Debra Li

debra_lidan@163.com

FOR Artron Culture Group, charity begins at the company.

The Shenzhen-based art network and printing firm organized a four-day summer camp for the stay-behind children of its employees last week, inviting 22 children from all around China to visit museums and parks, attend art and craft workshops and see lectures in Shenzhen.

The company gave leave to the parents for this special occasion so that they could accompany their children to the camp, which started Tuesday.

The youngsters, aged 6 to 12, visited Artron Art Center and Artron Art Gallery, where they watched art exhibitions and attended painting and origami workshops. They visited Shenzhen Museum, where they watched a wild animal specimen show and learned about the culture and history of Shenzhen. The company also arranged for the children to tour the Mangrove Nature Reserve to observe wild birds and learn about the ecology of the mangroves.

On Friday, celebrity psychiatrist Li Chunhong gave the children and their parents a lecture so that they could bond better and work on the problems in their relationships.

The company paid around 100,000 yuan (US$14,900) for this year’s summer camp, offering free room and board and covering part of their travel expenses to and from their hometowns.

“Stay-behind children, whose parents have to work away from their hometowns, are a group in urgent need of care,” said Wan Jie, chairman of Artron.

“It struck me how these kids have been left behind in terms of cultural and artistic training, when I took an exhibition to Deyang, Sichuan Province this June.”

While calling on the society to focus on stay-behind children, Wan said he hopes to be able to contribute a little bit, starting with the children of his employees.

“The summer camp will be an annual project for my company, and we will organize camps in Beijing and Shanghai apart from Shenzhen, where we have subsidiaries, next year,” he said.