Funds Raised to Help China Flood Victims : Relief: Disaster galvanizes the Southland’s immigrant community. Distrust of the Chinese government prompts many donors to send aid through private channels.

A major fund-raising effort is under way in the San Gabriel Valley’s Chinese-American community to help victims of floods this summer that have killed an estimated 1,700 people in mainland China.

As reports of disease, famine and death dominate local Chinese-language newspapers and broadcasts, community organizations are mounting campaigns to send food, clothing and money to China.

But there is a sensitive political backdrop to this altruistic scene. Although the Chinese government is taking the unusual step of soliciting direct relief contributions, some groups are pointedly channeling their donations elsewhere.

Wary of the government following its crackdown on the country’s pro-democracy movement, many donors are choosing to contribute to relief efforts through neutral agencies such as the International Red Cross.

“Chinese people over here don’t trust the Chinese government at this time,” said Joe Chow, president of NAC Broadcast Inc., an El Monte-based Chinese radio station that has raised more than $60,000 in flood relief money, which will be sent to the International Red Cross. “We’re afraid the money would go somewhere else, not to the flood area.”

Likewise, California Secretary of State March Fong Eu--who has mounted her own donation drive--is giving $20,000 from a local Buddhist temple to the Buddhist Assn. of China, a quasi-governmental agency that is helping with flood relief. The money was donated by members of the Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights and presented to Eu on Monday.

“We certainly don’t want to drop a $20,000 check and put it in the regular mail to China,” said Allan Chou, Eu’s chief assistant.

Another group, the American Overseas Chinese Assn., organized a benefit concert at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. The organization, composed of immigrants from mainland China, plans to send all proceeds from the show to an American Red Cross office in Los Angeles, said Jian Wang, a spokesman for the group.

Typical of those choosing to donate to non-government sources is Monterey Park resident Kevin Chu, 40, who gave $200 earmarked for the Red Cross.

“They do not have democracy in China,” said Chu, a native of Shanghai. “Maybe they would take a profit for themselves.”

Local organizers said the fund-raising drive is the largest of its kind since 1989, when residents sent money and supplies to support the Chinese democracy movement in the wake of the massacre in Beijing’s Tian An Men Square.

Local flood relief drives have gained momentum mainly because of the scale of the disaster--it has devastated much of eastern China and ranks among China’s worst floods in decades.

This is the first time in memory that the Chinese government has appealed directly to the Chinese-American community for disaster help.

In the past, a self-reliant China was unwilling to share even the most cursory information about its flood damage with the outside world. Since this summer’s flooding of the Yangtze River began, however, Chinese government officials have been eager to provide detailed accounts of the disaster.

China’s consul general in Los Angeles, Wang Xuexian, has sent letters appealing for aid to numerous Chinese community organizations. His office also has prepared a videotape--in Chinese and English--showing villages and cities hardest hit by the flood. The tape will be sent to local television stations.

The consulate has received $70,000 in donations. Some donors have stipulated that their checks be sent to a Red Cross chapter in Beijing, while others are asking the consulate to send their money to their home provinces or even to their villages. Government officials say they will honor their requests.

Others are giving directly to a Chinese government agency under the country’s Ministry of Civil Affairs.

“They can choose any channel they like,” said Guo Chongli, consul for press and political affairs. “It’s up to the people themselves to make their own judgments as to whether the Chinese government is honorable. The Chinese government will welcome all the efforts people make to the flood relief.”

Meanwhile, other groups are sending supplies instead of money. North American Television Corp., a Chinese-language station in South El Monte, raised $120,000 in a telethon last Sunday.

The money, which was deposited in a special account controlled by a five-member committee, probably will be used to purchase rice, medicine, clothes and other needed items to be shipped to flooded areas in China, said Eddie Wang, the station’s general manager.

Also, donation bins have been set up at several sites, including NAC Broadcast Inc. in El Monte.

A Chinese airline company, at Secretary of State Eu’s request, has agreed to fly donations of food and clothing to China at no expense, Chou said.