Definitely not in it for the money

The number of people involved in volunteer work in China is rising, but many organizations lack the resources and funding needed to provide new recruits with adequate training, as Yang Yang and Peng Yining report.

At the end of March, the news that a volunteer for an non-governmental environmental protection organization had blackmailed a man caught fishing illegally focused attention on the organization and management of China's voluntary bodies.

In September 2013, volunteers from the Yueyang Finless Porpoise Protection Association spotted He Huanglin using an electrical discharge to stun fish in Dongting Lake in Yueyang, Hunan province. When He pleaded with the volunteers not to report him to the authorities, they agreed and said they would contact him later. The following day, an association volunteer named Li Jinsong asked He for 10,000 yuan ($1,600), which he said would "bring you benefits," according to a statement written by He, the Xinhua News Agency reported.