Nice post, DB, thanks.

I'd love to help out. I think I'm a long-term China guy and this is home to me.

Unfortunately so far my efforts have been limited to feeding some of the beggar kids once in a while. It's hard to find a way to make meaningful change here without access to a lot of people and resources.

- There's a strong feeling of "Anything other than my family and friends can go straight to hell!" in China. There's an old and strong tradition of sticking to one's own knitting here. There was a time when this made sense in China; in some regards maybe it still does.

- There's not a strong tradition of charitable giving here. Some of this stems from the factor above. Some of it stems from the fact that not all charities in China are trustworthy.

- There's not a strong tradition of volunteering or making a public stand here. Heads that stick up tend to get cut off.

- A lot of so-called "volunteer" programs are really scams whose only beneficiary is the Chinese businessman who set them up; these guys laugh their asses off at the idiots silly enough to work for them for free. We looked into a program in Shanghai purporting to help educate the children of migrant workers- indeed a very noble cause. The guy's classroom was a steel shipping container- no windows, no electricity, no bathroom, no heat or AC. AND the guy was charging tuition from the desperate, impoverished parents. We ran away screaming. There are a few good programs here, but you have to be very careful. It helps to work through an international NGO.

Other than individual acts of kindness, doing good things here is a daunting task. Believe it or not, I've laid awake many nights trying to think of a way to do something, especially for small children. I've talked to some of the rose kids and I genuinely grieve for them. So far I have thought of nothing feasible without funding and helping hands.

I'm definitely open to ideas.