A Letter to Overseas Chinese: A Bridge Back Home

November 26, 2025

Since 2012, Pat McCarthy , an Irishman, has supported over 25,000 rural Chinese students and encourages overseas Chinese to support their roots through educational giving.

As an Irish philanthropist living in China, Patrick McCarthy’s journey did not begin in boardrooms or conference halls, but in rural villages, modest classrooms, and in the quiet determination of children sitting at worn wooden desks, dreaming of futures they could barely imagine.

Through the work of the Ireland Sino Institute (爱尔兰中国研究院), a registered non-profit organisation dedicated to education, charity, cultural exchange, and community upliftment, McCarthy has helped serve more than 25,000 rural students across China over the past decade. Many of these children had never spoken to a foreigner, never owned an English book, and never stepped outside their county — yet in them, he observed the same spark, intelligence, and dreams that exist in children everywhere.

He has also met many Chinese nationals now living overseas — in Ireland, Europe, North America, Australia, and beyond — individuals who have become business owners, doctors, engineers, artists, academics, entrepreneurs, parents, and community leaders. Despite their distance from home, they continue to carry China with them in their language, values, work ethic, and in their hearts.

However, distance can be a powerful force. As life becomes busy and new responsibilities take hold, the connection to home can grow quieter, and roots that once felt strong can slowly fade into memory.

Pictured above is Zhang Chang, the wife of Pat McCarthy, teaching rural Chinese students in Liaoning Province, China.

Today, Patrick McCarthy extends a gentle invitation to overseas Chinese communities around the world.

He encourages individuals to remember where they came from — the teachers who guided them, the grandparents who sacrificed for them, and the villages and cities that shaped their earliest sense of identity. In whatever way is possible, he believes there is an opportunity to give something back.

Giving, he explains, is not only about money. It can take many forms: helping a rural student to continue their education, donating books to a small school, funding a scholarship for a child whose parents work far from home, joining a video call to encourage a classroom, or sharing professional knowledge with young people in need of guidance. Even a small, sincere gesture, he notes, can change the direction of a life.

Through the work of the Ireland Sino Institute (爱尔兰中国研究院), libraries have been built, teachers supported, learning materials provided, speech festivals organised, cultural exchange opportunities created, and communities stood beside in times of need. McCarthy has witnessed firsthand the moment when children realise that someone, somewhere in the world, believes in them — and how that belief can ignite confidence and hope.

While China’s remarkable rise has inspired the world, he acknowledges that in some quieter corners of the country there are still children whose potential is waiting to be recognised. Those efforts to support them, he believes, can carry the spirit of overseas Chinese who have never forgotten where they came from.

By giving back, individuals are not only contributing to China’s future — they are also honouring their own personal journeys. In doing so, they strengthen an invisible bridge between the person they once were and the person they have become, and they show the next generation that success is measured not only in wealth or status, but in compassion, responsibility, and remembrance.

If there remains even a small inner voice calling people back to their roots, McCarthy encourages them to listen, to reconnect, and to take the first step. He believes that lasting, meaningful change is created through collective action and shared purpose.

The Ireland Sino Institute’s registered non-profit school in China, I Love Learning Education Centre, was established to bring hope, confidence, and opportunity to children in rural communities who might otherwise be left behind. For many of these children, access to English can become access to the wider world — to future careers, scholarships, and opportunities that once seemed unreachable.

That mission, he says, continues today — sustained by the kindness and support of those who believe in the transformative power of education and the importance of remaining connected to one’s roots.

And for those who feel that connection still alive within them, the invitation remains open: to stand alongside this work and be a part of something greater than themselves.

👉 Support their campaign, “Give 1,000 Rural Children an English Education” on GlobalGiving and become part of a movement that is transforming lives, one child at a time.