IN BRIEF (Page 10)

Family contest

Beingmate, a Hangzhou-based baby and maternity products provider, this month officially launched its China Happy Families contest.

The national contest, organized by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and Oriental Outlook magazine, will honor 56 families representing 56 ethnic groups in China. The company will honor families chosen based on recommendations of local governments, letters from the families and an online poll.

Migrant school donation

A Better Tomorrow Project for the Children of Migrant Workers program, co-sponsored by PepsiCo China and the Red Cross Society of China, last month launched its 2009 school improvement project at Hujiayuan Primary School in Tianjin.

A 500,000 yuan donation from PepsiCo will be used to improve the educational facilities at four schools serving migrant workers' children nationwide.

Village of hope

China Resources, one of the country's larger property developers, announced plans to donate 45 million yuan to build a Hope Village in Baise, Guangxi.

The China Resources Charity Fund will operate the village, which will aid local farmers.

Green bicycle tour

The Societe Generale (SG) Cup 2009 China Cycling Tour recently ended in Beijing after traveling through Guangzhou, Shanghai, Tianjin and Wuhan. The China offices of the French bank sponsored the contest.

Pierre Bonzom, head of the commercial and personal banking division of SG (China) Ltd, said the goal was to promote bicycle riding as a way to conserve energy and protect the environment, and that he hoped more people will choose this green lifestyle to help build cities with fresher air and more blue skies.

Love online

Domestic social networking services website, www.renren.com, signed a contract with Chinese movie star Li Bingbing to launch a charity channel called LOVE.

The channel will leverage Li's reputation and the website platform to increase public awareness about charity and urge more netizens to participate in charitable causes.

(China Daily 10/19/2009 page10)