Recently, a picture posted online attracted netizens’ attention. Beside a sick girl in bed were piles of money a philanthropist had donated for curing the girl’s disease. The picture triggered hot debate over whether highprofile charity should be advocated in China.
Li Chunping, a philanthropist, read in a newspaper the girl needed money for a serious disease as her family was very poor. He ran to the hospital the next day with 300,000 yuan ($46,920) in cash and gave the money directly to the poor girl.
Li is not the first philanthropist widely questioned for ostentatious altruism. Chen Guangbiao, dubbed the “No.1 philanthropist in China,” has also been criticized for being a self-publicist when making charitable donations. Each time he donated money, he appeared in the headlines of newspapers and websites. He claimed he was making these donations to directly push forward China’s charitable undertakings.
Supporters of high-profile charity think donations should be tangible like this and put directly into the hands of needy people. As long as poor people are helped in time, it should be advocated no matter if the charity is high- or low-profile. Besides, intermediary agencies for charity are suffering from crises of trust. Therefore, people have no choice but to contribute cash directly.
On the other hand, opponents say, high
profile charity is purely self-publicizing behavior and a showing off of wealth. Charity shouldn’t be condescending behavior but should establish an equal relationship between donors and the needy.
Supporters
Le Liang (bbs.tiexue.net): The contri
butions of self-publicizing philanthropists, such as Li and Chen, are unquestionable. Their charitable deeds have brought hope to people in poverty. So we don’t have to care about their motives, fame or charity. I wish more people like Li and Chen would stand up to provide greater strength for China’s charities.
Hu Juan (www.tianya.cn): High-profile
charity is at least better than conscienceless philanthropists who give out only empty promises and rubber checks. Instead of criticizing the style of the charitable deeds, we should think about why their money wasn’t given to charity organizations and agencies. Due to the imperfect charity industry in China, philanthropists can only go directly to needy people when they want to extend a helping hand.
Feng Xiaogang (news.dayoo.com): We
shouldn’t only see the motives of their donation but also see the good results. Do they really donate money or just give out rubber checks? Is the effect of helping poor people achieved? Even if they do display ostentatious altruism, we should allow people to brag about their good deeds.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with high-profile charity. Who said charity should only be low-profile?
Nowadays, if rich people don’t donate money, they will be criticized as being stin-
gy. If they donate too much money, they will be criticized as being ostentatious. This is really not good for the healthy development of China’s charitable undertakings.
People argue the high-profile approach could be used for self-publicity and advertising. I think that donating money to poor people to gain fame and popularity is much better than pouring money into advertisements on TV or the Internet for fame and popularity. If all enterprises poured their money into helping poor people for publicity, poor people would be more than happy to accept it.
Chuchu Maolu (club.news.sina.com.
cn): I still remember late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping once said that no matter if it’s a white cat or black cat, as long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat. It’s the same for charity. Regardless of whether it’s high- or low-profile style, as long as more charitable donations are made, we should support them.
Charity needs more people to care about it and participate in it. As long as philanthropists make real contributions to charitable undertakings, we shouldn’t be too picky. We should allow them to choose their own style, high- or low-profile.
Yao Xiaolin (www.konggu.net): I don’t
think there is anything wrong with ostentatious charity.
Although there hasn’t been any clear final resolution of the ongoing scandals in charity organizations in China, many people have lost their faith in them. People are afraid that instead of helping the poor, their money will be used for spending on luxury items by leaders of some charity organizations. Therefore, it’s understandable philanthropists donate only in cash, ensuring the money is really in hands of the needy and avoiding operating costs, which are deducted from the donations to charity organizations.
High-profile charity can attract greater attention from the public and media and be helpful for the promotion of the charitable undertaking. The money is legally earned by philanthropists, and it’s their right to choose high- or low-profile donations. High-profile charity is not evil. As long as it helps others, isn’t it a great thing?
Opponents
Wei Xue (news.sina.com.cn): In the
picture, the symbolic meaning of money is too strong and hurts the feelings of the people being helped.
If high-profile charity is conducted at
the cost of sacrificing poor people’s dignity, it runs counter to the essence of charity. Sacrificing others’ dignity to satisfy donors’vanity is violent and cruel behavior.
Charity is not all about giving out checks or cash. It should also include kind and respectful ways of being charitable. Also, the sources of the wealth should stand up to the questioning of people. As long as these concepts are widely accepted, high-profile and self-publicizing philanthropists will eventually understand charity doesn’t mean a favor but should include equal relationships.
Zhou Mei (www.zhiyin.cn): Charity is
a good thing. But charity organizations or individual philanthropists should fully consider the feelings of people who receive help and give them enough respect.
The main purpose of charity is to establish a good atmosphere of mutual help and equal relationship in society. Charity is voluntary behavior. The amount of money doesn’t matter. No matter if you donate 10 yuan ($1.6) or 20 yuan ($3.1) or 2 million yuan ($313,000), the effect is the same. What matters is the motivating behavior behind the donation itself has a powerful strength rather than the amount of money. A well-developed charity system should pay more attention to details and establish an equal relationship between both sides and avoid donors’ condescending attitudes.
Jin Ganglang (forum.book.sina.com.
cn): I strongly oppose high-profile charity.
If you wander around the streets, you will see many signs asking to donate money to needy people and help the poor. You would think you live in heaven. But, with second thoughts, you realize they are just promotional activities merchants mount to make money. Here, charity is not the final purpose but a means of gaining financial profit.
It’s totally understandable merchants take making profits as their main purpose, but they should achieve this purpose from advanced technology and the good quality of their products. But if they candy coat charity and gain profit by relying on the sympathy of customers, it’s total deception and should be denounced by all. I feel that we are now farther and farther away from true philanthropy and nearer and nearer to deception and hypocritical behavior.
In today’s world, the result is more important than the means. In order to achieve a purpose, any method is allowed. Therefore, people argue that, as long as a great amount of money is donated, we shouldn’t be too critical about merchants’ hidden agendas. That’s totally wrong and a twisted concept of charity.
As a matter of fact, charity is quite simple. The donation itself has significant meaning, not the amount of money. What’s more important is the concept of helping others. Don’t use charity as a tool for fame or profit. No one should look upon charity as an investment. The real essence of charity is treating people around you well, not being greedy and not bullying others.
Deng Guosheng (finance.sina.com.cn):
Charity is not as simple as handing out cash. High-profile charity, which mainly entails handing out cash in public, is quite a lowefficiency method and doesn’t really solve the problem of poverty but causes many side effects such as affronting people’s dignity.
Everyone has a charitable side. We need good charity organizations to bring that out. Therefore, the key to China’s charitable undertakings is to establish organizations with great transparency and bringing out the kindness of common people to the greatest extent. It’s the only way for the healthy and orderly development of China’s charity.
Qiu Feng (finance.sina.com.cn):
Charity should be all about kindness and love. Some people think money is the first property of charity. That’s a misunderstanding. The No.1 factor in charity should be charitable deeds. Poor people do need money, but when giving them money, philanthropists must ensure they retain their dignity.