China currently has more than 1,000 charity organizations and over the past decade, almost 10 billion yuan (about US$1.2 billion) has been donated to these groups.

These figures were disclosed at Monday's high-level forum, "China's Charitable Undertakings and Building of a Harmonious Society".

According to official statistics, 140-180 million Chinese, or 11-14 percent of the country's total population, are poverty-stricken people.

The government has encouraged people from all walks of life to participate in charitable activities.

There are over 20,000 donation collection stations in China but nowadays, cellphone short messages (SMS) are also widely used to make donations.

(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2005)