CHARITARIAN editor Wang Liwei has been involved with China's Charity Oscars for three years and this year was the first to hand over a prize in the prestigious ceremony. Also this year, his colleague at Charitarian, Clare Pearson, became the only foreign national to attend. Here, she tells us what she made of it!
I REALLY had no idea what awaited me at China's Charity Oscars, but when I arrived I was shocked to see a red carpet just like at its Hollywood counterpart. I was relieved that I'd at least wiped the mud off my boots from my hike round the summer palace garden in the afternoon.
Most women were wearing backless dresses. You could see this was going to be a glamorous occasion. We walked down the red mile and signed our names on the welcome board.
There were a lot of fans hanging around the door of the television studio waiting to catch a glimpse of the Miss Chinas, pop-stars and so on, who were involved in the show. Inside we were sitting at the VIP tables at the front with the other media and foundation representatives.
We were welcomed by the host and the corporate sponsors.
The event was a lot of fun.
There was a succession of top entertainment, a bit like the MTV Music Awards.
It made me realize that companies want to profile themselves as philanthropists and pop groups and super-models want to associate themselves with sustainability.
This is a nascent but burgeoning trend in China. I was the only foreigner present. Corporate Responsibility with Chinese characteristics is more glamorous, more entertaining but no less substantial.
Companies want to profile themselves as more community conscious and less consumption orientated. The Charity Oscars will be a good way for them to gain ethical profile in the future.
Interview with Wang Liwei, Editor Charitarian Magazine
What are the Chinese charity Oscars?
This is a huge television show giving awards to the most charitable companies in China. Attendees included private Chinese entrepreneurs, actors and famous people from the field of entertainment. Those giving the awards were the Chinese media and the big Government foundations, for example, the Chinese Red Cross. The people receiving the awards were the most philanthropic companies and entertainers in China.
Why was this set up?
Bo Tieyu, CCTV (China Central Television) Director of the Finance Centre of the television channel has many company contacts. He began to realize that companies wanted to promote themselves through charity. Bo Tieyu therefore transferred his production role from finance to charity. This is a relatively new sphere in Chinese TV, established only in 2007.
How did Mr Wang et involved?
Before Bo Tieyu set up the programme, he checked who was in the charitable media field in Baidu (the Chinese equivalent of Google) and found Mr Wang’s Chinese Charitarian magazine. Mr Wang therefore became an advisor to the TV programme and was in fact the first judge to hand out a prize on the evening.
Who do the prizes go to?
Most prizes go to huge Chinese private companies. For example the biggest cashmere producer of Inner Mongolia. Another winner was the biggest producer of shoes in China. The biggest drug company in Guangdong (China’s industrial region), also won a prize.
Who did you give your prize to?
Our prize went to Hyundai for reforestation work in inner-Mongolia. I have joined the event for three years running. It is not perfect but I have seen that it is improving year on year. From 2007 until today this event has gained in content and professionalism.
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