Twenty-year-old “Guo Meimei Baby” has thrown the Red Cross Society of China into a credibility crisis.
An organization bearing the name “China Red Cross Commerce Association” (CRCCA) was forced to halt all activities on July 1, when a financial audit was initiated after the young woman, claiming to be its general manager, flaunted her luxurious lifestyle on her microblog.
Meimei’s Sina microblog went viral after she posted pictures of herself leaning on a white Maserati, saying she also owned a Lamborghini, a luxury villa, and a dozen Hermes handbags.
The ensuing Internet storm is threatening to suck China’s Red Cross into a black hole.
Meimei’s blog exploded all over the Internet. Many Chinese bloggers confirmed her identity as general manager of CRCCA had been verified by Sina, the Internet provider hosting the microblog. People suspected that her fortune is related to a misuse of donation money by the Red Cross Society.
Complicated Connections
The Red Cross Society of China responded twice on its website claiming that there is no CRCCA and no general manger by the name Guo Meimei, and on June 26 Meimei apologized on her microblog, saying she fabricated her title. But netizens were not convinced. Why did she steal the Red Cross’s name instead of some other organization’s, some wanted to know.
On June 29, the secretary general of the Red Cross Society, Wang Rupeng, admitted to Beijing News that CRCCA did exist and was established with the consent of the Red Cross Society of China.
Wang said the CRCCA’s mission is to organize public relations and fundraising events in the commercial sector, as well as establish corporate level Red Cross associations. Additionally, the CRCCA maintains its own accounting of donations, and the link between Red Cross Society of China and CRCCA is strictly one of operational supervision; there is no connection in terms of administration, human resources or accounting, Wang said.
