Traditional Philanthropic Culture and Micro-charity in China

Abstract

This study explores people’s experience of participation in micro-charity on WeChat. In-depth interviews were used as the method to collect data from 12 college students. Analysis indicates that in micro-charity participants’ empathy was conditioned by relational closeness, their responsibility was undertaken under peer pressure and their reputation was protected by anonymity. These results suggest that people’s participation in micro-charity is primarily guanxi-oriented and replicates and reinforces associated traditional values such as renqing, face and so forth.