Philanthropy

YESTERDAY in Shanghai Yu Panglinannounced he would donate his entirefortune, worth nearly HK$10 billion, to charity.He began to donate money to charity thirty years ago.His decision to use his fortune to do society goodinstead of leaving his children any money bestrepresents his care for people's hardships. It is mostcommendable that Mr Yu has made necessaryarrangements to ensure that his charitable efforts willsurvive him. There is no lack of Hong Kong tycoonswho are enthusiastic about philanthropic work. If they,like Mr Yu, try to make sure that their charitable effortswill continue after they have passed away, the worldwill become much better.

Mr Yu would leave his children nothing because ofhis peculiar point of view. He once said, "Why should Ileave any of my sons any money if they have morestrengths than I or if they have more weaknesses thanI? If they are resourceful, they will do better than I. Ifthey don't compare with me, they may indulge indissipation - gambling, whoring and even doing drugs.Then it would harm them to leave them any money."Mr Yu said he had appointed HSBC as the trusteeof his fortune and stipulated that no part of it might beinherited, sold or invested and all of it should be usedfor charitable purposes. He has made thisarrangement and openly announced it because hewants to make sure that resources will be available sothat his charitable work can be continued after hisdeparture from this world. That shows how determinedhe is to devote his fortune to charity.

Yu Panglin, who got smuggled into Hong Kong inthe 1950s, has worked hard all his life. He once didodd jobs and worked as a rickshaw man. He owes hisaccomplishments to his own efforts. Now it seemsclear that it is his dream to do philanthropic work. Manycherish dreams. It is common knowledge how HenryFok, who worked hard to become rich, requited hisnative town and the nation. A dream he cherished inhis later years was to turn Nansha, a swamp, into ascientific research centre. However, he made noappropriate financial arrangements for realising thatdream. His children are so concerned about returnsthat peanuts still grow on the site for the HKUST FokYing Tung Graduate School, whose completion wasscheduled for the end of 2008.

Furthermore, Nina Wang stated in her 2002 willthat the whole of her $100-billion estate should betransferred to the Chinachem Charitable Foundation,which she and Teddy Wang, her husband, hadfounded. Nina Wang had a dream. However, becauseshe failed to make concrete arrangements when shewas alive, Tony Chan contended for her legacy assoon as she died. God knows whether her wish will becarried out.

Tycoons may have dreams of benefiting societyby devoting their wealth to charitable purposes.However, if they fail to make concrete arrangements,none can be certain that their dreams will come true.Yu Panglin's fortune is perhaps peanuts to what manya tycoon has. However, because he has madenecessary arrangements, his dream is very likely tocome true. This is what tycoons who intend to benefitsociety with their wealth would do well to pay heed to.

余彭年盡捐百億家財無私善行仁義可風

余彭年昨日在上海宣布，把接近100 億港元家財，全部用於慈善事業。余彭年捐款行善已30 年，他選擇把龐大家財造福社會，而非留給子孫，這是民胞物與、痌瘝在抱精神和情懷的最高體現。最可貴者是余先生已經作好安排，確保就算有朝一日百年歸老了，他的善行仍然可以延續下去。本港熱中慈善事業的富豪大不乏人，如果他們能與余彭年一樣，做好善行可持續下去的安排，則這個世界會更美好。

余彭年不留家財給後輩，有一套觀點，他認為「兒子強與我，留錢做什麼；兒子弱與我，留錢做什麼；兒子如果有辦法，他比我做得更好，兒子不如我，他們每天花天酒地，甚至於黃賭毒都有，這樣反而害了他」。余彭年表示他的所有財產全部委託香港匯豐銀行託管、監管，並明確定下所有財產不繼承、不變賣、不投資，全部用於慈善事業。余彭年這個安排和公開宣示，是為確保一旦乘鶴西去之後，他所致力的慈善事業仍然有資源繼續推行下去，顯示他要把財產做善事的決心之大和堅定。

余彭年畢生奮鬥，1950 年代偷渡來港，做過雜工，拉過黃包車，憑努力成就一番事業，現在看來，做善事是他的夢想。許多人都有夢想，已故的霍英東先生也是奮鬥致富，他回饋國家、鄉梓的事，街知巷聞，他晚年的夢想是把一片沼澤荒地的南沙發展成為科研中心，只是霍老有生之年，並未就這個夢想在財務上作更適當安排，而他的後人關注回報問題，使得原本2008 年底完工的「香港科技大學霍英東研究院」，現在仍是種花生的田野。

還有，龔如心的千億元遺產，她2002 年的遺囑，把全部財產撥歸她與王德輝共同創立的華懋慈善基金。龔如心空有夢想，生前並無具體落實安排，使她死後隨即掀起陳振聰的爭產官司。她的遺囑能否實現，只有天曉得。

富豪縱有做善事回饋社會人民之夢，若無具體落實安排，則無人可以保證其夢想可以延續和實現。與許多富豪相比，余彭年的家財可能只及零頭，但是余老先生已經做了必要安排，夢想能夠實現的可能性很高，這一點，值得有意以家財濟世的富豪參考。

Glossary

philanthropy /fI'lan r pI/the practice of helping the poor and those inneed, especially by giving money.

survive

exist or live longer than (somebody).dissipation /dIsI'peI ʃ()n/behaviour which is enjoyable but is harmful.