Taipei Times - archives-Wealthy Chinese learning to give

Taipei Times - archives: "Wealthy Chinese learning to give

THE GUARDIAN , BEIJING
Wednesday, Jan 11, 2006,Page 4

China, the economic success story of the 21st century so far, is calling on its growing middle class to share more of its good fortune with the needy.

The government has made an appeal for charity amid rising criticism that the spirit of philanthropy is developing a lot less quickly than the urge to accumulate wealth, as the country becomes richer but more divided.

Almost twenty-five years of spectacular economic growth are estimated to have created more than 10,000 people with assets in excess of US$10 million.

But while the new rich are spending, investing and gambling more than ever, their willingness to give something back to a society which still contains tens of millions of people living on less than a dollar a day is being called into question.

Last week Vice-Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo (李立國), said the government needed more help from the private sector to deal with natural disasters. Last year was one of the worst in memory for typhoons, floods and droughts, which claimed 2,500 lives, left 15 million people homeless and created food shortages for more than 70 million, mostly in the poor western and northern regions."