'This should be illegal': Internet furious as report reveals Chinese billionaire Chen Tianqiao bought 200K acres of farmland in Oregon
SALEM, OREGON: A Chinese billionaire has stealthily become the second-largest foreign owner of American farmland, igniting outrage as his holdings come to light.
Chen Tianqiao, an online gaming tycoon with a current net worth of $1 billion according to Forbes, acquired nearly 200,000 acres of timberlands in rural Oregon in 2015 for $85 million.
But the massive purchase only just surfaced this week after Chen appeared for the first time on the Land Report's list of the top 100 private landowners in the US, as reported by Business Insider.
His tracts put him behind only Canada's Irving family among foreigners who control American soil. The news of Chen's American real estate empire has left the internet seething.
Chen Tianqiao's rise to mega-riches
Chen earned his fortune in 1999 by founding Shanda Interactive, one of China's largest internet firms in the 2000s known for popular online games. Within five years, it dominated the gaming market in Chen's home country.
He took the company public in the US in 2004, raising $152 million in what was then the biggest IPO ever for a Chinese internet firm trading stateside. By 2012, Shanda was taken private again with Chen at the helm before he moved himself and the rebranded Shanda Investment Group to Singapore.
Gaming profits have afforded Chen and his wife Chrissy Luo an ultra high-end lifestyle complete with luxury homes in New York and Los Angeles and nearly 200,000 acres of income-producing timberlands in central Oregon.
But news of Chen's American real estate empire has been slow to emerge − until now.
Chen Tianqiao and wife donated over $100M to California Institute of Technology
Rural US properties have become hot investments, with the average value of American farmland soaring more than 30 percent since 2020, per the US Department of Agriculture data. And Chen seems to have capitalized on that by quietly becoming a major Oregon timber baron.
Chen and his wife have also donated over $100 million to establish the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at the California Institute of Technology. The institute's mission is to advance our knowledge of how the human brain is structured and functions on a fundamental level, according to its website.
Internet furious after revelation of Chen Tianqiao's land empire
Upon the revelation of Chen's significant land acquisition across America, the Internet erupted with outrage, and various users expressed their concerns. One impassioned Facebook user declared, "This should be illegal!!! Chinese are our enemy and should not be allowed to own American soil!!!! Disgraceful!!!! Go back to China!!!!"
Another user, expressing disbelief, stated, "Wait… what!?!?!? This shouldn’t be legal." A third conveyed a sense of unease, commenting, "This is scary." Another individual took a firmer stance, asserting, "He should own ZERO land in the USA."
Questioning the government's role, a user wrote, "Why is our government allowing this!" Adding to the sentiment, a another raised a pointed question, stating, "US citizens are not allowed to buy property in China. Why are we allowing citizens of a country we are basically at war with to buy huge amounts of property here?"
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.
