China's long-standing social donation system has contributed a
total of 23.6 billion yuan (US$2.85 billion) to help more than 400
million poor and disaster-stricken people in the past eight years,
according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA).
MCA statistics show that 28,000 social donation stations have
been established in Chinese cities since 1996 as an effort of
setting up a mechanism to handle donations on a regular basis.
Thanks to the mechanism, civil affairs departments at various
levels received and handed out donated items and funds valuing some
23.6 billion yuan, including 12.6 billion yuan (US$1.52 billion) in
cash and checks, and clothes and quilts worth 957 million yuan
(US$116 million).
Donation activities mainly take in three forms in China:
economically advanced regions helping specific less developed
regions, motivating people to donate to relieve the effect of
specific disasters and receiving items and funds donated for no
specific causes and making them available where needed.
The long-standing social donation mechanism first targets
disaster-hit and rural poor populations and covers workers serving
enterprises in financial difficulties and those being laid off from
state-owned enterprises. The mechanism's focus has expanded in the
past two years from serving basic living needs to providing medical
services and training to needy populations.
In order to better serve the country's needy, Chinese civil
affairs departments recently started to build special convenience
stores for poor residents in urban communities.
The first of these was established on September 10 in Fengsheng
Hutong of Beijing's Xicheng District. Needy residents in the
community are able to pick up items for free from the store by
showing social care cards issued by the community. Other residents
in the community can put items that they want to donate in the
store and let their poor neighbors choose.
So far, the convenience store in Fengsheng Hutong, Xicheng
District has delivered items valuing more than 3,000 yuan (US$360)
to poor residents in the community, said Li Shisan,
secretary-general of the community.
Vice Minister of Civial Affairs Yang Yanyin told Xinhua Saturday
while visiting the newly established convenience store in Fengsheng
Hutong that her ministry will further popularize similar stores
across China to strengthen the country's social donation mechanism
and better serve China's needy.
(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2004)