The total amount of philanthropic donations in China last year reached a historic 3.79 million yuan, while Tencent’s Pony Ma was the top donor, according to the 2016 top 100 Chinese philanthropists list jointly released by Beijing Normal University and the China Global Philanthropy Institute.
Pony Ma, founder and CEO of China’s media giant, gave away about 2.5 billion USD worth of shares, breaking the donation record set by Alibaba’s Jack Ma in 2014. Wang Jianlin, chairman of the Dalian Wanda Group and China’s richest man according to Forbes, donated about 58 million USD, ranking eighth in the list.
Of the top 100 philanthropists, 32 are from the real estate sector, while the internet sector contributes most in terms of the amount of donations. The top three donors are all in the internet sector and born in the 1970s. China’s most popular online celebrity Jiang Yilei (Papi Jiang) is also included in the list.
Compared with the fresh record for the biggest donation, the qualitative “leap” in large-scale donations is more uplifting, says Chengfen, who led the release as director of the Research Department of the China Philanthropy Research Institute.
According to Cheng, the new philanthropists represented by Pony Ma, Chen Tianqiao and Chen Yidan are more internationally minded and have more future-oriented visions. That is why several philanthropists have started to support cutting-edge technology including brain science, artificial intelligence, aeronautics and astronautics.
Below are China’s top 10 philanthropists and the figures for their donations.
- Ma Huateng (Pony Ma), 169.85 billion yuan (24.640 billion USD), Tencent Inc.
- Chen Tianqiao & Luoqianqian, Shanda Group, 6.93 billion yuan (1.005 billion USD)
- Chen Yidan, Tencent (co-founder), 2.243 billion yuan (325.39 million USD)
- Lu Zhiqiang, China Oceanwide Holdings Group, 1.90 billion yuan (275.63 million USD)
- Xiong Xinxiang, Born Group, 1.03 billion yuan (149.42 million USD)
- Hu Baosen, Central China Real Estate Limited, 0.85 billion yuan (123.30 million USD)
- Yang Guoqiang Family, Country Garden, 0.65 billion yuan (0.94 million USD)
- Wang Jianlin, 0.45 billion yuan, Dalian Wanda Group (0.65 million USD)
- Lu Jianming, TC Group, 0.40 billion yuan (0.58 million USD)
- Zhang Zongzhen, Goldcommon Construction Group, 0.30 billion yuan (0.43 million USD)
