BEIJING, Nov. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- "They do not have the habit, the confidence and the energy", Chen Sitang concluded the three factors to the reluctance of Chinese people in giving charity donation to organizations which are mainly non-government ones.

    Chen, the vice president of a well-known charity organization, China Office of World Vision of Hong Kong, made the comments on the Nongovernmental Organization Seminar (NGO Seminar) of China Charity Conference held here Monday.

    "The average personal donation of US is more than 7,300 times higher than China's," Xu Yongguang, vice chairman of China Charity Federation, cited a research on the NGO Seminar.

    The average personal donation made by Chinese people in 2002 isonly 0.92 yuan (0.113 dollar). And the total personal donation accounted for 0.01 percent of China Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While in the United States, the average individual donation in 2003 reached 828.7 dollars, said Xu.

    According to Chen Xinnian with National Development and Reform Commission, a merely one percent of the country's total 10 million registered firms, have had a history of making charity donation.

    When talking about gaining trust from people, experts on the seminar agreed that China can learn from western countries in setting up credible charity organizations.

    "These organizations are highly transparent and self-disciplined", said Yang Tuan, a scholar of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, "And they receive supervision from government, media and all society. People can be confident about the using of their donation if the organization is of high credibility."

    On Nov. 20, China Charity Conference issued a document proposing self-discipline of charity organizations. The document requires all charity organizations to maintain the nonprofit principle and calls for transparent and public accessible finance system. Enditem