David Fullbrook: China, an emerging charity superpower

From Asia Times Online:

China is now fast emerging as a charity superpower after the Andaman Sea tsunami, the first foreign disaster to be given saturation coverage by the highly competitive media born of the booming economy and the Internet.

Chinese civic groups, able to learn slick fundraising tactics from charities overseas thanks to the Internet, will almost certainly send more than money in future. A few squads of doctors were sent by the government. Next time, expect legions of aid workers from China, over the centuries a nation painfully familiar with disasters – earthquakes, floods, droughts, plagues and other natural calamities.