Chinese Chevening Alumni donate two ventilators to the NHS

Chinese post-graduates who studied in the UK have bought two ventilators for the NHS and written an open letter in which they express their ‘support and care for the British people.’

The former students all studied in the UK with a Chevening Scholarship.

The two ventilators were sent on a flight from Shanghai to London on 21 April alongside 74 other ventilators that have been purchased by the UK Government alongside PPE for NHS hospitals.

The donation was co-ordinated by Chevening Alumni Alex Zhang who studied an MBA at Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge in 2008.

In the open letter the alumni said:

“We wish to show our support and care by standing with British people in fighting against the pandemic. We have good faith and wish a full and swift success in our joint effort.”

The alumni group attached a note to each ventilator that read “We are with you” and included the Chinese proverb 风雨同舟 (which means ‘through wind and rain, we stand together / we are all in the same boat’).

There are currently over 200,000 Chinese students studying in the UK and over 600,000 Chinese alumni from UK universities, forming a strong professional network of ambassadors who can promote effective relations between the UK and China.

Minister of State for Asia Nigel Adams said:

“Thank you to the graduates from the UK Government’s Chevening programme for their fundraising efforts.

“In total we have now shipped over 800 ventilators from China and we continue to seek deliveries for more”.