"The road of doing good deeds is filled with frustration," said Guo Peng, the founder of a technology company that supports charity projects. Yet he sees each frustration as a door that can open to a solution and a more effective way of providing charity. His story offers a glimpse of how charitable giving is China is evolving from mass donations of money into more effective interaction.

Guo's first frustration occurred in the wake of the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, when going to banks over and over again to make donations from himself and his friends was too time-consuming.

"Since I have many years of working experience in information technology, I decided to use my Internet know-how to make it possible for people to donate online," he said.