(XINHUA)

Mao Yushi, an 84-year-old economist at Unirule Institute of Economics, had tea with six people in a tea house in Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, on July 16. The six people won the chance to drink tea with Mao and his wife in a bid of 259,000 yuan ($40,481) in an online auction. They asked questions concerning international trade, education, inflation, housing prices and even the value of life at the tea table. The money raised from the auction will support academic research at Unirule Institute of Economics.

Mao has been compared to Warren Buffett, the legendary American investor who has raised more than $11.5 million in his past 13 annual lunch auctions. Buffett hosted a record-breaking bid of $3,456,789 this year. The money raised from these auctions is used to help the poor and homeless.

Born into a family of scholars in 1929 in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, Mao is one of the most influential Chinese economists. His father, Mao Yixin, is a railway mechanics engineer and his uncle, Mao Yisheng, is an outstanding bridge engineer. Mao graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1950 and worked at Tsitsihar Railway Administration as an engineer after graduation. He retired from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1993 and established Unirule Institute of Economics with four other economists.