NO CHARGE: A recent proposal for free bus rides in Jiangsu Province may ease traffic congestion, but how economically feasible is it?

By June 13, 11 corporate giants reportedly had not yet paid in the full amount of funds promised to victims of the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake or had not given any at all.

Looking back in the past, this situation seemed to be a common occurrence. Only half of promised donations for the 1998 flood disaster have been handed over and there are also donation defaults in the snowstorm disaster at the beginning of this year.

If the media did not keep the public informed, no one would know about the big gap between promised and actual donations by these 11 companies. Although the companies have explained the reasons for donation defaults, most of them failed to convince the public.

Not only is it necessary to supervise how the donations are spent, but this is also true for promised donations. It’s important to establish an announcement system for promised donations to tell the public who really fulfills his/her promise, who has not, and, if not, what is the gap between the received and the promised amount, and the reasons for defaults.

When a company promises a big donation, the public appreciates the love and responsibility shown by that promise. So when the donation fails to arrive, the company is actually betraying the public’s trust. Laws that deal with those who refuse to pay promised donations are already in place, so why not teach them a lesson?

Guangzhou Daily

Universities Taking Advantage

Soon after this year’s national college entrance examination was finished, China’s two top universities, Peking University and Tsinghua University, began to compete for top exam performers in each province by increasing their scholarships.