Parents are complaining their children have been ordered by primary and middle schools to buy membership of the Red Cross Society of China.

The parents, reportedly from several big Chinese cities, including Shenyang, Jinan and Xi'an, called the news hotline of the Central People's Broadcasting Station to question invoices for school fees their children had brought home.

The "membership fee" being charged for the Red Cross is two or five yuan a year depending on the school, according to parents.

They questioned whether it is legal for a charitable organization to charge schoolchildren a membership fee. They also claimed the schools left their children with no choice but to pay the fee as a mandatory duty.

The news received wide public attention yesterday on news websites in China, putting the fragile credibility of the Red Cross on the line again following a spate of crises over recent months.

Red Cross officials said joining the organization was "a decision based on free will." It defended its legal right to develop branches at primary and middle schools.

A Red Cross official in Shaanxi Province is reported to have said: "If a student wants to become a member, he must pay the annual membership fee."

Red Cross officials said the fee should be no more than five yuan per year.

The father of a second-grader, surnamed Ju, from Shenyang City, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, said his son showed him an application form with a statement on it saying he pledges to join the Red Cross and pay the membership fee voluntarily.

Ju is reportedly to have said: "The child is too young to understand it so he did not fill it in." But the pupil told his father several classmates had been scolded by their teacher for not joining.

Parents from other cities have reported similar experiences. A mother from Jinan, capital of Shandong Province, said text messages hade been sent by teachers reminding parents of the payment.

Liu Jun, a father from Xi'an City in Shaanxi Province, said he tried to persuade his daughter not to apply but the girl argued. He said: "The teacher told them only 20 students from each class were allowed to join. The children saw it as an honor."

Red Cross officials said the practise was not new. Shenyang Red Cross officials said they have always collected membership fees from schools but school authorities would keep part of the revenue to fund campus training programs, such as emergency rescue drills.

The sudden outbreak of complaints seems to be connected with the public's growing distrust of the Red Cross.

Donations from June to August have nosedived nearly 90 percent compared with the March to May period, after the Red Cross was embroiled in a trust crisis triggered by Guo Meimei, a young woman?boasting of her wealth and lavish lifestyle online and claiming to be a Red Cross official.