Yale receives $30m gift for China Center

An Alibaba Group executive, a graduate of Yale University, has donated $30 million to the Yale Law School China Center. The gift from Joseph Tsai honors his father, the late Dr Paul Tsai, also a Yale alumnus.

Yale will rename its China Center the Paul Tsai China Center in recognition of the donation. The center is dedicated to advancing China's legal reforms, improving US-China relations and increasing understanding of China in the US.

Joseph Tsai graduated from Yale Law School in 1990 and worked at the New York firm of Sullivan & Cromwell. In 1995, he moved to Hong Kong to begin a career in investment management.

In 1999 he met Jack Ma and soon after joined him as one of the founding members of Chinese Internet company Alibaba. Today, he is executive vice-chairman of Alibaba Group and serves on its board of directors.

"Under Professor Paul Gewirtz's leadership, the Paul Tsai China Center will continue its important work at the forefront of the United States' engagement with China," Yale Law School Dean Robert Post said in a statement.

Gewritz is the center's founder and director and also the Potter Stewart professor of constitutional law at Yale Law School.

Joseph's father, Paul, was a native of Huzhou in Zhejiang province, who grew up in Shanghai and moved to Taiwan in 1948. He started at Yale in 1953 and in 1957 was the first graduate student from Taiwan to receive a degree from Yale Law School. Yale also was the first university in the US to graduate a student from China, Yung Wing, in 1854.

When he returned to Taiwan, Paul Tsai became a pioneering figure in the island. For eight years while in local government, he played a leading role in developing policies and laws that contributed to Taiwan's economic growth.

In 1965, Paul Tsai and his father, Ruchin Tsar, established a private law firm, Tsai & Tsai. In private practice, Tsai continued to contribute to Taiwan's growth, particularly in the international arena as he worked to represent multinational clients such as Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, and Sheraton Hotels to attract foreign capital to Taiwan.

As his personal success grew, Tsai became a generous philanthropist, endowing the Myres S. McDougal Professorship at Yale Law School, in honor of his mentor when he was a student, as well as the Paul C. Tsai Professorial Lectureship at Yale Law School.

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 03/30/2016 page2)