Help lushan - First public bitcoin donation in China for lushan earthquake

[lixiaolai]

I hate to be so negative (seems like that's happened a lot with me lately).  But how can we confirm this money will reach it's way to the victims who need it ?   Not saying I doubt the OP but I would need some more evidence before I donated something like bitcoin to someone I don't know.  Lots of charity scams in China as I'm sure the OP would agree with, I feel like bitcoin would make it a heck of a lot easier to run such a charity scam.

I respect and appreciate anyone looking to donate money to help out any of the victims,  for me personally though I'm going to stick with one of the more well established charity groups in this situation.

I understand your doubt.

But please TRUST me, I'm not an anonymous guy, I have always been using my real name in this community, or any other online community, （lixiaolai, xiaolai, 李笑来, 笑来；lixiaolai.com，twitter ID: @xiaolai）。

I think I CANNOT get an amount of donation larger than my reputation.

[BTCisthefuture]

I hate to be so negative (seems like that's happened a lot with me lately).  But how can we confirm this money will reach it's way to the victims who need it ?   Not saying I doubt the OP but I would need some more evidence before I donated something like bitcoin to someone I don't know.  Lots of charity scams in China as I'm sure the OP would agree with, I feel like bitcoin would make it a heck of a lot easier to run such a charity scam.

I respect and appreciate anyone looking to donate money to help out any of the victims,  for me personally though I'm going to stick with one of the more well established charity groups in this situation.

I understand your doubt.

But please TRUST me, I'm not an anonymous guy, I have always been using my real name in this community, or any other online community, （lixiaolai, xiaolai, 李笑来, 笑来；lixiaolai.com，twitter ID: @xiaolai）。

I think I CANNOT get an amount of donation larger than my reputation.

I personally don't doubt you. But you never know, especially when dealing without people online instead of face to face.  Bitcoin itself also raises some problems when it comes to charity and donations.  Just another example of one of the growing pains of bitcoin I suppose.

If/when you're in Beijing I wouldn't mind meeting in person and giving you some RMB instead or if you know of any reliable charaties out here in China I can donate to please let me/us know.  Anyways, thanks for your efforts and I hope you understand my doubts about charities or the internet or bitcoin and donations isn't anything personal towards you or anyone else.  Unfortunately the internet is full of people posing to be someone or claiming to do something, and it ends up being a scam.

[lixiaolai]

I hate to be so negative (seems like that's happened a lot with me lately).  But how can we confirm this money will reach it's way to the victims who need it ?   Not saying I doubt the OP but I would need some more evidence before I donated something like bitcoin to someone I don't know.  Lots of charity scams in China as I'm sure the OP would agree with, I feel like bitcoin would make it a heck of a lot easier to run such a charity scam.

I respect and appreciate anyone looking to donate money to help out any of the victims,  for me personally though I'm going to stick with one of the more well established charity groups in this situation.

I understand your doubt.

But please TRUST me, I'm not an anonymous guy, I have always been using my real name in this community, or any other online community, （lixiaolai, xiaolai, 李笑来, 笑来；lixiaolai.com，twitter ID: @xiaolai）。

I think I CANNOT get an amount of donation larger than my reputation.

I personally don't doubt you. But you never know, especially when dealing without people online instead of face to face.  Bitcoin itself also raises some problems when it comes to charity and donations.  Just another example of one of the growing pains of bitcoin I suppose.

If/when you're in Beijing I wouldn't mind meeting in person and giving you some RMB instead or if you know of any reliable charaties out here in China I can donate to please let me/us know.  Anyways, thanks for your efforts and I hope you understand my doubts about charities or the internet or bitcoin and donations isn't anything personal towards you or anyone else.  Unfortunately the internet is full of people posing to be someone or claiming to do something, and it ends up being a scam.

I'd love to meet you in person! I'm going back to Beijing right now, on a train...

I'll send a private message to you, and give you my mobile number.

[Jimmy2011]

I hate to be so negative (seems like that's happened a lot with me lately).  But how can we confirm this money will reach it's way to the victims who need it ?   Not saying I doubt the OP but I would need some more evidence before I donated something like bitcoin to someone I don't know.  Lots of charity scams in China as I'm sure the OP would agree with, I feel like bitcoin would make it a heck of a lot easier to run such a charity scam.

I respect and appreciate anyone looking to donate money to help out any of the victims,  for me personally though I'm going to stick with one of the more well established charity groups in this situation.

I understand your doubt.

But please TRUST me, I'm not an anonymous guy, I have always been using my real name in this community, or any other online community, （lixiaolai, xiaolai, 李笑来, 笑来；lixiaolai.com，twitter ID: @xiaolai）。

I think I CANNOT get an amount of donation larger than my reputation.

I personally don't doubt you. But you never know, especially when dealing without people online instead of face to face.  Bitcoin itself also raises some problems when it comes to charity and donations.  Just another example of one of the growing pains of bitcoin I suppose.

If/when you're in Beijing I wouldn't mind meeting in person and giving you some RMB instead or if you know of any reliable charaties out here in China I can donate to please let me/us know.  Anyways, thanks for your efforts and I hope you understand my doubts about charities or the internet or bitcoin and donations isn't anything personal towards you or anyone else.  Unfortunately the internet is full of people posing to be someone or claiming to do something, and it ends up being a scam.

I personally trust Xiaolai though we never meet face to face. He is one of the earliest bitcoin users in China and he also put efforts to promote bitcoin in China and communicate with the beginners online at weibo.com. Apart from bitcoin, he was also a famous English teacher at the New Oriental School. Xiaolai get his reputation, and most of us in the bitcoin community at weibo.com donated during the last 30 hours.

Right now, there are 76 donations as observed from http://blockchain.info/address/15EhGBC8JBBVDKQ9yp1AqCb1xnzQLk6QHX. I think it is a good start for bitcoin donation in China, and it is absolutely not a scam. I am not familiar with bitcoin donation otherwhere, but I think it must be the first time that bitcoin is used for donation in China and get more and more people involved.

So now I should say charity. More and more people try to donate by bitcoin so as to get it public and transparent. The One Foundation(http://www.onefoundation.cn), 壹基金，launched by Jet Li is such a reputable, public and transparent charity foundation. Some bitcoiners who might not know this project  contacted the One Foundation last night and asked for accept of bitcoin donation. It comes true this evening that the staff of One Foundation announced that the One Foundation accept bitcoin donation (http://weibo.com/huoqingchuan), and the donation address is: 1DUMifqLdCRvx6tAzafwDC2tKRntRAAm3z . Now bitcoin and bitcoin donation get more exposure, and many micro blogger/weibo/twitter think bitcoin donation is a new way for transparent donation. Of course, there may be a lot need to be done for a good bitcoin donation for charity, but it is stepping outside.

This bitcoin donation is absolutely not a scam, and it is a donation to help lushan earthquake refugees.

I support Xiaolai.

[hydrogenesis]

Added a bit of my secret ingredient to the original design, enjoy...

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:77328

http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/84/df/8b/3f/9e/btc_composition_preview_featured.jpg

instructions for manufacturer

a) glue the middle part and the bottom part together
b) print a paper wallet and crop it with proper size, as well as necessary instructions. Put the paper wallet in the chamber inside the middle part
c) glue the middle+bottom part and the top part together

Everyone could understand this design cuz it's simple:

People can sell pre-loaded bitcoin wallet with exactly the balance on the top part as souvenir, or, in this case, a target for charity auction.

The most interesting fact in this design lies in the bottom part. It is a replaceable part with various functionality
examples

a 3d qr code with a bitcoin receiving address
http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/24/4a/6a/ef/11/qr_code_preview_featured.jpg

or

a qr code stamp with a bitcoin receiving address
http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/05/22/97/b0/6d/qr_code_stamp_preview_featured.jpg

or

anything occurs to you, maybe bluetooth? great..

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:77328

ps: anyone got a better idea for the junctions? Glue is not durable, especially in the chamber parts, which needs the operation primitive of open/close.

[lixiaolai]

thank you all. hope be up to 100 donators today.

[lixiaolai]

Be aware that someone might change the donation receiving address!

Use the address in the original post!

[lixiaolai]

The donation will be terminated after 100 donation received.

as of replying this post, 89 donation received.

[oakpacific]

I can guarantee OP's trustworthiness,  as you can see by checking his weibo/twitter account, he is a very famous public intellectual /activist/speaker in China.

[lixiaolai]

Thank you for trusting me.

[oakpacific]

I can talk a bit more about the implications of Xiaolai's experiment here, and why it's worth doing for its own sake: there are high financial barriers restricting money flow from/into China(no international credit card acceptance, paypal operates separated from its other branches, etc), this, combined with the facts that it's simply practically impossible to register a charity organization accepting foreign donations without heavy government interference(even government employees have difficulties getting permission for receiving foreign grants--they may suspect that you will work as an agent for foreign anti-CCP organizations, yes I know, incredible isn't it?) and government-sanctioned "charity" organizations are so hopelessly corrupt that the state-operated Red Cross is actually one of the most hated organizations in China, has prevented foreign donations from going to those they are intended to help.

With Bitcoin, this financial barrier can be effectively circumvented, any trustworthy individual can accept donations from anywhere in the world, something no other payment method can achieve currently. SO Xiaolai is eesentially going to set a precedent with his actions.

[milazi]

I knew Mr.Lixiaolai before, and my mother is Sichuanese, I think Mr.Li can be trusted.so i sent donate to the address from 1BKt84akCKhLq9j7vhtx7BeiGCsQWeNNHZ

god blessing Sichuan.

[lixiaolai]

I can talk a bit more about the implications of Xiaolai's experiment here, and why it's worth doing for its own sake: there are high financial barriers restricting money flow from/into China(no international credit card acceptance, paypal operates separated from its other branches, etc), this, combined with the facts that it's simply practically impossible to register a charity organization accepting foreign donations without heavy government interference(even government employees have difficulties getting permission for receiving foreign grants--they may suspect that you will work as an agent for foreign anti-CCP organizations, yes I know, incredible isn't it?) and government-sanctioned "charity" organizations are so hopelessly corrupt that the state-operated Red Cross is actually one of the most hated organizations in China, has prevented foreign donations from going to those they are intended to help.

With Bitcoin, this financial barrier can be effectively circumvented, any trustworthy individual can accept donations from anywhere in the world, something no other payment method can achieve currently. SO Xiaolai is eesentially going to set a precedent with his actions.

YES, this is a PRECEDENT.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Oh yea! If you really are Chinese, then why do you use L's instead of R's? 

Seriously, Xiaolai is the real deal deal: https://twitter.com/xiaolai

I spent a half hour(+) Google-Fu'ing and reading his blog(s), including over at archive.org. Everything seems to jive.

Please give whatever you can and/or feel comfortable with giving, and safely assume Xiaolai will do with the funds exactly what he states he will do. Perhaps, he'll be kind enough later to present us pics/proof of his efforts, but even if he doesn't, all's good.

@Xiaolai: I hope my endorsement helps with this endeavor, bud.

~Bruno K~

PS: If you want to see what a fat Chinese guy without a hair outta place looks like: http://web.archive.org/web/20100103130815/http://www.lixiaolai.com/

[virtualmaster]

Bitcoin is helping people everywhere without banking bureaucracy and without fees:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1cx12u/more_than_260_btc_donated_to_china_earthquake/ 

[lixiaolai]

100 donation received! thank you all!

Now we're entering the 2nd phase, use 3D technology to print BITCOINs, and organize a public auction.

[lixiaolai]

The 2nd phase was ended.

Due to several legal issues, I decided not to start an auction of 3D printed Bitcoins.

The amount of Bitcoin is exchanged to RMB by myself, with the highest rate during the donation period ($167), and adding up some changes, equivalent to ￥33,000。（31.54615348 *167 * 6.14 = 32346.7948）

See details in Chinese:
http://lixiaolai.com/first-public-charity-donation-in-china-for-lushan-3rd-phase