Hurun Research, the company best known for its Hurun China Rich List that ranks China’s wealthiest people, has released its annual Hurun Philanthropy List for 2018. The List contains the top 100 individuals to have made public donations to foundations, NGOs, and educational institutions in Mainland China. This year 76 year-old He Xiangjian, founder of the Midea Group, was named the most generous philanthropist in China, with 7.5 billion RMB worth of donations. The second and third places were taken by two real estate moguls, 60 year-old Xu Jiaxin, with 3.42 billion RMB worth of donations, and 68 year-old Lu Zhi Qiang with 1 billion.
The report calculates cash and cash-related donations, as well as promises made with legal force, between April 1 2018 and March 31, 2018. Similarly to 2017, the donations of the individuals listed account on average for 0.5% of their personal assets. 13 women made the list, somewhat lower than the female proportion (25.8%) in the Hurun Rich List. The total donations of the 100 philanthropists increased by 33% compared to last year, reaching 21.8 billion RMB. To be able to make it onto the list one had to donate at least 16 million yuan, 6.7% higher than the figure for 2017. “The increase in the amount of donations is quite obvious. On average they are 10 times as large as the donations that were made 15 years ago, when we compiled the first Philanthropy List”, said Rupert Hoogewerf, the Luxembourg-born chief researcher and CEO of Hurun Report.
