GIVING BLOOD: Volunteers donate blood at a Red Cross blood station in Bozhou City, Anhui Province, on May 6 (CFP)

RCSC Secretary General Wang Rupeng said in a posting the society took the move to enhance transparency of their work, deliver timely information, and conduct real-time communication with netizens. "Many organizations have opened their official microblogs.We have come late, but will move forward gradually," said Wang.

Within 24 hours, the society's postings were forwarded by more than 25,600 microbloggers, and more than 61,800 followers posted comments.

Most of the comments were negative and contained harsh criticism of the society. "Pay back the money I have donated," was the most frequent feedback.

"We are not aiming at Guo Meimei, but those businesses behind her that make exorbitant profits out of charity, as well as those charitable organizations and activities that lack transparency and regulation," said Liu Chun, a microblogger. "It is high time they clarify the facts and make public their accounts; it is about time we clean up this mess and establish a transparent and fair charity mechanism."

In response, Wang Wei, Executive Vice President of the RCSC, said he fully understood people's anger and promised greater transparency.

"The 'Guo Meimei incident' has discredited the RCSC, but at the same time it has made us confront real problems in our project operation and fundraising mechanisms," Secretary General Wang said in a posting on the RCSC's microblog.

"We sincerely welcome the oversight of our work by the public and media organizations. If loopholes appear, we will spare no effort to probe and find the truth. But we hope people shun extremism and treat the 'Guo Meimei incident' in a more rational way," Wang said.

Wang also said the RCSC would launch a new online database to enable the public to access detailed donation information later in July. He said information on donations to areas devastated by the 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Yushu, northwestern Qinghai Province, in 2010, would be the first to be included in the database.

By the end of 2011, Wang said, a supervision team would be set up with the initiative combining both self-discipline and public oversight. "It will be a breakthrough in efforts to strengthen transparency," he said.

On July 6, Red Cross organizations across China convened with the goal of finding ways to restore public confidence and boost transparency.

Hua Jianmin, President of the RCSC, said, "Honesty and uprightness should be the lifeblood of our humanitarian organizations and we should establish credibility through rigorous regulations and strict discipline."

A July 21 statement by the RCSC said the information about donations, expenditures, the charity material purchases, and the allocation of the donations should all be open and transparent to the public and donors would be able to check relevant information just one day after their donation. The society also undertook to publish its spending of public-funded overseas trips, vehicles and receptions, as well as its auditing reports over the recent two years.

"I think part of the reasons why the charities in China are not transparent is we don't have a sound competition system of charities. It is not easy for a monopoly industry to be very self-disciplined," said Li Hui, a public policy researcher with Shanghai-based Fudan University.

"The mistrust of the RCSC struck at the root of the problem with charities in China, as non-profit groups are not allowed to operate independently of the government," Li said. "If competition exists, different foundations will make themselves transparent to gain popularity and trust, but in China, you might end up with an aid structure even more entangled in bureaucracy, where there is no desire to become transparent."

Li blamed the regulation that independent nonprofit organizations are not allowed to register with the government without finding a government department or agency as its supervisory body for having made the registration process too complicated.

Statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs show almost 90 percent of the social organizations in China were technically illegal.

Things are changing. On July 4, Li Liguo, Minister of Civil Affairs said at a meeting independent nonprofit organizations that work in the fields of charity, social welfare and social services can now register directly with civil affairs departments.

"The new policy shows the administration of social organizations had changed from strict approval to strict supervision, but it didn't mean the government would interfere in the internal affairs of the NGOs but to regulate their acts," said Deng Guosheng, Director of the Center for Innovation and Social Responsibility of Tsinghua University.