How China could become more charitable

“THE Communist Party is like the sun,” goes a Maoist song, once known to every schoolchild in China (the tune was played from China’s first satellite, launched in 1970. “Wherever it shines, there is brightness.” And as with the sun, life was supposed to depend on it. Only capitalist countries needed charities to help their governments look after the disadvantaged. In China, the party provided everything.That, at any rate, was the theory. In practice, under Mao, millions starved to death while officials looked the other way. Instead of being helped, those who complained about their lot were often flung into labour camps. And there was no one except for the party to whom they could turn. Religious groups, which in pre-communist days had played a leading role in helping China’s destitute, were banned.