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2014年 07月 16日 14:26
华尔街日报
潘石屹夫妇设立1亿美元教育慈善基金
http://cn.wsj.com/gb/20140716/rec143426.asp
Chinese property power couple signs $15 mln gift deal with Harvard
Updated: 2014-07-16
The rags-to-riches couple who founded Chinese real estate company SOHO China are setting up a $100 million endowment to send underprivileged Chinese children to elite universities around the world.
Soho’s Chief Executive Zhang Xin and her husband, Pan Shiyi, launched the initiative Tuesday by signing a $15 million gift agreement with Harvard University.
"Getting the best education should not only be for those who have the means – it should be for those with the talent,” Ms. Zhang said in a telephone interview.
The gift is the latest example of still fledgling private philanthropy by the first generation of wealthy since the Communist Party-led government started market reforms 30 years ago.
The billionaire Ms. Zhang was as a factory worker in Hong Kong before studying on full scholarships at the University of Sussex and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. She went on to become an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Pan grew up in an impoverished part of western China. They are now the power couple of the Chinese property industry, with millions of followers on social media and a combined wealth valued at some $3.6 billion, according to Shanghai-based research firm Hurun Report.
"It’s my turn to be generous to others,” she said.
Although Harvard runs a “needs-blind” policy that accepts any student good enough to qualify for a place regardless of ability to pay, Ms. Zhang said that many top-tier U.S. colleges recruit mainland Chinese students from a pool of candidates already in America attending high schools, sent there by their wealthy parents.
She said there are many bright students from poorer families studying in China who hesitate to apply. The message that she and her husband want to send to those families is that Soho scholarship money is available and “if you’re good enough you should apply,” she said.
The couple is looking to set up similar endowments with colleges in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. In the U.S., China currently accounts for the largest contingent of foreign students, with more than 235,000 studying there in the 2012-2013 school year, up 21% from a year prior. While Harvard and some other elite schools offer foreign students substantial levels of financial aid, many schools are less generous with international applicants.
A foundation set up by SOHO China builds schools in rural areas of the western Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Gansu, where Mr. Pan grew up. The foundation has also funded a program that has trained hundreds of teachers and principals.
Private philanthropy is still a nascent force in China. Though the country is home to the world’s highest number of billionaires, according to Shanghai-based research firm Hurun, the country’s total charitable giving so far remains just 4% of that seen in the U.S.
In one of the biggest bequests to date, Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, announced earlier this year that he would devote much of his wealth into the creation of a philanthropic trust, valued around perhaps $3 billion. The trust will focus on issues connected to health care, the environment and education.
Harvard has been a favored destination for the Chinese elite and their money. President Xi Jinping’s daughter was an undergraduate there. Late last year, Harvard announced that it had received a gift of undisclosed size from another Chinese property developer, Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd., to fund various centers for mathematics, green design and immunologic diseases.
华尔街日报
潘石屹夫妇设立1亿美元教育慈善基金
http://cn.wsj.com/gb/20140716/rec143426.asp
Chinese property power couple signs $15 mln gift deal with Harvard
Updated: 2014-07-16
The rags-to-riches couple who founded Chinese real estate company SOHO China are setting up a $100 million endowment to send underprivileged Chinese children to elite universities around the world.
Soho’s Chief Executive Zhang Xin and her husband, Pan Shiyi, launched the initiative Tuesday by signing a $15 million gift agreement with Harvard University.
"Getting the best education should not only be for those who have the means – it should be for those with the talent,” Ms. Zhang said in a telephone interview.
The gift is the latest example of still fledgling private philanthropy by the first generation of wealthy since the Communist Party-led government started market reforms 30 years ago.
The billionaire Ms. Zhang was as a factory worker in Hong Kong before studying on full scholarships at the University of Sussex and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. She went on to become an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Pan grew up in an impoverished part of western China. They are now the power couple of the Chinese property industry, with millions of followers on social media and a combined wealth valued at some $3.6 billion, according to Shanghai-based research firm Hurun Report.
"It’s my turn to be generous to others,” she said.
Although Harvard runs a “needs-blind” policy that accepts any student good enough to qualify for a place regardless of ability to pay, Ms. Zhang said that many top-tier U.S. colleges recruit mainland Chinese students from a pool of candidates already in America attending high schools, sent there by their wealthy parents.
She said there are many bright students from poorer families studying in China who hesitate to apply. The message that she and her husband want to send to those families is that Soho scholarship money is available and “if you’re good enough you should apply,” she said.
The couple is looking to set up similar endowments with colleges in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. In the U.S., China currently accounts for the largest contingent of foreign students, with more than 235,000 studying there in the 2012-2013 school year, up 21% from a year prior. While Harvard and some other elite schools offer foreign students substantial levels of financial aid, many schools are less generous with international applicants.
A foundation set up by SOHO China builds schools in rural areas of the western Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Gansu, where Mr. Pan grew up. The foundation has also funded a program that has trained hundreds of teachers and principals.
Private philanthropy is still a nascent force in China. Though the country is home to the world’s highest number of billionaires, according to Shanghai-based research firm Hurun, the country’s total charitable giving so far remains just 4% of that seen in the U.S.
In one of the biggest bequests to date, Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, announced earlier this year that he would devote much of his wealth into the creation of a philanthropic trust, valued around perhaps $3 billion. The trust will focus on issues connected to health care, the environment and education.
Harvard has been a favored destination for the Chinese elite and their money. President Xi Jinping’s daughter was an undergraduate there. Late last year, Harvard announced that it had received a gift of undisclosed size from another Chinese property developer, Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd., to fund various centers for mathematics, green design and immunologic diseases.
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