A Billionaire wants to donate 150 million yuan (US$22 million) to have his hometown rebuilt.
Xie Xiantuan, 56, chairman of the Hong Kong Kunxiang International Investment Co., was first on the Shenzhen Charitable Person's List released Friday for contributing 39 million yuan to charity.
Xie plans to transform Yihu Village in Guantang Township, Chaozhou City in Guangdong Province, into a village with modern apartment buildings and townhouses. He wants it to become a tourist and cultural resort in the future.
Xie was born to a poor family and poverty forced him to drop out of school and make a living. He had been involved in small businesses and poultry trading, and had run restaurants.
Xie made his fortune in 1995 when he went to Shaanxi Province to run an oil-drilling business. Xie acquired 300 oil wells and was called the Shanbei Oil King or the Northern Shaanxi Oil King.
He returned to his hometown with his fortune and founded the Xie Xiantuan Poverty-relief Fund, helping needy people.
In 2006 he donated 550,000 yuan to fellow villagers in Chao an County and Guantang Township, which suffered great damages in a typhoon.
He donated 7.5 million yuan to build a bridge in Yihu last year, which benefits thousands of residents in 38 surrounding villages.
When I was a boy, I swam the river and almost drowned once. I decided then I would build a bridge on this river when I became rich, Xie said.(Tina Chen)
