I did that one time when I was drunk 
seriously though, thats awesome. Jet Li is a great guy and does a lot for charity. Good luck and have fun!
Wow that’s awesome! I wish I could attend, unfortunately I won’t be going back to China til next year. But that’s great Jet Li deserves all the hype.
Chinese news…
Hopefully Andy will give us a firsthand report…
[URL=“http://news.163.com/09/0510/20/58VRVCCO000120GR.html”] 5.12 (7)()
2009-05-10 20:19:52: ()
510 5.1211""2005?12
VCR
5.12
(
People’s net four Sichuan, May 10 - (by Chang Wei) one family member one walks - - commemorates 5.12 to travel together the Wenchuan road the large-scale public welfare activity, today 11:00 am holds in the Wenchuan County Yingxiu Town. Red Cross Society of China Li Lianjie one fund the way which walks by the short distance, visitation earthquake one year later four Sichuan, is for the purpose of cherishing the memory of the big earthquake the deeply grieved experience, the testimony we the extraordinary courage which and the tenacious vitality displays facing the great disaster. Red Cross Society of China Vice-chairman Guo Yangtze River, one fund management meeting director and founder Li Lianjie, performance star Wu Yanzu, Lin Xinru, Zhongliti, Ke Yimin, Zhong Han are good, Zhang Jie, Phoenix TV director Shen Xing, turned hostile master " Peng Denghuai as well as many well-known entrepreneurs represents together participates in two kilometers distances by one fund voluntary worker’s status with more than 200 one fund volunteers to walk the activity. This active beginning is 5? 12 earthquake center monument, passes through the hundred flowers bridge which shakes destroys, arrives at end point - - Niu Miangou the center of origin spot.
Liu Dehua, Li Bing ice, Guo Tao, Yang Ziqiong, Huang Qiusheng, Feng Xiaogang, Xu Fan, Sun Honglei and so on not to be able to catch up with for some reason, but supports this significance profound public welfare activity. And makes the words expressing feelings through VCR. American former president Clinton has also made the words expressing feelings through the video frequency, he said: four Sichuan suffered the significant earthquake last year, the world very much has paid attention. The native of Sichuan person faces the disaster strongly, rebuilds one’s homeland by the enthusiasm posture, this is great. Mr. Li Lianjie initiates the `one family member, one walks ’ the activity to be very also great, it will unite everybody is changing together the future, I will be greatly touched.
Li Lianjie represents one fund the expression, first time carries on such activity, possibly is insufficiently experienced, we hoped that the later every year will have such activity, every year’s subject meets is dissimilar, next year will have the possibility is the environmental protection subject, one fund hoped that will arouse more people through such activity to support the public utility. We will continue this activity, hoped that the people can 5.12 be able to remember this activity in every year. Every year’s operating location will be possibly different, must specifically the scale which and the progress will reconstruct by four Sichuan decides.
About one fund:
One fund is the foothold which initiates by Mr. Li Lianjie in China’s international public welfare organization, separately in mainland China and Hong Kong area, the US and Singapore has set up the administrative body. In mainland China area, one fund and the Red Cross Society of China cooperation, has established the Red Cross Society of China Li Lianjie one fund plan, devotes in the dissemination public welfare culture, the build public welfare platform, promotes public utility’s development; At the same time, provides the humanitarian aid as far as possible for each kind of natural disaster. In the Chinese Hong Kong area, one fund centralism resources development public welfare talented person educates the project, the cooperation sets up the training center, subsidizes the China public welfare leader as well as the social entrepreneur’s study pursues advanced studies, and participates in Hong Kong area positively the public welfare project.
Some photos from 1st anniversary of 5/12
click link for six pics.
Jet Li and ‘Family’
2009-05-11 11:29:17 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Xie Tingting
Action superstar Jet Li and his charity organization, the One Foundation, recently launched the “One Family, One Walk” campaign to mark the one-year anniversary of the May 12 Sichuan earthquake.
Check out our Martial Arts Benefit for Quake Victims thread for an update.
Not quite ONE…
…but worthy of mention.
Aug 14, 2009
Jet Li joins typhoon fundraiser
TAIPEI- CHINESE action star Jet Li will join a star-studded fundraiser for victims of Typhoon Morakot on Friday and later visit flood-ravaged southern Taiwan, organisers said.
Li and Hong Kong star Andy Lau will accompany more than 200 Taiwanese entertainers fronting a major fundraising event tonight, said organiser Red Cross Taiwan.
Li, who had also donated 300,000 yuan (S$63,489) to the recovery cause, is set to travel to the worst-hit southern Kaohsiung county to visit shelters and console survivors over the weekend, it said.
Another Hong Kong superstar, action hero Jackie Chan, is unable to attend but is expected to speak at the televised event by phone in an effort to drive up donations.
Taiwan’s first lady Chow Mei-ching and Vice President Vincent Siew’s wife Chu Shu-hsien will also take donation pledges over the phone from the Taiwanese public at the event.
The island’s charities and companies had donated more than four billion Taiwan dollars (S$180 million) for typhoon relief as of Friday, reports said, while HK tycoon Li Ka-shing had pledged 100 million Taiwan dollars.
The powerful typhoon triggered the island’s worst floods in half a century, and President Ma Ying-jeou warned the island-wide death toll of 117 would likely rise to more than 500 as fears mounted for those missing. – AFP
[QUOTE=GeneChing;954031]…but worthy of mention.[/QUOTE]
very cool.
1000 points of light
Interesting project.
Blair, Li to light 1,000 villages through solar power
By Hu Yang (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-25 14:36
Blair, Li to light 1,000 villages through solar power
Chinese kungfu star Jet Li and former British prime minister Tony Blair chat while visiting Baigong Village, in Guiyang, Aug 22, 2009. The village will be the first one to benefit from a project jointly launched by Blair’s Climate Group and Li’s One Foundation to use solar-powered LEDs to light 1,000 Asian and African villages in the next five years. [One Foundation]
Former British prime minister Tony Blair and Chinese kungfu star Jet Li jointly launched a project to use solar-powered LEDs to light the countryside while visiting Baigong Village, in Guiyang, the capital of southwestern China’s Guizhou province on Aug 22.
Blair was representing the Climate Group, a non-profit he helped creat, and Jet Li represented One Foundation, which he founded and focuses on education, health, environmental, poverty projects and disaster relief.
During the first two years, the goal is for 400 Chinese villages to be lit by solar-powered LED lights. Over the following three years, another 600 villages in China, India and some African countries will also be lit through solar power.
The lighting project is the two organizations’ first joint program since they signed a strategic cooperation memorandum in March. Initially, One Foundation will provide funds for the project, though as it expands, money will come from other financial organizations as well.
No more kung fu poses from Jet
He better do some kung fu in the Expendables.
A hero reborn – Jet Li’s world mission
www.chinaview.cn 2009-10-13 13:41:45
by Xinhua writer Wu Chen
BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Li Lianjie refuses to strike a kung fu pose for photographers.
"I don't like violence at all," says the action movie star better known to English-speaking audiences as Jet Li.
The devout Buddhist has had an epiphany -- film-making is now just a hobby, and philanthropy is his career and life.
The turning point occurred in 2004, when Li and his family, holidaying in the Maldives, were caught in the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami.
"It's not like in the movies. The water just rose so fast. I picked up my 4-year-old daughter Jane and the baby-sitter got Jada, and we ran to the hotel (from the beach). The water was up to my waist, and a second later, it was up to my chest."
The experience made him realize the insignificance of his skills and achievements in the face of Nature's power.
"All the money and power in the world cannot save you from the waves. I had to do something...," Li says.
It was the culmination of seven years of studying Buddhist doctrine and travelling the world looking for a meaning to his life.
After talking with his wife, former Hong Kong actress Nina Li Chi, he donated 500,000 Hong Kong dollars to tsunami-affected people in a charity show made by celebrities in Hong Kong and put another 500,000 into setting up a charitable foundation.
The One Foundation, formally established in 2007, is based on the notion that if each person donates at least 1 yuan a month, the individual donations can be transformed into a much greater fund, Li says.
"I want to spread the idea that not only millionaires, celebrities and leaders, but each individual shares the responsibility to help others. We just need to offer help within our abilities," he says.
More than a million volunteers have since registered on the One Foundation website, donating their money or time.
Disaster relief is one of its main causes and it gave 78 million yuan for relief and reconstruction after last year's May 12 earthquake in southwest China.
It plans to train a professional fast-response relief team of 400 volunteers to help official relief organizations.
Li uses every opportunity to talk about the foundation, but the very concept of the foundation has prompted many to ask exactly how much Li himself contributes.
The answer is a private matter, he always responds. "'Donation competition' is not part of the One Foundation's concept."
He has another aim for the foundation, which also breaks new ground in Chinese concepts of charity: he wants to make it an enterprise, aimed at the social good, that is financially self-sustainable.
In a trial project, Qiang ethnic women in the quake zone were trained in traditional embroidery skills and helped to sell their products.
From a 4-million-yuan investment has come a profit of 10 million yuan, plus jobs for 7,000 women, whose monthly incomes have risen from 300 yuan before the quake to 700 yuan.
But the foundation is reluctant to take out the profit as the public will ask "How could you make money from quake survivors?" he says. "Chinese people jump to moral judgments."
He knows the charity must be properly managed as a corporation. The foundation has invited audits by accounting firms Deloitte and KPMG to do audits. Quarterly progress reports are issued on its website to let the public know where every yuan goes.
His "Philanthropy Awards" are setting new standards for charities in China and helping international donors find suitable organizations for cooperation.
"We want a platform for the better development of domestic non-governmental organizations," Li says.
"Credibility, professionalism, execution and sustainability" are listed as the award standards, and experts, journalists, consultants, legal and financial professionals are invited to vote.
Seven organizations, including the Beijing Cultural Development Center for Rural Women, which provides rural women with education, training and guidance, and Liangshan Yi Nationality Women and Children Development Center, were selected last year. One Foundation gave them 1 million yuan each to support their development.
He attributes his global vision to the experience of traveling abroad when he was very young as a national champion of wushu, an acrobatic form of kung fu.
Born in 1963 in Beijing, Li is the youngest of three boys and two girls. His father died when he was two, and the family struggled.
Li was selected for wushu training when he was eight. Natural talent and hard training earned him five consecutive championships at the Chinese Wushu Games from 1974 to 1978. He began traveling the world with the national team in 1974, and the first stop was the United States.
He still remembers the culture shock. "There was only one kind of ice cream in China, but in America, there were more than 60."
He realized the outside world was different from what he had been taught.
"I asked myself why most of our 'friends' (African countries) were poor while our 'enemy' (America) was so rich?"
His fame came with his debut role in Shaolin Temple, the first Chinese movie in which all the actors practised real martial arts.
It took more than 100 million yuan at the box office at a time when a ticket cost just 0.1 yuan. The obscure temple, in the forests of central Henan Province, also gained fame as the cradle of Chinese kung fu.
However, as leading actor and a national Wushu practitioner, Li earned a daily "salary" of just 1 yuan.
A sense of unfairness that his earning didn't reflect his work persuaded him to migrate to America in 1988.
From 1989 to 1999, he cooperated with Hong Kong directors to make series of movies, playing almost all the famous traditional Chinese kung fu masters (in history or legend), becoming a leading Asian action star.
In his Hollywood debut, he sacrificed his hero image to play a villain for the first time in "Lethal Weapon 4" in 1998.
"Hollywood is such a big market. I think every actor may dream to take part in," he says.
Other hits followed: Romeo Must Die, Cradle 2: The Grave, and Danny the Dog.
In 2002, he starred in Chinese director Zhang Yimou's Hero for a reported 10 million U.S. dollars.
But recently, the icon of Chinese culture fell from grace in the eyes of many of his countrymen when he took Singaporean citizenship. Many critics overlooked the fact that he had taken U.S. nationality 20 years earlier.
"Now I am embracing the earth to look at the world," says Li, stressing his roots. "Mandarin is forever the language I speak best and Jiaozi is always my favorite food."
He insists he does what he thinks is right. He knows the "Philanthropy Awards" selection may be a thankless task, and the public may not appreciate the importance of their work, but he will keep at it.
"My life ended when I was 40 years old as I have nothing to pursue in this world. I need no more money nor fame. The rest of my life I live for the whole world."
Committee of 100 Honoree
I wonder if Jet will show up in person for this.
Martial Arts Actor Jet Li is Committee of 100 Honoree for Individual Achievement in San Francisco
January 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson
JetLiSince he and his family almost lost their lives to the waves of the South Asian tsunami in 2004 while vacationing in the Maldives, Jet Li’s life as one of the world’s most famous martial arts actors took an abrupt turn. Not that he’s given up movies—his recent box office hits include Fearless (2006) and The Forbidden Kingdom (2008, with Jackie Chan)—it’s that he has thrown his wealth and energies behind creating a worldwide philanthropic movement through his One Foundation (). His ambition is nothing less than to create one big family of individual donors who pool their gifts of one dollar or yuan or peso a month to “make sure that the most vulnerable members of our global family will receive the help they need.” Li has launched his foundation in his native China, working with the Red Cross Society of China, to help disaster victims and work on big issues like the environmental protection, health, and education.
Li will be honored for his achievements as both an entertainer and a philanthropist at the Committee’s 19th Annual Conference Gala Awards Dinner in San Francisco. Other special honorees will be two Nobel Laureates, Daniel Tsui and Chen Ning (Franklin) Yang, for Chinese American Distinction. Read about the lives and achievements of these two physicists here.
Conference Preview
Committee members and conference sponsors will celebrate the conference opening on April 7 with a reception at the Asian Art Museum. In February, the Museum will open Shanghai, a special exhibition of art from China’s most cosmopolitan city from 1850 to the present, being held in conjunction with the upcoming Shanghai World Expo. A preview of the exhibition is here.
The public is invited to join the Committee for two days of speakers and panels covering both U.S.-China and Asian American issues. Among the speakers and panels already confirmed are:
Keynote Speakers
Dominic Barton, Managing Director, McKinsey
Gene Huang, Chief Economist, FedEx
Lip-Bu Tan, Chairman, Walden International Investing Group
Educating the Next Generation of World Leaders
Gu Binglin, President of Tsinghua University
John Hennessey, President of Stanford University
Henry T. Yang, Chancellor, University of California at Santa Barbara
Zhou Qifeng, President of Peking University
Asian American Politics: Are We Where We Should Be?
David Chiu, President, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Lawrence Low, Partner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Frank H. Wu, Dean and Chancellor-Elect, University of California Hastings School of Law
Crystal Ball for Innovation
Jerry Yang, Co-Founder, Yahoo!
30-minute chat
oh to be a fly on the wall for that conversation…
China film star Jet Li to meet Gates, Buffett
(AFP) – 8 hours ago
BEIJING — Chinese film star Jet Li said on Tuesday he would meet Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to chat about charity work ahead of a banquet for China’s uber-rich hosted by the US philanthropists this month.
Li, a philanthropist himself who was speaking at a press briefing where he was named a Red Cross Goodwill Ambassador, confirmed he had been invited to the dinner on September 29, but initially refused due to his busy schedule.
“Three days ago, I received an email from Gates, hoping I could make time because he and Buffett hoped I could go for a 30-minute chat before the dinner about the future we face as human beings, so I will go,” Li said.
Gates and Buffett have convinced 40 wealthy individuals and their families in the United States to hand over more than half of their fortunes to a good cause as part of a project launched in June.
They plan to learn about China’s approach to philanthropy at the banquet in Beijing, and have stressed they will not pressure any of the Asian nation’s super-rich to give to charity. But the response has reportedly been lukewarm.
Li, who founded his own charity One Foundation in 2006, encouraged people to give money or time for a good cause but said his homeland was a newcomer to the charity business.
“China’s real development has only happened in the past 10 years,” he said, adding the United States had 100 years of experience in philanthropy.
Li also called on the US film industry to give more to charity.
Sad news
I’m surprised he can’t just move it out of China. He has the international clout to do so.
Jet Li’s One Foundation may not last
Thu, Sep 16, 2010
China Daily/Asia News Network
By Zuo Likun
Three years into the One Foundation founded by actor-turned-philanthropist Jet Li, the charity itself is in need of help. Its private status prevents it from direct public fundraising.
The One Foundation, in Li’s words, is “a kid without an identity”. It has operated as a partnership with the official Red Cross Society of China, but that is about to end this year. Without the contract, the foundation will face legal restrictions collecting money..
Li’s announcement on Sunday during an interview with China Central TV that the nascent charity could be suspended sparked an immediate debate on similar situations faced by many of China’s private charity groups. Li’s distress about the charity’s fate was obvious.
But according to Wednesday’s Legal Evening News, a supervisor surnamed Ye at One Foundation said the foundation is running as usual and its contracts with Red Cross would continue. She said Li’s words shouldn’t be misinterpreted as a sign that the foundation is giving up, but rather they should be interpreted as an alarm call on the shared plight of private charity groups in China.
Maybe he’s just giving up doing it himself and focusing on representing others.
Jet Li to be first-ever International Red Cross Ambassador
By Liang Kaixin | Posted: 22 September 2010 1516 hrs
SINGAPORE: China-born actor Jet Li has been appointed to be the first-ever Goodwill Ambassador for the International Red Cross.
His appointment is an extension of a three-year partnership between Li’s One Foundation and the Red Cross Society of China.
The One Foundation, which supports international disaster relief efforts, has a private status which prevents it from direct public fundraising.
It has been able to raise money through its collaboration with the Red Cross.
Questions over the future of the partnership had led to speculation that the foundation was in trouble and may have to be shut down.
But Li confirmed this was not true.
"The first thing I did was apologise to Red Cross, our benefactor. It’s been three years since One Foundation was created and both Red Cross and I have yet to receive a both-party termination written notice.
“So we have automatically renewed our contract, for another three years,” he said.
Hongmen Banquet
I wonder what they are serving.
Banquet is ‘a test of Chinese rich’
08:03, September 29, 2010
Amid the weeks-long buzz created by the visit of US billionaire philanthropists Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the most pressing question is: Guess who’s coming to dinner on Wednesday evening?
Beijing Chateau Laffitte Hotel, a European-style lodging house in the north suburbs of the city, is reported to be hosting the Chinese and American super-rich guests starting at 5 pm.
Details of the “private gathering” between the Chinese rich and two of the richest Americans remained mostly secret. The attendees are still unknown.
The banquet - dubbed by local media as the Hongmen Banquet, a historical anecdote indicating a feast or meeting set up as a trap for the invited - has ignited a fierce debate on the merits and difficulty of philanthropy and charity for the country’s newly wealthy.
Only a few of the 50 Chinese billionaires on the invitation list have publicly answered the call, with names including “China’s No 1 philanthropist” Chen Guangbiao, CEO of Jiangsu Huangpu Recycling Resources Co Ltd, who is worth an estimated $440 million according to last year’s Hurun rich list.
Also among the confirmed names are dairy giant Niu Gensheng, kungfu movie actor Jet Li, car maker Wang Chuanfu, real estate developer Zhang Xin, glass maker Cao Dewang and e-commerce titan Ma Yun.
China is second to the United States in number of billionaires.
But many of the Chinese titans invited to the dinner have been slow to respond to the event due to their fears of being pressured to donate.
Property developer Wang Jianlin has shunned the invitation, saying it is more important to build a stronger company to help more Chinese people than donating money now.
Software magnate Gates and investment baron Buffett insisted in a letter to Xinhua News Agency earlier this month that they will not pressure China’s super-rich to give away their money at the banquet.
The two, who have succeeded in calling on 40 wealthy individuals and their families - including CNN founder Ted Turner and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg - to hand over more than half of their fortunes this June, said they hope simply to learn about China’s approach to philanthropy on Sept 29.
Whatever the approach, the timing is good for Chinese rich to put their wealth back into society, experts say. China’s Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, has been above the 0.4 benchmark since 2000, an alarming level that is far above most industrial countries’ levels between 0.24 and 0.36.
“With the gap between the rich and poor becoming wider, charity is an excellent and voluntary way to redistribute wealth,” said Zhou Qing’an, a researcher with Tsinghua University.
Giving is not new to the Chinese rich.
In 2009, charity donations reached about 33.27 billion yuan ($ 4.89 billion), with nearly 60 percent of the donations from businesses, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The top 50 philanthropists donated nearly 3.9 billion yuan in total last year, according to the 2009 Hurun Philanthropy List, four times the figure from six years ago.
But the environment is not ready in China for rich people to donate large sums of their fortune, where the progress is mainly led by the government and driven by the public, said Wang Zhenyao, director of the Center for Philanthropy Research at Beijing Normal University.
Donations from rich people are still not popular in China, partly because of their fears that their fortunes will be exposed, and because China’s charity systems are still underdeveloped.
“The banquet is not only a test of the Chinese rich, but also a test to our charity environment and system,” Wang said.
Chinese rich people cast doubt on the transparency of charity operations. For example, very few of the country’s growing number of charity organizations and foundations offer feedback to the donors or publish the money flow, said Wang.
Movie star Jet Li told Reuters on Tuesday that China needs a philanthropy law in order to give reassurances to would-be donors.
Li’s One Foundation, a partner with the Red Cross Society of China, has been unable to get government approval to set up as an independent charity.
“Creating a foundation in China is just like driving a car on the freeway, but there are no red or green lights, only yellow. I’ve been driving through yellow lights for three years, and don’t know if the next one will be red or green,” he said.
The follow-up
Oh to have been a fly on the wall for that gathering.
Gates, Buffett Say China Charity Meeting a Success
By MICHAEL WINES
Published: September 30, 2010
BEIJING — After a night of wining and dining 50 of China’s richest people in the name of promoting philanthropy, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates told a horde of journalists on Thursday that the biggest difference between eating with Chinese tycoons and Western ones was the food.
Thus ended the two billionaires’ mission to promote charity in China, a journey which provoked weeks of breathless speculation here about whether this nation’s much-resented class of super-rich was too miserly to measure up to Western philanthropic standards.
At a news conference, Messrs. Buffett and Gates said the answer was an emphatic “no.”
“I was amazed last night, really, at how similar the questions and discussions and all that was to the dinners we had in the U.S.,” said Mr. Buffett, who had wisecracked about the food. “The same motivations tend to exist. The mechanism for manifesting those motivations may differ from country to country.”
Mr. Buffett and Mr. Gates, two of the best known and most admired Westerners here, announced last month that they planned to invite 50 wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs to dinner in Beijing to encourage philanthropy among this nation’s newly minted rich. The mission became the object of feverish news coverage — and something of a litmus test of Chinese generosity — after it was reported that some tycoons were turning down the invitation because they feared they would be pressed to donate money.
The two men have made headlines worldwide for enlisting Western tycoons in a public promise to give away their fortunes either during their lifetimes or in bequests after their deaths. To date, 40 people have taken the pledge, and at least one Chinese multimillionaire has said he will join them.
On Thursday, the two men pronounced the dinner an unqualified success, saying that two-thirds of those who were invited had shown up, and that more than half of those at the dinner had offered their own ideas on how Chinese philanthropy should work.
The guest list was not made public, but Chinese news media reported that it included Jet Li, the film star; Niu Gensheng, the founder of a Chinese dairy business; and Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, who control the SOHO China real estate empire.
As with four earlier dinners held in the United States, Mr. Buffett and Mr. Gates said, no one at the Beijing event was asked to donate money or make any promise to engage in charity. While they have made follow-up telephone calls to some previous dinner guests, Mr. Buffett said, “Bill and I will not be calling anybody. What happens in China will depend on what the Chinese people feel about a project of this sort.”
China is widely reported to be second only to the United States in the number of dollar billionaires. Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffett said the nation is unique in that its wealthy class has arisen almost wholly in the last 30 years, so philanthropic practices that are entrenched among European and American dynasties are new here, and open to change.
“What you have is a first generation of fortune,” Mr. Gates said, “and it’s natural they they’re thinking through, in this society in particular, ‘What do you do?’ ”
The two said the dinner with China’s superrich was not a long-planned matter, but an offshoot of a trip that Mr. Buffett had already scheduled to Guangdong and Hunan provinces, where BYD Company, a fast-growing maker of clean-energy automobiles, has factories. Mr. Buffett’s investment conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, holds a 10-percent stake in the company.
“Bill and I did not sit down, take a map of the world, and say, ‘We’re going to go to that one and that one and that one,’ ” Mr. Buffett said.
But Mr. Gates suggested that their philanthropic globetrotting was not yet over. “We may do an event in India,” he said.
Jet fighting back?
This is becoming an interesting study of charity in PRC
Jet Li makes bid to save One Foundation
* Source: Global Times
* [08:20 November 08 2010]
By Huang Shaojie
Charity organization One Foundation (OF) will continue its push for public foundation status, said program founder Jet Li on Saturday. His comment follows the recent move to phase out Li’s association with the foundation he helped establish in 2008.
The Chinese-Singaporean movie star made the statement at an OF awards ceremony Saturday, when the program endowed 13 grass roots charity organizations across the country, six of which received 1 million yuan ($150,263) each.
Their bid for their legal right to independently carry out public fundraising is being submitted to government agencies, Li told reporters at the ceremony.
“We are working on it,” Li said, refusing to go into detail about the application process that, if successful, will change the organization’s official status from a charity initiative under the administration of Red Cross Society of China (Red Cross) to a public foundation, allowing them more flexibility to operate.
Due to lacking an independent bank account and other unspecified legal issues, OF was prevented from carrying out its initiative, “One Yuan, Each Person, Every Month,” which gave China’s 700 million mobile phone users a chance to pledge at least one yuan a month through text messages.
Li’s program will continue even though there is no guaranteeing when, if ever, its foundation status will be granted, he told reporters on Saturday.
Donation brothers
1 yuan at a time can’t compete with millionaires
09:17, November 09, 2010
China needs more prominent charitable entrepreneurs and former government officials to promote philanthropic causes, film star Li Lianjie, better known as Jet Li, and former civil affairs official Wang Zhenyao jointly stressed in a news conference held in Beijing Normal University on Saturday.
Li is the founder of the One Foundation ( a NGO aiming to help poor and disabled people) and now the director-general of Beijing Normal University’s Philanthropic Research Institute, while Wang was once head of the Department of Social Welfare and Charity Promotion at the Ministry of Civil Affairs and is now the head of the institute.
“It’s not difficult to raise money, but it’s difficult to spend every penny effectively, since we must be responsible for our donators,” Li said.
Li highlighted that China should learn from experienced foreign NGOs, studying useful models and applying them to China. “This can help us find shortcuts. It needs time and adjustment. We can’t take three years to go through a process that took a century in the West. But we could manage it in 30 years,” Li said.
Many aspects of charity work need to be improved, including building up professional staff and establishing philanthropic networks, said Wang.
Wang suggested philanthropic courses should attract more former government officials such as himself. “Former government officials are invisible treasures, who will bring more public appeal and funds to these courses,” Wang said.
Li used his experiences to prove Wang’s point. He said he participated in a party organized by former US President Bill Clinton’s eponymous foundation last year.
“When rich men had a chance to shook hands with Clinton, they would donate at least $1 million,” Li said.
“The One Foundation encourages people to denote one yuan ($0.15). How could it compete with Clinton’s foundation? I’ve built up a network of donators, including former British PM Tony Blair, whom I refer to as brothers. We can be like members of one family.”
…but every little bit helps. After all, it’s not a competition, is it?
Shenzhen
Looks like a good resolution to the issue.
Jet Li’s One Foundation turns into independent public fund-raising organization
English.news.cn 2011-01-12 16:41:36
by Xinhua writers Wu Chen and Wu Caixia
SHENZHEN, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) – The One Foundation, begun by Kung Fu star Jet Li, has ended its cooperation with the Red Cross Society of China and announced the establishment of an independent public fund-raising foundation here on Tuesday.
This is the first case that a non-governmental foundation affiliated with a government-run organization has successfully been transformed into a public fund-raising organization.
Experts say this is a great step forward in China’s social organizations management system reform and shows the support of the Chinese government in the development of NGOs.
The Jet Li One Foundation had been operating as a special program under the Red Cross Society of China, since China does not have laws or regulations which allow the establishment of non-governmental public fund-raising foundations.
Wang Rupeng, spokesman for the Red Cross Society of China, says the One Foundation, under his organization, raised more than 190 million yuan (nearly 29 million U.S. dollars) in the past three years and distributed some 140 million yuan to different philanthropic projects.
Actually, many individuals or NGOs choose to cooperate with foundations or organizations run, or partly run, by the government, in order to receive permission to raise money from the public. For example, more than 40 “foundations” are currently under the organizational umbrella of the Chinese Red Cross Foundation.
However, Jet Li complained that the One Foundation had little say in deciding on the use of money it had raised. According to his plan, his foundation sought to focus more on supporting domestic grass-roots NGOs, which lack both money and professionals, while the Red Cross Society of China is an organization paying more attention to disaster relief.
Li has been trying hard to apply to establish an independent public-raising foundation.
And this is a common problem faced by Chinese NGOs when establishing public fund-raising foundations. Further, a lack of transparency by NGOs is another concern of the government.
In recent years, especially after the devastating Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008, Chinese NGOs have been developing rapidly, in terms of both quantity and quality, according to Wang Zhenyao, director of the Beijing Normal University One Foundation Philanthropy Research Institute.
The government has seen this development and has started to encourage the expansion of NGOs, says Wang Zhenyao, who is also a retired official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
China started a trial project in Shenzhen, China’s first special economic zone, to advance the reform of the civil affairs system in July 2009, which allowed the city’s authorities to approve the creation of public fund-raising foundations. In the past, only the Ministry of Civil Affairs had this authority.
Liu Runhua, director of the Shenzhen Civil Affairs Bureau, says they invited the One Foundation to register in Shenzhen while knowing the obstacles it has been confronted by.
Finally, the Shenzhen One Foundation successfully registered on Dec. 3, 2010.
Besides Jet Li, most of the 11 members on the council of the Shenzhen One Foundation are top Chinese entrepreneurs, including Tencent CEO Ma Huateng and Alibaba Group CEO Ma Yun. Economist Zhou Qiren was selected as director of the council and Vanke Chairman Wang Shi is acting as the executive director.
Wang Rupeng says, at the request by One Foundation, the Red Cross Society of China will audit One Foundation’s financial records and the rest of the fund and ongoing projects will be transferred to the Shenzhen One Foundation.
Wang Shi noted that the newly established foundation will continue its original projects, including philanthropic funding to grass-roots NGOs, training professionals and assisting with disaster relief.
It will also develop new projects according to the demands of the public.
“A development strategy in the upcoming three years will be discussed at the next council meeting, which will be held no later than early March,” said Wang Shi during an exclusive interview with Xinhua.
Wang Zhenyao says the establishment of the Shenzhen One Foundation is a milestone for the development of China’s NGOs.
“It is a breakthrough in the system and can be copied by other organizations,” Wang Zhenyao says.
Ma Hong, director of the Shenzhen NGO administration bureau, says the door to registering public fund-raising foundations is now open to all NGOs.
However, it does not mean many of them will be approved in the short term, she says.
“We have to evaluate them properly and make approvals when they meet the standards,” Ma says, adding that credibility and transparency are critical for the development of NGOs.
Wang Shi says the successful experience of the establishment of the Shenzhen One Foundation includes transparency, professionalism and following rules and regulations.
“Other NGOs may learn from it,” he says.
Jet on the move
Never mind Expendables 2, Jet’s been on the move since his recent U.S. trip.
Jet Li calls for transparency among charities
Updated: 2011-09-11 18:08
(Xinhua)
HANGZHOU - Charities should build up their own professional teams and promote transparency in management, said Jet Li, famous Chinese kung fu star and founder of the One Foundation, on Saturday.
Li noted that there is insufficient legislation over the philanthropic sector in China.
“The lack of professionals and transparency has hampered the development of charities in China,” he said during the 8th Netrepreneurs Conference in East China’s Zhejiang Province.
“I almost died in the 2004 tsunami. I don’t know when I will be close to death again, so I set up the foundation,” Li said.
The One Foundation was founded in 2006 in Chinese mainland. It initially operated as a special program under the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC), but the cooperation ended in January.
Since the cooperation with the RCSC ended, the One Foundation has become the first non-governmental foundation affiliated with a government-run organization to successfully transition into a public fund-raising organization.
The RCSC recently came under fire after a woman named Guo Meimei, who claims to be affiliated with the society, posted photos of her lavish lifestyle to her microblog.
People in online communities speculated that her extravagant purchases may have been funded by money embezzled from the RCSC, showing public demand for information disclosure by charities.
The ONE & Project vision
Follow the link for a vid
Jet Li’s One Foundation Helps Elderly Beat Cataracts
Created: Jan 18 2012
Martial arts movie star Jet Li celebrates charity work carried out under Project Vision at an event in Hong Kong.
Li is a survivor of the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami. After the tragedy Li set up the One Foundation, specializing in philanthropy and disaster relief. The name comes from the fact that it encourages supporters to donate one dollar per month. Project Vision is run by Li’s organization to help elderly people in mainland China and Hong Kong to get surgery for cataracts.
[Jet Li, Martial Arts Actor, One Foundation Chairman]:
“After Project Vision started I was very excited, having this feeling of knowing who the money we donate goes to, knowing that this money can help a cataracts sufferer and can help them see clearly again. I feel very moved that in Hong Kong, in just several decades, I could have mastered the art of making movies and also mastered the art of charitable giving. This is a mighty city, it is the pride of the world.”
Li’s organization funds the operations for people older than 65 who have low incomes. He says one operation can make a difference to the patient’s entire family.
[Jet Li, Martial Arts Actor, One Foundation Chairman]:
“When the children and family members of 200 cataracts sufferers are added together it amounts to around two thousand people, so I hope that all of the friends who hear this, from all over the world, Chinese people all over the world will support this activity.”
Patients who had received free operations were at the event to thank Li and support the work of his foundation.
Jett Rules! 
crap
Contra Costa County…that’s our 'hood.
Women gets 6 1/2 years for theft from One Foundation
Bob Egelko
Thursday, May 24, 2012
A Contra Costa County woman with a long criminal record and a history of disruptions while in custody has been sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison for stealing $94,325 from a charity.
Sharee Hall, 34, of Rodeo was convicted by a jury in October of defrauding One Foundation, a charity founded by actor Jet Li. She has been in jail since her arrest in March 2011. Her sentence, imposed Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg, includes an order of reimbursement to the charity.
Prosecutors said Hall transferred the money from One Foundation’s bank account to her account at an Oakland bank in January 2009. Hall denied stealing the money and blamed a girlfriend, who she said had access to her account.
Prosecutors sought a 10-year sentence for Hall and argued that she was responsible for more than $678,000 in losses to the foundation. Her lawyers asked for a sentence of less than 6 years and noted that the jury had acquitted her of additional charges.
Hall had 13 previous felony convictions for crimes that included burglary, forgery and fraud. At one point during pretrial proceedings, prosecutors said, she refused to leave the courtroom, claimed she was bleeding and pulled down her pants before marshals carried her off. At another point, prosecutors said, Hall said she would kill herself unless her trial started in three days, a threat she did not carry out.
Those incidents, and past disruptions in prison, were evidence of Hall’s “unstable mental condition,” her lawyer, George Boisseau, said in a court filing. In another filing last week, he said Hall was unable to rationally discuss her upcoming sentencing and was “obsessed with issues which have little bearing on sentencing.”
Psychologists examined her twice before the trial and found she was mentally competent.