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Billionaire couple's $12m gift to Yale stirs debate in China

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A Chinese billionaire couple’s US$10 million (S$12 million) gift to Yale University sparked controversy among the country’s Internet users on Thursday (Oct 30).

Some have argued that the money would be better spent on schools in China.

The endowment marks the latest gift to a prestigious US university by Mr Pan Shiyi and Ms Zhang Xin, the husband-and-wife duo behind real estate giant SOHO China.

In July, the couple gave Harvard University US$15 million in the first stage of a US$100 million programme that Pan and Zhang say will fund disadvantaged Chinese students at top institutions across the globe.

The reaction online was largely negative, with some users criticising the couple for not giving the money to Chinese domestic institutions.

“They’re rushing to give money to foreigners, but what about all the poor children in China’s mountainous areas?” one user wrote on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter.

'Entrance ticket'

“Isn’t Pan just buying an ‘entrance ticket’ for his son to attend an elite university abroad?” another user asked.

Others defended the couple.

“The same patriotic commentators who are yelling that this is ‘the people’s money’ are actually making no contribution of their own to society,” one Sina Weibo user wrote.

Mr Pan is not only one of China’s wealthiest people but also one of the country’s most-celebrated “Big V” bloggers, with more than 17 million followers on Sina Weibo, at times drawing attention from the authorities.

Source: AFP

 

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