A retired engineer in East China almost bankrupted her family by giving all its money to charity before "doomsday".

According to some interpretations of the ancient Mayan calendar, the world will end on Dec 21, 2012.

As the date approached, the engineer, surnamed Jiang, said she felt the overwhelming urge to do good — so she donated about 2 million yuan ($321,000) to charitable causes, Modern Express reported.

To get the cash, she secured 1.04 million yuan from a real estate agency by mortgaging her family's apartment — worth three times as much — in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province.

She also withdrew all the family savings and borrowed money from friends.

It was not until one of Jiang's debtors called her husband, a university professor, asking about a 70,000-yuan loan that Jiang's family, including her daughter, knew what was happening.

The real estate agency agreed to return the apartment to the family, with a 20,000 yuan penalty cost, after Jiang's husband explained the situation.