It was announced a couple of days ago during the Chinese Internet Charity Summit (中国互联网公益峰会) that Tencent (腾讯, one of the largest Internet companies in China) is donating 2 billion Yuan to support innovation in charity events, with a focus on integrating creativity and artistic expressions into charity. Examples provided included observing endangered animals with VR glasses, teaching students in rural areas in Beijing through online courses and apps that can track air quality.
A report on Tencent’s website explains that within the past 10 years, technology and the internet have added fresh blood to the charity sector. Chen Yidan, one of Tencent’s founders and the founder of the Tencent Foundation (腾讯公益慈善基金会), is quoted as saying that technology is going to greatly reshape our society, and people need to notice that technology itself doesn’t have values. Consequently, the whole of humanity faces the question of how to avoid technology’s negative impacts and take control of its development.
The 2 billion Yuan will go into the “Tencent Innovative Charity Plan” (腾讯创益计划), which will provide resources to create a platform for communication among charitable organizations, creative teams and the public, ultimately stimulating innovation in public welfare projects, spreading the ideas of philanthropy and bolstering the public’s participation in charity events.
