Chinese Billionaire Hands Out Cash to Poor
From The Wealth Report:
Chen Guangbiao, a Chinese recycling magnate, has made headlines in China for handing out money on the street.
- Song Lidong/Xinhua/Zuma Press
- Chen Guangbiao speaks as his charity trip starts in Hsinchu, Taiwan.
Mr. Chen today held a “donation ceremony” at a Taiwan auditorium and doled out $227,1888 in his signature red envelopes. He also donated money to social-welfare groups and a school-lunch program for low-income students.
In China and some other East Asian countries, red envelopes filled with a little cash are common gifts around the holidays and other special occasions and the Year of the Rabbit kicks off next week. But Mr. Chen’s red envelopes have became famous and infamous in China and around Asia. In Taiwan today, along with the stadium event, he gave a poor woman on the street $2,400 as he was leaving his hotel. She “burst into tears as she clutched the envelopes, saying she had never had such a large sum of money at one time,” according to news reports.
“I take pleasure in carrying out acts of charity and I hope my actions can inspire more people to follow suit, ” the 43-year-old tycoon said.
Many Chinese say Mr. Chen’s high-profile hand-outs are ostentatious. Government officials in Taiwan wavered on whether to even approve his visit, saying that the cash created a “challenge” for the poor recipients.
Rich people in America also sneer at such give-aways. The fad among today’s venture philanthropists is to target their dollars to solve a larger social problem, not give away cash to the poor. Accountability, measurability and efficiency are the buzzwords among today’s American givers.
The wealthy say giving cash out on the street just fosters a culture of dependency. The cynical might point out that fact that the wealthy givers don’t get tax breaks, awards or plaques for handouts surely plays a part as well.
Yet maybe Mr. Chen’s philanthropy is better–at least for China at this stage in its development.
Remember that John D. Rockefeller handed out dimes on the streets to children before he hired Frederick Gates and became obsessed with outcomes, eventually becoming the country’s first true venture philanthropist.
In China, there is little incentive to institutionalize charity. There are no tax deductions, no well-established charity circuit or nonprofit sector. So if you want to “give back,” giving money to the poor seems to me a good place to start.
Of course, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates would disagree.
Do you think handing out money in the street is a good form of charity?
–Robert Frank
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