盖茨巴菲特来华举行慈善晚会

比尔盖茨和巴菲特玉9月29日在北京拉斐特城堡举行慈善晚宴，中国富豪相继到场。慈善事业在中国还有待发展，这次慈善晚会或许可以提高中国慈善事业的热情以及发展速度。

Cao Dewang, known as one of China's glass magnates, has arrived in Beijing with his dinner invitation from the two U.S. billionaires. He says he has been committed to philanthropy since 1983 and has donated 1.5 billion yuan of his own money to charitable causes.

"We are all entrepreneurs. We share lots of things in common, and we have common ideas. They are traveling thousands of miles to China, so we should have a talk and share our ideas with them."

The charity dinner will start at five p.m. Wednesday. Besides Cao Dewang, another Chinese multimillionaire Chen Guangbiao, has also arrived in the capital. Chen Guangbiao has expressed a desire to donate all of his wealth to charities in China after he dies.

But some Chinese billionaires seem reluctant to attend the event. A few have even turned down the invitations to the charity dinner.

Some people say those who declined might be reluctant to discuss the balance between social conscience and private wealth in China, or they might be anxious about being asked by their American hosts to donate money.

The printed invitation specifically says guests will not be required to donate money or make any pledges.

A report by the UK newspaper "The Telegraph" says China has the second-largest number of billionaires in the world after the United States. Jin Jingping, a professor at Peking University, estimates that more than 60 percent of

Chinese entrepreneurs have donated money to charity, but that they tend to shun publicity and attention.

Wang Zhenyao, Director of Beijing Normal University One Foundation Philanthropy Research Institute, says Chinese people's passion for philanthropy is still on the rise after the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. Tomorrow's charity dinner will again highlight the issue.

"The topics to be discussed at the charity dinner pertain to many fields. The policy makers of those administrative departments have started to think about how to encourage people to get involved in philanthropy and how to make adjustment to the policies. So I believe the charity dinner will do far more than simply be a gathering. It will bring more consideration to China's philanthropic endeavors during the dinner."

Gates and Buffett have extended invitations to 50 of China's billionaires to attend the charity dinner. Previously, they had convinced 40 American billionaires to donate half their wealth, totaling about 125 billion US dollars, to charity.

For CRI, I am Zhang Wan