Hong Kong industrialist and philanthropist, Tin Ka-ping, died at the age of 99 on July 10, 2018, announced his foundation.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor expressed deep sorrows for his death along with many Netizens.
Born in 1919 in Dabu County, Guangdong, Tin dropped out of school to start a business at 16 when his father passed away.
In 1937, he traveled to Vietnam to sell porcelain clay, and two years later, he changed to rubber industry in Indonesia. He became a young and prominent industrialist in Djakarta. In 1958, he moved to Hong Kong and established a chemical industry town that produced plastic films and artificial leather. He expanded his business to real estate and held the post of a director of a bank. In the 1980s, he was a renowned billionaire in Hong Kong.
The magnate set up the Tin Ka Ping Foundation in 1982. Since its founding, the foundation has funded 20 kindergartens and vocational schools, 44 elementary schools, 166 middle schools, 93 universities, and more than 1800 rural libraries, etc. Apart from education projects, it donated money to build 29 hospitals, and about 130 bridges and roads. In addition, it established scholarships in three overseas universities to benefit Chinese students.
Tin was awarded a Member of British Empire in 1996 by Queen Elizabeth, and a Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2010, the highest award under the Hong Kong honors and awards system. A planet was even named after the entrepreneur.
It was surprising that the "great and good man" received baptism in the Evangelical Free Church of China (EFCC) Yan Fook Church at a mere 95.
He gave his testimony on the stage: "I'm 95 this year and don't believe in Jesus until today. I had always admired the self-sacrifice of Jesus and the benevolent spirit proclaimed by missionaries and saw the difference between the Christian life and non-Christian one, so Jesus was my model before my converting. Moreover, I reminded leaders not to prohibit Christianity, for the gospel must be introduced into China in order to enhance people's qualities and change their lives."
Tin confessed that the soul redemption was a greater destination, according to a Hong Kong Christian media outlet. "Many people don't understand why I believe in Jesus. Frankly speaking, I conducted with integrity all my life and I could say without blush: I was a good man who didn't need Jesus at all. But the good man in people's eyes has desires and also makes mistakes, so he is a sinner in God's eyes... so it seems contradictory. God sees nobody qualified to be righteous, but sees everybody who has an opportunity to be righteous - as long as you are willing to accept Jesus as your savior."
Tin added that he prayed every day and one of the prayers was to ask God to let him know Him more. "I don't understand many truths in the Bible and I even find them abstract; for many, I may be not a qualified Christian, but the Bible promises that we can be saved when we 'believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths'. Today I want to take the step by faith and accept Jesus Christ as my savior. I believe that the God who is real will open my heart to know Him gradually."
Rev. Su Yingzhi who baptized Tin said, "It's pretty difficult to preach to a good man and tell him that he is a sinner who needs to accept Jesus Christ as his savior."
Until one day, his sister-in-law needed a narrow to cure her cancer. All the visitors had to wear full protective clothing and go through the disinfection procedure. Rev. Su told Tin that visitors had to finish the procedure just because they were clean because a bacteria that couldn't be seen by naked eyes might exist and cause a defenseless person to death. The heaven was like an isolation ward where things like lying, hate, slander, criticizing people behind their backs dissolved into nothingness, but everyone who hardly made no fault was unable to enter it. However, the faith in Jesus was likened to "disinfecting": one could be saved if he admitted that he was a sinner who was unable to save himself, believed Jesus who was a savior in his heart, and confessed with his mouth.
Hearing this, Tin was willing to accept Jesus and prayed the sinner's prayer. "Accepting this in his rational thinking and feeling Jesus Christ's love in his heart, he reasoningly announced that Jesus was God, the Lord, and the savior. Because of this, he declared that Jesus was in his thought, mind, and heart, too，" said the pastor.
- Translated by Karen Luo
