Introduction: leading the way for Chinese Philanthropy

Transnational Chinese movie star Jet Li reappeared on the cover of Time magazine's Asia edition in November 2008, six years after a previous cover spread publicised his starring role in Zhang Yimou's martial arts blockbuster Hero (2002). Titled ‘The Liberation of Jet Li’, the later issue features Li and his charity, One Foundation, which was founded in April 2007. The article explains how the movie star-cum-philanthropist leads the growing wave of China's charity culture. Widely known throughout Chinese popular culture for his volunteering and charity work, Li is an exemplar of crossing over from celebrity to philanthropy. He has served as the philanthropic ambassador for the Red Cross Society of China and its governing bodies, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (‘Celebrity Jet Li becomes first goodwill ambassador’ 2010). He has volunteered for relief work enthusiastically and spoken at forums for humanitarian issues, such as mental health awareness, suicide prevention, and disaster relief. His various collaborative work with world leaders such as former United States President Bill Clinton and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, including American business moguls and philanthropists Bill Gates and Warren Buff ett as well as the 2006 Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, in highly publicised charity events and fundraising initiatives has further bolstered his global visibility and philanthropic credibility (Saunders 2008; Bishop 2009; ‘Tony Blair and Jet Li launch new climate change partnership for a low carbon future’ 2009; Associated Press 2010). All these endeavours have helped establish and consolidate Li's reputation as the planet's most high-profile Chinese philanthropist.

In 2004, the PRC permitt ed private charitable foundations to be registered for the first time. The next five years saw the establishment of approximately 1,500 such foundations, which by 2008 were thought to be worth some 100 billion RMB; this represented a great leap from the meagre total of 2.2 billion RMB in 2002 (‘The celebrity’ 2009). In addition to Li's One Foundation, other Chinese celebrities were at the forefront of this flourishing development.