Snapshot

Only 100 charities are recognised nationally. They raise about 5 billion yuan in money and materials, about 0.05 per cent of GDP.

China has 50 million disabled people, 450,000 orphaned or homeless children and more than 100 million elderly without family or pensions. There are insufficient state-operated homes for the mentally ill.

There are now more than 10,000 citizens with more than 80 million yuan (US$9.98 million) in assets. More than 300 million live on less than US$1 a day.

Hurun Report released the 2006 China Philanthropy List, a ranking of the one hundred most generous individuals in Mainland China, April 11, 2006.

Top is 84-year old Yu Pengnian with a staggering US$250 million donation to eye care, followed by 38-year old Yang Lan with US$68 million to education and 55-year old Huang Rulun with US$56 million to education and poverty alleviation.

The Top Hundred have donated US$694 million to charity since 2003, mostly without tax credits. 54 individuals from the 2005 Hurun Report China Rich List are amongst the hundred most generous.

Hurun Report also released the 2006 China Corporate Givers List. Private foundations of overseas Chinese held the top five places, four from Hong Kong, led by US$80 million of donations from the Li Ka-Shing Foundation, and one from Indonesia. The most generous domestic corporate was CNPC, an oil company. The most generous bank was HSBC. Total donations to charity of the Top Fifty amount to US$550 million.

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