Donors and Named Gifts

This article surveys the major donors and named gifts of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) from its founding to the present day. It belongs to reference zone 00–12 (factual); donors are recorded as named in the records, with neutral/positive framing and no credibility badges attached.

Since its establishment in 1911, HKU has long relied on private philanthropy; many campus buildings, colleges, professorships and scholarships bear the names of their donors. The article is organised chronologically into two parts: "Founding Era and Early Benefactors" and "Major Contemporary Gifts". Naming controversies tied to specific donations (such as debates over college naming) are not covered here and are routed to the relevant governance / controversy modules.

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# 1. Founding Era and Early Benefactors (1910s–1950s)

# 1.1 Sir Hormusjee N. Mody: Funding the Main Building

According to HKU Giving's "Main Building" page^※, Parsi businessman and philanthropist Hormusjee N. Mody was a pivotal donor in HKU's founding:

• He initially pledged HK$150,000^※ toward establishing the University;
• He subsequently honoured his commitment, covering the entire construction cost of the Main Building at HK$365,000^※;
• The Main Building opened on 11 March 1912^※ with 72 inaugural students;
• Mody passed away in 1911 and did not live to see the building completed.

The Main Building is the oldest structure on HKU's main campus (see the Campus module).

# 1.2 Loke Yew: The Interest-Free Loan That Saved the University

According to HKU Giving^※, Malayan Chinese business leader Loke Yew came to HKU's aid during its early financial crisis:

• In 1915, with the University facing severe financial difficulty, Loke Yew donated HK$50,000 and advanced a further HK$500,000 as a 21-year interest-free loan^※;
• These funds saw the University through its crisis and allowed it to continue operations;
• In 1956, the University's Great Hall was named Loke Yew Hall^※ in honour of his contribution, and a bronze bust of Loke Yew stands on its first floor.

# 1.3 Fung Ping Shan and Tang Chi Ngong: Chinese Education

Early development of Chinese education at HKU owed much to two businessmen:

• Tang Chi Ngong: After HKU established its Department of Chinese in 1927, merchant Tang Chi Ngong funded the creation of the Chinese College. The Tang Chi Ngong Building was laid out in 1929 and completed in 1931^※, opened by the then Governor, Sir William Peel. Tang's son, Sir Shiu-kin Tang, continued the family's support of HKU in later years; the full story of two generations of giving appears in The Tang Family Donor Dynasty.
• Fung Ping Shan: In 1929, Fung Ping Shan, co-founder of the Bank of East Asia, wrote to the then Vice-Chancellor, Sir William Hornell, offering to donate HK$100,000^※ toward a Chinese library building. Work on the Fung Ping Shan Building began in 1931 and was completed in 1932; it now houses part of the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) (see the Campus module).

# 1.4 Sir Robert Ho Tung: Lady Ho Tung Hall

According to the Lady Ho Tung Hall official history^※, shortly after the Second World War, Sir Robert Ho Tung donated HK$1 million^※ to HKU in memory of his late wife, Lady Margaret Ho Tung. Lady Ho Tung Hall was established in 1951 and is today one of HKU's four traditional halls of residence, and the University's only women's hall (see the Colleges and Halls module).

# 1.5 Hung Hing Ying

According to material on the Hung Hing Ying Building^※, the Union Building was completed in 1919. In 1986, the building was renamed the Hung Hing Ying Building in memory of Hung Hing Ying and his family's support of the University.

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# 2. Major Contemporary Gifts (1980s–present)

# 2.1 Sir Run Run Shaw: The Shaw Buildings

According to HKU Giving's "Run Run Shaw Tower" page^※, film magnate and philanthropist Sir Run Run Shaw has been a major HKU donor:

• The Run Run Shaw Building and Runme Shaw Building on the main campus were officially opened on 14 October 1985^※;
• The 11-storey Run Run Shaw Tower and the Run Run Shaw Heritage House on the Centennial Campus opened in 2012.

# 2.2 Li Ka-shing: The 2005 HK$1 Billion Medical School Naming

According to HKU's May 2005 press release^※:

• In 2005, businessman Li Ka-shing donated HK$1 billion^※ to HKU;
• The University's Council unanimously approved renaming the Faculty of Medicine the "HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine"^※;
• HKU's press release described the naming of a faculty after a donor as "unprecedented" in the University's history.

Verification of the "largest single gift" claim (adversarial check): Multiple news outlets and the Li Ka Shing Foundation describe this as the largest single philanthropic donation HKU had received at the time. Note, however, that HKU's own press release only called the faculty naming "unprecedented"; it did not itself use the phrase "largest in Asia". The rendering of the gift as "Asia's largest single donation" in some Chinese-language reports is a media characterisation. According to the Li Ka Shing Foundation's page^※ and multiple media reports, the gift was paid in instalments over several years, supporting biomedicine, clinical training facilities and international collaboration. This database adopts the cautious formulation of "the largest single donation HKU had received at the time".

Li Ka-shing has given to HKU subsequently: per a 2023 HKUMed press release^※, Li made a further donation of HK$30 million in 2023 to support the use of artificial intelligence in teaching at the Faculty of Medicine.

The naming debate / controversy triggered by the 2005 medical school naming (including alumni petition campaigns, white-coat sit-ins, and a global fundraising drive to "keep the name") is not covered here; see the dedicated article HK$1 Billion and a Faculty's Renaming.

# 2.3 Cheng Yu Tung: From Fellowships to HK$400 Million in 2008

Cheng Yu Tung (founder of New World Development and Chow Tai Fook Jewellery) first became connected with HKU's medical faculty in the 1990s:

• Per mainland press coverage compiled by Jiemian News^※, from 1996 Cheng redirected a programme that had funded medical workers' training in San Francisco to instead establish the Dr Cheng Yu Tung Fellowships at the Faculty of Medicine, funding medical professionals from mainland China each year to receive management, clinical or research training at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine. The fellowships remained active into the 2010s;
• In March 2008, Cheng Yu Tung donated HK$400 million to HKU^※.

# 2.4 Lee Shau Kee: Halls, Centres, Scholarships and an AI Institute

According to HKU Giving's "In Memory of Dr Lee Shau Kee (1928–2025)" page^※, Henderson Land founder Lee Shau Kee was a long-term supporter of HKU over several decades, with gifts spanning halls of residence, conference facilities and scholarships:

Regarding the total value of Lee Shau Kee's gifts to HKU, the University's official memorial statement speaks only in general terms of "decades of generous support" and provides no aggregate official figure; the individual amounts and years in the table above come separately from HKU's official pages and financial media reports. No single authoritative source gives a total across all years, and this database does not attempt a sum.

# 2.5 Institutional Donor: The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Alongside individual donors, The Hong Kong Jockey Club is one of HKU's longest-standing institutional benefactors. According to HKU Giving's "The Jockey Club Tower" page^※:

• The Club has donated to HKU since 1957^※, making it one of the longest-serving institutional donors in the University's history;
• In 2012, The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust contributed HK$323 million^※ toward the construction of The Jockey Club Tower on the Centennial Campus. With a floor area of over 17,500 square metres, it is the new home of the Faculty of Social Sciences and houses the cross-disciplinary ExCEL3 project, which fosters entrepreneurship and leadership in the "third sector" (non-government / non-profit organisations).

# 2.6 The Swire Family, the Lee Hysan Family and Other Named Gifts

For donors such as Cheng Yu Tung and Lee Shau Kee, some sources differ on individual amounts and years; for precise figures please refer to the HKU Annual Report donor lists and the University's Funds and Research Funds directory^※. Figures this database has not independently confirmed are flagged as pending verification.

# 2.7 The Latest Named Gift (2025): Mrs. Mayce Yu and the Daniel Yu InnoTech Tower

According to HKU Giving's "Carrying the Torch: Honouring Dr Daniel Yu Through Innovation"^※:

• In 2025, long-time supporter Mrs. Mayce Yu donated HK$500 million^※ to HKU, supporting the construction of the Centennial Campus's "Tech Landmark III";
• The University named the building the Daniel Yu InnoTech Tower^※ in memory of Mrs. Yu's late husband, Dr. Daniel Yu Chung Kwong;
• According to the same source, Dr. Daniel Yu and Mrs. Mayce Yu had earlier established the "Daniel and Mayce Yu Medical Development Fund" and four endowed professorships at the Faculty of Medicine; this latest gift continues a relationship spanning decades rather than standing as an isolated act.

At the time of writing (July 2026), this is the most recent major named gift in HKU's public record, and it underscores how the University's naming-gift tradition has continued and evolved across a century (see Section 3, "The Naming-Gift System", below).

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# 3. Annual Giving Overview (Data)

HKU's annual giving is not carried solely by a few mega-gifts; it also depends on a broad base of smaller donations. According to HKU Development & Alumni Affairs Office's official Quick Stats page^※, in the 2024/25 academic year:

The full financial treatment of the year's donation income (including the matching grant component) is set out in the Finances chapter; the six rounds of the government's Matching Grant Scheme and their amounts are detailed in the Alumni Network and Advancement chapter^※. These annual figures put the headline "named gifts" of Mody, Loke Yew, Li Ka-shing and Mayce Yu in perspective: they are the most visible layer of HKU's fundraising system, which rests on a broader base of more than a thousand annual donors beneath it.

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# 4. The Naming-Gift System

Many of HKU's buildings, faculties, endowed professorships, scholarships and funds bear donors' names. According to the University Calendar's Funds and Research Funds directory^※, HKU maintains a large roster of donor-named funds and research funds; a full directory of named buildings appears on HKU Giving's named-buildings page^※. This practice has run continuously since the University's founding (Mody's Main Building) and lies at the heart of HKU's fundraising culture; the 2025 naming of the Daniel Yu InnoTech Tower (see 2.7) is the most recent instance.

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# 5. Not Found / Pending Verification

• Full aggregate of Cheng Yu Tung's donations: Confirmed items include the annual fellowships established from 1996 and the HK$400 million gift of March 2008 (see 2.3), but HKU has not published a total for Cheng's gifts across all years. Media references to "about HK$400 million" are consistent with the 2008 single gift cited in this article and are treated as partially verified; the aggregate remains flagged as pending verification.
• Lee Shau Kee's individual gifts and lifetime totals: Confirmed items include Lee Shau Kee Hall (2005), the Lee Shau Kee Scholarships (from 2009), the Lee Shau Kee Centre for Building Sustainability (2012–13) and the HK$150 million gift for the data science institute (2018) (see 2.4), but HKU's official memorial statement gives no aggregate figure across all years; flagged as pending verification.
• Individual amounts of hall naming gifts: See the Colleges and Halls module; this article records only the naming attribution.

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# Related Reading / Cross-References

• HK$1 Billion and a Faculty's Renaming — The 2005 Li Ka-shing Naming Gift Controversy — the full story of the 2005 naming, including the alumni petition and sit-in protests
• The Tang Family Donor Dynasty — From the Tang Chi Ngong Building to Northcote College and the Bayonet — a two-generation donor family study of Tang Chi Ngong and Sir Shui-kin Tang
• Finances — annual donation income and matching grants
• Endowment and Investment Management — how donated funds are invested and managed
• Alumni Network and Advancement (06-people) — the six rounds of the Matching Grant Scheme and the advancement structure
• Campus module (05-campus) — named buildings
• Colleges and Halls module (10-colleges) — named halls

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