Charity trust crisis spills over blood collection centers

BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Donors to China's largest charity, the Red Cross Society, worry that their goodwill money might be tucked away in private pockets, and blood donors have the same fears.

A 2011 survey of about 1,000 people in Shanghai asked people their reasons for being unwilling to donate blood. The fear of their blood being used for profit ranked the second, after health concerns.

This mistrust led to a drop in blood donations, according to the Beijing Red Cross Blood Center's director Liu Jiang, who partly attributed the decline to the public's mistrust of the country's Red Cross branches after a series of scandals rattled the nation in 2011.

One major disgrace involved the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC).

The RCSC came under fire after "Guo Meimei," a young woman, who claimed to be a general manager for "Red Cross Commerce," posted photos on the Internet to show off her lavish lifestyle.

Her high-profile actions provoked the anger of Internet users who speculated that she might have funded her extravagant purchases by embezzling money from the RCSC.

Though there is no direct link between fewer donors and the Red Cross scandal, the notorious case undoubtedly exacerbated the trust crisis that is increasingly taking its toll on the country's blood collectors.