(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-19 16:14

BEIJING -- Whenever there is a big event, China's virtual community of some 210 million Internet users, the  world's second largest at the end of 2007, is full of stories and  debate.

In the past seven days, following the May 12 massive earthquake that rocked southwestern China's Sichuan province, Chinese netizens have extolled the central government's quick response, showered honors on heroic rescue troops, extended support for quake victims and helped quake relief.

As an increasing number of enterprises based or investing in the mainland provided unprecedented support, Chinese netizens began to discuss and examine the role of thousands of companies in disaster relief.

Unprecedented Donations from Enterprises

The 8.0-magnitude quake, the most serious in decades, was  centered on Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province, affected many parts of the country.

The death toll had risen to 32,476 nationwide as of 2 p.m. on  Sunday, while the number of injured reached 220,109, according to the emergency response office under the State Council.

After the devastating quake, many enterprises have been  actively playing their part, in most cases donating cash or goods for quake relief.

China's web portal sina.com reported on Monday that enterprises on the mainland have made a combined donation of more than 4.1 billion yuan (about US$587 million) in cash and goods as of Monday afternoon.

The figure was nearly triple that of four days ago when  enterprises based in or investing in the mainland had donated an  estimated 1.5 billion yuan by Wednesday afternoon.

Over 140 companies provided at least 10 million yuan each in either cash or goods. Fourteen enterprises each donated 50 million yuan or more.

The five biggest corporate donors were the State Grid Corporation of China, which contributed 200 million yuan in cash  and goods. Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Corp., Shanghai-based  Rizhao Steel, Guangdong-based drinking producer JDB and Tianjin Rockcheck Steel Group Co., Ltd., each donated 100 million yuan.

Such a generous donation for disaster relief, in both total value and donation by a single company, is unprecedented in Chinese corporate history.

These companies, particularly those granted a large sum for quake victims, had won loud applause among Chinese netizens.

Formosa, which has huge investments in the mainland, has moved  many Chinese netizens by announcing a staggering 100-million-yuan donation on May 14, just two days after the earthquake.

With it, the company and its 91-year-old founder, Wang Yung-ching, were inundated by respect and honors from netizens in  the mainland.

"Bravo to Wang. People in the mainland will remember your  righteous act and support forever," an anonymous netizen based in central China's Hubei province said in a comment following a news  story on sina.com about Formosa's donation.

The JDB Group, a young and private drinking-producing company which is better known in China for its popular herbal tea Wang Laoji, also won loud applause among Chinese netizens.

"I had thought you (JDB Group) might donate 2 million yuan at  most. But you give 100 million in the end. That is a big surprise to me. You are excellent, and I have made a good choice to drink  Wang Laoji every day," another netizen from central China's Hunan  province said.

About 12 hours after JDB Group announced its donating figure on Sunday night, pages of positive comments were posted onto the Internet and netizens found the company's official website jammed  and unable to log in.