Even though he has been living in the United States for over half a century, Lit Ng never forgets he is Chinese and he always enjoys helping Chinese people.
On January 6, Ng visited China Daily's office in Beijing and expressed his earnest desire to help the children in Northwest China's Gansu Province.
"I want to help them," he said.
Two weeks ago, Ng saw the appeal for donations when he was reading China Daily at breakfast. He decided to donate US$36,000 to the construction of a 600-square-metre primary school for Dongxiang Autonomous County in Gansu Province, which would benefit more than 300 school-age children.
"I am really happy I can give them a hand," Ng said.
The only demand that Ng made was to receive an itemized list of construction expenses.
The contribution for the Dongxiang school is only one of Ng's donations of the past decade.
Ng's long-time interest in helping education projects in China is partly due to his dropping out of school after he finished his primary schooling.
"I would feel so bad whenever I saw children suffering the same experience as I did," Ng said.
"I think I have an obligation to help them," he said with a broad grin. He looks no different from any retired man in China, with grey hair and a dark blue jacket.
Ng was born in 1932 in Huadou District in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province. He moved to the United States with his family when he was seven.
After 30 years of struggle, Ng made his fame as a retail tycoon in San Francisco in the 1960s. In 1975, when his business had reached its peak, he sold the whole business except for real estate. "I did not want to trade my life for money," Ng said.
Since then, Ng has travelled in China and the world.
As well as funding education programmes, Ng has also been active in wildlife protection.
In 2001, he helped build the Conservation Biology Building at Peking University.
Ng also set up a charitable trust to support schools, hospitals and wildlife-protection organizations.
Every year, he uses 5 per cent of the trust to help children in need get an education.
He has so far donated US$700,000 for both education and wildlife protection.
Ng himself, however, has followed a rather plain and modest lifestyle, one that he developed during his hard childhood.
"I like a simple life," said Ng. He added that he never wears designer clothes or travels first-class.
"Why do I enjoy helping others? Well, I just do something in the right place and at the right time," said Ng. "I am glad to help others, as many as I can."
(China Daily January 15, 2003)
