Chen Shu-chu

Shu-chu Chen graduated from Jen-Ai elementary school at Taitung City, Taiwan. She lived in a household of eight who were all dependent on her father, a vegetable vendor. Her mother died due to obstructed labour because the family could not afford the medical expenses. Her youngest brother died in 1969 from influenza. Shu-chu took over the burden of earning a living so her older brother could go to college. Her second youngest brother later died from a traffic accident.

After her father died in 1993, Shu-chu donated NT$1 million to Fo Guang Buddhist Academy. In 1997, she donated NT$1 million to her alma mater, Jen-Ai elementary school.[1] Since she could not afford to go to school as a child, she wanted to help more children to receive better education. She then donated NT$4.5 million to Jen-Ai elementary school to build its own library.

Shu-chu adopted three abandoned kids at the Christian KidsAlive International Association,[2] and donates NT$36,000 to the organization every year.

In 2018 Shu-chu Chen was invited to attend the flag-raising ceremony during the National Day of the Republic of China held by Taitung City Government. In the ceremony, she announced that she had donated her two life insurance policies to East-based Medical Foundation Taitung Christian Hospital and Mackay Memorial Hospital Taitung Branch to set up "Ms. Chen Shu-chu Medical Fund for Poor and Cancer Patients" and "Ms. Chen Shu-chu Medical Fund for Charities", respectively. The two insurance policies are worth NT$16,000,000. The money will be paid by the insurer upon the death of Chen Shu-Chu.

Chen is a Buddhist and a vegetarian.

She had donated nearly NT$10 million (that's $320,000) to various causes, including $32,000 for a children's fund, $144,000 to help build a library at a school she attended and another $32,000 for the local orphanage.[3]

Chen, Shu-chu: Extraordinary Generosity is a biography of Shu-chu Chen written by Yung-yi Liu. The writer spent about half a year interviewing Shu-chu.

She was selected as one of the Time 100 for year 2010 in the heroes category.[4]

She was also one of the 48 heroes of philanthropy by Forbes in 2010.[5] Reader's Digest also honoured her as the winner of 2010 Asian of the year.[6] In 2012, she was selected as a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner.[7] In 2018, the asteroid 278986 Chenshuchu was named for her.[8]