China Daily: “Western experience sought after to advance China’s development
The newly rich in China are looking to the West for experience again. But this time, they want to learn how to spend money, rather than how to make it.
Zhang Xin, CEO and co-founder of Soho China, a leading real estate developer, said she had no clear strategy when she started her journey into philanthropy.
“In the early days, when I established the Soho China Foundation, we did not have a clear plan. We gave money to build a school here and set up a kindergarten there and rushed to help people affected by a tsunami,” Zhang said.
Zhang said she gradually realized that it is important to discover the pressing social problems China faces and then choose one field that requires a huge investment of money and human capital.
The female billionaire said her foundation started the project Teach for China, which is dedicated to training teachers in rural schools in Northwest China’s Gansu province, one of the most impoverished provinces, six years ago.
“Teach for China is what we learned from an American foundation,” she said.
Zhang made her remarks at the China Philanthropy Forum 2012, which was jointly held on Friday by the China Association for International Friendly Contact, Caijing Magazine and other organizations in Beijing.”
via Tycoons advised on charity |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.
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