The Malaysian Insider

BEIJING, Oct 25 — Within two hours of last year's Sichuan earthquake, Chen Guangbiao had gathered a rescue team of more than 120 people and 60 excavators and hoists.

They charged towards the quake zone in south-western China from their eastern Jiangsu province base.

They reached the devastated areas at about the same time as the People's Liberation Army and were clearing debris and pulling out survivors and corpses within 48 hours.

It was a story which tugged at the heartstrings of the Chinese, earning Chen, 41, a nomination as one of the people who touched the country in a ranking by state broadcaster China Central Television last year.

But what charmed the Chinese was not just the fact that Chen was a gallant rescue hero. It was also that he was a multi-millionaire.

In a country where the rich suffer a bad reputation for being corrupt and selfish, and for abusing their power, Chen, who made his US$440 million (RM1,470 million) fortune through a recycling empire, stood out for being a rare philanthropist.

While the number of private foundations is still tiny — there are only 650 of them in China at the end of last year compared to 115,000 in the United States — it is slowly growing.

Charity is becoming a fashionable word among the rich and famous. The Hurun list, which is the most authoritative and comprehensive ranking of wealthy people in China, announced earlier this month that the country's top 50 philanthropists donated a total of nearly 3.9 billion yuan (RM1,912 million), with an average donation of about 78 million yuan.

This amount is four times what it was when the first philanthropy list was published six years ago by Hurun.

Last week , Fujian-born tycoon Chen Fashu, who is the 15th richest man in China, made headlines here when he announced that he would donate 45 per cent of his personal assets, or an eye-popping 8.3 billion yuan, to set up a new charity.

To be called Newhuadu Philanthropic Foundation, it will be the largest civil charity in China.

“It is a sign of a developing society when you see more and more rich people doing charity work,” said analyst Cao Siyuan. “It is a larger trend, following the tides of history. It will not be stopped.”

The change in attitude towards philanthropy and social responsibility became clear about two years ago, as an increasingly liberal and wealthy society encouraged mainland tycoons to shed traditional inhibitions of revealing private wealth.

“There is an old saying in China — people are wary of being famous and pigs are fearful of being fat,”' said Cao. “People were afraid to show their wealth in the past. That is slowly changing.”

Today, there is even a stigma for tycoons who do not give back to society, with netizens tagging them as “iron roosters”, or birds so stingy they are unwilling to give away a feather.

But perhaps more importantly, there is private wealth to be shared today, something which did not exist two decades back.

“Most of these businessmen were struggling to build up their companies and it is only in recent years that they have achieved success and enjoyed stability,” said Professor Liu Neng of the Beijing University.

“It is only now that they have the money and the time to think about charitable work.”

Charity also shot into the national consciousness after last year's Sichuan earthquake. Many ordinary Chinese donated money and openly questioned if the rich and powerful were doing their part.

Yet, despite the social pressure on the rich to give back to society, there remains a deep mistrust in China of those richer citizens who do.

Some segments of the population argue that the philanthropic spike is only because the rich want to avoid persecution by the government and to curry favour with officials to further expand their business empires.

Chen Fashu, for example, has come under scrutiny — from the state media no less. The media suggested that his massive charity fund was to win public favour to avoid tax fraud charges.

“There will always be cynics, but that does not take away the shine of the philanthropists,” said Cao.

“It will not stop this trend of the rich embracing charities.” — Straits Times