Chinese Generosity (Japan Quake Donations)

[Tyrion]

With the monster earthquake in Japan all manner of strange rumors went viral in China. "The Japanese government won't admit that they triggered the earthquake themselves with secret deep-ocean nuclear bomb tests." "The radioactive pollution from Japan will contaminate all of China's surrounding ocean water making salt production impossible." (This particular rumor lead to major salt shortages across the entire country)

In the middle of all that, our university decided to hold a donation drive for Japan. As all things here, it was shoddily organized (the students collecting the money had no idea who was in charge, much less which organization the money would be donated to...), but we were glad to see it, and all of the Japanese students and researchers participated alongside sympathetic Chinese students.

Walking around campus to collect donations, one of the Japanese girls was reduced to tears when Chinese students shouted "Why do we have to give money to Japan!?"

My gut reaction was to think, "typical, ignorant and indoctrinated Chinese; always ready with the standard issue vitriol..." I also assumed that the final money count would be low; matching China's stereotypical disdain of it's next door neighbor.

I was pleasantly disappointed. Not only was the final total fairly high for materially poor Chinese students, but there was one student that reduced the same Japanese girl to tears again; this time tears of gratitude.

Some Chinese students came up and put in 100 yuan bills (an entire month's rent for most students here), and one guy in particular, when asked to donate some money responded, "I don't have any money right now!" and went away. The Japanese girl holding the box thought nothing of it and trudged on. Then, about 30 minutes later, that same guy came back with a fist full of money to donate!

How generous and awesome people like that guy (and the other volunteers and donors) are! I wish more people like that would be brought to the front (front pages of news articles, front lines of diplomacy, etc) in the Japan-China relationship. Sometimes slogging through all the junk that happens here in China can be overbearing, but these kinds of stories make the entire country of China better in my mind's eye; just thought I'd share.

[boxcar]

That is a really great story, thanks for sharing. Though not completely related, has anyone else heard this rumor?

South Korea sent a rescue team, consisting of five workers and two dogs. After arriving in Tokyo, one of the dogs went missing. Now, the five rescue workers are still searching for the dog. Japan has more than 100 million dogs, so it won’t be an easy job to find the dog.

My girlfriend had told me this, saying she had read it in a Chinese news story. I had accepted it as fact and laughed at the ridiculousness of it. Your mention of the rumors circulating around made me look to see if the story is really true. At least according to this story it is a complete fabrication.

Personally, I am always very skeptical of relief causes and reluctant to donate to any charity unless I've really researched how the money is used. I found this interesting editorial piece encouraging people NOT to donate money to Japan. Instead he encourages people to donate directly to groups like the Red Cross so that they can use the money in the best possible way. After hearing about the way things were handled in Haiti, it doesn't sound like a ridiculous suggestion.

[Brian US]

First off, props to you Tyrion.

In regards to donating money, there are some ways to make sure your money makes it to its designated cause. Technically if you simply send money to the Red Cross they may use it as they please (funds received from donors or grantors as unrestricted support). You may send money as restricted support if you want your donation for a specific cause.

This then breaks down into which organization you are donating to. Even the most reputable organizations may play accounting games with money, but I don't want to discourage a noble cause.

This only follows American generally accepted accounting principles on funds for non-profits. No clue about other countries.