Should We Give Alms to Beggars?

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The question has kept running in my mind for a long time because I’m beginning to hesitate whether I should give alms to beggars in the future. I am a tenderhearted lady and always willing to offer my help to those who are really in trouble or less fortunate than I am. However, things are getting complicated and indistinguishable nowadays. Their dirty shabbily clothed figures still can be seen everywhere in cities, in our capital Beijing as well, despite of the facts that the living standard of Chinese people has enhanced tremendously in the past two decades. I have paid my attention on those modern beggars’ characteristic behavior whenever I encountered with them on overpasses, in underground passages, at railway station entrances, and especially around those places of foreigners’ mecca, such as San Litun Bar Street, embassy area, diplomatic compounds area etc. They are “professional” in some extent; they are no longer content to beg for food or changes. To my disgust, they even goad little kids to pester foreigners. It is said that most of the kids are not their own but borrowed or even kidnapped as properties when begging … The ugly dirty facts behind begging have been gradually revealed by reporters recently. Technically they are not beggars at all; they do not have to worry about making a living; some are professional begging all the year round; some are begging only in their leisure time – after harvest but before lunar New Year; some have raised enough money to build houses! But one thing is clear that they simply refuse to go to Charitable Houses established by governments at all levels. The revealed facts made me uncomfortable and I doubt whether our kindness and well-meaning are merely being used. Now I only contribute to the Red Cross Society or in response to the government’s call when necessary. What would you do when you meet a beggar in the street, my friends?