Ｚｈａｎｇ　Ｊｉｅ’ｓ　Ｄｏｎａｔｉｏｎ　ｏｆ　１８　Ｃｌａｓｓｒｏｏｍ　Ｂｕｉｌｄｉｎｇｓ

Ｇｕ　Ｚｈｉｋｕｎ

The 82-year-old Zhang Jie is by no means a rich man in Hong Kong, but over the past 20 years he has contributed 12 million yuan to the education undertakings in Shangyu, his home county in Zhejiang Province. Eighteen classroom buildings in a total floor area of 20,000 m2 in fifteen schools in Shangyu were built with his cash donations.

On February 3rd, 2009, Zhang Jie was honored with the 2008 Shaoxing Mayors Award in Shaoxing. He gave away half of the 50,000 in cash to Shaoxing Charity Federation and the other half to schools in Shangyu.

Born in 1927, Zhang Jie went to Shanghai at the age of 11. He became an apprentice at a shop. He slept on the floor and ate leftovers but these were usual for teenage apprentices in these years. He lost his apprenticeship when Japanese invaders stormed into Shanghai in 1937. He became a tramp. He did small jobs and later started a small business for selling bamboo products, but that failed.

In 1959, Zhang Jie went to Hong Kong to work for his uncle there. He had a job in a food store and he lived with his uncle.His uncles house was small too. So he slept on the floor again. It was not until 18 years later that Zhang left his uncle and found a place for himself. He rented a 6-m2 place in Tsim Sha Tsui, one of the major shopping areas in Hong Kong, and started his small retail business. Later he began to sell more commodities such as crabs, tea, eggs, dumplings, gums. He worked hard and he saved hard. He was proud of his savings, but he was still regarded as a poor man, for he didnt buy a house for himself. The apartment he rented was so small that he had to sleep on the floor.

Generosity

His first donation to Shangyu took place in 1979. His donation was a color television set worth 3,000 yuan. He was the first person from Hong Kong who made donations to Shangyu. From then on, he donated more and more. In 1987 he made a five-year plan for rebuilding Shangyu Middle School. He made it. Within 5 years, he financed two buildings with 32 classrooms, a library, a dorm for girl students, equipment such as a van and 100 ceiling fans as well as 300,000 in cash.

While donating to key schools in the county seat, Zhang Jie didnt forget schools in rural areas. He visited these schools and donated generously.

Frugality

While donating generously to schools in Shangyu, Zhang Jie leads an incredibly frugal life in Hong Kong with his family. Today, Zhang Jies property in Hong Kong is a 30-m2 room, where Zhang Jie, his wife, four daughters, a son and their children used to live together.In such a room, Zhang slept on the floor for years again. He doesnt plan to buy an apartment in Hong Kong.An apartment costs a few million and that much money can certainly do a lot of things for education in Shangyu.

The small shop is his only income source over decades. He saved every cent. In these years, he went to the public toilets so that his water bill could be minimized. He didnt take buses with air-conditioning, for the bus ticket cost more. When he first visited Shangyu, he would go to the shops carrying a large bag and buy some local products and then would sell them in Hong Kong to earn back his travel money.

At first his children did not understand why their father gave away every cent to schools back home. Zhang explained his concept of virtue: ancient sages said that virtue is a better legacy than a fortune left to ones children. He said he had a hard life in his early years because he had no education. All his accumulated fortune came metaphorically from the tiny slits between his teeth, a Chinese way of describing how one saves every bit. He thought donations to schools in home county could help a lot of children and it was one effective way to build up ones virtue.

His children gave him 10,000 HK dollar as a gift on his 60th birthday in 1987. Zhang Jie tentatively asked if it was all right if he donated money to schools in Shangyu. When his son got married, the father persuaded the son to have a simple wedding and donated 15,000 to the Shangyu Middle School for purchasing some lab instruments.

People in Zhejiang are touched by Zhang Jies generosity. He has been honored by the Zhejiang Government as a “Hero Who Loves Home Province Zhejiang”. In 2005, he was selected one of the ten model people who made Zhejiang proud and touched the heart of Shaoxing. In 2007 he received another honor from Zhejiang Provincial Government. He has attended three National Day celebrations in Beijing on behalf of Zhejiang.

Zhang Jie says of his donations this way: “People used to believe only rich people made donations to education. For example, Chen Chunlan gave money and built the Chunhui Middle School. What I want to say is that someone like me, without much education and with his only income from a small business of selling eggs and tea, can also donate to education in a big way. I am glad and I am proud. Someone says I am a fool for I slept on the floor and donated all the money to education. My reply is I want to be such a fool. I will continue to sleep on the floor so long as I can help schools in my home county.”□