Anne Zhang

    zhangy49@gmail.com

    THE Third China Charity Fair opens Friday and is being held through Sunday at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.

    There will be 896 nongovernmental organizations, including 720 grass-roots groups, showcasing their charitable projects at the fair and seeking investment.

    Initiated in 2012 and dubbed “the highest-level charity fair in the country” by organizers, the three-day event features project exhibitions, project-business matching, seminars and interactive experiences.

    The exhibitions will focus on eight themes, including disaster relief, poverty reduction through education, environmental protection, financial charity and community development.

    The fair also offers an online platform for exhibitors to promote their projects and build relationships with investors.

    Fairgoers can also have fun at this year’s event, which provides more than 70 interactive activities. For example, they can watch the short films that won awards at last year’s V-life Short Film Festival. People can learn how to make pottery and try a Yoga program that could help cancer patients recover. Parents can take their children to participate in sand-play or see what a guide dog can do to help the blind.

    It’s estimated that this year’s fair will emit more than 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide. The organizers said they would plant 5,739 trees to offset the emissions.

    About 20 million yuan (US$3.2 million) worth of social capital was given to charitable programs during the first charity fair while last year’s fair helped projects receive investments totaling 1.7 billion yuan, according to Shenzhen’s Civil Affairs Bureau.