Chen Guangbiao, a lonely hero
Chen Guangbiao, the renowned philanthropist and president of the Jiangsu Huangpu Renewable Resources Company, has created a high-profile approach to charity.
Dubbed the "most generous guy" by the media, Chen has reportedly donated over 810 million yuan in the last decade. Though praised for his generosity, Chen is also constantly criticized for the publicity he receives because of it.
According to reports from Beijing Today, Chen constructed a "money wall" at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's (ICBC) Jiangsu Branch to collect donations in February last year. The wall was comprised of 330 "bricks" made of 100-yuan bills, totaling 100,000 yuan.
Inspired by American billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, Chen also declared that all of his money would go to charity after he dies.
In January this year, Chen held a donation ceremony at a Taiwan auditorium and doled out $250,000 in his signature red envelopes. He also donated money to social welfare groups and a school lunch program for low-income students, reported the Taiwan Times.
Chen made headlines again by holding a solo concert Sunday in Guizhou Province, where he donated 3,000 pigs and sheep along with 113 tractors to local families with financial difficulties. Chen said he would check on the donations in a month to make sure the pigs, sheep and tractors had reached the farmers.
Though entangled in accusations of fraud in May, Chen said he is not afraid of being criticized for putting on a show. "I want to make the 'show' bigger, so that more people will get involved and emulate me," he said.
Chen's practices have created a new model for philanthropy, commented Wang Zhenyao, director of Beijing Normal University's One Foundation Philanthropy Research Institute, adding that Chen has set an example by personally taking part in charitable activities. He has risked his life to carry out relief work in disaster-hit areas, and someone from his team did actually die while doing such work, Wang said.
Cao Dewang, the toughest donator
"Cao Dewang's approach to charity is exploratory and innovative," said Wang, speaking of another celebrity Chinese philanthropist, who attracted widespread attention last year by creating a series of strict conditions to ensure that his money made it to the right places.
Cao, the president of Fuyao Group, a Fuzhou-based company engaged in the production and marketing of glass, donated 200 million yuan, the largest single private donation in history, to the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA).
His conditions for that donation were as follows: The CFPA had to distribute the money to nearly 100,000 farmers in five provinces within six months, the error probability should not exceed 1% and the administrative fee for the CFPA would be limited to 3% of the total donation amount, reported Beijing Today.
The two sides finally reached an agreement and the CFPA carried out the donations according to Cao's demands, although in the past the highest administration fee for such donations has reached 10% of the donated amount.
"Cao's practice is focused on improving institutional discipline," commented Wang. "For me, it is the strictest and most transparent system of donation."
Wang added that various donations should be encouraged, and philanthropy should always be creative instead of fettered by tradition.
