Another Reading Asset Under Chinese Ownership
The citizens of Reading are likely to be feeling very cynical about the news that another important asset in the town has landed in Chinese hands.
After the debacle at Reading FC under owner Dai Yongge and the delays to the Royal Elm Park development, which is being directly (and indirectly) funded by the Chinese government, one would have hoped that the Ministry of Justice had done its homework before selling Reading Gaol for a reported £7 million to the somewhat obscure and non-trading Ziran Education Foundation (it is not a charity as reported by the BBC).
Its plans, according to reports, is to turn the prison into an education centre with a museum that will be open to the public. A lot of people in our town are very cynical about these plans and the pedigree of the buyers.
In the UK Ziran is registered as a dormant limited company with Channing Bi, a Vanuatu citizen resident in Ireland as its sole director.
'Ziran' is a Taoist philosophical concept and its website is full of rather vague educational platitudes and there seem to be scant references to existing work or projects, nor to the source of its funding.
Mr Bi is a property developer with projects in Ireland and the UK. He was reported to have made a £1m donation to a Japanese foundation in 2019 and Ziran is said to sponsor two English language teachers at Serkong School in the Indian Himalayas. Here is his official biography on the Ziran website (which has subsequently been removed):
"Born in China in 1966, Mr. Bi is a businessman residing in Ireland.He moved to the United States from China in 2004, and has had several successful business ventures in the United States and United Kingdom. He is currently involved in a wide range of activities as an investor, with his business operations based in the United Kingdom."
In the UK Ziran Educational Foundation Ltd has another dormant subsidiary it controls called Golden Door Financials Ltd.
Given what has gone on at Madstad under Dai Yongge, local people must hope for the best, but a large degree of cynicism about proposals can already been seen on Reddit. We have reached out to the Ministry of Justice to try and ascertain what due diligence they undertook as part of the sales process but have received no clarification.
It seems that even our local MP is a tad more concerned than when the news broke. Matt Rodda disclosed in his weekly email that
"I am calling for Reading Gaol to be turned into an arts and heritage hub.
"Following the sale of Reading Gaol last week I am going to write to the new owner to ask him to meet me and Reading Borough Council to discuss his plans for the historic building, as he has said he wants to support an arts and educational use for the gaol.
"I have been discussing the situation with councillors and the local arts community before writing to Channing Bi, the new owner."
There's a great timeline of the never ending process by local democracy reporter James Aldridge in the Chronicle https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/24062638.reading-prison-sale-chinese-buyer-selected-timeline/ .
Watch this space.
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.
Join the conversation
Subscribe to inReading to leave a comment.