默默地 中國慈善家時代到來

I never dreamed that one day I would become a philanthropist. I was born in Beijing in 1965, and spent my teenage years working long hours as a factory girl, sewing collars and buttons onto dress shirts in Hong Kong. Today, I am the chief executive of SOHO China, the country’s largest prime office property developer.

我從未想過我有一天會成爲慈善家。我是1965年在北京出生的，之後搬到了香港。我在那裏當上了工廠女工，我的少女時代就是在縫紉襯衫的日日夜夜中度過的。而今天，我是中國最大的優質寫字樓開發商SOHO中國的CEO。

China has seen rapid economic growth over the past three decades, and it is now one of the world’s fastest growing producers of billionaires — 242 and counting, according to Forbes — which is extraordinary considering that just over a decade ago, there were none.

中國經濟在過去三十年經歷了飛速發展。今天，中國的億萬富翁數量正以全球最快的速度增長，從十年前的一個都沒有，激增到今天的242人（據福布斯雜誌）。

Though many Chinese have grown wealthy, few have embraced the practice of philanthropy in a manner and scale that is comparable with their counterparts in the West. But I believe we are on the cusp of change. With a new generation of Chinese who feel grateful for the opportunities the country’s growth has provided, social consciousness is rising, contributing to a growing urge to give back in innovative ways and to contribute to the nation’s future and to the betterment of our society.

儘管許多中國人富了起來，但以西方那種方式和規模投入到慈善事業中去的人還太少。不過，我相信這一現象正在改變。新一代的中國人感激國家成長所帶來的機遇，社會意識在逐漸增強，越來越多的人希望能以創新的方式回報大衆，爲國家的未來和社會的發展做出貢獻。

My generation’s success stories are unique. We were born into Communist China, at a time when almost nobody had access to material wealth. The guiding philosophy was to “serve the people,” but no one had the economic means to give back to society, nor were there many philanthropic foundations. It was an impossible time to have a culture or tradition of philanthropy nurtured by the generous individuals and families like the Rockefellers or the Carnegies. There were no philanthropic role models under communism. China was completely insulated from the rest of the world, with very little access to outside information. As children of that society, we could not have imagined the possibility of becoming a philanthropist.

我們這一代人的成功故事是獨一無二的。我們出生在共產主義的中國，那時候，大家在物質上都不富裕。被倡導的價值觀是“爲人民服務”，但經濟上大家都沒有可回饋社會的東西，更沒有很多慈善機構。當時的中國不可能有像洛克菲勒、卡內基那樣慷慨的個人或家族去培育慈善文化或傳統。共產主義裏也從未有過慈善的榜樣。當時的中國與外部是完全隔離的，沒有太多渠道獲得外部的信息。所以，那時候的孩子根本不會夢想成爲慈善家。

But in 1978, Deng Xiaoping opened China’s doors to economic reform and capital markets. China’s entrepreneurial spirit was reborn and my generation blossomed. We studied abroad, we started businesses and many of us prospered in unprecedented ways.

然而在1978年，鄧小平的改革開放打開了中國的大門，開始經濟改革，吸引外資。中國的企業家精神重新得到釋放，我們這一代人因此迎來了新的機遇。我們開始到國外學習，開始創業，很多人通過前所未有的方式富裕了起來。

For many Chinese of my generation, our first point of contact with Western philanthropy was the financial aid we received when we studied abroad. Very few of us had money — most only had raw ambition. We were “PHDs”: poor, hungry and determined. Financial aid transformed our lives.

對我們這一代的中國人來說，與西方慈善業的第一次接觸就是出國留學時得到的經濟資助。我們那時都不富裕，只有滿腹的熱情。可以說，我們是一羣“PHD”，poor（貧困），hungry（飢餓），determined（意志堅定）。經濟資助徹底改變了我們的人生。

I studied in the United Kingdom on a full scholarship in the 1980s, earning a bachelor’s degree from Sussex University and a master’s from Cambridge University. My education would eventually lead to a job on Wall Street, and then in 1995 I returned to China and founded SOHO China with my husband, Pan Shiyi, who grew up in rural western China. He had also attended university, which carried him away from village life and into our growing and changing nation’s business community.

上世紀80年代，我在全額獎學金的幫助下在英國讀書，先是在蘇塞克斯（Sussex）大學讀完本科，之後又在劍橋大學獲得了碩士學位。這些教育經歷最終讓我有機會進入華爾街工作。1995年回到中國後，我和先生潘石屹一起創立了SOHO中國。潘石屹在西部農村長大，是上大學的機會讓他走出農村生活，投入到正在經歷崛起、鉅變的中國的商業社會中。

That opportunity to study was the most dramatic turning point in my life. My education opened my eyes to the world, provided me with the academic grooming necessary to pursue an international career, and gave me the courage to return to China, build an enterprise and innovate. Without financial aid, I, and so many other Chinese who have played various roles in advising, consulting and building the modern China we know today, may have never had the chance to attend university.

大學教育是我人生中最重要的轉折點。教育打開了我的眼界，給了我在海外求職所需要的知識，還給了我回國創業、革新的勇氣。如果沒有經濟資助，我自己，還有很多在爲建設現代中國建議、諮詢、出力的精英們，可能永遠都沒有上大學的機會。

In the decade after I returned to China, many of my peers returned as well. China became increasingly globalized, joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 and preparing for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The economy boomed. At the same time, the Internet and social media gained remarkable momentum. There was a push for increasing transparency and pressure mounted on businesses and the government to become more socially responsible now that China was on the world stage.

在我回到中國後的十年裏，我的很多朋友也都回來了。中國愈發國際化，2001年加入世貿組織（WTO），之後又在籌備2008年北京奧運會。經濟快速發展。同時，網絡和社交媒體的迅速擴張。隨着中國走上國際舞臺，人們開始要求提高透明度，也促使中國企業和政府承擔更多社會責任。

In those early days of post-economic-reform, most philanthropic giving went to disaster relief and to the construction of schools in remote areas of China. My husband and I joined that philanthropic wave, giving to aid victims of the Asian tsunami disaster in 2004. We then started donating funds to help build schools in China’s highly impoverished western provinces of Qinghai and Gansu, where my husband was born and raised. We also gave to the Sichuan earthquake relief efforts in 2008 — a disaster that took the lives of nearly 70,000 people, devastating communities in southwestern China. The suffering of those affected prompted an outpouring of donations from the public, and philanthropy became a topic that people understood, discussed and debated.

在改革開放後的早期，大部分慈善捐贈用於搶險救災和偏遠地區的學校建設。我也是其中的一員，曾經捐助過2004年東南亞海嘯的災民。之後，我和先生開始在中國西部的青海、甘肅等貧困省份捐資幫助建學校。我的先生就是甘肅人，在那裏出生、長大。我們也參與過爲2008年的四川汶川地震進行的捐助，那場災難奪去近7萬人生命。地震受害者的痛楚激發了大衆的慈善捐助，而且讓慈善成了人們認可、討論和激辯的新話題。

At that point, the giving my husband and I were involved in was sporadic and focused on dire need and immediate solutions. It became clear that this Band-Aid approach did not work, since many communities required long-term aid to deal with chronic problems. We needed a cause that would capture our long-term philanthropic aspirations. Looking back on how my education had opened new doors for me, I knew that was the cause closest to my heart: I believe that education is the primary factor in improving social mobility.

我們初期的慈善工作常常是分散的，主要解決那些急迫的需求。然而，這種“創可貼”式的方法左右不大，因爲那些長期問題需要更持久的援助。我們需要一項能激起我們長期慈善意願的事業。回想起教育給我帶來的新機遇，我明白教育就是最接近我的內心的公益事業：我深信教育是改善社會流動性的關鍵因素。

My husband and I founded the SOHO China Foundation in 2005, which focuses on improving the quality of education in underprivileged communities. Our first project was a teacher-training program in rural western China. Over the course of five years we brought more than 1,700 teachers from rural communities to Beijing for summer training, improving the level of education provided to more than 80,000 primary school students. When we learned of the poor sanitary conditions at the schools, we also built 45 school toilets, impacting more than 35,000 students.

2005年，我和先生成立了SOHO中國基金會，專注於改善貧困地區的教育質量。第一個項目就是培訓西部的鄉村教師。在之後五年的時間裏，我們資助了1,700多名鄉村老師到北京接受暑假培訓，讓8萬多名小學生的教育質量得到改善。我們看到合作學校落後的衛生情況後，我們又幫助建設了45個學校公廁，讓35,000多名學生受益。

As I worked with the rural schools, I saw that these students have few opportunities. China’s growth has been accompanied by an intensified divide in income distribution, with large cities prospering much more than smaller cities and rural areas. Many wealthy Chinese send their children abroad to study, but countless outstanding rural students lose out on such opportunities due to a lack of financial means. There is a danger that the chance for Chinese youth to study abroad will become purely privilege-based instead of merit-based. Some of our best students are now so intimidated by the economic burden of pursuing a world-class education that they don’t even apply to top universities.

在和那些鄉村學校一起工作的過程中，我意識到機會對於這些學生來說是多麼有限。與中國的快速發展相伴隨的是日益加重的貧富分化，大城市和小城市、農村之間的差距越來越大。在大城市，很多富裕的中國人送子女到國外學習，而另一方面，很多優秀學生因爲經濟問題而只能放棄這種機會。如果出國留學的機會只是富人的特權，而不是以能力爲標準，這將成爲潛在的社會風險。現在很多我們最優秀的學生都被追求世界一流教育的經濟負擔嚇退，他們甚至都不敢申請。

It is with this understanding that we decided to create the SOHO China Scholarships, pledging to endow $100 million in financial aid scholarships for Chinese undergraduate students attending leading international universities. Our first gift agreement of $15 million was signed with Harvard University and our second gift agreement of $10 million was signed with Yale University.

這就是爲什麼我們成立了SOHO中國助學金，並捐出了1億美元，用於資助中國優秀學生到國際頂級大學就讀本科學位。我們的第一筆捐款1500萬美元捐給了哈佛大學，第二筆捐款1000萬美元捐給了耶魯。

This instantly created controversy in China. On the one hand, we received overwhelming encouragement, while on the other our decision to partner with international institutions instead of with domestic universities was heatedly questioned. Philanthropy became a hot topic online and across social media.

這些新聞一宣佈就立即在國內引起了爭議。有的人給了我們非常大的鼓勵，也有的人質疑我們爲什麼不跟國內的高校合作。慈善再次成爲網絡和媒體的熱門話題。

My answer to those questioning our choice: The most striking feature of our time is globalization. It is important for China to be integrated with the rest of the world. Our aim is to enable China’s best and brightest to act as a bridge between China and other nations — an important tool for modernizing the Middle Kingdom.

對於那些質疑我們的聲音，我想這樣回覆：我們這個時代最大的特徵就是全球化。持續的對外交流、融合對中國來說至關重要。我們的目標正是，讓那些最優秀的人才成爲銜接中國和世界的橋樑，這正是“中土之國”現代化的重要工具。

When I look back at our decision to create the scholarships in 2014, I recall the time I met Warren Buffett and the deep impression he left on me. Buffett and Bill Gates had traveled to China in 2010 to encourage high-net-worth Chinese to think about philanthropy. Buffett explained that he had always given, and then one day he realized that the rate at which he was giving was slower than the rate at which he was earning money. He was 80 years old at the time, so he decided to entrust a large part of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I walked away inspired by the vision behind his large-scale, highly impactful giving, and ultimately thought, “Don’t wait until it’s too late.”

今年，當我們決定要成立SOHO中國助學金時，我想到了當年與巴菲特見面時他給我留下的深刻印象。2010年，沃倫·巴菲特和比爾·蓋茨來到中國，鼓勵富有的社會精英和中國企業家參與到慈善事業中。巴菲特解釋說，儘管他之前一直在捐贈，但有一天他發現自己捐贈的速度並沒有趕上賺錢的速度。那一年他80歲，他隨即決定把個人財富中的很大一部分捐贈給蓋茨基金會。活動過後，受到他鉅額捐助背後的視野所啓發，我得出結論，“不要等到太晚再做”。

Soon after the announcement of our SOHO China Scholarships, I heard that my friend the Hong Kong property developer Ronnie Chan and his family made a $350 million gift to Harvard’s School of Public Health, and a $20 million gift to his alma mater, the University of Southern California. I have also heard that Jack Ma of Alibaba, the e-commerce giant, along with co-founder Joe Tsai, have said that they will commit 2 percent of Alibaba’s equity to a charitable trust.

我們宣佈成立SOHO中國助學金後不久，我聽到我的朋友、香港知名房地產開發商陳啓宗和他的家族向哈佛公共衛生學院捐贈了3.5億美元的消息。他隨後又向母校南加州大學捐贈了2000萬美元。我還聽聞，電子商務巨頭阿里巴巴創始人馬雲和聯合創始人蔡崇信也將把阿里巴巴2%的資產捐贈給慈善基金。

I believe that the year 2014 is a turning point in Chinese philanthropy. This tradition is finally getting the impetus it needs to flourish because of an emerging group of Chinese entrepreneurs who are socially conscious, globally engaged and hoping to make a positive and lasting impact on China and the world — they’re not looking for quick fixes. They feel responsible.

我相信，2014年是中國慈善界的轉折點，而且這僅僅是個開始，中國的慈善事業蓄勢待發，因爲這羣快速成長的中國企業家不想追求權宜之計，他們有着強烈的社會責任感，密切參與全球事務，希望能對中國和世界產生積極長遠的影響。他們把這個看作自己的責任。

With the help of financial aid, I went from factory worker to university student, then became an entrepreneur and eventually, chief executive of my own company. But of my achievements, I am most proud of my work as a philanthropist, and I hope to continue with it for the rest of my days. The world is waiting to see what Chinese philanthropists will do next.

在助學金的幫助下，我從一個工廠女工、到大學生、再到一個企業家和我自己公司的CEO。然而在這些成就裏，最讓我欣慰的頭銜是慈善家，而且我希望在以後的日子裏都可以以它自居。世界對中國慈善家也充滿了期待。