Hong Kong philanthropist Li Ka-shing is donating $40 million to UC Berkeley for a high tech medical science facility in his name:

The University of California, Berkeley, has received a $40 million gift from the Li Ka Shing Foundation to establish a research center focused on new scientific fields - including stem cell biology and brain imaging - that could provide solutions to today’s major health problems.

In recognition of Li’s generosity, the university will name the new facility the Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences.

The donation is the largest international gift in the history of UC Berkeley and will allow the campus to start planning for the Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, which will replace Warren Hall, current home of the School of Public Health.

Yay!

In other news, Hong Kong medical students are protesting Li Ka-shing’s $128 million donation to the University of Hong Kong:

Medical students are planning to wear their white coats during Friday’s march to protest against the renaming of Hong Kong University’s faculty of medicine.

The outcry comes after the university council decided last month to name the faculty after billionaire tycoon Li Ka-shing, following his pledge to donate HK$1 billion…

“We don’t want to have a name change based on the amount of money donated. To us, it is just a sale,” said Tse Hung-hing, a HKU medical graduate.

“It’s like saying you can’t call the territory Hong Kong anymore but have to call it Li Ka-shing,” said Tse’s colleague, Wong Kwok-tim…

They are expecting 800 other medical students dressed in white coats to take part.

Responding to the notion that in America, things are always named after people:

“Not everything in America is suitable for Hong Kong culture,” argued Wong. “The culture in Hong Kong is completely different.”

Either that or maybe the old saying “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” doesn’t translate well into Chinese.