Bill Gates and Warren Buffett said their dinner Wednesday night with a group of China’s richest people exceeded their expectations and produced some “very generous” charity pledges, according to Reuters and The New York Times.

At a news conference Thursday, Mr. Gates said about 50 people attended the gathering, about two-thirds of those invited. The event sparked widespread public discussion in China about private philanthropy and the willingness of the country’s burgeoning billionaire class to give.

While declining to identify individual donors, Mr. Gates said, “There were some gifts that were very generous.” He said attendees “saw the charitable sector [in China] at an early stage and were asking about what lessons there might be from the United States.”

The American philanthropists said they might make a similar trip to India, which also boasts a fast-growing class of wealthy entrepreneurs.

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