Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

CHINESE enterprises and social organizations are actively joining China’s ambitious poverty reduction campaign and demonstrated their public welfare programs and achievements in supporting social causes and philanthropy in Hall 1 of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center during the Seventh China Charity Fair.

The philanthropic programs that enterprises and social organizations presented at the fair covered a wide range of fields, including education, health care, industry, infrastructure, tourism and environment.

At the booth of OCT Group, a Shenzhen-based State-owned enterprise, a woman wearing a traditional dress of the Miao ethnic group who was engrossed in making a piece of embroidery caught the attention of visitors.

The woman, named Wan Zumin, is from Sansui County under the administration of the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in eastern Guizhou Province. The county is one of the poverty-stricken areas that OCT Group has been regularly providing help for many years.

In 2017, Wan participated in a training course organized by the group for left-behind women in Zhaitou Village and was employed by the village’s first Miao embroidery company.

Wan said a handmade embroidered scarf can be sold for more than 4,000 yuan (US$564), and a bag that combines machine embroidery and handmade embroidery can also be sold for nearly 400 yuan. “With the help of OCT Group, the Miao embroidery company in our village now has sales volume of more than 100,000 yuan.”

So far, the group has invested more than 70 billion yuan in helping lift two poverty-stricken counties out of poverty, given financial aid to 6,016 needy students and established 124 cooperation projects in the province.

Huachang Original Music Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to using music to help disadvantaged groups, also showcased its intelligent music machine for educational undertakings in poor rural villages at the fair.

Jiang Zhi, chairman of the foundation, said that the machine covers many versions of music textbooks for students from grade one to six, and provides educational videos that explain musical instruments and teach a variety of professional music courses, such as singing training.

According to Jiang, the intelligent music machine has been put into use at nearly 77 schools in impoverished villages and benefited nearly 100,000 children.

The fair, themed “focusing on poverty alleviation, creating a pleasant life,” kicked off at the convention and exhibition center in Futian District on Friday and concluded yesterday.