YANG Deguang, former president of Shanghai Normal University, was honored as a model philanthropist with yesterday’s announcement that he had won the 10th China Charity Award.

The award, established in 2005 by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, is the most prestigious honor for companies, organizations and individuals making contributions to national charity work.

Yang, 78, was cited for his efforts in sponsoring students from impoverished families.

“I was born into a poor farm family in Jiangsu Province, and I received a lot of help from others during my school years,” Yang said. “So it was natural for me to want to give something back to society.”

Yang remembers the mother of a friend who helped him carry firewood he cut in the hills back to his home when he was a primary school student. In middle school, his head teacher arranged for him to get a place in the school dorm after seeing his five family members squeezed into a small house.

In high school, one of his classmates took him out to eat in a restaurant twice a month and bought him milk for a whole year, while another invited him to live in his home when the school dorm was renovated.

Yang began paying back by tutoring classmates who had difficulties. At Shanghai’s East China Normal University, he always volunteered to live in dorm rooms facing north, leaving the warmer southern rooms to others.

He saved his meal tickets and put them under the pillows of roommates who needed them.

He worked in Shanghai Higher Education Bureau, Shanghai University and Shanghai Normal University, where he retired as president.

He began philanthropic work in 2004, donating to an educational foundation, a charity and tree-planting projects at Shanghai Normal University. He has given more than 150,000 yuan (US$ 22,000).

On his 70th birthday in 2010, he announced the gift of 3 million yuan to sponsor impoverished students. One million yuan came from his savings; the remainder came from the sale of one of his apartments. The money helps more than 200 students each year.

In 2012, he raised 2 million yuan from his friends, many of whom are entrepreneurs, to start a nutritious lunch program for poor primary school students in Gansu and Sichuan provinces. In the past five years, the program has fed more than 4,000 students.

In 2013, Yang raised another 1.5 million yuan and started a program to subsidize 32 impoverished students with outstanding academic records every year.

Under the program, he and his children, students and friends each sponsors one student from primary school to university.

The donors include his colleagues, Professor Weng Minhua, and her husband. When Weng was diagnosed with cancer, Yang asked her if she would like to quit the program because she needed money for treatment. She declined.

Yang’s philanthropic spirit has inspired many people to open their hearts and pocketbooks. His Sunshine Charity Foundation, set up in 2014, has received more than 3 million yuan in donations from over 200 individuals and enterprises. He also gives half of his pension to charity every year.

The foundation launched a program in 2016 to sponsor 300 outstanding high school students in impoverished areas. About 600 students have benefited from the program, each receiving 2,000 yuan.

Yang has also been active in promoting afforestation. He spent three years helping turn Shanghai Normal University into a garden campus by planting trees.

“How can we cultivate people without cultivating trees?” he asked.

From 2015 to 2017, he organized eight tree planting projects involving more than 100,000 willows in Baoshan, Chongming, Qingpu and Fengxian districts.

He is now working on a program to help middle school graduates in western China seek free vocational education in Shanghai. The first group of 36 students is due to come to Shanghai soon.

“After graduation, they can look for jobs in Shanghai and raise their families here,” he said.

A pair of brothers are but two of the beneficiaries of Yang’s largesse. Their mother used to be a cleaner at Shanghai Normal University and their father was a security guard there.

Two years ago, the mother met Yang and told him that her elder son Jiang Dongdong was at Shanghai University but was considering giving up due to the economic conditions of the family.

Yang gave Jiang 10,000 yuan and encouraged him to continue his studies in technology. Jiang has been admitted into Tongji University, where he will seek a doctoral degree in aeronautics and astronautics.

His younger brother Jiang Luchun was a bachelor’s degree student at Beijing Jiao Tong University. Yang gave him 10,000 yuan, and the young man has now been admitted to Shanghai Jiao Tong University for graduate studies in mechanical engineering.

“President Yang is so kind,” said Jiang Dongdong. “Every time we visit him, he cooks for us and introduces us to his students and friends. We will study hard and try to become better people, just like him.”

Though Yang is generous to others, he is spartan in his own life.

He cooks himself simple meals and disdains the sumptuous banquets usually befitting a man of his stature. He says frugal living frees up more funds for people in need.

“Many people have asked me why I don’t leave my apartment and money to my son and daughter,” Yang said.

“Of course, I could make my children’s life richer if I bequeathed my assets to them, but helping those in need is much more meaningful. Both of my children have stable work and can get along on their own. I will bequeath them spiritual wealth.”