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Taiwanese Charity Giving for Quake Victims

Taiwanese computer-chip tycoon Robert Tsao's decision to sell a $9 million antique to raise money for the Sichuan earthquake victims is the latest sign that China's rise is breaking down old barriers.
`We share the same language and culture, so helping them is like helping ourselves,'' said Tsao, former chairman of the world's second biggest wafer foundry United Microelectronics Corp. `Our similarities far exceed our political differences.''
The political enmity that has divided China and Taiwan since 1949 didn't stop tycoons like Wang Yung-ching, founder of Formosa Plastics Group, from donating 100 million yuan ($14.4 million), the most in Taiwan. In Hong Kong, billionaire Li Ka-shing leads the pack with about HK$135 million ($17.3 million) in money and gifts.
The humanitarian gifts to help China recover from the May 12 quake in Sichuan province, which killed more than 70,000 people, extend a trend in donations of artworks and other gifts to China as the country's economy and influence grows in the region.
"There's a big co-relation between how people see the world and what they give to,'' said Ben Morton Wright, London-based chief executive of Global Philanthropic International. `It's natural these wealthy individuals give toward what they feel affinity for, be it a cause or a country.''
Unlike the U.S. and Europe, philanthropy remains a quixotic concept in Asia, where many of its richest people made their fortunes through hard work and force of will and believe others should do the same. That's what makes the large donations by Hong Kong and Taiwanese tycoons so remarkable, said Wright

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