Florence Fang says the dedication of the building she donated to Peking University to teach Mandarin to foreign students is the fulfillment of an important part of her China dream. Wang Jing / China Daily

It was more than a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Florence Fang, who was present for the dedication of the building she donated to Peking University to teach Mandarin to foreign students. It was the fulfillment of an important part of her China dream.

"I had dreamed of becoming a student of Peking University at a quite early age, and I hope the completion of the building will contribute to promoting Chinese culture to the entire world," Fang said on Oct 16 in Beijing as more than 150 people, including representatives from the university and from San Francisco and Oakland, California, attended the celebration of the Florence Lee Fang Building for the School of Chinese as a Second Language.

The Chinese-American entrepreneur and activist in the United States has devoted herself to China's educational development. Fang, who has successfully managed multiple businesses, including being the former publisher of the San Francisco Examiner, is the chairwoman of the Florence Fang Family Foundation.

She was named the California Woman of The Year, in 1990 and 2003. In 2006, she donated $3 million to the University of California Berkeley's East Asian Library. She is an honorary trustee at Peking University, and an honorary trustee and an honorary professor at Wuhan University, to which she gave about $100,000 in 2008.

In 2010, Fang was the only Chinese entrepreneur who worked in support of the "100,000 Strong Initiative", which was announced in 2009 by US President Barack Obama - an effort to increase the number of American students studying in China to 100,000 over four years.

In 2010, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formally launched the initiative in Beijing. Now known as "The 100,000 Strong Foundation" and established through the support of the Ford Foundation, Fang's foundation and a half-dozen other funders, it has been supported by the Chinese government with scholarships for Americans to study in China.

The Fang foundation's goal is to bridge the gap between cultures, strengthen the US-China economic and strategic relationship, and enhance global stability.

"The 21st century is a century of internationalization, and the Chinese language becoming international is an inevitable trend," Fang says. "The School of Chinese as a Second Language plays an important role in promoting cooperation between China and other countries."