中国有没有慈善机构？

粘贴此文前作者收到国内四川省成都市的一位主内姐妹来信说：“你九年前要去访问的那家孤儿院，早就被取缔了！”

(中、英文对照)

 

中国有没有慈善机构？

田  心

 

 

按照国际公认的观念，慈善机构不属于任何政府部门而是纯粹的民间机构。这样就有可能产生一个问题：中国有没有慈善机构？要回答这么一个问题是很困难的。闻名中国的“希望工程”属不属于慈善机构呢？不属于，因为是国家教育部在组织和管理“希望工程”。遍布全国的医院、敬老院、托儿所属不属于慈善机构呢？不属于，它们全都是商业性机构。在中国成千上万的佛教寺庙属不属于慈善机构呢？不属于，它们化缘只为养活自己，却不用来周济贫穷或帮助公益，尽管它们在历史上曾经做过慈善事业。那么，赞助这又赞助那的公司属不属于慈善机构呢？这是一个有争议的问题。  
        实际上，赞助并不是慈善事业，而是一种互利的合伙行为。所以毫不奇怪，公司通常是在市场拓展基金或公共关系基金里安排赞助预算。些许自相矛盾和伪善的行为都可能败坏慈善事业的名声。例如，一个生产戒毒药的工厂可能赞助一批戒毒所。但其结果可能是，那些戒毒所里的瘾君子离开了他们惯常服用的毒品，却产生了对可能是该制药厂生产的戒毒药的新的依赖。环境保护论者声称他们是慈善的传递人。可是就在他们抗议滥伐木材的同时，他们自己可能正在成为蘑菇养殖商。更有甚者，公司赞助有可能成为有害或危险的行为。例如，有的赞助是由烟草公司提供的，间接地会起到鼓励吸烟的作用。在我所生活的城市深圳，街道上和公园里有许多写着赞助者名字的长椅和凉亭，赞助者是一个名叫“好日子”的香烟公司。这究竟是在做慈善事业还是在教唆吸烟呢？你看，赞助可以为那些从事污染事业的公司以廉价和高效洗刷名声。

不过，就我所知，在中国至少有一个真正的慈善机构。在四川省省会成都的郊区，有一所由基督教某个家庭教会拥有和管理的孤儿院。那个教会收容和照看附近流浪的孤儿。教会的姐妹们成了孤儿们的母亲，她们把孩子们带向耶稣。她们根本没有工资，孤儿院所需的一切也都是教会弟兄姐妹们奉献的。因为根据政府的宗教管理条例，家庭教会是非法的。

我相信，像成都那个孤儿院那样的慈善机构，在中国必定还有许多许多。

 

(二○○四年四月二十日)

 

 

IS THERE ANY CHARITY ORGANIZATION IN CHINA?

PAUL BAO

 

 

As an internationally recognized concept, charity organizations do not belong to any government apartment but are purely non-governmental. In this regard a question may come forth: Is there any charity organization in China? It is hard to answer such a question. Does the famous organization “Hope Project” in China belong to charity? No, it is the national education department who organizes and controls the Hope Project. Do the hospitals, elder-cares and kindergartens all over China belong to charity organization? No, they are all commercial. Do the thousands of Buddhism temple in China belong to charity organization? No, they collect donation to make their own living but without giving out for the poor or public benefit, so they are not charity organizations at all although they used to be in the history. Do the companies who sponsor this or that belong to charity organization? This is a controversial point.

 

Actually, sponsorship is not philanthropy. It is a mutually beneficial business partnership. It is therefore no surprise that sponsorship funding is often found from corporate marketing or public relations budgets. Suggestions of inconsistency and hypocrisy can seriously damage a charity’s reputation. For example, a narcotics-abstaining pharmaceutical factory may sponsor some narcotics-abstaining camps. However, the result may be that the druggies left their traditional narcotics but come to sponge on the new drugs which would be made by the pharmaceutical factory. Environmentalists claim themselves as charity-deliverers. But they may protest lumbering and become fungus culturists at the same time. Moreover, companies’ sponsorship can be harmful and/or dangerous - for example, if a charity is sponsored by a tobacco company and indirectly promotes smoking. In the city Shenzhen where I live, there are a lot of benches and summerhouses in streets and parks with the sponsor’s name, a cigarette company’s name - Happy Date on them. Is it however a charity or an abetment of smoking? You see, sponsorship can be a cheap and cost-effective ‘greenwash’ that may reduce the need for companies to address their polluting practices.

 

However, as I know there is at least one real charity organization in China. In the suburb of Chengdu, the capitol of Sichuan Province, there is a orphanage owned and run by a Christian house church. The church got the street orphans around and take care of them. Sisters of the church become the waifs’ mothers and lead the children to Jesus. They have no pay at all, and all supplies are donated by brothers and sisters of the church. For house churches are regarded as illegal according to the religious regulations of the government.

 

I believe there must be many more charity organizations in China, like the orphanage in Chengdu.  

 

(April 20, 2004)

[myipode]

如果中国有众多独立的慈善机构的时候，中国才算对得起文明古国的称号， 对得起美丽的江山