Alibaba founder Jack Ma cites ‘difficult’ and ‘extraordinary’ year in annual video address to rural teachers

Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma, who has kept a low profile ever since a regulatory crackdown by Beijing two years ago, has spoken about the hardships people faced in 2022 in a rare public appearance, just as China grapples with the country’s largest ever Covid-19 outbreak.

In a two-and-half minute video seen on social media and verified by his charity foundation, Ma said, “I hope to see you all offline as soon as possible”.

The address did not reveal his actual location. In the video, the billionaire sat behind a round table in front of a black wall adorned with artwork, dressed in a white shirt.

“Teachers have had a difficult year,” he told 100 teachers from China’s rural areas in a live video speech that has become an annual activity under his Rural Teachers Initiative. “You had to teach while protecting children.”

In reading from prepared remarks, Ma said he was “moved” that teachers still appeared to be “cheerful” and “committed”, and asked them to “take care of themselves and the kids during this time”.

The initiative was established in 2015 to support teachers working in China’s countryside.

Before the pandemic, Ma had invited rural teachers to southern China’s Hainan island for five consecutive years, on the 8th day of the last month in the Chinese lunar calendar, known as the Laba Festival. At the events, the Jack Ma Foundation presented 100 teachers with cash grants of 100,000 yuan (US$14,260) each to support their efforts in rural education. The event has been held online in the past three years and Ma has attended via video.

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In his latest video, Ma sat behind a round table in front of a black wall adorned with artwork, according to video clips circulating online. He said he was “moved” that teachers still appeared to be “cheerful” and “committed”, and asked them to “take care of themselves and the kids during this time”.

He told them that his foundation would help if they have difficulties, adding that he hoped to see all the teachers in person again soon.

“The year 2022 has been very extraordinary,” Ma said. “Kids … learned to adapt to life. I think that’s more important than any school subjects.”

Ma retired as Alibaba’s executive chairman in 2019, on his 55th birthday. In 2020, the companies he founded – including Alibaba and its fintech affiliate Ant Group – came under regulatory scrutiny amid Beijing’s intensified crackdown on the technology sector.

The formerly outspoken Alibaba frontman has chosen to stay out of the spotlight ever since Chinese securities regulators suspended the US$39 billion dual listing of Ant Group in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2020. The suspension came after Ma gave a speech at a financial forum in Shanghai that criticised China’s financial regulations.

The last time Ma appeared in public was in January 2022 for the same rural teacher initiative. He had also been living in Tokyo for six months, the Financial Times reported in November.

While Ma has resigned from his corporate roles and even from social titles such as president of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs, the 58-year-old remains the face of Chinese entrepreneurship and his whereabouts are of interest to many people.

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.