Grassroots philanthropist Chen Shu-chu (陳樹菊) was presented with an honorary doctorate by National Taitung University (NTTU) on Saturday for her humanitarian contributions.
Chen, a vegetable vendor at Central Market in Taitung City for more than half a century before she retired in 2018, gained fame in Taiwan when she was named as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2010 for her philanthropy.
She started her career after elementary school to help raise her younger siblings after her mother died during childbirth. Chen later became affectionately known as Grandma Shu-chu, because of her generous and substantial donations.
Photo: CNA
Chen received her degree with NTTU alumni at a graduation ceremony held at the university’s Chihpen campus.
She was introduced by Taitung County Deputy Commissioner Wang Chih-hui (王志輝), who cited her as an example of human love transcending technological advancement.
Technological advancements pale in comparison to the true intelligence displayed by Chen through her philanthropy, even though she is only an elementary-school graduate, he said.
Chen said she felt a little uneasy about the honorary degree, given that she was always at the bottom of her class during her school years.
She thanked NTTU faculty and students for the recognition, as well as her parents and grandmother for instilling in her proper morals, values and mental fortitude.
Chen encouraged students who attended the graduation ceremony to be confident and to bravely take on life’s obstacles, saying that every person would experience difficult times, but whether one follows a dark or bright path is a decision each person has to make for themselves, and for which they are responsible.
Chen’s years of philanthropy have garnered her worldwide recognition throughout the years. Although she worked as a humble vegetable vendor, she was extremely generous when donating to people in need and to charitable foundations, and her philanthropy has extended from education to healthcare and social wellness.
Following her late father’s wishes after his passing, she donated NT$1 million (US$33,410) to the Fo Guang Buddhist Academy in 1993. Then in 1997, she donated NT$1 million to her alma mater, Jen-ai Elementary School and made another NT$4.5 million donation in 2005 to the school for a library.
Chen went on to donate life insurance policies in 2018 worth NT$16 million to the Taitung Christian Hospital and the Mackay Memorial Hospital Taitung Branch.
The policies were used to create the “Ms. Chen Shu-chu Medical Fund for Underprivileged and Cancer Patients,” which would use the funds it would get posthumously to provide medical care for underprivileged people.
Chen in 2021 donated more life insurance policies, which were worth NT$15 million, to the Taitung County Government for the creation of a “Child Birth and Emergency Relief Fund” to ensure the safe birth of future generations.
She is also supporting three abandoned children through the Christian Kids Alive International Association by pledging an annual NT$36,000 donation to the organization.
Chen was listed eighth in the Time 100 in 2010. She was also recognized as one of Forbes’ “48 Heroes of Philanthropy” and was named Reader’s Digest’s “Asian of the Year” that year.
Chen was also selected as the Philippines’ annual Ramon Magsaysay Award winner in 2012, an accolade which came with a US$50,000 prize that the philanthropist gave to the Mackay Memorial Hospital’s Taitung Branch.
The most permanent of her honors was arguably in 2018, when Lulin Observatory in Nantou County received approval from the International Astronomical Union to name asteroid 278986, which the observatory discovered in 2008, as “Chenshuchu,” after the philanthropist.
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