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 one had to hope that the Ministry of Justice has done its homework before selling Reading Gaol for a reported £7 million to the somewhat obscure 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.

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 no references to few 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:

"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 Justic to try and ascertain what due diligence they undertook as part of the sales process.