China Philanthropy

Links That Make You Go Hmmm…for the week ending July 30

An Interview with Billionaire Yu Peng Nian: One of China’s wealthiest men announced last year that he was giving away his entire fortune to those in need. Here the idiosyncratic grandfather and development mogul speaks with The Globe and Mail about his decision and how he chooses what causes to support.

A New Way to Measure Poverty: The From Poverty to Power blog discusses the recent release of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) that uses 10 indicators including health, education, and standard of living to measure poverty levels rather than simply relying on the $1 a day rule.

Women’s Issues in China: An overview from 1949 to the present

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the plight of women across the world is often still substandard to men, China included. While China’s metropolises boast high power and high wealth individuals that include many women, the female population in the countryside faces a high rate of depression and suicide. Such drastic contrasts deserve to be examined, and today we’re taking a brief tour of the treatment of women in recent Chinese history, the issues currently affecting women, and areas of development and advancement.

Links That Make You Go Hmmm…for the week ending July 23

Compassion for Migrant Children profiled in Global Times: CMC is a nonprofit we have worked with often at SVG, so we thought it only proper to post a link to a recent article in the Global Times featuring the organization.

Yao Ming’s Charity Tour: Although a foot injury is preventing him from playing, basketball star Yao Ming is currently touring China to raise money for his personal foundation, the Yao Ming Foundation. Seven NBA players will join Yao and play with China’s national team, as well as, a team owned by the star. The foundation was formed following the Sichuan earthquake and has committed to rebuilding six schools in the affected area.   

Links That Make You Go Hmmm…for the week ending July 16

Rich and Poor in one Neighborhood: China Media Project reports on a new initiative in Wuhan to close the gap between rich and poor, not just financially but spatially.

A Call for Bigger Philanthropy: Wang Zhenyao, who heads China’s first philanthropic research institute, is asking Chinese billionaires to commit to yearly donations of 1 million RMB. In light of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s recent challenge to the world’s wealthy, Wang wants to see China’s wealthy open their wallets.

Promoting Transparent Charities: A new online database called China Foundation Center (in Chinese) was launched recently to promote transparency among foundations. A 2009 report showed that only 28% of foundations reported their financial statements, an issue which has created much distrust in the public eye. The Center’s founders are both private and public foundations including Jet Li One Foundation.

Guangzhou English Training Center: Empowering Handicapped Students

 
Today we bring you a guest post from Grace’s good friend Aric Allen, who lives in Guangzhou and works with a local grassroots nonprofit there called the Guangzhou English Training Center for the Handicapped (GETCH). After learning more about the organization, we asked him to write a guest column today for our blog readers.  

I’m continually being surprised by life. I guess this is a good thing because it reinforces the fact that I don’t know everything (despite how I may act sometimes.)

Coming to China, I was sure that I knew everything about the Chinese people. To say the least, I’ve been surprised over and over again to get to know a fascinatingly complex people who at times seem both compassionate and contradictory, intelligent and yet confusing, ambitious and giving.

One of the greatest surprises, though, has been my discovery of GETCH. The Guangzhou English Training Center for the Handicapped wouldn’t impress you at first sight. They meet in a dilapidated (yet continually renovated) old elementary school located down a mix of back alleyways strewn with clothes hanging out to dry. The school is located off of a nondescript road in downtown Guangzhou. They have a small staff, an even smaller budget, and compared to local colleges, relatively few students.

Ocean Heaven: Jet Li Film Explores Autism in China

中文

“When you see the turtle, you see dad. I will always be with you and never forsake you.” Wang Xincheng says these final words to his autistic son before dying. This line is from a scene in the movie Ocean Heaven (海洋天堂), China’s first movie addressing the issue of autism. Jet Li, global megastar and philanthropist, plays the father of a teenager with autism in his first non-action movie in the past thirty years.

Recently, Ms. Chen Jie, the director of Qing Cong Quan Autistic School, invited me to watch the film premier. The story centers on Wang (played by Li), a marine park worker diagnosed with terminal cancer who is desperately looking for a place to take care of his autistic son Da Fu before he dies. The movie touches upon the situation of autism in China and the heavy burden that families often face.