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Chinese Red Cross Battles CCTV In War to Forget Guo Meimei

Posted: 08/4/2014 4:44 pm

guo meimeiThe Zhaotong earthquake on August 3 has left 391 people dead so far and many more homeless. Those that survived desperately need support from agencies like the Red Cross, but the organization is still struggling to overcome a corruption scandal involving a woman named Guo Meimei from three years ago. In a series of recent Weibo posts, the Chinese Red Cross has appealed for the public’s support in spite of the scandal, reports China News, but so far the appeals aren’t working.

Guo ignited a firestorm of netizen fury after she posted pictures of her wealth online in June 2011 while asserting she was a general manager for the Red Cross. The controversy sparked a backlash against the Red Cross and prompted some Chinese to disavow the organization.

guo meimei

The Red Cross admitted that “three years of rumors and complaining may not be enough to clear the debt”, but still appealed to the virtuous nature of the public:

During this late night we have some colleagues who are packing up their bags to rush over to the earthquake disaster zone in Zhaotong, other colleagues have spent the entire night organizing more relief supplies, while other colleagues deep in the plains of Inner Mongolia to screen impoverished children for heart disease are getting ready to go… with so many people and places that we need to focus on, let’s look at the real facts and take a breath. Please forget her; we need to get operational again.

As if there was a concerted, organized effort to do the exact opposite, Guo Meimei is back in the news. On the official Weibo account for CCTV News, there were nine posts regarding Guo Meimei in a 30 minute time frame after midnight (12:03, 12:10, 12:21, 12:23, 12:24, 12:25, 12:27, 12:30, 12:33) dealing with her being arrested for gambling and prostitution-related crimes.

Here are two of those posts. This one is from 12:03 this morning:

guo meimei smear campaign

Gambling, flaunting of wealth, sex trade.
Beijing police have stated as the result of an investigation that Guo opened a gambling parlor and has earned hundreds of thousands of yuan. In 2010, 19 year-old Guo Meimei established herself as a kept woman for Wang Jun. After their relationship ended, Guo engaged in prostitution with contacts made over the internet and in person with each transaction worth several tens of thousands of yuan. An assistant for Guo stated, “There was a period of time when she would bring a new man home with her and wanted me to keep count.

This CCTV News post is the fifth out of nine such posts, published at 12:24 am:

guo meimei smear campaign

How did Guo Meimei get involved with the Red Cross?
“A friend named Weng had purchased a Bo’ai company, and I invested five million and got 10 percent in stock.” As promised by the “godfather” to Guo Meimei, Mr Wang, Guo would become the company’s CEO. In order to better flaunt her money, Guo had her Weibo account show her occupation had changed from “singer and actress” to “China Red Cross business general manager”.

With constant reminders of Guo’s involvement with the Chinese Red Cross, it’s not surprising netizens aren’t in a mood to forget her, or forgive the Red Cross. 

各种妹纸罒3罒:
You’re letting her take all the blame and be your patsy.. Hehe

失心疯了的孟浩:
Please allow me to ask a question: if the all the allegations against the Red Cross are false, then why didn’t the Red Cross report her that year? Why hasn’t the police arrested her? Why is her Sina account is authenticated by the Red Cross? Can all of these questions be explained?

冷血一滴:
Does CCTV have a lack of prostitutes?

夏阳么么哒:
Too funny, are you trying to insult the IQ of the public? Mr Wang didn’t know (Guo was) a CEO? Guo Meimei didn’t know about the Red Cross? There’s no comparison between the two?

高乐高0210:
In three years, the Red Cross hasn’t been able to prove the innocence of one little prostitute?

可儿可恋:
*Falls off chair* Please tell me CCTV, what’s the point of all these updates? I’d like to trouble you to please focus upon the earthquake in Yunnan and other important affairs affecting the county. [sweat.emo]

guo meimeiPhotos: CCTV News, screencaps of CCTV News Weibo account (1, 2)

Haohao

China Red Cross Blasted For Sending Quilts to Tropical Typhoon-Ravaged Areas

Posted: 07/22/2014 8:51 am

The China Red Cross, a charity organisation, has found itself again engulfed in a sea of criticism after it sent more than 2,000 winter quilts to typhoon-ravaged areas in Guangdong, at a time when local temperatures are higher than 35 Celsius degrees in the heat of summer.

The civic group’s quilts drew a lot of criticism online despite its swift response to the disaster. “Its efforts, manpower and resources were used in the wrong places,” Xinhua said. When thousands of quilts reached Zhanjiang, Maoming and Yangjiang after super typhoon Ramassun swept across the region last week, they needed to be picked up and distributed. Xinhua argued this was a waste of resources, especially for the trucks that distributed the blankets and the manpower involved. These resources could otherwise have been allocated to much more badly needed relief supplies such as drinking water, food, sleeping mats, first-aid kits and medicine, the report said.

Officials from Zhanjiang said the electricity and water supply in several counties in the city were disrupted, but they received cotton quilts. The China Red Cross in Guangdong defended its decision to send quilts, saying they were demanded and will be useful in winter.

Still, this doesn’t sit well with online users. “Next time, send a Maserati; it might help us run faster in the face of disaster,” said Weibo user 短线追击手.

Some simply doubted the motives behind the Red Cross’s help, whose reputation was badly tainted by the Guo Meimei incident in 2011. 朦胧君 wrote: “I am from western Guangdong and have been living here for more than two decades. Do not treat our tragedy as a time for you to show your phony benevolence.”

Photos: Sina weibo; Ta Kung Pao

Haohao

Maybe this is why people are reluctant to donate to charity? Shenzhen family scammed

Posted: 03/11/2013 10:30 am

A Shenzhen family which had been sponsoring a boy in an impoverished village since 1993 has discovered that the boy received no more than 10% of what they had been sending to him, Shenzhen Satellite Television reports. The family was kept so in the dark that they thought the child they sponsored, in Jiangxi Province’s Jinggangshan, was female.

At least four people were taking a cut of what the family was donating, in what could be the biggest scandal related to a Chinese charity since Guo Meimei took to the internet in 2011 to talk about how rich she had got while being associated with the Chinese Red Cross.

For two decades, the family had been donating at least 400 yuan a year to Chen Qiaoxi (a female sounding name), who was a primary school student when they started. In 2011, Chen came to Guangdong to find a job, which was when they discovered that he was a male.

Chen Chubi, the mother of the sponsoring family, told reporters of her surprise when she discovered that Chen had received no more than 40 yuan a year from the family.

Chen Xiaoqi, who now works in Zhongshan, said he had received donations from several families in Shenzhen while growing up, but no individual donation amounted to more than 40 yuan a year.

Yuan Yanting tells reporters of her disappointment.

A reporter from Information Daily in Jiangxi Province told media that his paper was leading an investigation into where the donated money was going.

Yuan Yanting, daughter of Chen Chubi, said she was disappointed but would continue to donate to charities after verifying their credibility.

Haohao
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