About China blogosphere, travel, and entrepreneurship

Since the Sichuan Earthquake, I’ve been corresponding with Richard Brubaker of China Crossroads and AllRoadsLeadtoChina blog. He is Vice Chairman of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of AmCham in Shanghai. He just recently launched Hands On Chengdu. Here’s the description on their website:

With our strength being volunteer management, our goal will be to recruit, train, and manage volunteers at many levels, to develop community leaders through our volunteer leadership program, engage students and corporations to leverage their capabilities, and work with local NGOs to develop their capacity.

With that, we have established this website as a first step to:

1) Provide a place where volunteers in the affected areas, in cities around China, and around the world can register themselves and provide our NGO partners with a qualified pool of volunteers

2) Advertise and manage the volunteer needs of government agencies and NGOs who are working within various levels of the community to comfort the injured, build schools,

3) Volunteer project scheduling - we will be providing a platform to schedule volunteers in affected cities, townships, and villages.

4) Facilitating financial and product donations to NGOs and government donations in need

5) Provide a forum for announcements and news from affected areas, a place for volunteers to learn about how to help, and provide a discussion forum for NGOs to discuss with each other their needs and how to best service their communities.

This project is modeled after Hands on Shanghai, a similar project that Richard has been involved with.

I didn’t know much about Richard’s work prior to the earthquake, other than reading an occasional post at AllRoadsLeadtoChina. But after the earthquake I found China Crossroads and relied on his blog to frame my thinking about how to donate to the earthquake relief efforts.

I like many others have felt helpless in the face of this event. if you want to know how to help and especially how not to help, read these posts:

Resisting the Urge to Help in the Face of Disaster

Sichuan Earthquake: How to Help - Part 2

This last post, shortly after the earthquake, I asked Richard the questions:

1. How did you research ways to give or help out? What did you learn? What are good ways to help? What are bad ways? (like getting on a train to go to the affected areas to volunteer if you have no specialized skills)
2. What 1-3 options do you recommend for people in China? and for people in the US? (may be same or different…maybe just different payment method).
3. Why did you choose these options? What makes them effective and efficient? What assures you that they won’t waste the money?
4. How did you assure yourself that this is a trustworthy organization? Is there any 3rd party certification of the organization? What assures you that they won’t misuse the money?
5. List of NGOs.

Go see his post for the answers!

Juan Zeng, the English teacher in Chengdu who wrote us a long report on how her students walked out of the death zone from Qingcheng Mountain has sent me another report. It is a little dated when we count by hour or even minute after the earthquake. She told me that she feels the need to express what she is experienceing and she doesn’t know who she should talk to. We didn’t edit her post and she is not a journalist. Her narration could show you a different picture of the earthquake from main stream media. -Min Guo

People were suffering after the earthquake.

It was 15th of May, at night, in Sichuan Technology University Chengdu Arts College(四川理工成都美术学院)。I think by then, we should call the end of the first stage of the earthquake, although the aftershock comes on and off all the time.

It is 10a.m., in the anti—earthquake center of my college, where I ran into my students. (more…)

Oliver Ding create a SlideShare entitled “24+ ways to give“, based on our earlier post on methods (now up to 40) for China earthquake donations. It is another great way to share with people ways to help on earthquake relief for what has probably affected 20 million people. Thanks for your hard work on this Oliver.

| View | Upload your own

(more…)

At 11:50 am BJ time 5/15, we just received via a comment on our earlier post of what appears to be a first-hand account of a 12 hour, 30 kilometre walk by students and teachers from the earthquake danger zone. We are posting the comment exactly as it was left (with a few typos corrected). Min is trying to contact the writer to interview her and to verify the story by phone or email. Stay tuned while we learn more…

Update by Min: I just talked to Zeng Juan (曾娟), an English teacher from 四川理工大学 成都美术学院 (Chengdu College of Fine Art) for about 15 mintues. The following report is an interview done by Juan after 64 students and 3 teachers (冉，钱 and 秦) went back from Tai An (泰安) to Chengdu(成都) safely. Three groups of students, each led by a teacher, went to Tai An town around Qingcheng Mountain (青城山) for outdoor sketch last Sat. (May 10). Supporting each other, 67 students and teachers walked for 12 hours and got back to college at around 9:30 am, 19 hours after the Wenchuan earthquake.

Juan also told me the current status in Chengdu and her college: None of the students in the colleges in Chengdu were hurt by the earthquake itself. But in extreme panic, a few of them got hurt by jumping from second floor of the building. She was at home when the earthquake happened and she thought it was a natual gas tan explosion when she heard huge sound and saw smoke. Currently, most of the local students in her school have gone home and the students from other provinces are staying in the conference hall and art museum of the school. Quan felt very sad about one of her friends who lost his wife in the earthquake. She works in Mian Yang (绵阳). — 6:27pm May 15.

New Long March–Walking Out of Death Zone in Earthquake China (by Juan Zeng)

As a teacher in Chengdu Arts College, Sichuan Technology University, Chengdu, I’d like to report the Long March about my students who had walked out the death zone in earthquake.

After 12 hours walking about 30 kilometres without any food or drink in heavy rain and wind, they escaped from death. Besides this, they helped others to escape. They are my heroes. I’d like to record this for my wonderful students to show my respect. The love is the way to life and hope. (more…)

photo (h/t ifgogo.com, zuosa.com)

There has been a tremendous outpouring of energy from the blogosphere and on Twitter to determine the best way to help out. This post provides a guide to how you can donate toward China earthquake relief efforts. We’ve now compiled over 35+ ways to give. Please add comments and links and I will keep this post updated. A SlideShare version of this post was also created by Oliver Ding.

I. Red Cross and various conduits

There is widespread consensus that donating to the Red Cross is the most reliable way to provide immediate disaster relief. Tuesday night BJ time, Bill Bishop (Niubi) hosted an auction with 15 mostly Chinese friends, and the consensus was the best way to give is to provide funds directly to the Sichuan provincial Red Cross. The next best option would be to give to the national Red Cross of China. (more…)