After promising to donate company shares valued at almost 3 billion yuan to charity, Beijing Orient Landscape founder and chairman He Qiaonv has become the first woman to land on the No. 1 spot of China's top 100 philanthropists.
According to a report released by ECNS.cn, the English language edition of China News Service, the total amount of donations from those included in the list reached 12.8 billion yuan.
He's 2.927 billion is also considered as the largest single donation, researchers at the Beijing Normal University reported.
Apart from being the first woman to top the list, He is also the first female philanthropist to grant a donation of more than 1 billion.
Since 2011, the university's China Philanthropy Research Institute has been compiling and publishing the roster of the country's most generous donors.
Among the prominent figures included in the list's top 10 are Wang Jianlin, the chairman of Wanda Group, and Jack Ma, the chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Wang ranked fifth with his 360-million-yuan donation, while Ma grabbed the 10th spot with his 230-million-yuan donation.
Last year's list was also dominated by names who fare well in the real estate industry. Among the philanthropists across 15 sectors, 21 work in the said industry.
The report also showed that of the total donations, a huge 80.9 percent were contributions to funds, with funds in higher learning institutions receiving nearly half or over 6.08 billion yuan.
Meanwhile, governments at different levels were granted with only 1.125 billion yuan worth of donations. This accounts for about 9 percent of the total, the report noted.
The research further emphasized the majority of the donations was contributed to provide quality higher education, poverty alleviation, and ecological and environmental protection.
Categorized by geography, south China's Guangdong Province topped the list with 24 donors. Chinese capital Beijing came in second place with 20.
Traditionally, Guangdong led the donations geographically speaking, China Philanthropy Research Institute director Wang Zhenyao revealed. But in recent years, donations have started to come from more diverse regions, primarily because of the changes in economic conditions.
If the list were categorized by the value of donations, Beijing tops the roster with 5.9 billion philanthropic contributions.