Billionaire Gifts Over $1 Million to His Home Town’s Elderly for Chinese New Year

Many Chinese all over the world receive red envelopes full of cash during Chinese New Year. The money is typically given by the married to children and the unmarried and is supposed to bestow good fortune on those who receive it, as our site explains. Most get around over $100 or more each year. But what if you opened a red envelope and found that you received 10,000 yuan ($1,600) out of a whopping 6.5 million yuan (over $1 million) total?

That’s what Chinese billionaire Liu Qiangdong gave out for the Spring Festival in the Jiangsu Province in Suqian City this past week. As China Smack reported, Liu Qiangdong gave out the 6.5 million yuan in red envelopes to around 650 elderly people over 60 years old in his village birthplace.

Liu Qiangdong, who is most famous for the Chinese e-commerce site JD.com, China’s second largest online mall, said:

“I grew up here, and without the care and concern of the elders of my hometown, I would not have been able to leave this village, nor would I be the person I am today.”

Liu gave the money to express good will to the elderly and so that they would have a happy new year. He also used the occasion to introduce Zhang Zetian as his “wife,” although it’s been reported that they just got engaged. The two make up a formidable power couple; Zhang is an internet meme sensation nicknamed Milk Tea Girl, after a photo of her holding up a cup of milk tea went viral. Because of this, she is now a budding film star who just received her first role in a movie last year. They’re also infamous for their age gap; Liu is 19 years older than 21-year-old Zhang.

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