How a Shanghai NGO is simplifying the concept of charity

On a rainy Saturday evening, more than 100 attendees are crammed into a small community centre in Shanghai’s leafy Xinhua Road to listen to a conversation between Australian philosopher Peter Singer and Chinese political scientist Lin Yao. The topic of discussion: how to live an ethical life.

The talk last October was one of several community events organised by Charity Box, a Shanghai NGO, as part of its “1% Pledge” campaign, which asks ordinary Chinese people to donate 1 per cent of their income to charity every month. In its first year, the campaign signed up around 520 people, with total donations surpassing 500,000 yuan (HK$536,000).

Hailing from Hefei, capital of the eastern province of Anhui, Li studied political science and economics at the University of Hong Kong after scoring in the top 0.05 per cent of his cohort in the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, or gaokao. As a Jockey Club scholar, Li was himself a beneficiary of philanthropy as all his tuition fees and living costs were paid for by Hong Kong’s largest community benefactor.

It was at HKU that Li came across Singer’s influential 1972 paper “Famine, Affluence and Morality”, which argued that people have a moral duty to help those in need if doing so would not be too much of a sacrifice. Inspired by Singer, who donates a quarter of his income to charity, Li began donating 10 per cent of his.