Former premier makes Hurun philanthropists list

Former Chinese Premeir Zhu Rongji's book, Zhu Rongji on the Record, has helped fund his philanthropic endeavors.[Photo/Xinhua]

China's former premier Zhu Rongji has made his way onto the list of the 2014 Hurun Philanthropists List after donating 23.98 million yuan ($4 million) to charity.

The 86-year-old donated the royalties from the two books he wrote this year. This is the first time Zhu has made the list compiled by the Shanghai-based research institute Hurun, he ranked 60th on the list, which was released Tuesday.

Last year, he donated all the royalties from his two books, Zhu Rongji on the Record and Zhu Rongji's Speech in Shanghai, to set up an education foundation.

Zhu is not the only politician in the world to have given book royalties to charity. Former US President Bill Clinton funded the Clinton Foundation with the income reaped from his two books My Life and Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair contributed the earning of his memoirs A Journey to the Royal British Legion.

Zhu's foundation gave out its first grant in August 2013 when it handed out one million yuan to aid education programs in Xiangxi Tujia-Miao autonomous prefecture in Central China's Hunan province.

The money was used to set up a bailout fund for the neediest students, an award fund for outstanding teachers, and to improve students' nutrition and renovate cafeterias in three local schools.

Jack Ma, founder and chief executive officer of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, tops the Hurun list with a record donation of 14.5 billion yuan. He was also crowned as China's richest in the latest Forbes' China Rich List.

The second and third places go to real estate tycoons Huang Rulun, Chairman of Century Golden Resources Group, and Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group respectively. Huang was the biggest donor last year, giving 582 million yuan to charity, Wang donated 440 million yuan.