The Hurun Research Institute has released the Hurun Philanthropy List 2012, the ninth edition since the list was founded in 2004.

• Cao Dewang is China's most generous philanthropist, donating US$580 million last year, followed by Xu Jiayin with US$120 million and Wang Jianlin with US$44 million
• Universities biggest receiver of donations, led by Tsinghua University, Peking University, Xiamen University and South China University of Technology
• Total donations decreased by 17% to an average of US$16m; five-fold increase from that of 2004 when list was founded
• Of the 100 philanthropists, 57 were also on theHurun Rich List 2011, with six from the Top 10.
• Average donation of 1.3% of personal wealth.
• 35% have personal charitable foundations
• Over half now make donations in own name, rather than through the company
• South Chinese most generous, led by Guangdong and Fujian.
• Property is biggest source of wealth of top philanthropists

The Hurun Philanthropy List 2012 ranks the 100 most generous Chinese individuals, measured by the value of their cash or cash equivalent donations from 1 January 2011 to 31 March, 2012. Donations made by a corporate in which an individual has more than a 50% holding, are also recognized as being a part of that individual's personal donation.

China's Top Three Philanthropists

With donations totaling US$580 million, Cao Dewang and family retain the title of ‘China's Most Generous Philanthropist'.

Two property tycoons, Xu Jiayin and Wang Jianlin follow on in second and third place. Xu enters the Top 10 for the first time with a US$120million donation, followed by Wang, who drops down one place to third.

In April 2011, ‘Windscreen King' Cao donated 300 million shares of his listed company Fuyao Glass, with a then market value of US$563 million, to his private ‘Heren Foundation', named after his father.

This past year, the Heren Foundation spent US$32 million on building a business school for Cao's alma mater Xiamen University. Then, in July 2011, Cao gave US$13 million to his hometown at Fuqing City towards reconstruction of historical sites.

Since his first donation in 1983, Cao has donated US$800 million.

Cao has a personal fortune of US$1.2 billion, ranking him at 187 on the Hurun Rich List 2011. Cao's donations over the past year account for 67% of his wealth.

Xu Jiayin, 54, takes second place with US$120 million worth of donations, and enters the Top 10 for the first time.

Over the course of the year, Xu has mainly been making donations towards improving social welfare. In May 2011, he donated US$39 million to the Guangzhou City Hall to assist construction in the northern mountainous area of Guangzhou, as well as other construction projects relating to hospitals, theatres, resettlement housing and a tourism street, helping out 30 villages and 5000 people.

On 9 June 2011, Xu donated US$3 million to the Industry and Commerce Department of Guangdong to support the livelihood of residents in Qingyuan and other areas. Later that month on the 25 June, Xu committed to donating US$48 million towards alleviating poverty in Guangdong. That month, Xu also gave US$5 million more in donations to the Chinese Foundation for Poverty Alleviation to set up education funds for underprivileged university students.

Xu Jiayin has a personal fortune of US$7.3bn, ranking him at fifth place on the Hurun Rich List 2011. Xu's donations over the past year account for 2% of his wealth. Xu is a delegate to the 11th CPPCC National Committee.

Coming in third is 58 year old Wanda Group chairman Wang Jianlin, with donations in the past year totaling US$44 million to add to his donations last year of US$159 million towards the reconstruction of the Jinling Temple in Nanjing.

In February 2011, Wanda Group donated US$32 million to build the ‘Chengdu Seventh Wanda School', by far the largest contribution to secondary education in the past year. November of that same year saw Wanda Group donating US$8 million to aid disadvantaged social groups.

Wanda Group's donations count as Wang's personal donations, because Wang owns more than 50% of the shares of Wanda Group.

Wang has a personal fortune of US$7.1bn, ranking him sixth on the Hurun Rich List 2011. Wang's donations over the past year account for 8% of his wealth.

Chairman and Chief Researcher of Hurun Report, Rupert Hoogewerf, said, "Donating to education – particularly back to the universities they studied at – is far and away the most popular cause for charitable donations for Chinese entrepreneurs, especially in a year without a major natural disaster."

Overview of the List

The Hurun Philanthropy List 2012 ranks the 100 most generous Chinese individuals. The cut-off of this year's list was US$3 million, an increase of 25% from that of 2011.

Total donations made by the 100 philanthropists amounted to US$1.6bn million, with an average of US$16 million, a 17% decrease from 2011 mainly due to the decrease in natural disasters. It should be noted that the average donation has increased five-fold since the first list in 2004.

Of the 100 philanthropists, 57 were also on theHurun Rich List 2011, with six in the Top 10. These entrepreneurs included: Xu Jiayin, Wang Jianlin, Wu Yajun, Yang Huiyan, He Xiangjian and Zong Qinghou.

On average, each philanthropist donated 1.3% of their wealth last year. But if you disregard the donations made by the top two philanthropists Cao Dewang and Xu Jiayin, then the average donation drops to 0.8% of their personal wealth.

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