However weighty a difficulty, it becomes negligible when shouldered by 1.3 billion people; however insignificant an act of kindness, it becomes an ocean of love when practised by 1.3 billion people.  Confronted with the Sichuan earthquake disaster, CCB-ites have built up a mighty force with their devotion and love to deal with the devastation.  One can easily spot one of them in shelters for disaster survivors, in front of hospital beds, at donation counters, in blood donor queues, in loading docks of special trains for relief materials, or in fund-raising shows.  Their benevolent acts are a reflection of the corporate culture and the sense of duty in CCB which, as a major state-owned commercial bank in China, is conscientiously implementing a scientific viewpoint of development; is concerned with the livelihood of the people and is intently undertaking its corporate social responsibility.

Home Sweet Home

“Are you the psychiatric counsellor from CCB Chongqing?”  In the afternoon of May 20th inside the Jiuzhou Stadium in Mianyang, a young man stopped volunteer Jiang Xian from CCB Chongqing branch.  Because of his eye problems, Mr. Jiang had undergone three eye surgeries within half a year recently and was advised by his doctor to take a mandatory rest to recuperate.  But, as a certified mental health educator from Southwest University, he decided to venture into Mianyang, one of the most heavily stricken cities in the disaster zone, to provide psychological comfort and guidance to young quake survivors even though he had only a 0.3 eye-sight.

It was learnt that, in the wake of the disaster, the CPC party committee of CCB Chongqing branch had called a mobilisation order for the formation of “Disaster Volunteer Reserve Teams”.  The order was met with enthusiastic responses from the whole branch.  By the end of May, 1,437 staff members had either joined the “Emergency Rescue Blood Donation Team”, the “Emergency Rescue Transportation Team”, the “Quake Orphan Support Team” or the “Integrative Volunteer Team”.  Mr. Jiang was one of them.

In the five days he spent in the relief centre, Mr. Jiang provided psychiatric treatments to more than 100 survivors by relieving their tension and dissipating their sorrow and hopelessness.  He also introduced a sand table game called “Home Sweet Home” to young survivors.  This was a type of psychiatric treatment measure in which victims were asked to set things around in their “homes” in order to reveal their true feelings and then treatments were provided through games.  During the games, Mr. Jiang would observe the facial expressions of the kids and encourage them to describe the homes they recreated.  When they were pointing out one after another that “Here is a PLA truck”, “This is a desert” and “That is a landscaped garden”…, Jiang would prompt them by asking “What are missing in the home?” or “What cherished things have been lost?”….  From the kids’ answers, he would painstakingly discern the fears and losses at the back of their minds.  Afterwards, he would patiently let them understand that, with the help of the State, they should rebuild a better home for themselves with their own hands.  When they all joined hands and sang out “To deal with the calamity, we will not cry; we will work hard to rebuild our homes…", the survivors inside Jiuzhou Stadium in Mianyang were all moved to tears.

“Electronic Dictionary Auntie”

The volunteer team formed by the Shapingba sub-branch of CCB Chongqing was the first volunteer team from the Shaqu banking sector.  Within one mere day after the drafting order for the formation of volunteer teams was issued, 103 staffers from Shapingba sub-branch had already volunteered to provide nursing and psychiatric counselling to injured victims and had made contact with Southwest Hospital which is in the same precinct.  At first, the hospital did not pay much heed to the requests of the CCB volunteers.  But in one evening of pelting downpour, when heaps of well printed “Volunteer Registration Forms” together with the vows of determination from 103 volunteers were put into the hands of the head of Southwest Hospital Nursing Centre, he was moved by the sincerity of the CCB employees and decided that they would get priority scheduling in participating in nursing quake patients.

Most of these quake patients had suddenly sustained injuries during the earthquake and, after their surgeries, they were unable to take care of themselves.  So one could easily imagine the difficulties of looking after them.  On the one hand, the volunteers had to provide all the assistance they were capable of offering.  On the other hand, they had to find ways of healing their psychological wounds.  After their daytime jobs, CCB volunteers like Tian Senzhi, Peng Kun, Wang Xue, Tang Li, Luo Fei had to take care of the quake patients in the evenings—often times for 10 hours or more.  Zheng Haiyang, a boy from North Sichuan Middle School who had his legs squashed broken during the earthquake, had to undergo high amputation.  The first thing he could think of after he woke up from the surgery was how he could catch up with his schoolwork.  On learning this, Wang Xiaoli, one of the CCB volunteers, made a special trip to town and spent more than RMB500 in buying him a popular electronic dictionary and some English readers.  In addition, she downloaded all senior middle school grade one course works into the electronic dictionary and, as a way of giving this infirm boy consolation and encouragement, brought him Chinese versions of Ostrovsky’s How Steel was Tempered and Keller’s Three Days to See.  On May 23rd, the boy asked a professor from Southwest Hospital to phone the “Electronic Dictionary Auntie” to convey his gratitude and let her know that, even though he was still suffering pain, he had started English studies with the material she had brought him.

Boundless Love Manifests in Silence; CCB-ites Participating in Earnest

On May 17th, a major fund-raising function called the “Disaster Shows No Mercy But Humanity is Abound” was held with the Youth League Committee of Zhuhai District as lead organiser.  Fourteen CCB youth volunteers were sent by the Youth League general branch and trade union of CCB Zhuhai sub-branch to participate in this function.  Applying their practised professional skills, six young ladies from among them worked continuously for five hours and successfully achieved the task of sorting and counting more than RMB400,000 in cash donations.

In the morning of May 18th, the “Boundless Love Manifests in Silence; CCB-ites Participating in Earnest” charity function hosted by CCB Guangdong branch was held in Tee Mall, Guangzhou.  One after another, CCB employees offered to carry out volunteer duties for the function.  Almost a thousand CCB-ites and their relatives and kids went to the function to donate material and cash.  Some of them returning to the donation box several times, making accumulated donations of over a thousand yuan while more than 50 persons had made donations of more than RMB500.  Other citizens were affected by the benevolence demonstrated by the CCB-ites.  One enthusiastic taxi driver refused the fare for transporting equipment to the function venue, saying that "You CCB-ites have demonstrated impressive compassion and I should do no less!”

On May 22nd, CCB Liwan sub-branch was invited to participate in the “Direct Conveyance of Benevolence” fund-raising campaign jointly organised by the office of the People's Government of Sichuan Province at Guangzhou and Guangzhou TV Station.  On that day, braving a deluge, the 20-member volunteer team formed by the sub-branch helped workers divert and distribute donation materials orderly to available spaces at a loading dock.  Knowing that they were contributing what they could to help the people in the disaster zone, the hearts of all participants were set afire.  They immersed themselves in the hard work until 11 o’clock in the evening.  Even though everyone was wearing a tired face, they remained ardent and enthusiastic because the RMB2.1 million cash and the relief materials they managed to collect on that day would all be used on the needy people in Sichuan.

Where Benevolent Acts Converge

The earth’s tremble was not presaged; it destroyed homes and demarcated life and death.  At such a moment of life and death, CCB-ites from all over the country cast a towering pillar of love with their helping hands and zealous hearts to prop up a shelter for the quake victims:

In Liaoning, a special disaster relief train took off on time on May 21st on its way to the quake zone in Sichuan.  In the first carriage of this special train, among all the disaster relief materials, there were RMB200,000 worth of items personally donated by Chen Bin, a staff member of the Shenzhong sub-branch of CCB Liaoning in Shenyang.

With experience in disaster relief, Mr. Chen knew that, after a major earthquake, the task of epidemic prevention would be daunting and there would be colossal demands for medicines, medical equipment and disposable hygiene consumables.  Therefore, by various means, he had raised funds for procuring RMB200,000 worth of medical materials for disaster relief and used his own money to hire people and vehicles to bring these materials to the special train for Sichuan.

In Henan, as soon as the party committee of CCB Henan branch raised an appeal for blood donation, immediate responses from all employees were received.  So far, more than 3,300 employees have registered to be donors and the number is still increasing.  The first batch of 5,000 cc of blood from 18 volunteers with blood types in tight supply has already been sent to the disaster zone, bringing along the benevolence and mobilisation might of CCB-ites.

In Wenzhou, the message “Dear CCB Colleagues, please let us demonstrate our benevolence and donate more money to our compatriots in Sichuan" was circulating voluntarily in the intranet of CCB Wenzhou branch.  This was a mere simple appeal, but it was brimming with undiluted benevolence.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to our team, not because you have won the “Advanced Branch” title in the “Auspicious Start” marketing campaign among all sub-branches, but because all of you have voluntarily donated one month of your basic salary to the disaster zone.  This demonstrates that our combat power is not only exhibited in our work, but also in our patriotic spirits and actions."  Thus when the person-in-charge of the Xincheng Luzhou sub-branch in Wenzhou placed RMB10,000 in a donation box, a hearty round of applause was aroused at the fund-raising site in the sub-branch.

In recent days, in response to the appeal of Organisation Department of the CPC Central Committee, all party members under CCB were zealously paying “special party membership dues” as a concrete action of supporting disaster relief work.  As at 1700h on May 29th, party members throughout CCB have donated a total amount of RMB24.19 million in “special party membership dues”.  One cadre in his 70s who had retired from CCB Ningbo branch walked for more than an hour back to the branch specifically to pay his special party membership dues.  To remember the date when the calamity stroke, he paid an amount of RMB1,512.  Many party members who were on business trips and many retired veteran cadres had also made the special party membership due payment through their colleagues and relatives.  Even in his death bed, an old party member from CCB Guangdong branch bid his spouse to pay a special party membership dues of RMB1,000.  Such concern for the disaster zone has moved people to tears….

Boundless love is manifested without words; altruism is practised in silence.  As disaster relief work is carried out in depth, CCB employees are proving through their actions that CCB is not only a major state-owned bank pursuing optimal economic efficiency, but is also a bank which concerns itself with the livelihood of the people, with relieving people from dangers and plights, and which does not hesitate from undertaking social responsibilities.  As at 1700h on June 2nd, party members throughout CCB have already donated RMB39.56 million in special party membership dues.  This, together with the RMB20 million in donation from the CCB itself and the RMB69.76 million in voluntary donations from its employees, added to a total donation of RMB129.3 million from CCB.