It is a fairly regular occurrence that I see 乞丐 (beggars) and 要饭的 (beggars – see below) on the streets of Beijing- particularly in areas with high tourist traffic.  This got me to wondering- how do people help others in China?  Of course, in many cases it is 信用 (credit) which restricts individuals from getting a loan to help themselves.  Sometimes, the help from 慈善会 (charities) may not be the type which suits them best.  However, either because the 贫民 (poor (people)) in question may be 文盲 (illiterate) or because he/she cannot find a 担保人 (guarantor), it is difficult to  ultimately secure funding for a plan.  Recently, I have come to know of some sites where this can be handled 在线 (online) with 线下 (offline) real world results.  Note that I am not a specific endorser in any way of these sites, just that I am mentioning them.  To my knowledge, www.kiva.org does not yet have operations in China, but the below do:

www.wokai.org
www.51give.com 51 = 我要 (see below)

乞丐 qi3gai4 – beggar
要饭 yao4fan4 – to beg (lit. “want food”) but adding 的 changes it to a noun form
信用 xin4yong4 – credit
慈善会 ci2shan4hui4
贫民 pin2min2 – poor people
文盲 wen2mang2 – illiterate
担保人 dan1bao3 – guarantor
在线 zai4xian4 – online
线下 xian4xia4 – offline
我要 – 51 (reads as “wu3yao1” which sounds like wo3yao4) – used in Chinese domain names such as 51job.com, 51give.com