Editor’s note: this article was translated and edited from a story on shangc.net, and looks at Red Cross China’s credibility crisis in the context of noticeably fewer donations it received in the wake of the Ya’an earthquake. The article compares the number of donations the organization received during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the recent Ya’an earthquake, and speculates as to why it has lost so much credibility and public trust of late. The article then discusses what can be done to restore Red Cross China’s already fragile reputation.

After the tragic Ya’an Earthquake that occurred on April 20, many people across the country used various channels to express their love and sympathy towards those affected. When it came to donating money to quake victims, many people chose not to give money to the Red Cross Society of China, sending money to NGOs and other institutions instead. One local foundation in particular received donations of 2 million RMB from real estate company Vanke, 5 million RMB each from Tencent and Alibaba, 2 million RMB from software engineer Shi Yuzhu and 5 million RMB from real estate tycoon Pan Shiyi. Meanwhile, the Red Cross Society was only able to give the local foundation donations of about 60,000 RMB; which speaks volumes regarding the extent to which it has lost the faith of the public. Compared to the exceedingly high amounts of donations the organization received following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, donation figures this time round have been dramatically smaller. But what has caused these noticeable lapses in faith towards the Red Cross Society and what can it do to restore the public’s faith in it?

Photo: wbcms.yunnan.cn

The Guo Meimei incident & Sichuan 2008 earthquake

On June 20, 2011, now-infamous socialite Guo Meimei posted a series of photos online that depicted her life of high luxury (more recently she was involved in a Weibo cat fight in the aftermath of the Sanya sex party scandal). The photos showed her driving a Maserati car, hosting a birthday party in a villa, and flashing her expensive wallets, phones, and watches. Guo’s Weibo stated that she was the “Commercial General Manager of the Red Cross Society of China”, which inevitably aroused the suspicions of many netizens. Many questioned how someone who was only 20 years old could hold such a position, with controversy arising over whether her wealth had anything to do with the Red Cross Society of China. Many netizens then undertook a “human flesh search”, which led to all sorts of content regarding Guo’s association with the Red Cross Society of China being circulated around the internet. Whether or not the information regarding Guo and the Red Cross Society of China is true, the scandal certainly damaged the Red Cross Society of China’s image and caused a huge loss of public trust for it.           

The discontent towards the Red Cross Society also comes from a series of controversies that arose following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake (May 12). This included spending donation money on tents that apparently cost 10,000 RMB each, and then stating that each operation included a 6.5% “management fee” which also had to be paid for using donation money. On May 30 of that year, the society announced that due to the large nature of the donations, they had to spend money to step up the supervision of the donated funds, which in turn supposedly created additional management fees. This caused a great loss of trust towards the Red Cross Society from the general public, with many believing that their donations were being put to waste.         

 Ya’an Earthquake donations show people trust NGOs more

Compared to the Sichuan Earthquake five years ago, donations for the Ya’an Earthquake have been noticeably more directed at non-governmental organizations. Also, many private enterprises, entrepreneurs, as well as movie stars have also been collectively donating money to various foundations. For example, Jet Li’s One Foundation reportedly received donations of 22.4 million RMB, suggesting that the public trusts private organizations and NGOs much more than the Red Cross Society of China.

After the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, it was estimated that by 2011 the Red Cross Society of China had received donations and supplies worth nearly 2 billion RMB. However, after the Guo Meimei incident unfolded in June of that year, the loss of public faith towards the Red Cross Society of China saw donations slow down significantly.         

In lieu of this and the recent Ya’an earthquake, Zhao Baige, the Senior Vice Chairman of the Red Cross Society of China, promised during a CCTV interview that each donation would be taken care of and carefully recorded. Whether or not the Red Cross Society of China can receive as much support and faith as they did during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake however, remains to be seen. However, many netizens’ comments in response to this interview seemed to indicate that the public opinion of the Red Cross Society of China is still very low, with many referencing the Guo Meimei incident and the fact that they will be donating to other parties this time round.

Must shake off its government associations

It was made clear at its inception during the Qing Dynasty in 1904 that the Red Cross Society of China should by no means be anyway affiliated or influenced by any religious, political, or economic organizations, and that humanitarian aid is indiscriminately given to those in need. Over the past 50 years or so however, the Red Cross Society has actually belonged to the Ministry of Health and has been operating under their influence, causing many at in Mainland China and abroad to question the impartiality of the society.  

There is currently a great emergence of NGOs in China that do charity work in the fields of health, hygiene, and protection of disabled people and children. However, unlike the Red Cross Society of China, they don’t receive the approval or the support of the government, which in turn doesn’t allow their presence to be widely exposed to normal citizens. In order to revive the public trust of the Red Cross Society of China, the government has to ensure that they keep their distance and stay out of the public eye when managing its affairs. As the Chinese economy has boomed in the past thirty years and higher quality of life and goods are available to the people, the government must ensure that such charities are developed and managed professionally and that people in general are eligible for better social welfare. They must ensure that the rule of law is adhered to, and that healthy competition is promoted amongst such charities. As long as the government is committed to doing this, then the credibility of the Red Cross Society of China will be restored accordingly.    
 

Source: Shangc.net
 

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Keywords: Red Cross China’s credibility Red Cross China Guo Meimei incident