Asia’s Most Influential: Impact List
EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF NEW WORLD DEVELOPMENT (NWD) AND FOUNDER OF THE K11 GROUP OF CULTURAL-RETAIL COMPLEXES
The most influential philanthropists from around Asia
Adrian Cheng has emerged as one of the world’s most influential arts patrons, famous for backing boundary-breaking exhibitions through his K11 Art Foundation. But this year Cheng has extended his giving to other sectors, too.
“Covid-19 has been a wake-up call for all of us to think about how connected we are,” says Cheng.
NWD funded new mask factories in Hong Kong, which have produced millions of masks that have been distributed for free to low-income families. Cheng donated HK$10 million to scientists researching how masks can be made more effective. “I keep advocating CSV: creating shared value,” says Cheng. “What we are trying to do is not simply give, but to join hands and create more value for society. It is a shift from passive to proactive.” Another of NWD’S initiatives saw the donation of 3 million square feet of land to help ease Hong Kong’s social housing shortage.
And Cheng remains committed to the arts. He launched the K11 Craft & Guild Foundation, which works to conserve Chinese craftsmanship. And in October Cheng announced he is spearheading the transformation of the State Theatre, a historic former cinema, into a cultural hub. “With our international team, we will do our best to conserve and restore this iconic building to its original glamour and build a cultural oasis that serves the community,” he says.
It wasn’t a background in veterinary science or law that led Jill Robinson to champion animal rights in Asia, but the soft caress of a bear.
When Robinson arrived in Hong Kong in 1985, she was shocked by instances of animal cruelty she witnessed. “I saw dogs that were just thrown away by people who had become fed up with their designer animals,” says Robinson. She joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare as a consultant and also set up Doctor Dog, Asia’s first animal-therapy programme, in 1991.
In 1993, she got a tip-off from a journalist about bear farms in the neighbouring Chinese city of Zhuhai. In traditional
Chinese medicine, it is believed that moon bear bile can treat a host of ailments, giving rise to a lucrative industry where intestinal acid is forcibly extracted from live bears that are often kept in restrictive cages.
“As I was walking around the basement of the bear farm, I suddenly felt something touch my shoulder. I turned around and a female moon bear had her paw through the bars of the cage, so I just took her paw,” she recalls. “She just squeezed my fingers. How could she be so gentle with the human species that had caused her so much pain? I left thinking that I would never see her again but she changed my whole life: one bear was responsible for starting Animals Asia.”