Yu Pengnian () (1922–2015) was a Chinese real estate magnate and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

Early life

On 21 November 1922, Yu was born in Hunan province, China. Yu grew up poor.

Career

In 1945, Yu worked as a rickshaw driver in Shanghai, China. In the 1957, Yu started his working life in Hong Kong as a cleaner. In the 1960s, Yu was a construction worker. Yu followed his boss to Taiwan and started a property business. In 1973, Yu invested in the stock market including junk stocks and lost everything. In 1974, Yu bought the property, former home of Bruce Lee, in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. Yu converted it into a "love hotel" where rental fee was by hourly. In 2000, Yu opened Shenzhen Panglin Hotel in the Lo Wu District of Hong Kong. Yu made his money as a

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

hotel and real estate entrepreneur.(bad link)

Philanthropy

Yu founded the Yu Pengnian Foundation, which donates money to several different causes, usually for health, education and disaster relief. He himself suffered with

cataracts A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision of the eye. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colours, blurry or double vision, halos around ligh ...

and his charity has funded over 150,000 cataract removal operations across China since 2003. It has also had a hand in setting up numerous Project Hope schools in the western rural areas of China. In 2008, Yu gave away a property (valued $18 million HK in 2010) which became the Bruce Lee museum in Kowloon Tong neighborhood of Hong Kong. In April 2010, at 88 years old, Yu announced that he donated his remaining fortune of $3.2 billion yuan to the Yu Pengnian Foundation. In all, his entire life fortune of $8.2 billion

Chinese yuan The renminbi ( ; currency symbol, symbol: Yen and yuan sign, ¥; ISO 4217, ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the China, People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the Peop ...

($1.2 billion HK) have been donated to the foundation.

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

is designated as the trustee of the foundation.

Personal life

In 1945, Yu moved to Shanghai, China. In 1953, Yu was arrested and sent to a labor camp for three years in Anhui, China. In 1957, Yu was approved to leave China and moved to Hong Kong, but he was unable to communicate in Cantonese nor English. Yu had suffered with poor eye sight due to

, and was one of the richest people in Guangdong province, China. Yu was married and had two sons. Although Yu's surname is Yu, however, his son and grandson's surname is Pang. Yu's son is Pang Ah-fan. In 1980s, Yu moved to the Shenzhen area of China. In May 2015, Yu died in Shenzhen, China. He was 92. Yu had instructed in his will that at the time of his death, his properties and assets will be donated to charitable trust fund. Yu's grandsons are Pang San-hon and Pang Chi-ping, who is his trustee.

References

External links