Imagethief

Yes, the crucifixion by "netizens" continues despite the mourning period. Thank goodness for this new breed of vigilantism in China. Out them ALL!

I hope "netizens" demand to know where the billions in donations go! We don't want to see fleets of new black A6s, A8s and Range Rovers with camouflage cloth covered license plates prowling the streets of Beijing next month.

Peer pressure indeed. After watching much of the charity/donation/memorial show last night, I couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed at the endless parading and attention given to these charitable companies. Sure, they each took turns bellowing out some morally encouraging comments, but it eventually gave me the impression that this was more a PR opportunity to recognize the "generosity" of these companies than an opportunity to actually communicate the tragedy in Sichuan, how donations are needed, and for what. Moreover, it isn't as if all those encouraging comments by these company representatives were going to be heard by the people in Sichuan now without homes or televisions. At what point does recognizing which company has donated and how much begin to overshadow the whole point behind donating in the first place?

Ooh. State Grid's at the top. Boy are people going to be complaining about their electric bills now.

While it is a tragic situation in Sichuan the fact is that many companies, especially larger foreign & Chinese companies, donate a lot of money every year to various charities already.

It would be fairer if Sina showed how much they have donated to the earthquake victims and how much they donate to other charitable causes each year.

I can only laugh. Social extortion.

Maybe the little Nazis in Myanmar can do something similar with countries that prop them up, like China: Shame them into giving more for the Swiss bank accounts...

It's all a bit unseemly, as if aid packages will be adorned with logos like a racecar driver's uniform.

Further, there is a concern at the lack of transparency from  some charities, notably China Red Cross (via Danwei):

http://tinyurl.com/6o39vv

You may need a proxy

Then there's Hasee (神舟) chief Wu Haijun, who calls employees who didn't make donations "cold-blooded" and "scum" and invites them to turn in their resignations: http://pc.intozgc.com/162/162859.html Though that article's pretty negative, there's other online commentary that supports his outburst.

Give 'til it hurts...

PingBack from http://news.imagethief.com/blogs/china/archive/2008/05/21/5-12-9-11-and-tian-anmen-at-2-28pm.aspx

Good post from Stan Abrams at China Hearsay on companies (and individuals) being shamed into making contributions

It is absolute shamelessness that these companies have displayed in collecting funds for a country that had 1530 billion dollars in foreign reserves at the end of 2007. This is an overzealous and unthoughtful fund raising drive. These companies have to do business in this country so they are all going gaga over collecting donations. None of these companies are visible doing any Myanmar collection(except genuine welfare organization like google)