Run Run Shaw, the philanthropist who couldn't stop giving

Sir Run Run Shaw was better known on the mainland as a philanthropist because of his generous support for the nation's education and medical sectors over more than two decades.

Since 1985, he had given hundreds of millions of dollars to fund schools and build campuses for at least 20 universities. Buildings and schools named after him have sprung up in almost every province in recent decades.

Among those that have benefited from his donations are the Run Run Shaw Primary School in Xiangtan , Hunan ; teaching buildings in the Tibetan Traditional Medical College in Lhasa , Tibet , and Inner Mongolia Hulunber Mengyi School in northern China.

"His donations helped make education more accessible to the ordinary people on the mainland," Zhou Yaoming, former president of Guangzhou-based Jinan University, said.

Zhou was one of the school officials involved in the Shaw Foundation's donation to Jinan University, where the late movie mogul helped build a stadium with HK$10 million in 1989.

"We were short of almost everything in the university, especial funds for school construction," Zhou recalled.