作者：英国《金融时报》杰夫•代尔(Geoff Dyer)、吉密欧(Jamil Anderlini)北京报道
2008年5月22日 星期四
在过去一年中，通过为时髦而年轻的小说作者和自由主义的知识分子提供发表自己思想的空间，牛博网(Bullog)赢得了中国最酷博客网站之一的声誉。
自从四川省上周发生大地震以来，牛博网为自己开拓出一个新的角色——对于很多渴望捐款帮助受灾者却又想避开政府渠道的中国年轻人而言，牛博网成了他们的首选慈善机构。
牛博网每天都会在网站上公布捐款资助的救援活动名单。目前，该网站募集的捐款已超过100万元人民币（合14.4万美元）。
牛博网昨日的网络流量是如此之大，以至于网站频繁瘫痪。在过去一周中，该网站创始人罗永浩一直在四川组织相关活动。罗永浩曾是一名英语教师，他讲的课一度非常受欢迎，甚至被做成了DVD。
罗永浩在自己的博客上表示：“保证每一笔捐款都有来源，有去处。”周一，牛博网租佣卡车将物品送往灾区，其中包括两车篷布，其它五车则满载着大米、食用油、卫生巾及蚊香。
此次地震灾难的规模（死亡人数现已超过4万人）引起成千上万的中国人慷慨解囊。中国政府昨日表示，捐款已达18亿美元，其中大部分捐给了官方慈善机构。
然而，与地震相关的新一轮慈善潮流加速了中国社会的转变步伐，而这些转变可能对其产生深远影响。地震不仅为中国新生的非政府组织事业带来了活力，它还鼓励那些心系灾区的公民们在自己捐款的使用情况方面争取更高程度的问责制度。
针对政府将如何发放捐款的普遍怀疑，催生了私人慈善机构。一些震区居民基于他们在2004年四川洪灾之后的补助费经历，在上周表达了这方面的疑虑。
“当时，政府承诺将为被毁房屋支付20%的重建费用，但最后只给了几百块钱，”一位现居于北京的川籍人士表示。“钱从上面下来，但地方贪官太多，结果就被贪污了。”
中国政府清楚，救援活动中如果存在贪污腐败问题，将会带来政治后果，因此中国国务院日前宣布，如果发现任何官员盗用赈灾款项，将严惩不怠。
“中国的贪污问题非常严重，所以我很不愿意通过官方慈善机构捐款，”杨小平（音译）表示。“这些钱会被各级官员用来购买轿车和大吃大喝，最后，灾民什么也得不到。”杨小平是一位富裕的北京居民，他将捐款交给了一个新的私人慈善机构。
目前有很多新的组织正在尝试救助灾民，牛博网只是其中之一。本周，一个名为爱国者联盟(Patriots Alliance)的网站正在募集款项，以便向灾区运送药品及其它急需物资。作为北京一家信息技术公司的主管，刘云飞（音译）在业余时间里管理着这家网站。他表示： “我们比很多政府机构有效多了。”
但是，这些私人慈善机构的身份仍然并不明确。虽然中国拥有数千家非政府组织，它们在理论上都需要有一个政府机构作为合作伙伴。
政府担心，正在从事重要救灾工作的非政府组织将会推动它们自己的政治议程。例如，爱国者联盟也曾为其它自然灾害募集捐款，但它创建的最初目的是为了反对日本前首相小泉纯一郎(Junichiro Koizumi)参拜供奉有二战战犯的靖国神社。
牛博网也有着自己的问题：它的一个银行帐户本周被冻结，据说是因为政府觉得资金流量可疑。
然而，这些新兴的私人团体为中国官方慈善机构带来了压力，迫使它们在自己的运营和支出上变得更加透明。在过去几天接受了巨额捐款的中国红十字会表示，近期将公布关于四川赈灾费用的详细清单。
译者/石水
QUAKE GIVES BOOST TO CHINA\’S UNTAINTED PRIVATE CHARITIES
By Geoff Dyer and Jamil Anderlini in Beijing
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Over the past year a Chinese website called Bullog has won itself a reputation as one of the coolest blogs in the country, hosting the musings of modish young novelists and liberal intellectuals.
Since the devastating earthquake hit Sichuan province last week, Bullog has carved itself out a new role – as the charity of choice for many young Chinese who are keen to give money to help the victims but want to avoid going through the government.
Every day on the website, Bullog publishes a list of relief efforts paid for from donations, which have exceeded Rmb1m ($144,000, �1,000, £73,000).
Internet traffic was so heavy yesterday that the site crashed regularly. The site\’s founder, Luo Yonghao, a former English teacher whose classes were once so popular they were made into a DVD, has spent the past week in Sichuan organising the activities.
“We guarantee to make clear where every donation comes from and where it is spent,” said Mr Luo on his blog. On Monday Bullog paid for two trucks bringing tarpaulins to the disaster site and five trucks full of rice, edible oil, sanitary towels and mosquito repellent.
The extent of the tragedy in Sichuan – the death toll has now passed 40,000 – has motivated tens of thousands of Chinese to give generously. The government said yesterday donations had reached $1.8bn, mostly to official charities.
However, the new wave of quake-related charity has accelerated changes that could have a long-lasting impact on Chinese society. Not only has the earthquake energised China\’s nascent non-governmental organisation sector, it has also encouraged concerned citizens to push for a higher degree of accountability in the way their money is spent.
The private charities are the product of widespread scepticism about how the government would distribute donations. Some residents of the earthquake zone expressed such doubts last week, based on the experience of compensation for floods that swept through the same part of Sichuan in 2004.
“At the time the government promised to pay 20 per cent of the reconstruction costs for destroyed houses, but they ended up giving just a few hundred yuan,” said a former resident of the area who now lives in Beijing. “The money comes from above but there are too many corrupt local officials and it ends up being stolen.”
Aware of the political backlash if the relief effort were tarred by corruption, the State Council announced yesterday that any officials caught misappropriating earthquake funds would receive severe punishments.
“I\’m very reluctant to donate money through official charities because corruption is such a problem in China,” said Yang Xiaoping, an affluent Beijing resident who has given money to one of the new private charities. “At every level the money will be used by officials to buy cars and hold lavish banquets and there will be nothing left for the victims.”
Bullog is one of many new groups trying to help such people. A website called the Patriots Alliance has been raising funds this week to send medicine and other vital materials to the quake zone. “We are much more efficient than many government institutions,” said Lu Yunfei, director of an IT company in Beijing, who edits the website in his spare time.
The private charities still have an ambiguous status, however. Although China has thousands of NGOs, in theory they are required to have a government institution as a partner.
The authorities are worried that NGOs doing vital relief work will push their own political agendas. For example, the Patriots Alliance, which has raised funds for other natural disasters, was initially founded to oppose former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi\’s visits to a shrine that honours war criminals from the second world war.
Bullog has had its own problems: one of its bank accounts was blocked this week, apparently because the authorities said the volume of funds was suspicious.
Yet the appearance of these new private groups has put pressure on China\’s official charities to be more transparent about their operations and spending. The Red Cross Society of China, which has been inundated with donations, has said it will soon publish a list detailing how it is spending money in Sichuan.
