The average age of our 2003 China Rich List is 45 years, Bill Gates' age when he embarked on his large-scale philanthropy. Perhaps the time has come for China's entrepreneurs? From Andrew Carnegie to John Rockefeller; from Ted Turner to Bill Gates; from Li Ka-shing to Huang Rulun – each era and each country needs its own role models for philanthropy.
Huang Rulun, chairman of Beijing-based Century Golden Resources Investment Group, tops our inaugural China Philanthropy List, a ranking of China's 50 most generous philanthropists, donating US$25.5 million last year to education causes and Sars relief. Zhang Zhiting, chairman of Guizhou-based Shenqi Group, is second with US$15.2 million of donations to healthcare in West China and Africa, followed by Li Jinyuan, chairman of Tiens Group, with US$8 million of donations to Sars relief and education causes.
The total cash equivalent donations of our fifty philanthropists last year amounted to US$125 million, an average of US$2.5 million. Education and health causes led the way in a year that saw the outbreak of Sars.
On June 1 this year, the Chinese authorities passed legislation allowing for a restricted number of foundations to offer tax relief for charitable donations. Before June 1, there was no legislation encouraging charitable donations in China. In light of this, we believe it a good time to push the subject of charity, especially now that the government has formally recognized private property in the constitution.
So, who is China's Carnegie? The common view is that it is too early to tell, since many of the wealth builders are still in their first generation and are still busy building their fortunes. They have not yet had time to give it all away. We have identified ten philanthropists (see box), whose accumulated donations over the years have exceeded US$12 million. Perhaps China's Carnegie is one of them? The search continues next year.
Image of wealth
The image of wealth in China has come under much public scrutiny in recent years. Many question the origins of the wealth of the new business elite. Philanthropy is an opportunity for China's entrepreneurs to improve their public image.
Methodology
Finding the most generous philanthropists in China is a challenge. Starting with the presumption that the richest people would donate the most, we surveyed five hundred of the richest people in China, including the people from our annual China Rich List, cross-checking the results against news reports, press releases and charity foundation filings. We attended charity-related conferences and interviewed academics, journalists, industry experts and the philanthropists themselves. What emerged from all the siftings was a cadre of philanthropists, few of whom were known to the broader Chinese public.
The listing was based on charitable donations made or pledged in 2003. Since our list is based on individuals rather than companies, we only allowed company donations where an individual owned more than 50% of the business. We valued gifts at their cash equivalent basis.
We compiled the China Philanthropy List in association with the Committee of Corporate Citizenship, an NGO under the direction of the Ministry of Civil Administration. We would like to thank the many charitable institutions that helped us with our research, including the Shanghai Charity Foundation, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Red Cross Society of China, regional youth development foundations, Project Hope, China Children and Teenagers' Foundation, China Women Development Foundation, Song Qingling Foundation, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, China Society for Promotion of the Guangcai Program, China Legal Aid Foundation, China Environmental Protection Foundation, Green China Foundation as well as many local charity foundations. Some foundations preferred not to disclose their names, and we have respected this.
For the Ten China Philanthropy Stars, we listed those who we felt confidant have donated over the years more than US$12 million. China's Carnegie may well be amongst these.
