Duan Yongping Donates RMB 45 Million to His Mother's Alma Mater for a Sports and Arts Hall
Duan Yongping, the Chinese entrepreneur and investor best known for founding electronics brands Subor and BBK, has donated RMB 45 million (about USD 6.3 million) to the education development foundation of Tongcheng High School in Anqing, Anhui province, the school announced on November 11. The gift is earmarked for a multi-purpose sports and arts hall and sets a record as the largest single private donation in the school's history.
The new hall will cover a total floor area of 12,380 square meters and house standard sports facilities, art-teaching spaces and a large lecture hall, positioned as an integrated venue for teaching practice, sports and cultural activities, and student showcases. Construction has already started and is expected to be completed and in use by the end of 2027. The school said the building will be named the Peng Jianhua Hall, after Duan's mother, who graduated from the school in 1951 and went on to study at Beijing Normal University before spending decades working in education.
Alongside the donation, internationally renowned pianist Lang Lang is donating a "Happy Keyboard" music classroom to the school through the Beijing Lang Lang Art Foundation, complete with 16 smart pianos and supporting teacher training. The classroom is designed to complement the new hall's arts-teaching function and expand music-education resources on campus.
Duan, born in 1961, earned his bachelor's degree from Zhejiang University and a graduate degree from Renmin University of China. He built Subor, once China's best-known game-console brand, and later BBK, the parent lineage behind several of the country's leading consumer-electronics companies, before turning mainly to investing. He has long supported education causes and has funded projects at a number of Chinese universities over the years.
Large named gifts to individual schools remain relatively rare in China's basic-education sector, where philanthropic giving has traditionally flowed to top universities. The Tongcheng donation lands as a second-tier city high school secures both top-tier private funding and a celebrity-backed arts program — a combination that could encourage more private capital toward K12 campuses outside the university sector.
The new hall will cover a total floor area of 12,380 square meters and house standard sports facilities, art-teaching spaces and a large lecture hall, positioned as an integrated venue for teaching practice, sports and cultural activities, and student showcases. Construction has already started and is expected to be completed and in use by the end of 2027. The school said the building will be named the Peng Jianhua Hall, after Duan's mother, who graduated from the school in 1951 and went on to study at Beijing Normal University before spending decades working in education.
Alongside the donation, internationally renowned pianist Lang Lang is donating a "Happy Keyboard" music classroom to the school through the Beijing Lang Lang Art Foundation, complete with 16 smart pianos and supporting teacher training. The classroom is designed to complement the new hall's arts-teaching function and expand music-education resources on campus.
Duan, born in 1961, earned his bachelor's degree from Zhejiang University and a graduate degree from Renmin University of China. He built Subor, once China's best-known game-console brand, and later BBK, the parent lineage behind several of the country's leading consumer-electronics companies, before turning mainly to investing. He has long supported education causes and has funded projects at a number of Chinese universities over the years.
Large named gifts to individual schools remain relatively rare in China's basic-education sector, where philanthropic giving has traditionally flowed to top universities. The Tongcheng donation lands as a second-tier city high school secures both top-tier private funding and a celebrity-backed arts program — a combination that could encourage more private capital toward K12 campuses outside the university sector.
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