Administrative power cannot build a real charitable city, says an article in Xiaoxiang Morning Post. Excerpt:

Xingyang city authorities in Henan province plan to form more than 1,000 charitable organizations and select 5,000 charity ambassadors.

The city Party chief said Xingyang would be turned into a "charitable city".

It's good to make efforts to promote charity, but it is wrong for the city to issue government directives to achieve that goal.

Charity is a voluntary act arising out of a person's conscience. Government orders may help build urban squares and roads, but they cannot foster a culture of charity or raise the moral level of the people.

Xingyang's charity plan is just one of the tricks officials have been playing for long to please their superiors.

Modern political theories tell us that a government must realize it has limits and by no means is omnipotent.

To foster a sense of charity among the people, it is important that a government chooses the correct route.

Charity should be run by NGOs, for only they can rid charity of official restraints. A government, on the other hand, should strengthen the social security network so that disadvantaged groups get the basic social protection.

It should enact laws and see to it that they are followed so that charitable organizations can operate transparently. Such acts, rather than making donations mandatory, can raise a government's image in the eyes of the people.

It's good to think about building a "charitable city", but a government should not be the one to put that idea into practice.

A charitable city or society will become a reality only if its residents or members have fellow feeling and are conscious about their social duties.

(China Daily August 14, 2009)