Tencent’s Pony Ma to open museum in Shenzhen, led by Tai Kwun’s former head of art Pi Li
Rong Museum of Art, a flower-like structure within the M80 Campus in Shenzhen’s Houhai district, will open in 2027
The name Rong refers to the Chinese character for “blending” or “convergence”, which Pi says reflects the museum’s intent to function as a platform for promoting inclusive coexistence and global interdependence.
Rong Museum is going to be one of four towers forming the M80 Campus, a mixed-use property development in Shenzhen’s Houhai district. The philosophy behind the “M” in the name is mutualism, message and memory, while the “80” echoes 1980, the year marking the beginning of the Shenzhen special economic zone, Pi explains in the letter.
According to Forbes, Ma is the 33rd richest person in the world with a net worth of US$56.7 billion. Most of it is linked to his stake in Tencent.
Little is known about Ma and his family’s private art collection, though the few public purchases he has made at charity auctions point to an interest in Chinese ink paintings. In 2013, he paid 17 million yuan for a Xu Beihong painting of four horses. Apart from the equine nod in his English first name, Ma’s surname also means horse.