More rich Chinese looking to donate amid Xi Jinping’s ‘common prosperity’ campaign, survey shows

About two thirds of respondents with at least 5 million yuan (US$727,268) of investible assets say they want to keep donating to charity in the next 10 years

A lack of information about where to donate and knowledge about policy are the major obstacles to philanthropic activity, shows survey of over 1,100 rich Chinese

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President Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity” campaign aims to reduce China’s yawning wealth gap. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:30pm, 7 Apr 2023

More than 80 per cent of rich Chinese have donated money to various causes and most want to increase philanthropic activity as the government pushes towards “common prosperity” in the years ahead, a recently released survey shows.

The survey, which covered 1,100 private banking clients with at least 5 million yuan (US$727,268) of investible assets at China Merchants Bank, provides a glimpse into the attitudes of high-net worth Chinese amid efforts to reduce the country’s wealth gap.

A number of ultra-wealthy Chinese tycoons donated tens of billions of dollars following President Xi Jinping’s call for “common prosperity” in 2021, but it has been less clear how the wealthy entrepreneurs on the rung below felt about the campaign.

About two thirds of respondents said they would like to increase their donations or keep giving in accordance with their financial situation in the next 10 years, according to the survey, which was conducted in 2021-22 by China Merchants Bank and the China Philanthropy Research Institute (CPRI).

However, for the nearly 20 per cent of people who have never made a charitable donation, the main reasons were that they “cannot find a trusted channel” and “do not know about the policy”, said the report published last week.

About 75 per cent said they have not started a family foundation mainly due to a lack of information about how to do it.