For Chinese-Americans, Schools Earn the Prize

This New York Times article “For Chinese-Americans, Schools Earn the Prize“, was published back in early November, but I just got this sent to me a few days ago and thought it was interesting:

“LAST February, Jerry Yang and his wife, Akiko Yamazaki, pledged $75 million to Stanford University for a variety of programs. Two-thirds of their gift will go to build a new environment and energy site. The balance will go to the medical school. Like other prominent Chinese-Americans, Mr. Yang, who is the chief executive of Yahoo, is loyal to his and his wife’s alma mater and enthusiastic in its aid. The fact that the beneficiary is a university is emblematic of what Chinese-Americans have accomplished as they have moved into the realm of multimillionaires and billionaires. Influenced by the Confucian respect for the importance of study, they have viewed American universities as the way up the ladder to success. And now second- and third-generation Chinese, and even some of the newer immigrants, are broadening their reach beyond education and the arts to social services. Or they try to wrap both agendas together — like helping poor Chinese get a better education in the United States….In Ms. Cheng’s view, the traditional Chinese in America have not been too philanthropic. “There is no tradition of philanthropy, and many people are helping family members or saving money,” she said. “But that is beginning to change.” “

This was interesting to read, since I had posted in “WSJ: The Revolution of Chairman Li” about Li Ka-shing, Asia’s richest man, trying to build a tradition of philanthropy. I can see why Chinese-Americans (as well as Taiwanese-Americans: note: Jerry Yang was born in Taiwan) would donate money to educational institutions, as a lot of their professional success is rooted in their education. It’ll be interesting to see the broadening of philanthropic efforts by the Asian-American community.