Rich donate less to charities - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

For the second consecutive year donations by China's philanthropists have dropped, Hurun Rich List publisher Rupert Hoogewerf told the Shanghai Daily. the top 100 contributed US$890 million in the past 12 months, a drop of 44% compared to 2012, and 53% compared to 2011, a year with many natural disasters. 

The Shanghai Daily:

Huang Rulun, chairman of Century Golden Resources, is the most generous philanthropist on China's mainland by donating US$92 million in the past year, reclaiming the title he won in 2004 when the Hurun Philanthropy List first began. 

The 62-year-old is followed by property developer Yang Xiu, with US$63 million, and Xu Jiayin, chairman of Evergrande Real Estate, with US$62 million. 

Hurun said philanthropy came in second after payment of taxes in a survey of Chinese luxury consumers that asked about the most important ways to give back to society. 

Donations in the education sector were most prominent, especially university's marking anniversaries, according to Hurun. For example, Nanjing University's 111th anniversary was marked by the US$63 million donation from Yang. 

Religious donations also factored, with three listed individuals donating toward the construction of Buddhist temples. 

Huang and Cao Dewang, chairman of Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co and last year's No 1, are the only two people to have made the philanthropy list every year in the past decade. 

Of the 100 philanthropists, 58 are on the Hurun Rich List 2012. Twenty-five of them rank high politically, with 13 delegates to the most recent National People's Congress and 12 to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Hurun said.

More in the Shanghai Daily.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

The China Weekly Hangout discussed last month the state of the Hong Kong media in 2013, with HKU lecturer Paul Fox, Beijing-based journalist Lara Farrar and moderation by Fons Tuinstra, of the China Speakers Bureau. A full overview of our hangouts is here.

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