Shenzhen's Mission Hills International School to groom future sporting stars
The Chu family behind Mission Hills Shenzhen, the world's largest golf club, will extend their support of sport and education by opening a bilingual school in the Chinese border city with a strong sport syllabus
The Chu family are keen supporters of sports and education. Although he made his first fortune in the paper and packaging business, family patriarch, the late David Chu Shu-ho, is best known for setting up the world's largest golf club - Mission Hills Shenzhen.
It became the crown jewel of a sporting and hospitality empire, and in turn led to the Chus focusing particular attention on sports education on the mainland.
Over the years, they have funded a host of such efforts, including a masters programme for China's physical therapists (jointly run by Polytechnic University and the Huazhong University of Science and Technology) and the school for sports science at South China Normal University in Guangzhou.
Now the Chus are venturing directly into education with the Mission Hills International School, which opens in Shenzhen in September.
"My father was an avid supporter of sports development in China. Our initial education initiatives were related to sports," says Catherine Chu Ka-ying, executive director of the Mission Hills Group as well as its international education arm.
Because of their experience of working closely with international educators to bring tertiary training opportunities to China, "the government asked us to consider expanding this to primary and secondary education".