This creates the deep-rooted notion of superiority of family over society in China. This concept moreover echoes "love with differentiation," another important doctrine in Confucianism that essentially implies you will always love your family more than your neighbors.

Consequently, most Chinese would not be inclined to devote most of their fortune to strangers rather than leaving it within their own family.

This is an important notion which Bill Gates and other US billionaires need to fathom if they want to persuade their Chinese counterparts to join their charity effort.

Another point to consider is that individual and private participation in China's civil society, such as by independent charity organizations, remains heavily restrained by governmental control.

Charity organizations can barely function autonomously and only a small percentage of them are able to find the government backer they need to be officially registered.

If they are registered, they have to give 10 percent of the money they raise to their affiliated government agency, which also supervises the distribution of the funds.

This undoubtedly blurs the boundary between civil society and the state and frustrates citizens' confidence in non-government organizations and other independent charity.

Moreover, the government asks its citizens to donate after major disasters. The interference of government turns charity, which should be a collective action originating from the grass-roots of civil society, into another form of welfare provided by the State.

The social environment most conducive to charity remains a civil society that provides space for either individuals or organizations to freely participate in and impact social affairs.

Charity organizations, as crucial components of civil society, have the responsibility of inspiring innovation for the public good and by holding public and private institutions accountable for their actions.

Unless civil society finds its niche to maintain an appropriate and efficient interdependent relationship with the State, it is hard for charity groups to func-tion properly and foster greater sympathy among the public.

The author is a Washington-based freelance.