China publicizes information on over 2,000 charities

BEIJING - China has publicized information on 2,134 charitable organizations at cishan.chinanpo.gov.cn, a platform launched by the Ministry of Civil Affairs ahead of the second annual Charity Day, which falls on Sept 5.

Altogether 517 of the organizations are qualified to raise money publicly, according to the platform, which also lists 38 charity trusts with contracts totalling almost 860 million yuan (about 131 million U.S. dollars).

"All of the main charities in China are required to fill in their information on the platform," said Zhan Chengfu, director of the ministry's social organization administration division. "Those who are found to be hiding or fabricating information will be monitored and supervised."

The platform was established to publicize information on charitable organizations and trust agents, as required by China's Charity Law, which went into effect on Sept. 1, 2016.

China has seen cases of fraud in the name of charity fundraising, which has made the public skeptical of charity operations.