Charity awareness

The drop in the total value of cash and goods donated to charities for the second consecutive year can be considered normal given the country's economic slowdown. However, there has been a noteworthy change in where the majority of donations have gone.

According to the annual charity report published by the charity information center under the Ministry of Civil Affairs at the weekend, donations in 2012 were down 3.31 percent on the previous year, dropping to 81.7 billion yuan ($13.34 billion), equivalent to about 1.6 percent of the country's total GDP.

With the country's economic growth rate slowing to 7.8 in 2012, 1.3 percent lower than the previous year, the annual drop of 3.31 percent in the total amount of donations last year point to Chinese people's reduced willingness to donate. While on average each person donated more than 2 yuan less than last year.