As Chinese tycoon Chen Guangbiao (陳光標) basks in the limelight over his flamboyant style of charity, there are many Taiwanese who, for a long time, have given away their hard-earned money in silence.
In 1991, Tsao Ching (曹慶), the founder of Genesis Social Welfare Foundation, Huashan Social Welfare Foundation and Zenan Homeless Social Welfare Foundation, gave away 20 lunchboxes to homeless people because he was worried that they had no place to eat during the Lunar New Year. The next year, he organized a 10-table traditional weiya (尾牙) — a year-end banquet — an event that has now expanded to 2,500 tables.
These charities that provide homeless people with food, clothes and a place to sleep are made possible thanks to the care and concern of people from all over Taiwan, who donate money or their invoice receipts.
Chen Chou (陳綢), a 77-year-old living in Puli (埔里) Township, Nantou County, was given up for adoption as a child because her biological family was poor. She has had a hard life and never went to school. Forty years ago, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. She pledged that if she was cured, she would become a vegetarian and spend her life doing good.
By making zongzi (粽子) — glutinous rice dumplings — Chen saved enough money to build a temple and encouraged people to engage in charitable work. She has also donated land and raised money to build a home for disadvantaged children, in addition to volunteering to help children that have gone astray.
For several decades, many students in the greater Puli area have received grants from Chen, and many of those children that have received help from her are now pillars of society and still grateful for her help.
In August last year, Chen found that the Nantou County Government was planning to nominate her for inclusion in Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people. Always taking a low-key approach, she asked the foundation to reject the nomination because she felt that the charitable work was based on the efforts of many people and not her alone. She told the county government that she hoped it would acknowledge her efforts and help bring more people and companies into the effort.
Another example of a Taiwansese charitable efforts is Chiayi Charity Organization spiritual leader Lin Ping-shan (林炳山).
Seeing that many were able to eat their fill, Lin called on people to donate time and money to build a big wooden bridge in early 1966. Today, more than 300 bridges have been built. The volunteers that build the bridges have increased in number from 30 to more than 200, and they include lawyers, architects, professors, school presidents, police officers, monks, workers, drivers, elected politicians, students, house wives and company chairpersons.
Yet another example is Liao Jung-chi (廖榮吉), who sells guabao (刈包) — a traditional steamed bread with filling — in Taipei and charges NT$40 (US$1.40) per guabao and NT$40 for a bowl of pig intestine soup.
He has to work hard to make a living, but every year on the night before Lunar New Year’s Eve, he organizes a banquet for homeless people, that is known as “the warmest of all new year dinners.”
To help Liao continue the tradition, last year, a group of fishermen donated 1,200kg of fresh fish. This year they are donating 2,850kg, while a chicken company will give him 600kg of chicken for every 600kg he buys.
Meanwhile, Wu Nan-hsing (吳南興), who sells noodles in Siluo Township (西螺鎮), Yunlin County, on Wednesday donated 10,000 gift vouchers, each worth NT$100, so that the poor households of Yunlin County would be able to eat a free bowl of his noodles.
In November last year, he also donated 2,000 of these gift vouchers to the Cihhua Charity in Changhua County. He never appeared himself, but simply asked the charity to distribute the vouchers to organizations that work with the disadvantaged.
After the 921 Earthquake in 1999, he donated NT$1 million to the earthquake victims through a temple in Changhua County.
We said that everyone who can make money does so “thanks to society” and so it is only natural to return some of the money when one is able to do so.
He said there is nothing wrong with Chen Guangbiao’s high profile donations, it’s only a matter of another point of view and different way of doing things.
Another example of Taiwanese’s charity is sixty-one year old Chen Shu-chu (陳樹菊).
She never finished school because her family was too poor and several members of her family passed away because they didn’t have enough money to see a doctor. When she graduated from elementary school at age 13, she began to sell vegetables at the market. Having experienced what it means to be poor, and out of gratitude for the aid provided by her school while she attended classes, she pledged to do good.
In 1997, she used NT$1 million to set up a scholarship and in 2001 she donated another NT$4.5 million to build a library.
In addition to making donations to her school, Chen Shu-chu began in 1996 to donate NT$35,000 a year to sponsor three orphaned children at an orphanage in Taitung County. Taking the same low-key approach, not even the head of the orphanage knew who the sponsor was.
It was not until nine years ago, when Chen Shu-chu donated NT$1 million so the orphanage could build a home for disabled children, that the head of the orphanage found out that the sponsor was a vegetable vendor, although the orphanage did not reveal this fact until they organized a dinner for Chen Shu-chu last year.
Chen Shu-chu has long carried out her charitable works in a low key manner and refused to give interviews, but such charity cannot be kept quiet forever. Last year, media outlets were falling over each other to report her story, as she made Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world and Forbes Asia’s list of philanthropic heroes and was awarded the Asian of the Year Award by Reader’s Digest.
Garden of Hope Foundation director Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) said that according to the Bible, NT$20 from a widow is as valuable as NT$20 million from a rich man.
“There is no reason to think that the money given by a rich man is worth more,” Chi said, adding that “this is why someone like Chen Shu-chu, who has quietly worked long and hard for her money receives so much respect around the world.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY HUANG MING-TANG, TSENG TEH-FONG AND CHENG HSU-KAI
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS