Museum of Tibetan Culture marks 10th anniversary of charity campaign

The campaign is a public welfare activity jointly launched in 2009 under the initiative of the 11th Panchen Lama by the Tibet Development Fund, Ma Sanxi, who is director of Jintang Academy of Calligraphy and Painting, and Zhao Changqing, former Party secretary of the Chinese Calligrapher's Association, aiming to provide long-term free medical assistance to people in the Tibetan areas.

Over the past years, more than a hundred calligraphers and painters who are enthusiastic about public welfare have participated in the program. The program raised more than 3 million yuan ($43,5000) for surgery expenses of more than 3,000 Tibetan cataract patients.

The program has grown substantially in the past years, from originally a dozen participating calligraphers and painters to several hundred.

With the continuous extension of the program, a number of charitable projects have been added, such as prevention and treatment of hydatid disease and donation of Tibetan cotton-padded robes for primary and secondary school students in Tibet.