Personal items donated by celebrities were collected Wednesday at a
ceremony in a Beijing hotel, to help fund the education of poor
children in
western
China.
The charity program was launched by the China Foundation for Human
Rights Development (CFHRD) as part of its nationwide "schooling
assistance" project.
The donation has drawn attention from both home and abroad,
including French President Jacques Chirac, who donated a letter and
autographed photograph, world chess champion Zhu Chen of China, and
former Olympian Jan-Ove Waldner.
"Schooling assistance is crucial and urgent for China, especially
in the western regions," Wang Hui, director of the Information
Office of Beijing Municipality, said at the ceremony. "By this
donation we are calling for social care and concern of the poor
children who were denied an education."
Celebrity donations will continue to be collected, after which they
will be sold at a fair to be held next spring. All income will be
used to build schools and help the poor children of western China,
sources with the organizer said.
According to the China Children and
Teenagers Fund, China has about 2 million students not in
school, and most of them are in the western areas.
(China Daily November 28, 2002)