Page 25 - Sphere No.18 (Feb 2007)

SPHERE 23
know compassion is not reserved for the wealthy, nor is it the
property of a single class, nation, or religion. Exercised freely,
it can be both collective and contagious. It can create its own
society. It is a work that is eternal in nature, as no one can, or
will, know where its influence stops.”
At the press conference to announce the 2006 interim results
of Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa, Mr Li revealed
that he would donate no less than one-third of his assets to the
Foundation. Even before he made this announcement, he was
already Asia’s most generous philanthropist. Since its inception
in 1980, the Li Ka Shing Foundation has accumulated dona-
tions of over HKD8 billion. In January 2005 he donated to the
Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation the entire USD1 billion he
received after selling his shares in the Canadian Imperial Bank
of Commerce. In May of the same year, he donated HKD1 bil-
lion to the University of Hong Kong.
The meaning of wealth
“Traditionally, the Chinese view compassion and charity as per-
sonal virtues, but this is not enough to balance the indifference
shown by a materialistic world to the sick and the poor,” he said
in an interview with Yazhou Zhoukan. “We have to transform
our nation’s destiny with a new way of thinking. This is what I
wish to encourage; this is what I want to do.”
In the speech made after receiving the Malcolm S. Forbes Life-
time Achievement Award, he elaborated, “In Asia, our traditional
values encourage and even demand that wealth and means pass
through lineage as an imperative duty. I urge and hope to per-
. . . reshaping destiny through education and seeking
efficient initiatives that can forever help those in need.”