"The Historical Legacy of Colonialism on Modern Corporate Philanthropy: The Case of Ningbo Merchants"

In 2024, Ningbo entrepreneur Yu Renrong donated 1.5 billion RMB to fund the construction of Ningbo Eastern Institute of Technology. His gesture reflects a long-standing philanthropic tradition among Ningbo merchants (known as “Ningbo Bang”), whose prominence grew after Ningbo became a treaty port under British occupation. Similar merchant groups with enduring philanthropic practices also emerged in other treaty ports such as Chaozhou. Despite their visibility in public discourse, the historical roots and enduring influence of such practices remain underexplored.
Existing literature explains corporate philanthropy largely through institutional or strategic lenses, or focuses on historical origins in Western contexts and draws mainly on qualitative evidence. This study introduces a non-Western perspective by using both econometric analysis of Chinese firm-level donation data (2001–2024) and a historical case study of the Ningbo merchants (1842–2024). It argues that colonial encounters left a dual legacy in treaty port regions: the introduction of Protestant prosocial norms and the rise of nationalist mobilization. Both contributed to the development of long-lasting expectations around corporate philanthropy. The study further investigates how these philanthropic norms of Ningbo merchants have been preserved through collective memory-making practices, allowing them to persist despite profound political and institutional changes.
This research challenges Western-centric narratives in the history of corporate philanthropy by highlighting how colonial legacies continue to shape the moral economies of contemporary Chinese firms. By introducing quantitative methods into a field traditionally dominated by qualitative approaches, it bridges business history and economic analysis. Moreover, it contributes to broader debates on institutional persistence and organizational memory studies.