Scandal over rescue heroes’ reward

The construction company that allegedly took away public donation money meant to honor migrant workers who rescued hundreds of people in a flood announced Thursday that they had returned the money to the workers.

A group of migrant workers at a construction site close to the flooded Nanggangwa section of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway braved the rainstorm on July 21 in a heroic rescue effort.　

Three people died and hundreds were stranded along the highway section in cars, buses and trucks.

That night, 152 workers banded together to rescue over 180 trapped people by using a long rope they tied across a bridge, according to the CCTV website on July 27.

Li Chunping, vice president of the Beijing Charity Foundation and the Tencent Zhude charity fund, donated 304,000 yuan ($48,254) and 150,000 yuan respectively to the workers as a reward for their brave behavior.

Workers from Beijing Sanyi Construction Engineering Corporation received some reward money on July 28 and some when they were invited to dinner with Cui Yongyuan, a famous talk show host, on July 30. Cui footed the bill, as well as inviting famous singer Han Hong to entertain the men.

Sanyi is building a water treatment plant near the highway.

However, the same amounts were later deducted from some workers' salaries, or the money was never passed along, claimed some of the workers.

A migrant worker, surnamed Dong, who has since quit his job, said Thursday that he never received his reward from Tencent.

"I was given 2,000 yuan on July 28 from Li, but it was taken back by them [Sanyi] when I left the company. My salary should have been 3,150 yuan, but I only received 1,000 yuan," Dong said.

Dong said it was not a monetary issue, but that the reward was an honor for the workers.

"It's a shame for them to take those rewards, which stands for the kindness of the public. I left since I couldn't tolerate what they did to us," he said.

Another worker, surnamed Li, told the Beijing Times that as soon as they returned to the construction site after the dinner, they were forced to hand over the 1,000 yuan from the Tencent fund.

Shi Shuo, the head of one construction team with 70 workers at the plant, said Thursday that all the cash will be distributed.　

"Every worker will get 3,000 yuan in total, 2,000 yuan from Li and 1,000 from Tencent. I promise that they will receive the rewards today," he said.

Shi also admitted that some of the reward money had been confiscated.

"We were afraid that they would leave after getting the money. We merely tried to hold the money to make sure they stayed, and we promised to return the money later," Shi said.

Shi claimed that about 10 workers out of the 70 in his team had quit after receiving the reward, which caused the project to be postponed.

Beijing municipal government issued a response to the scandal on its Sina microblog Thursday.

All the donations from Li were passed on to the workers and were not taken back by the company. But it is true that Shi Shuo took back 12,000 yuan from 12 workers after they received rewards from the Tencent fund, the post said.

"Shi has apologized for what he did and the 12,000 yuan has been returned to the workers," it said.

Wang Zhenyao, dean of the Beijing Normal University One Foundation Philanthropy Research Institute, suggests that the charity organizations or individuals should rethink what the best way to give donations is, money or goods.

"A professional charity donation system should be applied to every donation case. In this case, there is a lack of strict supervision as to the whereabouts of the reward money," he said.

Cui Yongyuan also expressed his anger to the Global Times.

"I believe this: They'll keep the money for those migrant workers since they worry the money will be wet if the workers go to rescue people again on a rainy day. They will hand out the money in winter," Cui remarked.