Chen Shu-chu

Chen Shu-chu

Chen Shu-chu (陳樹菊; Chén Shùjú; born 1951) is a retired Taiwanese vegetable vendor. She is known for her generosity with her modest income. She was selected as one of Time 100 for the year 2010 in the Heroes category, one of the 48 heroes of Philanthropy by Forbes Asia, winner of the 2010 Asian of the year by Reader's Digest and one of the recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for the year 2012.

Quotes

• Life is short. We are born with no material possessions and shall die the same way. Money is only useful when it is in the hands of people in need.
  • Chen Shu-chu (2018) cited in "Vendor makes hospitals beneficiaries" on Taipei Times, 10 October 2018.

• Everyone can do it. It's not just me. It's not how much money you make that matters, but how you use your money.
• I don't see money as being that important. After all, you can't bring it with you when you start a new life, and you can't take it with you when you leave this life.
• I feel I owe people a lot. I feel I have to make more money to help others. I feel very happy after donating money. I feel like I've done something right. It's a feeling that comes from the inside. It makes me so happy that I smile when I go to bed.
• My wish is that I can work till the day I collapse.
  • Quoted by BBC News (2014)

• I never understood why they chose me [for the Time 100]. I’m just a regular, insignificant vegetable vendor ... There are countless people who are more famous than me, and who have donated 10, 20, or even 100 times more money than me.
  • Quoted in her biography, Sensational Kindness (2011)

• I never told anyone about what I was doing because it was my personal business. All of a sudden, everybody knows.
  • Quoted by Taipei Times (2023)

• I never thought this could happen to me.
  • Said at an event celebrating the renaming of an asteroid discovered by Lulin Observatory after her (2018)

• For me, the best way to live my life is to complete what I want to do. As I am grateful to my mother for giving birth to me, but regret that she lost her life while in labor, I just want to help pregnant women who need financial support to make sure they are safe while giving birth.
  • Said at the ceremony celebrating her NT$15 million (US$537,095) donation to the Taitung County Government to set up a fund to lower maternal mortality (2021)

• There isn't much to talk about, because I did not enter any competition. I haven't really made any huge donations.
  • In response to being included on the TIME 100 list (2010)

• Spend only what you need, and you’ll be able to save a lot!
• I love my work. If I didn’t, would I be able to work 16 hours a day?
• I do not socialize much, hence there is no need for beautiful clothes. The clothes from the roadside stalls are good enough for me, and even then, I like to bargain.
• Business is as usual. I still need to sell my vegetables, not much has changed.
• My philosophy in life is simple: If doing something makes you worried, then it must be a wrong thing. If it makes you happy, then you must have done the right thing. What others say is not important.
  • Quoted in Reader's Digest (2010)

Quotes About Chen Shu-chu

• What's so wonderful about Chen's achievement is not its extraordinariness but that it is so simple and matter-of-fact in its generosity. ...of all she has given away, her greatest gift is her example.
  • Ang Lee, Academy Award-winning director