Book drive aims to boost hometown schools

A charity project titled Deliver Books for Children in Your Hometown was launched on Monday in Beijing, calling for volunteers to take books to the schools in the rural area when they go back to their hometowns in the upcoming Spring Festival.

The project was initiated by Mao Lei, who works at Beijing Publishing Group. A few months ago, Mao traveled to Erhai Lake in Yunnan province and he found suitable reading materials for students to be lacking in a local elementary school.

"Most books in the small library are out-of-date and many are actually not children’s books," says Mao. "When I left, I made a promise to the children that I will do something to let them have books to read."

After return to Beijing, Mao posted his story on social media, calling for donations of second-hand books for those children. To his surprise, his initiative received a warm response, and he even received many new books.

Mao’s project has been reported by Beijing Television recently, which elevated the project to a national scale. Both Beijing Television and Beijing Publishing Group joined the cause looking for people who would like to buy or donate books, and those who could bring the books to the needy during the upcoming Spring Festival vacation.

After screening, volunteers will each receive more than 20 books to bring to designated schools. The recruitment ends on Feb 8, and the project organizer can be reached by e-mail: bookxinshi@126.com or telephone: 010-6205-0948 or 010-5857-2386.