Yu Pengnian is not the retiring sort. At 88, the president of Pengnian Industries still takes an active role in his business, and he is not shy about his achievements, either. Company vehicles at the entrance to his Peng Nian Hotel in Shenzhen are plastered with images of the entrepreneur involved in charitable activities. The marble wall behind his desk is inscribed with gold calligraphy outlining his insights on the joy of giving.
Already prominent in Hong Kong media, mainly for being the owner of Bruce Lee's former home, Yu made international headlines earlier this year when he became the first mainlander to pledge US$1 billion - almost his entire fortune - to charity.
'I have given all of my fortune to the people,' he says. 'You have to get rich first before you can help people.'
But surely charity starts at home? 'If my children are smart enough, they don't need my money,' he says. 'And if they are not, then the money will just bring harm to them. Of course, I have also made sure my children have comforts - they have houses, cars, medical insurance and sufficient money to send their children abroad.'
Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investment guru Warren Buffett have done it in the West, and are trying to raise the issue of giving at a banquet in Beijing on September 29, but such high-profile giving on the mainland is a new phenomenon.
In the '90s, anyone with personal wealth was assumed to have accrued it from corrupt sources, categorised by the 'five colours' of vice (red for the government; green, the army; blue, customs and excise; white, smuggling; or black, guns and drugs). Moreover, the custom in Chinese culture is to be modest about personal triumphs, including charitable contributions.