$826 million. Yang Huiyan, Asia's previous richest woman and property entrepreneur, donated 55% of her firm, worth 

Yang, who was Asia's richest woman at her wealthiest, has seen her fortune fall by 80% from $34 billion in just over two years.

When faced with a crisis, leaders frequently react by switching to survival mode, which entails cost-cutting and doing all possible to keep the company afloat.

 Yang Huiyan, one of the richest women in China, is doing the exact opposite: she is donating to charity more than half of her business, even as it battles the nation's real estate crisis.

Huiyan, the chairwoman of Country Garden Services Holdings Company, is donating her personal share in the property management company, worth around $826 million, to a charity that her younger sister started.

In a statement released by the firm, Huiyan said that it has contributed to the Guoqiang Foundation Hong Kong about 675 million shares of Country Garden Services, or 20% of the whole company, "for charitable purposes." 

According to Bloomberg's wealth index, Yang, who was once the richest woman in Asia, has seen her fortune decline by 80% from $34 billion over the past two years as the crisis enveloping China's real estate sector has become worse.

But even after giving up a portion of her over $7 billion inheritance, she will still be extremely wealthy.

Since being appointed to chairperson and taking over for her father, Yang Guoqiang, who resigned from his roles as chairman and executive director in March, the charitable commitment is one of Yang's first power maneuvers.

The donation

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