Ningbo's Anonymous Donor Has Given 19 Million Yuan Over 28 Years, and No One Knows Who It Is
The Ningbo Charity Federation received a 1.11-million-yuan donation signed “其自” — the twenty-eighth straight year from the same anonymous donor, now 19.07 million yuan in total, all of it for student aid, and the identity has never been revealed.
A 1.11-million-yuan donation arrived at the Ningbo Charity Federation on Monday morning, and the name written next to it was not a name. It read “其自” — the latest variation of a pen name the federation has been receiving money under since 1999. This is the twenty-eighth straight year, and the running total is now 19.07 million yuan.
The federation knows the money; it does not know the person. The gifts arrive each year between November and early December, and they are almost always earmarked for student aid. The signature changes from year to year — “顺其自然” one year, “其自” another — but the donation has never come with a call, a message, or a claim, and the federation's records show the donor's identity has remained unknown through it all.
Doing good and leaving no trace is a centuries-old ideal in Chinese philanthropy, drawn from Buddhist and Confucian teaching that charity should be done quietly. But this donor has done something more than stay silent: the giving has been steady enough to be a planning tool for a specific institution, arriving every year without a name, a press release, or a photo.
In a Chinese philanthropy scene that has grown fast and messy — a Shanghai couple left their home to charity and found that selling it would cost 4.5 million yuan in taxes — the Ningbo case shows a quieter, more institutional counterpart. It is not a splash of a gift; it is a recurring one.
The story is also a reminder that not everything trending on Chinese social media is a celebrity fight. Two separate “顺其自然” items appeared on Monday's Baidu board, one at rank 27 and one at rank 46, and the federation's update on the 28th gift was picked up by local outlets. Xinwanbao's account of the tally on Weibo records the twenty-eight consecutive annual gifts totalling 19.07 million yuan.
Another 1.11 million yuan has been absorbed into the student aid fund, and the next November's envelope is already being counted on — whoever signs it.