To give or not to give alms to beggars, that is the
question.
Beijing's Haidian District government recently issued an open
letter to its citizens persuading them not to open their wallets to
beggars. The letter says if residents really want to show
benevolence, they can donate to charity organizations run by the
government.
The district government believes that the number of beggars will
dramatically decrease on the streets if people stop giving to
them.
It is true that beggars on their knees do tarnish the image of
clean and neat urban appearance like stains on a clean shirt.
Yet, cases vary for those pleading for others help on the
streets.
My memory of beggars goes back to the 1960s when I was a child.
I still remember beggars producing documents from their local
governments to justify what they were doing. The document said
something to the effect that flooding had devastated the homes and
crops of these people, who needed to make a temporary living
through people's mercy. The document also said that these beggars
would return to their hometowns in the coming spring to farm their
land.
I still remember what my father did: He gave hot steamed bread
to old ladies sitting by the roadside, telling us that old ladies
would get sick eating cold ones. Many chose to open their wallets
or offer food to rural villagers, who were begging to survive even
though making a living on the mercy of others might be the last
thing they wanted to do.
The other side of the coin was the harsh reality of poverty at
that time. Neither central nor local governments could afford to
deliver enough aid to help all the victims.
In addition, flood prevention facilities such as embankments
were a far cry from what we have today. As a result, beggars from
flood-prone regions would come almost every year. To be more exact,
whatever urban residents did to patron such "organized refugees"
could be considered a form of charity on a voluntary basis.
Very few had developed any aversion to them and quite a few
would chat with them, asking them about their lives in their
hometowns and how their homes were affected by flooding. What they
wore might look shabby with patches, but not dirty. They might look
unhealthy because of lack of nutrition, but nothing from their look
piqued suspicion about their motivation for seeking benevolence
from others.
Compared with them, some beggars today, who pester passersby for
money - some even won't let you go by putting their arms around
your legs until you open your wallets - border on being scoundrels
or hooligans. Behind these people there might be criminal gangs,
which organize orphans or poor children from poverty-stricken rural
areas to work as professional beggars.
It was reported that some who organized such beggars have made a
great fortune themselves - some have become millionaires.
Because both central and local governments have done a great
deal establishing social security systems of various kinds to
provide financial aid for poverty-stricken families both in rural
and urban areas, the motivations for begging are far more
complicated than just surviving a famine or other financial straits
caused by an unexpected mishap.
Even with minimum living allowance system established in all
urban areas and many rural areas, it is almost impossible to
eliminate the phenomenon of begging in China, and neither is it
possible even in developed countries.
So I partially agree with the district government's call. I do
not want to give a penny to those who pester passersby for money
and neither do I want to spare any for professional beggars who are
instigated or manipulated by others.
Even beggars should have manners. Those vagabonds who play the
guitar or erhu (two-stringed bowed musical instruction) in plain
but neat attire on the pavement exchange their music for charity.
They never disrupt passersby and welcoming anyone who appreciates
their music to donate a small sum of money. I will extend a helping
hand to them.
And I don't think that such people tarnish the urban appearance.
I would rather consider them as a social element that should be
allowed some room to make a living on their own as they have the
freedom to choose their way of life.
Of course, they are different from those who use people's
sympathy in their favor by displaying a miserable look or with a
heart-breaking story. Even they, I believe, should have manners. At
least, they should never bother those who do not want to open their
wallets.
Those who manipulate and train orphans or rural children from
poverty-stricken areas into money-making machines for themselves
must be punished as Dickensian villains. What they have done to
those poor children and to those whose benevolence is abused does
constitute a crime. There are reports about how these people
maltreat the child beggars.
Children beggars under their manipulation will quite likely
degenerate into criminals in the future and their lives will be
ruined.
In addition, the existence of such beggars will dampen people's
willingness to show benevolence to those really in need of help,
fearing that their donations may end up in hands of those behind
them.
I will never forget the scene when my daughter, then a senior in
high school, put 1 yuan into a bowl before a beggar when passing
through a flyover. Spring Festival was just around corner, my
daughter said it was the right time for charity and beggars should
also have a nice time during the traditional festival. I
appreciated what she did and told her that benevolence was always a
virtue.
But when she watched a TV program that exposed how some people
manipulate children to pester passersby for money, she told me that
she would have second thoughts before showing mercy to beggars on
the roadside. That is how people's hearts become hardened and what
compels them choose to turn a blind eye to those on their knees
with a sign at their side explaining how desperate they were when
their parents were fatally ill and they have to continue their
education.
With a social security system in place to guarantee the basic
living conditions of all residents in both urban and rural areas,
the real beggars - those to beg for survival - have greatly
decreased and will further decrease.
The district government did the right thing by persuading rather
than ordering residents to avoid giving to beggars, since there are
always those who are cornered into sudden financial straits. They
may need others to extend a helping hand.
On the other hand, residents have the freedom to make their own
decision to give or not to give.
(China Daily September 1, 2007)
