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An ophthalmic hospital with wings.

In 2011, Tencent, one of the most influential Chinese Internet companies introduced a new service called “WeChat”, which has become the most relevant chat service in China. Another year later, official accounts were also introduced, which allowed users to monetize their account and also receive donations. The service was confronted with severe criticism when a user published information on his young daughter’s illness and received donations from other users. Publicizing details about the illness and receiving these donations was seen as “bloody marketing”, which led to a discussion about charity fraud and Internet services supporting it.

The new Charity Law of the People’s Republic of China prohibits using charitable donations to publicize tobacco products but does not define the penalties for violating this provision. There are other products carrying health and safety risks for Chinese people, such as alcohol, but the law does not forbid these. The case discusses this law and the question of whether this ban should be extended to the manufacturers of other ostensibly harmful products.

The catastrophic earthquake that erupted in Sichuan Province in May 2008 left nearly 70,000 dead, over 370,000 injured, and 18,000 missing. Zhang Ziyi, one of China’s most acclaimed actresses, was in Cannes, France, for the International Film Festival when the earthquake struck; she responded hastily by making a personal pledge of RMB 1 million yuan, as well as raising USD 500,000 (RMB 3.3 million yuan) in donations for earthquake relief. Despite these efforts, a discussion started on whether celebrity philanthropy was nothing more than a scam and Ms. Zhang came under attack. The case discusses the questions on whether philanthropy always has to be altruistic or can also have other objectives.

Sun Village is the name of the organization caring for the children of inmates. It was founded in 1995 by Zhang Shuqin, who became aware of the children’s plight when she worked as an officer and newspaper editor for the Shaanxi Province Prison Administrative Bureau. She acquired some land, built dormitories and a school, and recruited children either from the prison or from relatives forced to take custody of them, or even from the streets. Sponsored by The China Charities Aid Foundation for Children, media coverage was very positive at the beginning. Sun Village however was turned into a business and children who lived there also had to work. This led to a lot of criticism and questions regarding what a charitable or social organization does and which rules are applied there. The case investigates these questions in the Chinese context.

The 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, also called the Great Sichuan Earthquake or Great Wenchuan Earthquake, was the strongest quake in terms of magnitude to hit China since the 1950s. It killed 90,000 people, injured 375,000 more, and left over 4.8 million people homeless. But, it also created a strong bond within the Chinese nation and led to a wave of solidarity. The case discusses what solidarity is and what solidarity means in different types of communities (families, schools, local businesses, or nations).