Chen Shu-chu

Shu-chu Chen was invited to attend the flag-raising ceremony of the 107 (2018) National Day of the Republic of China held by Taitung City Government. In the ceremony, she announced the news that she 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 NTD$16,000,000. The money will be paid by the insurer upon the death of Shu-chu Chen.

Shu-chu Chen did not want to participate in the banquet in the US hosted by Time at first, but the President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou called encouraging her to attend the event. President Ma let her know that the government would afford all the spending of this journey. Ma even asked the county magistrate of Taitung, Jian-ting Huang, to support her saying: "You should go to the U.S.A to claim your award and win honor for Taiwan." President Ma said to the press, "It was very touching to see the story of Chen, Shu-chu. All of Taiwan is proud of her, and she let the whole world know Taiwanese people have a big heart." She arrived at the U.S.A on 5/4/2012, participating in the banquet and claiming her award at the Time Warner Center, Manhattan, in New York City.

Ramon Magsaysay Award ceremony was taken place on 2012/8/31 at Philippine international convention center in Manila. On the day, more than a thousand people attended the event. The president of Philippine, Noynoy Aquino honored the awards to all the nominates. Aquino valued Shu-chu Chen's contribution on helping poor and sharing love. Shu-chu then donated this money award of $50,000 U.S. dollars to Mackay Memorial Hospital's Taitung branch.

In the past, she thought the society was very cruel and ugly, but things had changed after she took refuge in Buddhism. With the power and support from the religion, she let go the past. After selling the vegetables for decades, she bought herself a small house, but she is still having a very simple life. Her daily spending is under NTD$100 which is equivalent $3 U.S. dollars. As a Buddhist, she has been a vegetarian for a long time, and she makes every penny count. However, she always donates a lot of her deposit to those in need. After her father died in 1993, Shu-chu donated NTD$1 million to Fo Guang Buddhist Academy. In 1997, she donated NTD$1 million to her mother school, Jen-Ai elementary school, to help poor children afford their education. Since she could not afford to go to school in her early age, she has the desire to help more children to receive better education. She then donated NTD$4.5 million to Jen-Ai elementary school to build its own library. In these ten years, Shu-chu adopted three abandoned kids at the Christian KidsAlive International Association, and donates NTD$36,000 every year.

Shu-chu Chen graduated from Jen-Ai elementary school at Taitung City, Taiwan. The household's living of eight people depended on her father as a vegetable vendor. Her mother died due to dystocia and the family could not afford NTD$5,000 for medical expenses. She decided to help her family's living working as a vegetable vendor. Her youngest brother got a serious flu in 1969 and unfortunately died in the same year even though he had donation from Jen-Ai elementary school for medical treatment. Shu-chu took over the burden of living and afforded her older brother to go to college, and she is still single as for now. Her second youngest brother, later, died from traffic accident. When looking back at the past, she has once hated her life for what have happened to her, so she devoted most of her time on working to escape from the darkness.