REGIONAL> Highlights
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REGIONAL> Highlights
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Friends in need
By BAO DAO (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-26 10:46 Yu Pengnian, 86, board chairman of Yu Pengnian Management (Shenzhen) Co Ltd, is one of the top philanthropists in the country. Since making his first donation of an ambulance in 1982, he has donated more than 3 billion yuan so far but his name remains largely unknown to most Chinese people. Most of the charity work by private businesses and entrepreneurs did not come under the spotlight until Hurun Research Institute started compiling and releasing the Hurun Philanthropy List, a ranking of China's most generous individuals in 2004. Rupert Hoogewerf, head of the Hurun Research Institute, which has also been compiling the list of the richest in China for year, says he was surprised by the generosity shown by China's private businesses to aid the relief efforts in the quake-hit areas. At least 73 of the 100 individuals on the 2007 Hurun Rich List had donated a total of $120 million after the first week of the Earthquake. All the Top 10 made donations, amounting to US$35 million, according to Hurun Research Institute. The institute estimates donations from the individuals on the Hurun Rich List are the equivalent of 10 percent of the total donations received by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. That does not include the donations received under the Red Cross and other non-Ministry of Civil Affairs-controlled charities. "The earthquake is a watershed for corporate social responsibility in China," says Hoogewerf, adding the donations by private businesses and entrepreneurs could continue to rise. Hurun's statistics do not include those donated not through official channels and those not announced publicly. However, not all the private entrepreneurs are so generous, at least in the perceptions of the Chinese public. With the widening gap between the rich and the poor in China, there has been a smattering of complaints about affluent entrepreneurs who are little involved in philanthropy or tight-fisted. China's biggest listed developer Vanke, has become one of the top targets after the earthquake in Sichuan. Wang Shi, chairman of Vanke, which donated 2 million yuan, says on his much-read blog that donations should a burden to businesses and philanthropy should not always be about donating money. And Wang says that Vanke has imposed a 10 yuan limit on each employees' disaster relief donation and the corporate donation of 2 million yuan is the ceiling set by the board. That sparked tough criticism and seem to have tainted the image of Vanke which has been listed as one of the top corporate citizenships in China by several organizations. A wave of outrage has forced Wang to apologize to the public when interviewed by Hong Kong's Phoenix TV. Vanke also announced it would allocate a fund of 100 million yuan to aid the post-earthquake rebuilding without any commercial motive. Wang's dramatic shift underlines a unique context for philanthropy in China. With the influence of Confucianism, Chinese people have long been describing the affluent as "rich but cruel". That mindset has significantly changed since the country embraced its reform and opening-up policy and boosted the private economy. However, with the growing disparity between the rich and poor and increasing monopolies in areas such as the real estate sector, some businesses, including leading multinationals, are at the center of controversy. While the opinions on the Web about Wang and Vanke are becoming more moderate and rational after Wang's apology, observers say private businesses need to work out a well-heeled approach to philanthropy and learn from multinationals which have richer experience. For instance, some multinationals such as Cisco Systems have adopted a matching funds practice in which the company contributes an equal amount of what employees have donated.
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