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| - No record shows Ronnie Chan accused a Chinese university of misusing his donations
Several X posts (here, here and here) from April 3 allegedly quoted Ronnie Chan, a renowned Hong Kong businessman, accusing a Chinese “technology university” of misusing his donation for teachers’ entertainment, leaving nothing for the students.
These posts were all accompanied by the same image, showing a TV news screenshot of Chan’s retirement announcement in 2024 and a text block seemingly written from Chan’s first-person perspective.
The text claimed that Chan donated two million yuan (about US$275,000) to establish the “Yihe Scholarship” (颐和奖学金) at his alma mater, but he later learned that the money was entirely spent on “team-building for teachers” and not on students — except for the construction of a moot court at the university’s law school, which Chan allegedly insisted upon.
The claim also stated that Chinese businessman Ou Yaping donated 10 million yuan (nearly US$1.4 million) to the same university and faced embezzlement issues.
A tweet from late 2024 also had the same claim but without the accompanying image and superimposed text. These posts have garnered nearly 250 shares and 800 likes.
However, Annie Lab’s investigation found no evidence supporting these allegations.
We discovered that the donation referenced in the claim was made to the Beijing Institute of Technology by Wang Jizhou, founder of Yihe Capital and a graduate (archived here) of the university‘s School of Management and Economics.
Ronnie Chan, on the other hand, received his degrees from two American universities, not from any university in China.
Identifying the ‘technology university’
The university mentioned in the claim was referred to as “理工大学” in Simplified Chinese, which translates to either a “technology” or “engineering university” in English.
A search for “Yihe (颐和)” and “technology university (理工大学)” led to information about a “Yihe Fund (颐和基金)” at the Beijing Institute of Technology (北京理工大学).
According to an article on the Institute’s website, alumnus Wang Jizhou donated two million yuan in 2011 to establish the Yihe Fund (archived here).
While the fund’s name, donation amount, and university match those mentioned in the claim, Ronnie Chan is not mentioned in the article.
Our further investigation found no evidence connecting Ronnie Chan to this foundation, either.
Ronnie Chan and Ou Yaping
Ronnie Chan’s profile on the China-United States Exchange Foundation lists three degrees he earned from California State University, Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California. Neither institution is located in China.
The claim also described Ou Yaping, chair of Enerchina Holdings Limited, as Ronnie Chan’s schoolmate. However, according to Enerchina Holdings Limited’s 2011 Annual Report filed with HKEXNews, Ou obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the Beijing Institute of Technology (北京理工大学).
The posts alleged that Ou and his wife donated 10 million yuan to the university, but this is inaccurate. A 2018 article on the Beijing Institute of Technology’s website said that Ou and his wife donated one million yuan on Sept. 7, 1998, establishing scholarships and teaching awards (archived here) — not 10 million yuan as claimed.
Origins of the claims
A 2023 article on a demonstrably partisan news website, Aboluowang (archived here), featured similar claims with the exact wording but did not mention Ronnie Chan or a moot court.
Instead, it included pictures from a donation ceremony showing Wang Jizhou’s name on a banner. The photos appeared to have been sourced from a 2011 Beijing Institute of Technology report.
The Aboluowang article attributed these claims to a Weibo user named “@dlw202020202,” but we could not find an account under this name on Weibo.
Instead, we found the username and its protected account on X. Annie Lab requested access, but at the time of publication, we have not received approval.
Chan’s philanthropic work and criticism
Chan, the former chair of Hang Lung Group, one of the largest property developers in Hong Kong, is known for his philanthropy.
In 2014, he made several donations to universities, including $350 million to Havard University. This drew criticism for “giving so much money to an already wealthy institution, rather than to more needy universities in China,” according to a BBC report.
In response to such criticism, BBC quoted Chan saying that donating in mainland China involves “so many headaches,” though he did not elaborate on specific challenges.
He has also publicly stated that donating to charity is preferable to passing wealth to family members to avoid internal conflicts, according to a report by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a news article by the Hong Kong Economic Times.
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