Foreigners honored for contributions

TWO foreigners, one of them 90 years old, last month received Shanghai’s top honor for outsiders.

Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong presented them with Honorary Citizen of Shanghai awards and also awarded 10 others Shanghai Magnolia Gold Awards in recognition of their contributions to the city’s development.

The two recipients of honorary citizenship are Linda Tsao Yang, Chairwoman Emeritus of Asian Corporate Governance Association, and Wong Fatt Heng, General Manager of Roche Diagnostics (Shanghai) Ltd.

“Born in Shanghai, I could not help shedding tears when hearing the good news that the government and people of my hometown give me such high honor 70 years after I left the city for America to study there,” Yang, 90, told the mayor at the presentation ceremony.

Yang was thanked by the mayor for her support for the environment treatment program of Suzhou Creek in Shanghai. She helped to raise US$300 million in loans for the program.

She was also honored for her role in promoting understanding, trust and cooperation between China and America.

Wong, 60, was honored for bringing technologies into China that had benefited the medical community, cultivated talent in the field of bioscience and promoted the development of clinical laboratory research.

Born in Malaysia, Wong said his parents were from Guangdong Province and China was a frequently mentioned topic in their household.

When he was appointed to work in Shanghai in 2006 by his company, he felt he had found his niche. “I’m not only participating in business operation of my company, but also hoping to help patients here get the best medical treatments and live healthy lives by introducing latest technologies,” he said.

The 10 recipients of this year’s Magnolia gold awards come from America, Sweden, France, Ireland, Ukraine, Italy, Singapore and Serbia. Wong Fatt Heng and Linda Tsao Yang pictured after receiving Honorary Citizens of Shanghai awards, the city’s top honor for foreigners. — Wang Rongjiang