We need to encourage ordinary people to donate more to charity, says a signed article in Guangzhou Daily. An excerpt follows:

The list of China's charitable donors is to be published in mid-April in Beijing.

Transnational and listed corporations that contributed to public welfare will be added to the latest list.

This is certainly a positive move given that expansion of the donor list is expected to stimulate more people to contribute to the country's philanthropy.

But there is no room left on the list for ordinary individual donors, even if they are charity-minded. This will seriously hamper their enthusiasm for giving to charity.

It is known that a nation's charity sector should not depend entirely on a limited number of wealthy people and economically powerful corporations.

Rather, the masses of ordinary people are of vital importance to its development.

Statistics from the China Charity Federation show that, in China, 75 per cent of donations are from abroad, 15 per cent from the wealthy and 10 per cent from ordinary people. In the United States, however, 10 per cent of donations are from corporations, 5 per cent from large foundations, while as many as 85 per cent from the masses.

This comparison shows that our country has a long way to go in developing mass charity. Charity is in essence a kind of spiritual pursuit. Thus, the standard against which a person's contribution is measured should be his or her willingness to contribute, rather than just the sum of money donated. A new mechanism is needed to encourage people to donate more.