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Tycoon He Jianfeng is putting Guangdong on the cultural map with a major new art museum

- Oliver Giles

A spaceship has landed in Shunde, an affluent county in China’s booming Guangdong province. Rising from between office blocks and rows of luxurious suburban houses, a sleek, sprawling disc crafted from glass and concrete looks poised to shoot skywards. But it’s not going anywhere: it’s the new He Art Museum (HEM) founded by billionaire financier He Jianfeng and designed by Japanese boxer-turned-starchitect Tadao Ando, whose calming blend of brutalism and minimalism is lauded worldwide. HEM opens to the public this month.

“When I saw the design for the first time, I was so surprised,” says He, 53, who is the eldest son of He Xiangjian, the entrepreneur behind electrical appliances manufacturer the Midea Group, China’s largest exporter of air conditioners. “We selected Tadao Ando because he is so experienced at designing galleries and museums: he has designed 88 art museums around the world.”