Society

Ex-official takes college public welfare post

By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-06-23 19:05

File photo of Wang Zhenyao [Xinhua]

Wang Zhenyao, former director of the social welfare and charity promotion department under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, has accepted One Foundation's founder Jet Li's invitation to act as head of the public welfare academy at Beijing Normal University.

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Wang, 56, told the Nanfang Daily on June 21 after the inauguration of the academy, which was jointly founded by the foundation and the university, that part of the reason he took the new position was that he was shocked by the recent attacks on children, which was described by some of his friends as beyond the low point of human morality.

Wang said the attacks can't be rooted out simply by intensifying social security and that Chinese society urgently needs a transformation to prevent such incidents from recurring, requiring philanthropic efforts to find out and cultivate people's responsibility to society.

Wang said he will be a de facto participant of China's charity affairs instead of a manager in his new position. And his biggest wish was to bring China's public welfare establishments to a new level.