Charity challenge

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are rallying up their billionaire friends in the US to donate half their wealth to charity. The warm response the two richest Americans should encourage egg their Chinese counterparts to tread the same path.

Compared to the philanthropic spirit among many Western plutocrats, it seems rich people in China care more about their personal life and satisfying their material needs. A study, conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in April, is ready proof of this.

China's luxury goods market reached $9.4 billion by 2009 despite the global downturn. Rich Chinese now consume 27.5 percent of the world's luxury goods, grabbing the second place from Americans. The figures testify that the US, home to the largest contingent of super-rich people, is spending less on luxury goods while the penchant of the richest Chinese for extravagance is growing.