New analysis from Harvard Kennedy School researchers details major sources of philanthropy in China

Cambridge, MA – Today the China Philanthropy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Rajawali Institute Foundation for Asia released its latest analysis of philanthropic trends in China. In China’s Most Generous: Examining Trends in Contemporary Chinese Philanthropy, Edward Cunningham and Yunxin Li collected data on more than 17,000 donations made in China in 2020 as part of a long-running examination of Chinese philanthropic donors and recipients.

The report finds that in 2020, corporations, rather than individuals, continued to dominate elite giving, in sharp contrast to longstanding trends in American philanthropy. The authors also found that as in previous years, the vast majority of top Chinese donations largely supported central government policy priorities in the traditional areas of education, poverty alleviation, and, unsurprisingly in 2020, disaster relief.

An important trend highlighted in the report was that the authors found that more donors gave more broadly across provincial borders to respond to COVID-19 rather than simply giving at home. “As the philanthropic sector in China continues to grow and mature, we’re seeing that donors are increasingly looking beyond their hometowns and are starting to build legacies of giving across China,” said report co-author Cunningham, who serves as the China Programs Director at the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia. “As new data becomes available, it will be interesting to see in our future reporting whether this broad giving trend persists throughout the COVID period or reverts back to more local giving,” Li added.

The largest five donors in China in 2020 were all corporate, with four private companies and one state-owned company topping the list:

1. China Vanke Co. Ltd. a leading private real estate developer established in 1984 and headquartered in Shenzhen, gifted corporate shares valued at 4.52 billion RMB (USD $654.72 million) in support of the Vanke School of Public Health. Vanke’s largely education-focused philanthropy also included a donation of 304.3 million RMB (USD $44.1 million) to the Vanke Public Welfare Foundation for various charitable projects.
2. Evergrande Group, a diversified private real estate conglomerate based in Guangdong, has consistently topped our list of major donors from 2017 to 2020. Despite being one of the most indebted companies in Asia, Evergrande continued giving to some of the poorest regions of China, focusing on poverty alleviation and targeting government-administered charitable foundations.
3.  Tencent Holdings Ltd., one of China’s largest privately owned technology companies, made charitable contributions totaling 2.1 billion RMB (USD $300 million), with 1.6 billion RMB (USD $228.1 million) allocated specifically for the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic.
4.  China Three Gorges Corporation (Three Gorges Group), a state-owned energy conglomerate headquartered in Beijing, donated 785.8 million RMB (USD $113.88 million) to largely government-affiliated recipients for a range of poverty alleviation initiatives.
5.  Hailiang Group, a private highly diversified conglomerate with headquarters in Hangzhou, donated 100 million company shares, valued at 1.04 billion RMB (USD $50.72 million), to the Zhejiang Hailiang Charity Foundation.

China’s most generous donors, according to the China Philanthropy Project’s Generosity Index, which ranks individuals according to the percentage of their publicly disclosed net worth that they contribute to charitable causes, include:

1. Wang Zelin, who served as a research scientist, professor, and director of the Poultry Disease Research Institute at Henan Agricultural University. In 2020, he donated his life savings of RMB 82.08 million (USD $11.9 million) to Henan Agricultural University to construct an advanced agricultural biosafety laboratory.
2. Xu Jiankang, also known as Hoi Kin Hong, is an executive director and chairman of the Powerlong Group, a real estate conglomerate headquartered in Fujian, on the southeastern coast of China. He donated 500 million RMB (USD $72.46 million) to Fudan University in Shanghai and 10 million RMB (USD $1.45 million) to the Jinjiang Anhai Jingzhu Public Welfare Charity Foundation in Fujian Province for poverty alleviation.
3. Yang Yuanqing is the current chairman and CEO of Lenovo, one of the world’s leading technology companies that produces PCs and mobile internet devices. Mr. Yang donated 10 million RMB (USD $1.45 million) to the University of Science and Technology of China to support the university’s research on COVID-19, 10 million RMB (USD $1.45 million) to the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and the Beijing Lenovo Charity Foundation for the “Yi Xuetang” charity project, which provides terminals (including tablets and internet cards) to several impoverished areas in Hubei Province. Finally, he donated 11.5 million RMB (USD $1.67 million) to the Beijing Lenovo Charity Foundation for unrestricted causes.
4. Qin Yinglin is the president of Muyuan Industrial Group Co. Ltd., a fertilizer manufacturer, and the chairman of Muyuan Foods Co. Ltd., a food company specializing in pork production, both founded in Zhejiang. Mr. Qin donated Muyuan company shares with a market value of 800 million RMB (USD $115.94 million) to the Westlake Education Foundation in Zhejiang to support basic research and technological innovation as well as talent development, teaching, and research activities at Westlake University. Additionally, he made a total donation of 8.3 million RMB (USD $1.2 million) to the Henan Charity Federation in five tranches to support the COVID-19 pandemic response.
5. Dang Yanbao is chairman of Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group Co. Ltd., a company that produces and sells modern coal chemical products, and the Ningxia Yanbao Charitable Foundation, both founded in Ningxia. He donated 301.53 million RMB (USD $43.7 million) to the foundation to support education, alleviate poverty, and promote social harmony and progress. You can visit China’s Most Generous: Examining Trends in Contemporary Chinese Philanthropy, for a further breakdown of philanthropic trends in China for 2020.

About the China Philanthropy Project 

The China Philanthropy Project maintains China’s first systematic and rigorous database of philanthropists, giving levels, recipient organizations, and a host of other research variables related to philanthropists and recipients. The Project regularly releases annual reports that are used by a range of government, academic, media, and non-profit organizations to better understand and develop China’s burgeoning philanthropic sector.

About the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia  

The Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation advances research and teaching about policy challenges both within the region and Asia’s place in the global community. The Institute works to deepen understanding of the region, explore possibilities for innovation, and advance important initiatives that will affect millions of lives in Asia.

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