Top earners are big givers, too

The rich in China often take flak for being tight-fisted when it comes to charity - but a new report finds that some are more generous than Bill Gates or Warren Buffet when it comes to opening their purses for a good cause.

Shenzhen hotel entrepreneur Yu Pengnian, 85, is one. He tops the list of 100 top philanthropists last year with 2 billion yuan ($258 million) - almost all his wealth - since 2003. Most of the money went toward providing free cataract surgery for about 100,000 people.

Another is Niu Gensheng, chairman of Mengniu Group, who has promised to donate all his shares at the diary group to a charitable fund he set up in 2005.