Grandmother’s life lessons inspire Tencent co-founder to launch education prize
Charles Chen says he was taught to take his studies seriously from an early age and hopes his award can promote the best ideas in the field
Charles Chen Yidan’s earliest memories of school revolve around the sight of his grandmother in the early morning light in his hometown of Huizhou, a sleepy community in the Pearl River Delta.
“Every morning, she would be busy around the house, cooking eggs [for breakfast], urging me to go to school,” Chen said.
“She never said anything, but I could tell her expectations from the expression in her eyes.
“From the time I was very young, she hoped that I would take education seriously.”
More than three decades on, in an office overlooking Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, the low-profile co-founder of Tencent and pioneering philanthropist continues to push his grandmother’s message about education.
“My grandma was illiterate, but she insisted on sending my father to university. He stayed in the city after graduation, and we were born there. Education changed his life, which in turn changed my life,” he said.
My grandma was illiterate, but she insisted on sending my father to university ... Education changed his life, which in turn changed my life