Volunteer Community Service in China

Volunteer Community Service  in China

Ever since the story came out on Bill Gates and Warren Buffett getting a cold shoulder from the Chinese wealthiest to join them in their efforts to help those in need, the issues of charity work and volunteer services in China have been of interest to me.
According to Associated Press and China Global Times, many of those invited by Gates and Buffet initially turned down the invitation for fear of being asked to donate to charity.

This incident has brought many questions to my mind, and I have been trying to find out some answers.   Why are the wealthy people reluctant to give to charitable organizations?  Is it because China does not have the tradition of giving to charity on a personal level?  Is it because young people are not trained to give back to society in doing community service?

In the western world, there is a philosophy of “noblesse oblige,” referring to the belief: “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.”  Based on this philosophy, Americans help third world countries in their strife for a better life.  That’s why we appear wherever disasters strike to give a helping hand.   Our schools train our young people to do community service as part of their graduation requirements.  In my school, students must complete 20 hours of community service before they can graduate.  This, of course, has created some controversy because some students argue that doing community service as a mandatory requirement is not voluntary community service at all.  However, like it or not, doing community service does make young people aware of the need to help out in the community.  As young people get exposed to the needs of the community in which they live, they begin to see the difference they can make in the lives of the specific people they touch.

Recently I have been able to get some insights from a graduate student at Stanford.  Cherry Min, who graduated from Peking University, is currently getting her Master’s degree at Stanford this year.  She has been kind enough to answer some of my questions. Below is an edited recount of our exchange of thoughts.

Question:  Is it true that high school students do not do voluntary community service in China?

Answer:  The high school curriculum is very vigorous, and usually teenagers do not have the time and the opportunities to do volunteer community service.

Question:  Do the students at PKU do community service to help those in need?  Is it part of the curriculum at the university?

Answer: There are several channels for the Peking University students to devote themselves to social work; for instance, when I was in the medical school, I joined both the Red Cross and the Youth Volunteer Association.  As medical students, we provided some free medical treatment to the elders in our neighborhood. But this is not part of the course, which means students are not forced to do volunteer work.

Question:  Are there associations that help to train young people to do volunteer work?

Answer:  As far as I know, the two associations that I mentioned above are
the largest associations on the PKU campus. Besides these two, there are other smaller associations founded by students who believe in doing volunteer work.

Question:  Personally, why do you think that so many young people are unwilling to make any effort in helping others?

Answer:  I believe they have various reasons.  You see, most students live on a very tight budget, so they need to work hard to make some extra money and so they do not have the time to do volunteer work.  Or some are just being indifferent and selfish and just think only of themselves.  Like you, I would also like to make some changes when I return to China!  I think there is a lot of room for improvement.

My next question is “What can we do to change the trend so that more young people will do volunteer work in China?”

Cherry has agreed to discuss this issue further.  I feel fortunate that I can get some first-hand information from Cherry.  Perhaps the next time we talk, we can discuss ways to make teenagers in China aware of the need to help out in their own community.

Brian Wong

Alameda, CA

Team 4: Global Justice

December 29, 2010

Source:

Cherry Min

Graduate student at Stanford University