Chinese tycoon treats NY homeless
Print Edition
A CHINESE tycoon known for his sometimes eccentric gestures was serving up a fancy lunch to hundreds of homeless New Yorkers at a Central Park restaurant yesterday and planning to serenade them with “We are the World.”
Recycling magnate Chen Guangbiao selected a menu of sesame-seed-encrusted tuna, beef filet and berries with creme fraiche at The Loeb Boathouse restaurant for about 250 residents of a Manhattan shelter. He also promised to donate US$300 per attendee to charity.
Chen was partnering on the event with the New York City Rescue Mission, the oldest shelter in the United States.
About three dozen volunteer waiters sported green uniforms similar to those once worn by soldiers in China’s People’s Liberation Army, bearing the words “Serve the People.” They were dishing up food to a mostly male group of attendees.
“I’m looking forward to a good time and a good meal,” said Antone Hills, a Mission resident. “I think he’s a good guy and he’s helping our country.”
Cliched image
Chen said he wants to disprove the cliched image of rich Chinese spending money mostly on luxuries.
“I was not born into a rich family or a family of government officials. When I was 4 years old, my brother and sister died of hunger, so I achieved my success through confidence, self-motivation and my hard work,” Chen told “CBS This Morning.”
He then launched into an a cappella rendition of “We are the World.”
His worth is estimated US$750 million.
“Our thought was if someone wants to treat them to an amazing event — something they would never experience on their own, maybe even a kernel of hope that life could be different again, we’re in for that reason. That’s our motive,” said the mission’s Craig Mayes.
To announce the lunch, Chen placed ads in the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Saying he wanted to invite 1,000 “poor and destitute Americans,” his photo was printed next to an image of Lei Feng, a soldier characterized as selfless. The caption read “China’s Lei Feng for a new era.”
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