charities Aid Foundation for Children /CGTN Photo
"It helps curb illegal online collections," Wang Lin, president of the China Charities Aid Foundation for Children, told CGTN. The organization raises donations mainly through online platforms.
A campaign called "same birthday as you" has been accused of violating regulations due to its disputed authenticity in December – but only after Chinese social media users had widely participated in it. It was the latest example highlighting the reasons behind people's concerns over the credibility of China's online charity sector.
Yang Tuan, social policy researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) /CGTN Photo
Social policy researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Yang Tuan stressed on another impact of the Charity Law of China, saying that "it clarifies the boundary between personal appeal and public donation."
According to law, if the subject of a collection is considered to be a social organization, individuals are not allowed to raise funds publicly.
Students at primary and middle schools in Beijing send 1.1 million books to Hetian District in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, January 19, 2018. / VCG Photo
Authorized online fundraising platforms in the country were able to feel the difference soon after the law came into force: www.gongyi.net, part of the Tencent Charity Foundation, received 800 million yuan (about 126 million US dollars) within three days of the 99 Public Welfare Day (an annual activity to promote donations through social media) in 2017, Sun Yi told CGTN. The deputy secretary-general of the Tencent Charity Foundation suggested it was a drastic change as it took the platform five years to raise 100 million yuan (about 15.7 million US dollars) between 2008 and 2012.
Sun Yi, deputy secretary-general of Tencent Charity Foundation /CGTN Photo
The regulated charity sector has given rise to new forms of donations, which have proven popular among young people in China.
One Charity group can benefit from WeChat users donating their voices to visually impaired individuals by reading articles for one minute on the social platform. In another activity, Alipay users were able to plant trees in their name in north China’s deserts by simply walking to collect “virtual energy” on the online payment app.
“People have been encouraged to take part in the donations in an easy and delightful way,” said Yang Tuan.
Alipay donations helped plant trees in Alashan Desert in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. /Antfinancial Photo
The concept of charity is gradually taking root in the Chinese society.
Liu Lizhao, the mother of an 11-year-old boy who is missing a left hand, got her son an artificial limb through a charitable project registered at www.gongyi.net run by the Tencent Charity Foundation. "I hope he can also help others when he is able to," she said.
