The Hong Kong Ta Kung Pao reports that the immensely large donation, consisting of money donations of 65.3 billion yuan ($9.55 billion) and material donation value of 11.4 billion yuan ($1.67 billion), breaks the record for donations in China.
According to the six-month research of a team from the Tsinghua University’s Institute of Public Administration, 80 percent of the donations that have been coming from individuals or enterprises could possibly be going toward the authorities’ financial accounts as “additional tax.”
The research team leader Deng Guosheng believes, this huge amount of donation is worth pondering. In Western countries, private donations are generally not accepted in the case of a disaster. If they are, they are usually given to non-governmental organizations. However, it is apparently not the case in China.
According to the research of Deng and his team, by the end of last November, donations in China totaled 65.25 billion yuan ($9.55 billion). Of that 65.25 billion, 37.9 billion yuan ($5.55 billion), or about 58 percent, went to government departments, and 31 percent of the donations, or about 19.9 billion yuan ($2.91 billion), went to the Red Cross and charities across the country.
Documents issued by the Chinese State Council say that the donations can be given to local public welfare organizations. However, Deng’s sample surveys in seven provinces show that most of the money is still turned over to the authorities.
Read the original Chinese article.
