December 21, 2016
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Chinese-Donors-Step-Up-Giving/238736
A $115 million donation to California Institute of Technology or Caltech in the United States from Chinese billionaire Chen Tianqiao and his wife Chrissy Luo tops a generous year for donations to international education and research institutions from Chinese philanthropists.
The latest gift announced on 8 December will fund creation of an Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech which will be named after the donors and designed to foster interdisciplinary faculty collaboration between the university's academic departments, including neuroscience, engineering, computer science and social science.
Chen, chairman of China’s Shanda Group, was once described as China’s richest man as his online gaming company transformed into a global private investment company. He said the couple’s involvement in the internet and entertainment industries allowed them to “witness the ability for technology advancements to influence human perception, as well as to observe the resultant meaningful effects on human behaviour”.