Charitable giving in China growing, but still less than other nations

Global Business

China is among the world’s fastest growing producers of millionaires. According to the latest data, there are 242 of them and counting. Despite that fact, China has lagged behind its peers in philanthropy in recent years, but a recent study has found that charitable giving seems to be growing.

Donations to Chinese charities rose to $16 billion (100 billion RMB) in 2013, an increase of 20 percent compared to 2012, according to a report released by the China Charity and Donation Information Center.

That increase comes after two straight years of declines. Reports have said that China’s wealthy have given less during that period due to a string of scandals where donated money was misused. Corporations made 70 percent of the donations. Most of them are private and foreign firms.

China’s enterpreneurs were also more generous last year. Donations from the country’s top 100 philanthropists more than doubled to 44.8 billion. E-commerce giant Alibaba’s chairman Jack Ma tops the list with nearly $3 billion.

But most of those donations, around 80 percent, were given to charities overseas. The report said taxes and transparency issues are reasons donors choose foreign organizations.

For more on the issue, CCTV America interviewed Wang Huiyao, president of Center for China Globalization (CCG) and Li Jinsheng, vice president of CCG.

Charitable giving in China growing, but still less than other nations

China is among the world's fastest growing producers of millionaires. According to the latest data, there are 242 of them and counting. Despite that fact, China has lagged behind its peers in philanthropy in recent years, but a recent study has found that charitable giving seems to be growing. For more on the issue, CCTV America interviewed Wang Huiyao, president of Center for China Globalization (CCG) and Li Jinsheng, vice president of CCG.

Report compiled with information from CCTV America and Global Times reports.