Hey batta batta..
Posted on 09/07/2010 4:13:44 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A billionaire has pledged to donate his entire fortune to charity after his death, becoming the first in China to do so.
Chen Guangbiao, chairman of Jiangsu Huangpu Renewable Resources Utilisation, took the decision to give up his mammoth wealth on a charity call made by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investment baron Warren Buffett.
Chen said in an open letter to Gates and Buffett posted on his company website on Sunday that he would donate his entire fortune of more than five billion yuan ($735 million) to charity when he dies, the China Daily reported Tuesday.
Since they launched the 'Giving Pledge Campaign' in June this year, Gates and Buffett have so far successfully convinced 40 US billionaires to donate at least half of their wealth, worth $125 billion, to charity.
Gates is also the founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The duo are scheduled to travel to China in late September for a philanthropic gathering with the Chinese businessmen and industrialists. Fifty Chinese, including Chen, are reported to have received an invitation to a banquet during the pair's visit to Beijing on September 29.
In his letter, 42-year-old Chen said he was "greatly moved" by the duo's commitment to charity and "pleased to accept the invitation".
He said his decision to part with his fortune was intended to serve as a "gift" to the business magnates during their trip to China.
Chen's announcement has come amid the widespread belief that many of the Chinese billionaires who have been invited to the banquet are reluctant to accept the invitation out of concern over being lobbied to make charity promises.
Ye Lei, the Chinese director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, last week denied the rumour that the duo aim to persuade Chinese billionaires to part with their fortunes.
What charity, specifically?
And I don’t think it can be called “parting with your wealth” if you keep it until you die.
I want Oprah to donate all her wealth. (to me)
Hey batta batta..
Why wait until they die?
A true charitable act would be to donate while still living and making some sacrifice in their own lives.
Shrouds don't have pockets.
I don’t believe this.
Well, if you are Egyptian, you take your wealth, and cats, to the afterlife with you.
It's "charity" all righty, you betcha.
The parable of the rich fool?
That’s my pre-lookup guess - now I’ll go get the Bible.
Bingo.
Well, I was wrong ...
The “rich young man,” not “the rich fool,” although they both were foolish. “You fool, this night your soul will be required of you, and the things you have, whose will they be?”
Not that leaving your wealth to charity when you die is a bad thing, but it’s not Christian love. God could provide for everyone’s needs; charity is as much about our being willing to give, to the point that it affects us, as it is about the needs of the recipients.
That’s a hard question, actually. I like my catz, but do I really want them in the afterlife? They’re kind of a nuisance, especially when they hop on the baby while he’s asleep and yell “Meow!” in his ear.
. . .
Chen said in an open letter to Gates and Buffett posted on his company website on Sunday that he would donate his entire fortune of more than five billion yuan ($735 million) to charity when he dies
I'm shocked - you mean that you can join the billionaires' club if you only have $735 million?
What happened to "standards"?
Maybe he's a billionaire in yuan, but that's hardly the same. I'm easily a billionaire in nanodollars...
Many of these people in the West would have to donate their funds into charitable trusts, anyway, to avoid taxes (think: The Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, etc.)
The question then becomes, who will be appointed trustees to administer these large sums, and what will be their goals?
By giving away one’s wealth after death to charity, isn’t the act depriving one’s progeny of the benefit, thus making the act a sacrifice?
Methinks it is prideful shallowness to look for faults in others’ acts of generosity.
How would you like to donate to the Human Fund?? Or the I want to be a Billionaire fund??? LOL
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