China's second richest man, Jack Ma Yun, was criticized by netizens for not donating money to the victims of the massive Tianjin warehouse explosions after some other celebrities publicized their donations over the weekend. [Special coverage]
E-commerce giant Ma's latest post on his official Weibo account attracted over 39,000 comments from netizens as of Sunday, with many asking him why he hadn't donated money to the victims of the blasts that have claimed a total of 112 lives as of Sunday morning.
Comments flooded onto Ma's Weibo page, including "As the one of the wealthiest men in China, you should donate 100 million yuan ($15.6 million)," "If you don't donate, I will stop shopping on taobao.com," "You have so much money. It's just a number for you, but it could save their lives for some people. See what you can do."
However, there are also netizens denouncing those who demanded Ma donate, saying that people have no right to demand others be charitable, and that just because he is a rich man does not mean that he has to donate money towards every tragedy.
Ma has not responded to netizens' comments as of press time.
Ma, founder of U.S.-listed Alibaba Group, has a fortune of $35 billion and has been one of the wealthiest people in Asia since 2012.
After the massive explosions rocked Tianjin on the night of August 12, celebrities like film star Jackie Chan donated millions of yuan to the victims.
Ma established a private charitable trust worth 2 percent of Alibaba's share options in 2014.
