Society

Banquet ends, charity debate lingers

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-09-30 17:51

BEIJING - The Chinese billionaires who attended a charity banquet hosted by US billionaire philanthropists Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in Beijing on Wednesday night said they enjoyed it and did not feel pressured to attend.

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"The banquet was held after a 90-minute meeting. It was like a forum with Gates and Buffett acting as the chair of the meeting. The guests were enthusiastic about speaking," Zhang Chaoyang, president and CEO of the Internet portal Sohu.com, wrote on his microblog after the banquet.

The closed-door banquet was held at the Chateau Laffitte Hotel in the northern outskirts of Beijing with a select group of business leaders and philanthropists.

"About 25 to 30 of the guests talked about philanthropy. We talked about our own experiences in the US," Buffett said in a media briefing in Beijing on Thursday.

"We're grateful so many people made the time to attend, and for their candor and insights," Gates said. "People are doing some very good thinking about how their good fortune can have a positive impact on China and the world."

Real estate tycoon Wang Shi wrote on his microblog that topics discussed at the meeting included attitudes to wealth, charity efficiency and the power of charity work.

"Eighty-year-old Buffett smiled and listened. His humble demeanor was touching," Zhang Xin, wife of real estate tycoon Pan Shiyi, wrote on her microblog.

Chen Guangbiao, the first Chinese businessman to make the pledge to give away all of his personal wealth when he dies, said the meeting was "harmonious."

"We should have more such exchanges," he said, suggesting a regular dialogue mechanism be established between Chinese and American philanthropists.

Gates said at Thursday's press conference that most Chinese billionaires are the first generation of their families to accumulate wealth, adding that they are not familiar with charity work, which is still at an early stage in China.

"Now, rich people in China are thinking about their children and society, how to arrange and organize their fortunes, and how to spend it. That is a timely question," he said.

Buffett was also aware that wealthy Chinese are worried their motives for donating to charity may be misunderstood.

He also said they have privacy concerns?- will their names appear in newspapers? How will the public react?

Rupert Hoogewerf, who studies China's wealthy and compiles the Shanghai-based Hurun Rich List, attended Gates and Buffett's press conference on Thursday.

He told Xinhua charity organizations in China need to be more transparent and that charities in China need more government support, like tax incentives.

The Hurun Report Inc. on Wednesday issued the Hurun Rich List 2010 - China's equivalent to the Forbes list. At the top of the list was Zong Qinghou, the founder of the Hangzhou Wahaha Group. With a personal fortune of $12 billion, Zong is the richest man on the Chinese mainland.

"The spring of China's charity cause has arrived. It is not yet summer," said Hoogewerf.

He explained that although some wealthy Chinese have made considerable individual charitable donations, none have established mature charity projects.

"Only after charity funds are well distributed will the summer of Chinese charity arrive," he said.

Hoogewerf said rich families can shoulder more social responsibility through charity work, which can also help reduce anger over the widening gap between rich and poor.

As the high-profile billionaires' party was held Wednesday, a "Commoner's Charity Banquet" was staged at an express-inn in Chaoyang District of Beijing with more than 80 guests.

"Charity work is not the exclusive domain of a certain group of people. I organized the commoners' charity meeting to make people aware of the power of the people," said Wang Yifei, organizer of the less-high profile meeting.

Oliver Walsh, one of Wang's guests, is a student from South Africa studying at the Beijing Sports University.

"It is not just rich people who can do charity work. Everybody can, given time and energy," he said.

Peter Buffett, the son of Warren Buffett, shared his views on philanthropy in an exclusive interview with Xinhua prior to the banquet.

"It (charity) isn't always just about money. It's also about speaking out on the issue to get others involved," said the famous music producer who manages his own charitable foundation.

He said his father hopes the "Chinese people will come to their own conclusions about the role of philanthropy in their culture."