Humanity has greatly benefitted from advances in science and technology with the advent of industrialisation and globalisation, but it also faces many environmental, sociocultural and ethical issues, such as climate change, inequality and moral decline. It was against this backdrop and irrespective of nationality or ethnicity, that Dr. Yin established the Tang Prize Foundation in 2012 to recognise and support research in four major fields: sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology (the study of China through its language, literature and history) and the rule of law.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Nelson Mandela 

He backed up his goal with a multi-million dollar endowment to the Foundation. Individuals or institutions that are judged to have contributed the most creative and influential research, receive generous rewards and further grants to promote ongoing research and talent development. At $1.7 million, the prize money put aside for each of the four award categories exceeds that of the Nobel Prize, although Dr. Yin deliberately chose disciplines that complement the famed Swedish awards.

Dr. Yin read history at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei before receiving a master’s degree in business administration at the National Taiwan University and a doctorate in the same subject at the National Chengchi University. He has funded various tuition programmes for Chinese students and, in the early 1990s, set up the Guanhua School of Management at Peking University in Beijing, where he is a professor. He is also an adjunct professor in the department of civil engineering at the National Taiwan University.

In addition to his academic achievements, Dr. Yin is an award-winning civil engineer and educator. He is currently chairman of Taiwan’s Ruentex Group, which has invested heavily in China, and chief development officer, chief technology officer and chief engineer of Ruentex Construction & Development.

Royal Huisman was extremely proud to be chosen to build Dr. Yin’s performance-oriented sloop. The owner regularly visited the shipyard to attend project meetings and, given his interdisciplinary background, he was fascinated by the technical aspects of the build and thoroughly enjoyed the construction process in general. Read on in the article “Eastern horizons” at on this website: follow the links to News > Inhuis stories & updates (link)

This article was first published in a previous edition of “inhuis”.