A humble vegetable seller in Taiwan, Ms Chen Shu-chu, has
won worldwide recognition for living a life devoid of luxuries so
that others less fortunate than her can live a better life. In
March this last year 2010, Forbes magazine named her one of 48
outstanding philanthropists from the Asia-Pacific region. A month
later, Time magazine selected her as one of 2010’s top 100
influential and she emerged under the Heroes of Philanthropy
category. And she has been selected as the winner of the Reader’s
Digest’s Asian of the Year Award on November 25.
Ms. Chen Shu-chu at her vegetable stall in a market in eastern
Taiwan's Taitung County.
Reader’s Digest magazine commended Chen for her dedicated work over
a lifetime to helping those less fortunate than herself.
“Chen’s work has been more remarkable because she doesn’t fundraise
or seek donations, but rather she goes without, in order to save
the proceeds of her meager earnings to donate to worthwhile
causes,” according to the magazine.
When asked about being honored by Reader’s Digest, a humble Chen
brushed off the news, saying “Whether or not I win an award is not
important, I’m still going to continue doing what I do.”
Dora Cheok, editor of the magazine’s English-language Asia edition,
praised Chen as an example of “ordinary people doing extraordinary
things.” She said the award is presented to individuals who best
embody and convey the values of Asia and who through their activism
help shape Asia’s future.
In its December 2010 issue, Reader’s Digest Asia carries the story
of this amazing lady in an article entitled ‘The Generous Vegetable
Seller.’ This story is very inspiring and with Christmas round the
corner, I hope the story will move people to do their part for the
less fortunate of our society.
The Generous Vegetable Seller
by Esther Liang (published in the December 2010 issue of Reader’s
Digest Asia Edition)
After the morning hustle and bustle, the atmosphere at Taitung
county’s Central Market quietens as every stall shuts for the day
and their owners return to the comfort of their homes.
A lone lamp shines on a vegetable stall. With head bowed, Ms Chen
Shu-chu silently sorts out the vegetable leaves as she waits for
the occasional afternoon customer.
Reader Digest's Asian of the Year - The Generous Vegetabls Seller
Chen Shu-Chu
Decades of hard work have caused the fingers on her right hand to
curl and joints to swell; her feet have deformed slightly.
Ms Chen leads her life with a daily routine. Waking up at three in
the morning, she makes her way to the vegetable wholesaler and sets
up her stall, which she tends till seven or eight in the
evening.
Being the first to arrive and last to leave, the other stall owners
have fondly given her the title of “market manager”.
In the dark and damp market, Ms Chen, nearing her 60s, holds the
stall her father left her dearly. Yuan-Jin Vegetables is her
everything.
With her vegetables selling at “a bundle for NT$30, three bundles
for NT$50″, she earns only marginal profits.
Yet, her frugality has allowed her to donate about NT$10 million
(4321,550) towards various charitable causes, including helping
schools, orphanages and poor children.
The selfless generosity of a woman with such humble income has
placed her under the international spotlight.
In March, Forbes magazine named her one of 48 outstanding
philanthropists from the Asia-Pacific region. A month later, Time
magazine selected the year’s top 100 influential people and she
emerged under the Heroes of Philanthropy category.
TIME magazine's The 100 Most Influential People In The World
Fellow Taiwanese and Oscar- winning director Lee Ang wrote her
entry personally. “Money is worthy only if given to those in need,”
he quoted Ms Chen. He also wrote: “Amazing, but of all she has
given away, her greatest gift is leading by example.”
KINDNESS BEGETS KINDNESS
Despite the honour of receiving the Time award in New York, gaining
global recognition, and a personal meeting with President Ma
Ying-jeou, all Ms Chen really cares about is her vegetable
stall.
President Ma visiting Chen Shu-Chu at her vegetable stall
If not for President Ma and the Foreign Minister personally
convincing her to go, she would not have agreed to visit New York,
as she felt that “this is not a competition and I did not win
anything”.
Amid the frenzy of applying for a passport and preparing for the
visit, her main concern was that her regular customers would not
get their vegetables.
Chen Shu-Chu at the 2010 Time 100 dinner in New York
Ms Chen has become a celebrity in Taitung county. The local
authorities decorated her stall with congratulatory posters and
banners hailing her as the Pride of Taitung and the Model of
Philanthropy.
There are fans who turn up at the stall with a vegetable basket and
a camera, hoping for a picture with Ms Chen.
Despite all the attention, she remains humble. “I have done nothing
extraordinary and anyone who wants to can do it. There are many
other charitable people; we just don’t know about them,” she said.
Ms Chen, who is unmarried, added: “I do not place great importance
on money. When I donate to help others, I feel at peace and happy,
and I can sleep well at night.”
She also feels for the poor, having experienced hardship in her
younger days.
Born in 1950, Ms Chen lost her mother after completing her
primary-school education. Her mother was admitted to hospital
because of difficulties in labour and the family had to pay an
insurance of NT$5,000 before medical attention could be
granted.
Ms Chen saw her father asking their neighbours for money, but it
was too late to save her mother. The eldest daughter in the family,
Ms Chen had to grow up overnight. She gave up her studies and
dedicated her life to helping at the vegetable stall.
When she was 18, her younger brother fell sick and the illness
dragged on for over a year, gradually depleting the family’s
savings.
Doctors suggested that the family send her brother to Taiwan
National University Hospital, but they could not afford the
fees.
Mr Huang Shun-zhong, a teacher at Ren-ai Primary School, started a
donation drive. Unfortunately, her brother could not be
saved.
After experiencing the kindness bestowed upon her family, Ms Chen
made up her mind to help the poor once she was able.
When her father died 17 years ago, Ms Chen, a devoted Buddhist,
generously donated NT$1 million to Fo Guang Shan Monastery.
In 2000, she donated NT$1 million to her alma mater, Ren-ai Primary
School, to set up an Emergency Relief Fund to help poor children
obtain financial help.
SIMPLE LIFE WITHOUT LUXURIES
Assisting in the setting up and maintenance of the fund is Mr Li
Guo-rong, who teaches Ms Chen’s nephew.
In 2001, Mr Li had a plan to build a library for the school and
estimated the cost to be between NT$4 million and NT$5
million.
When he approached Ms Chen, in the hope that she might contribute
NT$50,000, Li was shocked when she said she would fund the entire
project.
The school was sceptical, but Ms Chen was determined.
In May 2005, the two-storey library was completed and named Chen
Shu-chu Library in honour of the “Vegetable Market heroine”
alumnus. She had donated NT$4.5 million.
Ms Chen’s ability to donate such large sums of money has led many
to ask: How can a mere vegetable seller earn so much?
“Spend only what you need, and you’ll be able to save up a lot of
money!” said Ms Chen.
Since 1996, she has donated NT$36,000 to help three children in the
Kids Alive International organisation.
To achieve this, she explained that she empties her loose change
into three little cardboard boxes at home every night.
“This is a simple act that anyone can do, isn’t it?” she
said.
Ms Chen leads a very simple life without any luxuries. She does not
have any desire for material gain nor any form of enjoyment.
Work, she said, is her enjoyment. “I love my work. If I didn’t,
would I be able to work 16 hours a day?”
All she needs is food and a place to sleep. Everything else is a
luxury. She does not buy expensive clothes as “I do not socialise
much, hence, there is no need for such beautiful clothes. The
clothes from the roadside stalls are good enough for me, and, even
then, I like to bargain”.
Her daily meals cost less than NT$100: a bowl of vegetarian rice
and a bowl of noodles for NT NT$55. Freeze whatever that cannot be
finished, spend another NT$20 on a can of gluten and add that to
the rice with some hot water.
“This becomes porridge and is very tasty,” she said.
HER HAPPINESS PRINCIPLE
She also sleeps on the hard floor, a habit from her younger days
when she started working at the vegetable stall.
The comfort of her warm bed made getting up early to go to the
wholesaler very difficult, especially during the cold winter
months. Hence Ms Chen made up her mind to sleep on the cold floor,
where she would not run the risk of being late.
Has business improved after winning the award? “Business is as
usual,” she said. “I still need to sell my vegetables. Not much has
changed.”
Chen at work after her US trip
Advertisers have approached her to film commercials; financial
managers have offered to manage her finances and other well-wishers
have offered to donate money. She rejects these advances
politely.
“It is easy to return borrowed money, but difficult to return a
favour,” she said.
“I have to be very careful in handling money matters,” she added.
Even when customers tip her, she refuses to accept.
“Buying from my stall is already a form of support,” she
explained.
The only commercial Ms Chen was willing to take on was for the
Bureau of National Health Insurance, in memory of her beloved
mother. She requested all shoots be done beside her stall so as not
to affect her business.
The only payment she was willing to accept was a black T-shirt
given by the Bureau.
Since her return from New York, Ms Chen has been working even
longer hours. She has a new goal: To collect NT$10 million to set
up a Chen Shu-chu Bursary aimed at helping poor children pay for
school fees and medical bills, things she could not afford as a
child.
“All I need is to sell a few more vegetables, save a little more
money, in addition to a number of insurance policies that are near
the end of their term. A lot of people are also willing to donate.
I am sure there won’t be any problems,” she said.
Mr Li, who treats Ms Chen like a sister, said that setting up the
bursary is actually a good way to let her retire from selling
vegetables and start influencing society with her reputation, in
the hope that there will be more generous “Chen Shu-chus”.
As for Ms Chen, she said: “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.”
She is content with what she has and feels that as long as she
“lives a life she wishes for and does the things she wants, that is
good enough”.
Chen was born to impoverished parents with eight children. The
family survived on the parents’ meager income as vegetable
vendors.
After her mother died, she took over her parents’ business, and at
the age of 13, she became the youngest vendor in Taitung City’s
Central Market, selling vegetables ever since for nearly five
decades.
She had never married, although the opportunity presented itself in
her early 20s. Her brother told Taiwan’s Liberty Times that their
father asked her to postpone her wedding to support the family
until her younger siblings finished their schooling, and Chen’s
sweetheart eventually married someone else. From then, working at
her stall in the market to sell vegetables became the main priority
of her life.
Her routine consists of getting up at 2:30 a.m. to purchase
vegetables from a wholesale market, opening her business between 4
a.m. and 5 a.m., and closing up shop at around 9 p.m.
She said because she had been helped by others in the past, she
vowed to also help the poor. She says that’s how she has found
happiness, and even when physically challenged, she perseveres to
sell vegetables at the market.
“Money serves its purpose only when it is used for those who need
it,” she said in a newspaper account.
When asked why she was so generous in donating her hard-earned
money, she said, “I accumulate virtue instead of wealth. Life is
short, and you don’t know when you will die. I don’t have a son, so
what would I do with all the money I have saved? I might as well
just do good deeds and accumulate virtue.”
Although Chen has become one of Taiwan’s hottest media stars since
she was chosen as a Time magazine 2010 role model, success has not
spoiled her. She has asked the media not to hang around, as she
wants to get back to her usual routine of selling vegetables in the
market right away.
Chen with an apron with the 2010 Time 100 Most Influential People
wordings in Chinese
Chen’s generous giving has set off a nationwide trend, encouraging
others of small means to donate to charity.
“The point of Chen’s story is that all of sudden many people found
that even though they may not be rich, their tiny but persistent
small donations may come as a great help to some people,” said Hu
Yu-fang of United Way.
A former soldier Hu Shou-hung, inspired by Chen, has given away his
life’s savings of $30,000 to a charity that supports orphan
children of soldiers killed in action. Hu is 88 years old,
explaining to reporters that he no longer needs the money.
“Chen is like a seed,” said Phyllis Weng, a senior social worker of
the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families in the central Taiwan
city of Taichung.
“It has taken deep root in the hearts of many people. Her influence
will be far-reaching.”
Chen Shu-chu’s story has great lessons for all of us. It is
possible to save a large sum of money even on a very modest income
if you know how to manage your finances. It is possible for a
single person to make a huge impact on the world. Money serves its
purpose only when it is used for those who need it.
I am very inspired and humbled by this vegetable seller’s
frugality, generosity and most of all her humanity. Her spirit and
kindness is what we human beings should aspire to.
Thank you, Chen Shu-chu, for helping to show the way.
