Many sectors of Chinese society mourned the death of renowned Hong Kong philanthropist and prominent industrialist Tin Ka-ping, who died at the age of 99 in the city on Tuesday morning.Leading the tributes was the central government's top representative in Hong Kong, Wang Zhiming, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Wang expressed his sorrow over Tin's death on Wednesday.He said he respected and appreciated Tin's lifelong love for the country and his great contribution to education in China.Tin cared about society and promoted public welfare in ways that will benefit future generations, Wang said.Joining him was Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. She said on Tuesday that Tin not only made significant contributions to the industrial development of Hong Kong but was also devoted to philanthropy over the past few decades, both in the special administrative region and on the mainland.Lam said she was grieved to learn of Tin's passing and extended condolences to his family.Hong Kong's Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yunhung said the Tin Ka Ping Foundation funded various educational institutions, from kindergartens to universities, as well as several scholarship and exchange programs that benefit a large number of local students.Born in Guangdong province, Tin moved to Hong Kong in 1958. He was successful in his early days in the chemicals business and later made a fortune in real estate. He devoted his life to promoting the development of charities, donating 80 percent of his total assets to different fields, especially education.So far, the foundation, a nonprofit charity founded by Tin in 1982, has funded 318 education institutions, more than 1,800 rural libraries, 29 hospitals and about 130 bridges and roads across 34 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China.Educational institutions that were funded by Tin in both Hong Kong and the mainland also expressed both sorrow and appreciation.The University of Hong Kong said that Tin was a selfless educator and philanthropist who had contributed immensely to the development of teaching, learning and research in Hong Kong and on the mainland.Zhejiang University posted a tribute to Tin on its social media account. Tin provided money to establish the Tin Ka Ping Academy on the Xixi campus of the university. As it is the place where most students go for classes, the building bears witness to students' growth, the university said.Tin's name and the building have been integrated into the university, the post said.Other universities and middle schools in different provinces, including Guangdong, Sichuan, Yunnan, Jiangsu, also mourned Tin. All of them have received donations. cheap silicone wristbandsadjustable wristbandsfabric festival wristbands24hourwristbandsblack rubber wristbandscheap rubber wristbandscustom fidget spinners202mm to inchesthe wristband factoryslap wristbands
BRICS countries will enhance cultural ties via new alliances of libraries, museums, art galleries and children's theaters. The combined efforts of national-level institutions from China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa were announced at the meeting of BRICS ministers of culture in Tianjin on Thursday. "People-to-people connectivity is crucial for the development of the relationships among BRICS countries, and cultural exchanges are an important way to enhance such connections," said Minister of Culture Luo Shugang. "More concrete cooperation in cultural fields will better benefit ordinary people in the countries involved." For example, after the Alliance of Libraries is set up, the five countries will map out a series of substantial cooperative projects concerning book preservation, document sharing and digital libraries. Luo projected that cultural cooperation within the framework of BRICS will focus on fields including art performances, protection of cultural relics and development of the creative industry. Mahesh Sharma, Indian minister of culture, said that the promotion of global economic partnerships and international peace and stability are key pillars of BRICS, and intercultural dialogue is the social foundation for cooperation. More personnel exchange programs and training courses in the field of fine art will be set up, and BRICS art museum forums and fine arts exhibitions will be held every three years. Vladimir Medinsky, Russian minister of culture, said that cinematic cooperation can play a pivotal role. "We can thus discover more shared values," he said. "We also have some different values, but such coproduction can help to enrich each other's culture." Delegates from the five countries signed a detailed five-year action plan for the implementation of the Agreement between the Governments of BRICS States on Cooperation in the Field of Culture, which was first agreed upon at a previous meeting in Russia in 2015. In the area of cultural relic protection, BRICS countries will "jointly research the means to protect shared and trans-boundary cultural properties, and the possibilities of nominating these properties to be considered for inclusion in UNESCO's World Heritage List", according to the action plan. The parties will sign agreements on the prevention of illicit trafficking of cultural properties and monitoring their import and export, while cooperation among commercial sectors in the cultural industry, including animation, gastronomy and fashion, will be encouraged, it said. Xie Jinying, director of the Ministry of Culture's Bureau for External Cultural Relations, said that most previous international cultural cooperation with China was based on bilateral agreements. "However, more multilateral efforts are taking place now," Xie said. "If bilateral cooperation is a duet, multilateral cooperation is a chorus." Unlike other multilateral frameworks, which often involve China and other countries in a particular region, BRICS includes five representative countries from different regions. "It will thus create stronger international ties," he said. Xie also revealed that the conference in Tianjin marked the start of an annual meeting among BRICS ministers of culture, with the next meeting to be held in South Africa in 2018. [email protected]
