Bill Gates and his wife jointly decided to donate all their property to a charity foundation. [Photo: Xinhua]

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, decided to donate all his property of 58 billion dollars to a charity foundation, rather than letting his son and daughter inherit the money. Gates hopes he can repay the society in this positive way. His philanthropic spirit attracted much attention.

Let's follow the media to take a closer look.

Guang Zhou Daily carried an opinion saying that under the influence of charity culture, Gates believes people should create wealth themselves. It is shameful to inherit huge amount of property without having to work hard, and it is disgraceful to die while still owning so much wealth. Gates not only showed a new way to deal with personal wealth but also a new conception of inheritance. Meanwhile, donations to charity foundations will reduce social economic disparities.

Another article in Guang Zhou Daily comments that there is still a large gap between Gates and the wealthy in China. The charity culture in China and also the organizations are not so mature yet. In China, a great number of the wealthy do not agree with Gates' way of handling personal wealth. There are also no related measures or rules to encourage charity donations such as tax reduction for donations.

An article on Dahe Daily raised three points in a discussion about Gates' donation. One is how to form the correct understanding of wealth. Second is how to look at intergenerational transfer of wealth and lastly, how to make sure charity donations are used properly. Large amount of individual wealth carries with it responsibilities and obligations for the society. The article says leaving enormous property to later generations is not the most positive way to repay the society. For all this, we should better promote the concept of charity and also built charity organizations with more independence and transparency.