Former husband of So Hang-suen, Bill Hui

HK Magazine: How did you get involved with providing schooling for children in China?
Bill Hui: Some fellow Buddhists who had returned from a trip to China came to my restaurant [Cute Fei Vegetarian] in 1996 and showed me photos of undeveloped, rural areas in Guizhou and I was shocked to see how impoverished people were. I decided to go with them on their next trip and what I saw with my own eyes really affected me. At the time I was making a profit from my business, so I started to donate money and help build schools for the kids.

HK: Do you have a good relationship with the children?
BH: Kids in these rural areas seldom get visitors. I’ll always remember their joyful smiles when we give out cookies, sweets, stationery and clothes. Some don’t even know how to accept gifts. They simply don’t know what greed is, and they don’t know they’re most likely going to become poor peasants, like the generations before them. My wish is to provide an education for these kids, give them power to change their doomed fate so they can end up helping others. I’m touched to know that some of the older students return to their village as low-paid teachers after they’ve graduated from the city.

HK: What do you think about children in Hong Kong?
BH: Children in Hong Kong are so blessed. Many children in rural China have never even eaten plain white rice, let alone had the chance to be educated. Kids in Hong Kong tend to take things for granted. A lot of them enjoy affluent lives surrounded by brand-named products, but they simply don’t treasure that.

HK: How much have you spent on building schools and what is the cost for one?
BH: I’ve spent more than $1 million in total. In the beginning it was about $160,000 for a two-storey school, which included eight classrooms and two staff rooms. Now each one costs about $240,000. We donors pay half and the local government is responsible for the rest.

HK: How much of the donated money actually reaches the school?
BH: Every dollar goes to the schools and the children. Even our volunteers pay their own transportation fees, residential fees and all other expenses during the schools visits.

HK: You used to work for a TV station as a technician.
Has this helped your charity work?
BH: The TV industry is a completely different world—it’s very materialistic. I found it really hard to communicate with my co-workers. But on the bright side, I made lots of connections with actors so I recruited them to donate more money to build more schools. And that’s how I met my wife. People usually think if you’re not rich there’s no way you can marry an actress. Fortunately, she is one of a kind and she’s a devoted Buddhist too. We share common beliefs and we were meant to be together.