China’s Top Philanthropist

Chen Fashu

Chen Fashu (陳發樹)， Founder of New Huadu Group (新華都集團)，made China’s top 10 philanthropist list with an RMB 8.3 billion donation to establish a charity foundation dedicated towards educational causes. He established a business school in 2010， inviting Nobel Prize winner Edmund S. Phelps to take on the position of school president.

Huang Rulun

With donations of RMB 3 billion in the past eight years， Huang Rulun (黃如論)， Chairman of Century Golden Resources Group (世紀金源集團)， is one of China’s top 10 philanthropists. A native of Fujian Province， Huang likes to keep a low public profile. His company has holdings in real estate， hotels， and minerals.

Cao Dewang， Chairman of the Fuyao Group， China’s largest auto glass producer， was named the country’s top philanthropist at the Eighth Annual Charity Awards held in Beijing in April. Huang Rulun， Chen Fashu and Yang Zhuoshu were among those named as China’s top 10 philanthropists at the event， which was organized by the China Association of Social Workers and China Philanthropy Times.

Cao’s RMB 1 billion (USD 153 million) worth of charitable donations over the last year has included RMB 400 million for building a new library in Fuzhou and RMB 100 million for earthquake relief in Yushu， Qinghai Province. Last month Cao set up the Heren Charity Foundation in Beijing， financing it with a donation of RMB 3.549 billion worth of Fuyao Group stock. It is the first stock-financed charity foundation in China and it put Cao in the top position on the Hurun philanthropy list.

It took Cao four years to launch the Heren Charity Foundation. Foundation management regulations in China required that private donations to foundations be in collectable monetary capital at the time of donation. Cao had to file applications with related government departments in order to donate stock to establish the foundation. Cao claims that none of the money in the foundation belongs to him.

Cao was born in Fujian Province， and was forced to drop out of school at the age of 14 in order to help support his family. He says the experience fueled his interest in philanthropy. Cao says he made his first donation in 1983， the same year he purchased a nearly bankrupt glass manufacturer in Fuqing City， Fujian Province. He turned the small-scale factory into what is currently China’s largest and the world’s second-largest automotive glass manufacturer. Fuyao Group is the first private company to list on the Shanghai stock exchange. Cao says that since 1983 he has donated a total of RMB 5 billion to charity.