????去年，沃倫?巴菲特和比爾?蓋茨造訪北京，他們本以為此行絕對不會引發(fā)爭議。兩人和一群富有而成功的中國商界人士共進私人晚宴，探討了一個看似安全無害的話題：慈善。中國博客界聞風(fēng)而動，議論紛紛。彼得?巴菲特承認(rèn)，“并非所有的評價都是正面的。”。

????這樣說還算是客氣的。富人向慈善事業(yè)捐款這一話題在美國或許不會產(chǎn)生爭議，但在中國卻不是這么回事。事實上，巴菲特說，每次他到中國表演，與學(xué)生和青年才俊對話時，“富二代這個話題總是會冒出來。他們對這個問題樂此不疲。”

????慈善在中國引發(fā)公眾不滿原因有二。其一是在中國，有相當(dāng)一部分富人認(rèn)為，散財有違于中國式價值觀——中國式價值觀將家庭置于首位。因此，有些中國人(誤)聽說巴菲特和蓋茨來中國是為了勸說中國富人們把錢捐給慈善事業(yè)，因此感到不舒服。很多中國的年輕人聽說巴菲特要把大部分個人財富捐給蓋茨基金會(Gates Foundation)時都感到非常震驚。

????中國富裕階層一向不熱衷于慈善捐款，今年尤其如此，這背后的第二個原因就不那么明顯了：中國的慈善基金會總是難逃腐敗之嫌，有時甚至更糟。中國的慈善錢款管理費往往高達捐款總額的10%，而西方僅為3%左右。今年早些時候，微博認(rèn)證身份為“中國紅十字會（the Red Cross in China）商業(yè)總經(jīng)理”的一位年輕女子發(fā)布的照片在網(wǎng)上炸開了鍋。為什么？因為照片顯示，她開著豪車，挎著愛馬仕的手包。

????紅十字會堅稱照片中的女子事實上并非中國紅十字會工作人員。(紅十字會含糊其辭，聲稱這名女子是其為“商業(yè)合作伙伴”的女友。)這套說辭并未奏效。2011年中國紅十字會收到的捐款額銳減，而且據(jù)一些中國媒體報道，整個慈善行業(yè)收到的捐款也顯著放緩。

????這一事件直指中國慈善行業(yè)的信用缺失問題。中國幾位著名商界人士和慈善家目前公開表態(tài)，堅持要求接受了他們捐款的國內(nèi)慈善基金會必須提高透明度，降低成本，其中以擁有中國最大的玻璃制造企業(yè)之一的曹德旺為首。“這跟西方還是中國的價值觀無關(guān)，”曹德旺說，“在中國發(fā)展慈善是一個信用問題。”

????Last year Warren Buffett and Bill Gates visited Beijing for what they thought would be the least controversial of reasons. They had arranged to have a private dinner with a group of rich, successful Chinese businessmen, and to talk with them about a subject that seems innocuous: philanthropy. The Chinese blogosphere caught wind of the dinner and erupted in chatter. "And not all of it," acknowledges Peter Buffett, "was positive."

????That's putting it mildly. The subject of rich folks giving away their money to charity might be uncontroversial in the U.S., but in China it's not. In fact, Peter says, when he comes to China to perform and speak to groups of students and young professionals, "the subject of second-generation wealth always comes up. They always want to talk about it."

????There are two reasons philanthropy gets people riled up in China. First, a fair number of rich folks there believe giving it away is antithetical to Chinese values -- which stress family above all. It's why some Chinese were upset when they heard (mistakenly) that Buffett and Gates were coming to tell rich Chinese how to give away their wealth. Many young Chinese were stunned when Buffett said he was giving most of his wealth to the Gates Foundation.

????But the second reason wealthy Chinese haven't been racing to donate more of their money, particularly this year, is less obvious: Charitable foundations in China are dogged by the whiff -- and sometimes more than that -- of corruption. Management fees for charities in China are often up to 10% of donations collected, compared with around 3% in the West. Earlier this year, the mere photograph on the web of a young woman identified as a manager of the Red Cross in China sent the blogosphere into a frenzy. The reason? The photo showed her driving a fancy car and carrying a Hermès purse.

????The agency insisted that the woman in question did not, in fact, work for the Red Cross in China. (She was the girlfriend of what the agency murkily called a "business partner.") The denials didn't matter. Donations to RCIC in the first half of 2011 plummeted and, according to some Chinese press reports, slowed considerably to the charitable sector as a whole.

????That pointed to the lack of trust that exists in the charitable sector in China. Several prominent Chinese businessmen and philanthropists -- led by Cao Dewang, owner of one of the largest glassmaking companies in China -- have now publicly insisted that the domestic charities they donate to have to become more transparent and costeffective. "This doesn't have anything to do with values, Western or Chinese," Cao has said. "To increase charity now in China is a matter of trust."