The Red Cross Society in Qingdao, a picturesque port city in
east China's Shandong Province, receives a donation from an
old man in his 70s every three months.
Every time, the man unwraps his handkerchief meticulously and
takes out 300 yuan (about US$37.5) saved from his pension and hands
it over. He always comes and goes on foot, saying it is a waste of
money to spend one yuan (12.5 cents) on a bus ticket.
The old man has kept doing this for more than one and a half
years and has expressed his wish to be known as "weichen," the same
as numerous others in the city.
Weichen is an invented name that means star dust in the universe
in Chinese and it has become well known because of an anonymous
woman.
The middle-aged woman donated 20,000 yuan (some US$2,500) to the
Red Cross Society in Qingdao with the invented name of weichen when
SARS broke out in 2003, according to Chen Min, who works for the
society.
Since then, the woman has made several other donations ranging
from 10,000 yuan (about US$1,250) to 50,000 yuan (some US$6,250)
for those who suffered from an earthquake in northwestern China and
the Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed over 200,000 lives in
2004.
Her kindness and generosity touched local residents and the Red
Cross Society in Qingdao initiated a mass campaign to find out her
identity.
After days of intensive press reports, the woman asked her
friend to call the Red Cross to leave a message, saying she was as
ordinary as a particle of dust and wanted to remain anonymous, and
she wished more people would join her in helping others, just like
stars shining in the dark night together.
More and more people in Qingdao began making donations via the
Red Cross Society, and most of them did so in the name of
weichen.
"We are so happy to see this since charity in China is usually
promoted and initiated by the government," said Ding Gang, general
secretary of the Red Cross Society in Qingdao.
When the Red Cross Society went onto streets in Qingdao to
collect donations for victims of the 2004 tsunami, a group of poor
college students donated 3,679 yuan (some US$460) "saved from
meals"; A three-year-old boy donated because his mother wanted him
to become a weichen when he grows up; A Red Army veteran calling
himself a senior weichen donated 800 yuan (US$100).
In the end, 60 percent of donations solicited by the Red Cross
Society came from weichen.
Statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs show unofficial
donations for tsunami victims amounted to a record high of 600
million yuan (some US$75 million).
As an anonymous donation group, weichen was given the title of
No. 1 of "Top 10 Philanthropists" by the China Charity Federation
in October, 2005.
The Red Cross Society in Qingdao still receives the donations in
the name of weichen every day.
However, the China Charity Federation says that approximately 75
percent of donations it receives comes from overseas every year, 15
percent from domestic affluent people and 10 percent from ordinary
people in the country.
"The development of charity was slow until the mid 1990s. Now
charitable institutions are establishing their networks across
China," said Fan Baojun, Chairman of China Charity Federation.
To his delight, many people have devoted themselves to charity
and set good examples for others in recent years.
In north China's Tianjin municipality, an old man named Bai
Fangli raised 350,000 yuan (about US$43,750) by running a pedicab
to fund the education of more than 300 children from poor families
before he died last September at the age of 93.
Chong Fei, a noted young singer, donated more than 3 million
yuan (some US$375,000) to aid 150 impoverished students and
disabled people, living a thrifty life himself. He made a will to
denote corneas before his death on April 20.
Amid difficulties brought by a large population, the public
should act together with the government to help the needy, said Li
Xueju, minister of civil affairs.
There are around 22 million people receiving the minimum life
insurance in urban areas, and 6 million people in rural areas,
according to statistics of Li's ministry.
It is crucial to raise the people's awareness of charity, the
minister said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2006)