Achievements of China's Project Hope in past 30 years

People celebrate during the launching ceremony of "hands in hands" Hope Primary School, which was built with children's donation nationwide by using their lunar new year gift money, in Xibaipo Village of Pingshan County, north China's Hebei Province, Dec. 24, 1993. Project Hope, a Chinese program aiming at financing education for poverty-stricken students, celebrates its 30th anniversary on Oct. 30, 2019. The project was initiated by the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China in 1989, and has been supported by people from all walks of life since its establishment. As of September in 2019, Project Hope has received 15.23 billion yuan (about 2.16 billion U.S. dollars) in donations and aided over 5.99 million students in financial difficulty. A total of 20,195 primary schools were also built, according to the CYDF statistics. (Photo by Zhang Zhigang/Xinhua)