As a good friend of Pan Shiyi, Liu once donated 300 million yuan to his alma mater Renmin University. Once they were sitting together chatting, Liu expressed his views on Pan Shiyi's donation to Harvard University. He said that although China students were admitted to Peking University Tsinghua, many people could not afford to go to Harvard, let alone study in the United States, because their families were poor. The implication of this sentence is that Pan Shiyi is not satisfied with donating money to foreign universities.
Later, Pan Shiyi said that the donation to Harvard was suggested and completed by his wife Zhang Xin, and then Zhang Xin went on to say that these funds were used to help China students studying at Harvard complete their studies. But these words will still arouse people's doubts, because if you really want to do charity for education, you can totally fund local universities in China, and there are many universities to choose from, so why donate them to American universities?
In fact, apart from Pan Shiyi, Hong Kong tycoons also donated money to Harvard University, even more than Pan Shiyi. They are Chen Qizong and Chen Lezong, two sons of Hong Kong real estate tycoon Chen Zengxi. They donated $350 million to Harvard University in the United States, equivalent to RMB 2.5 billion at that time, which once set a record for China people to donate to overseas universities. This huge donation has also caused great controversy outside.
As we all know, Harvard University is one of the best universities in the world, and it is also the institution of higher learning that many students dream of. At that time, the Chen brothers donated money on the condition that the college should be named after their father, Chen Zengxi, because Harvard is so famous that it is a great honor to put their surnames at Harvard University.
In fact, a world famous school like Harvard won't give you a degree just because you donate money, which is no different from spending money to buy a degree. But these schools will cooperate with these philanthropists in a certain field or project to promote each other's development because of their charitable attitude. In fact, Harvard University is also Chen Lezong's alma mater. After graduation, Chen Lezong did not leave school, but continued to work in school. Chen Zengxi's family has also made great contributions to charity in China, but it is still inferior to Harvard University's donation of 2.5 billion.
Chen Qizong and Chen Lezong made a lot of money in mainland China and Hongkong. Chen Qizong can earn 8 billion yuan in rental income in China every year by relying on Hang Lung Real Estate, and more than a dozen hang lung plaza in the mainland also contribute more than 1 billion yuan in rent every year. Chen Lezong's venture capital company has invested in many well-known domestic enterprises, including Xiaomi, and only invested in Xiaomi and got a return of 50 billion yuan. However, the Chen brothers donated the money they earned in China to American universities.
In addition, Chen Qizong's son Dylan Chen was also studying in the United States. He thought he could be admitted to Harvard like his father, but he didn't get it in the end. Now, Chen Bowen has returned to China to join his father's Hang Lung Group and become a company director.
The two brothers earned billions in China, but donated 2.5 billion to American universities and sent their sons to study in the United States. In fact, we are not opposed to China people donating money to foreign countries, because that is everyone's freedom, but there are still many places in China that are still poor, and there are still many children in China who can't afford to go to school.