Society

Man challenges Gates, Buffett banquet with his own

By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-09-29 11:30

A Beijing resident is organizing a philanthropic banquet at a place near where US billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are hosting theirs on Wednesday night, Beijing Times reported Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the man drove his minivan with a banner in Chinese saying, "Common people's philanthropy is challenging Gates, Buffett banquet," near a Bird's Nest-area hotel, where he believes the billionaires' banquet will be held.

The Beijing resident organizing the common people's philanthropic banquet stands by his minivan near a hotel where US billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett will host theirs, Sept 28, 2010. [Photo/Beijing Times]

Philanthropy should be taken up by more common people and should not be an activity only for the rich, said the website designer who calls himself Lao Wu.

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He said more than 30 people including folk artists, professors and doctors have applied to attend his banquet since he posted his plan online.

Attendees to his banquet will mainly discuss how to promote charity work among common people and will not be required to donate.

The banquet will be hosted at the same time as Gates and Buffett's at a place not far from the billionaires' hotel, and attendees will split the costs.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are in China for a three-day visit which was described by some local media as the "Hongmen Banquet", a feast set up as a trap for the guests, as earlier reports said the two US billionaires would lobby wealthy Chinese guests to give up their wealth.

The two billionaires have said in an open letter that they do not intend to force anyone to give up their wealth and only want to share their thoughts on philanthropy with China's richest, but half of those invited declined the invitation, Beijing Morning Post reported.