Corporate Social Responsibility | The Charitiarian, Corporate Social Responsibility China

British Ball at Beijing

On November 17, 2011, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, Corporate Social Responsibility, Fundraising, By Charitarian

The British Ball Beijing was attended by over 650 people on 12th November at Shangri-La’s Kerry Centre hotel. It was a roaring success with over RMB 200,000 raised for charity. Wang Liwei of Charitarian made a speech on behalf of Wuxun foundation which trains rural teachers and provides equipment of impoverished schools. Attended by the Ambassador, it was a great evening with a theme of ‘a day at the races’. Charitarian contributed a picture for the art auction which, with other prizes, raised substantial funds.

Crisis in Charity Talk by Wang at Bookworm

On November 17, 2011, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, Corporate Social Responsibility, Government Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

Crisis in Charity is the common theme in China at the moment. Sure, some money has gone astray. Guo Meimei, the 20 year old who claimed to be Business General Manger of Red Cross Commerce flaunted her luxury lifestyle on sina microblog. Lu Xingyu, the inexperienced 24 year old executive chairman overseeing a RMB 1.5 Billion fund at China-Africa Project Hope. Soong Ching Ling Foundation in Henan reportedly made large loans to several companies and converted a charitable construction project into a luxury apartment. But I do not think it is so much a crisis as an evolutionary process. Charity is quite new in China. It only really started 7 years ago as the yawning gap between rich and poor became a chasm.

Since then there has been a lot to improve the situation but people still choose to criticize charity because it is one of the weaker departments in government least able to defend itself. Wang and Carma Elliot (OBE) of China Director
of Half the Sky discussed the hot topic at the Charitarian Launch party in bookworm on 25th October. Q&A lasted for half an hour with many in the audience impatient for improvement in the infrastructure of charitable checks and balances.

Trip to Sichuan earthquake rebuild site

On November 16, 2011, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, Corporate Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

On 20th October I went to visit Sichuan with the American Chamber of Commerce and local government. We visited the site of the earthquake to see the rebuilding projects. The main contributors to the event were Fedex, Cisco and Mircrosoft. I was really impressed with the work government had done to build new homes for the affected people.

The stories we heard were very moving and I realized that Corporate Responsibility (CR) was not about the soft stuff but about the roof over people’s head in times of disaster. The gentleman who showed me round (brown jacket – picture 2) had lost a sister in the Tangshan earthquake (1976) and then survived Sichuan. He was only 40 but had lived through two of the worst natural disasters ever in China. We discussed whether it was better to live or die if your family died. This is not the sort of conversation you have with most people. I had great admiration for him and the other hardy survivors who seemed so hopeful despite the catastrophe.

Chinese people are very resilient. Companies should contribute to China in the bad times and not just ‘take’ in the good times if they wish to remain welcome here.

Disgruntled Employees

On September 10, 2010, In Corporate Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

In the useful “phrase-a-day” section of the June edition of Fortune China we learn that disgruntled employees are “unhappy employees who often complain about their work to each other in a sulky dispirited manner e.g. The Company’s disgruntled employees felt underpaid and underappreciated; they never showed any enthusiasm for their work”. I doubt that Terry Guo, CEO of Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, Foxconn in Shenzhen or Managers at the striking Honda Lock plant, Guangdong, had to pick up Fortune to seek an example. There have been eleven employee suicides this year in Mainland China at Foxconn factories. The first Honda strike was at Foshan, Honda Auto Parts on 17 May and disruption is still ongoing as wage increases of 600 Yuan (60 GBP) are debated. Look forward to July’s edition of Fortune where you can expect more timely phrases such as “Flying picket” and “Works Council” as we enter a new era in industrial relations in China. (more…)

Tagged with: disgruntled employees China • Honda Auto parts Foshan China • Honda strike Foshan China • Terry Guo CEO electronics manufacturer

Foxconn Suicide Factory

On September 10, 2010, In Corporate Social Responsibility, Mental Health, By Charitarian

An employee of high-tech firm, Foxconn died on 21 May after jumping from a building in the Southern manufacturing hub of Shenzhen, the tenth such suicide since the start of this year. The dead worker was identified as Nan Gang, a 21 year old from Hubei Province. All the suicide victims at this electronics component factory are migrant workers from outside the city aged between 18 and 24 years old. Stress and lack of social life seem to be the root cause of the suicides. Public outrage has been incurred by a report on Beijing television showing security guards in black uniforms beating workers in Foxconn’s Beijing plant in August last year. The Mayor of Tianjin arrived at the Foxconn factory to investigate on the day Nan Gang died. The factory owners have invited monks to the factory to try and ‘relieve the bad atmosphere’. (more…)

Tagged with: Foxconn suicides • Mayor Tianjin Foxconn

China’s Richest Inmate

On September 10, 2010, In Corporate Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

China’s richest man, Huang Guanyu, has been given a fourteen year jail term for corruption. He typifies the modern-day Mainland tycoon. He was a school drop-out who used to hunt for food from garbage cans. Trading between South China (factory center) and Inner Mongolia (scarce supplies) he established Gome electronics, a multi-million dollar retail chain. Huang Guanyu is the latest is in a string of recent high profile business corruption investigations. What makes this case exceptional is the high level officials that he will take down with him including Xu Zhongheng, a one time mayor of Shenzhen. Although prosecutions for business corruption have increased many still assert that targets are chosen for political reasons. When very wealthy Chinese meet they often say “See you in the US or in jail in ten years” e.g. in the US if you make enough to get out, or in prison if you make enough enemies that get you convicted. (more…)

Tagged with: China's richest man • Huang Guanyu China • Xu Zhongheng mayor Shenzhen China

Poisoned Apple?

On May 5, 2010, In Corporate Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

Foxconn, the Taiwanese giant and a major manufacturer for the US based Apple Corp, has a problem. Employees keep dying or trying to commit suicide. In the latest case on April 6 an eighteen year old worker surnamed Rao leaped from her seventh floor accommodation at the company’s factory in Guanlan, Shenzhen, at about 3:20 pm following an altercation with her boyfriend, Foxconn spokesman Liu Kun told China Daily. The incident comes eight days after a 23 year old worker fell from a 14th floor of the dormitory building at the same factory. Liu said Foxconn is providing psychological counseling to its near 400,000 workforce in Shenzhen. It seems like more than counseling is required. The Times Online reported in July 2009 that a Foxconn employee committed suicide after losing a prototype iPhone. The factory worker leapt to his death after allegedly being beaten by security guards. (more…)

Tagged with: Foxconn suicides • IP issues • IP protection Chinese suppliers • Mac Apple • Macintosh Apple

Repercussions of Rio Tinto

On May 5, 2010, In Corporate Social Responsibility, Government Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

Four employees of the British-Australian company Rio Tinto have been given jail sentences for bribery and stealing commercial secrets by Shanghai’s No. 1 People’s Court on March 24 2010. Australian National, Hu received ten years, and three Chinese colleagues received jail sentences of fourteen, eight and seven years. During the three day trial all four men pleaded guilty to accepting bribes but disputed the $13M they were charged in taking as kickbacks. Mining giant Rio Tinto stood by its employees for many months, but immediately reacted to the verdict by firing all four of them. (more…)

Tagged with: rio tinto bribery • rio tinto china • rio tinto sentenced

Google exits mainland China

On May 5, 2010, In Corporate Social Responsibility, Government Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

On March 23, 2010 Google redirected traffic from its Beijing based search engine to its service in HK. The move effectively means that Google no longer needs to filter its search results as required by Chinese law. Google offices have closed in Mainland China. Five years ago Google, China had a savvy CEO from Taiwan who knew how to tread the line between US shareholders and Chinese censors. He left to set up his own venture. (more…)

Tagged with: Google censorship China • Google China • google.cn

115 workers rescued from a Shangxi mine

On May 5, 2010, In Corporate Social Responsibility, Government Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

115 miners were rescued from a flooded mine after spending a week underground. Thirty-eight remain trapped – now assumed dead. There was extensive press coverage of the rescue work on the front pages of papers this week. Two thirds of electricity in China is generated by coal. The rapid rate of urbanisation is creating pressure for more electricity. In 1980, 191 million people lived in cities in China compared to 595 million by 2007. In 1949 China had 69 cities. In 2007 the number of cities had grown to 670. 6,000 people die on average per year in Chinese mines. (more…)

Tagged with: Shangxi mine flood

Welcome to The Charitiarian.

British Ball at Beijing

Crisis in Charity Talk by Wang at Bookworm

Trip to Sichuan earthquake rebuild site

Disgruntled Employees

Foxconn Suicide Factory

China’s Richest Inmate

Poisoned Apple?

Repercussions of Rio Tinto

Google exits mainland China

115 workers rescued from a Shangxi mine

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