The return of a native son who gives back to home villagers

Xiang Yu, one of the best-known military strategists in Chinese history, after putting to death the last emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), set fire to the imperial palaces in Xianyang that lasted for three months.

He was advised to ascend the throne, but Xiang famously scoffed at the idea: "After acquiring such wealth and power and not going back home, is like returning home in silken robes in the dead of night!" He turned east, to his hometown, and later committed suicide after being hotly pursued by Liu Bang, who became emperor.

Xiang Yu was a native of what is today Suqian, in northern Jiangsu Province, an underdeveloped region traditionally associated with poverty, but which has been much in the news lately. This is because another native son, Liu Qiangdong, founder of e-commerce platform JD.com, has created considerable stir by his high-profile homecoming.

The 50-year-old tycoon, with personal wealth worth 50 billion yuan (US$6.82 billion), in his recent endeavors, has shown a more meaningful way to dispose of his fabulous wealth and, hopefully, he might inspire emulations.

In a high-profile charity initiative, Liu has placed orders for 50,000 items of commodities to be shipped to residents of Guangming Village in Suqian, Liu's native home.

These commodities range from edible oil, liquor, snack foods, hotpot, fan heater, electric shaver, footwear, to smart phones, numbering 34 types in all.

Apparently, this is part of a promotional campaign in cooperation with over 100 major brands in the "Sending New Year Gifts to Native Home" initiative, whereby those with the means can send such gifts to their family and friends back in their native places.

In Liu's case, the package of goods for each village family, it is revealed, is worth several thousands yuan.

Liu reportedly gave each villager above 60 years old 10,000 yuan in cash on Wednesday.

Nor is this the first time Liu has engaged in such charitable activities. During the Spring Festival in 2015, Liu gave each of the around 650 villagers aged above 60 a gift money of 10,000 yuan.

During last year's Spring Festival, the benevolent tycoon ordered more than 1,000 down jackets and about the same number of gift packages for fellow villagers.

Such moves, according to Liu, are meant to repay the care and love he had received at the hands of the villagers when Liu was admitted to Renmin University of China in 1992.

Such were the circumstances of Liu's own family that the villagers, equally hard up, managed to scrape together 76 tea eggs and 500 yuan.

Those tea eggs and money, Liu says, gave him the opportunity to venture into the outside world, and "I need to repay fellow villagers' kindness for the rest of my life!"

So far, Liu has already invested 4.5 billion yuan in Suqian, chiefly in building an information sci-tech industrial park for JD.com.

In a media interview in February 2016, Liu said that in Suqian, all those prime-age residents with some computer skills and who can manage Mandarin after a fashion were recruited by his firm.

Liu is by no means the richest person in China in monetary terms, but the supreme accolade he has received recently suggests he is richer than many of his counterparts.