With the role of volunteers highlighted, catapulted some might say, last year, I have been getting more and more inquiries from the media on the role of volunteers as part of China’s development.

One of the more recent interview I participated in was conducted last month following the one year anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake included myself and two other members of China’s NGO community, of CAI and  of.

conducted on air, we were asked a series of questions (below) that delved into the topic, and due to the depth/ breadth of the questions, I thought I would answer those questions here as well.

1. To get us started, could you give us a brief introduction to your particular organization?

See intro to Crossroads and Hands On here.

2. A couple of years ago, people might ask “Do Chinese people volunteer?” Last year in the aftermath of the Wenchuan earthquake, that question was pretty much answered. The earthquake obviously highlighted volunteer activities, but what was development of volunteerism like in China before May 2008?

Prior to 2008, the state of volunteerism was nascent in many ways and in many areas, however the events of 2009 have not dramatically changed volunteerism in China as many of the hurdles still exist for interested parties to volunteer.

3. Is there anything unique to Chinese volunteerism when compared with that in the West?

When properly oriented and trained, I would say that volunteers frm both regions perform muc in the same manner and share many of the same charcteristics.  the main issues with both, that NGOS needs to understand, are that many potential volunteers in China are not clear on what volunteering in the Western sense is.

In China, volunteering can mean many things, and it is important to understand that when looking for volunteers that there are real difference in expectations.

4. When we talk about volunteer efforts in a country as vast as China, how much – time, effort, funding – does it take to really make a difference?

Fortunately, volunteering organizations do not require sizeable funding to have an impact. It is of course important that the organization does all it can to stabilize and sustain volunteers. to find ways to keep volunteers active within the same program, to find ways to keep them volunteering over the long term vs. only going once.  This will improve the quality of the volunteer, and deepen the impact.

5. What should government do to encourage volunteerism? What are they doing and are there enough incentives?

Working with universities to make volunteering a requirement for graduation.  Support orgainzations that train volunteers.  Develop standards and legal protections for those who volunteer.  Make NGO registration easier so that organizations can properly fund and operate.

6. Who are the volunteers? Do you have any statistics or data on which profession or section of society most of the volunteers are from?

All types.  We are currently managing corporate, student, and individual volunteers (more than 90% local).  Professions that have a fewer volunteers would be in the professional services (banking, law, accounting, etc) as their long hours and travel schedules make other commitments tough to keep.

7. With the reform and opening up, and the market development, there comes materialism and in some ways a sort of selfishness of putting one’s own interests first. However, in recent years, there’s been this growing movement, if you like, of volunteerism. How do you understand this phenomenon?

One of the unfortunate truths of development within China’s civil society is that with every disaster (flood, quake, or spill) comes awareness and engagement, and while there are certainly those focused on materialistic wants, there are others who have begun to see that they have a more responsible role to play.

Historically, it is also importnat to keep in mind that the average citizen of China relied solely on the government to manage the affairs of civil society, and even though the government is opening up to others, they still want to rely on old ways.  That is a limiting factor in some ways, but it is also an opportunity going forward in others.

8. If someone comes to you and says they’d like to do volunteer work for a few months, a year whatever, but they are concerned that by taking themselves out of the job market they might be harming their career opportunities, what would you say to them?

Everyone will need to make decisions that are best for them.  More and more, especially over the last 2 years, I have been approached by midcareer professionals who were looking to take time off to “give back”.  they had saved money, purchased houses, put their kids through college, and had the financial means to support themselves.

At the same time, as working for an NGO has beomce more acceptable culturally, a new generation of graduates have begun to look for jobs within the civil sector knowing (like their counterparts in the West) that they will themselves working for salaries far lower than they would find in the banking sector.

9. There are the weekend or part time volunteers – who I imagine make up the bulk, and there are the full time volunteers, is being a volunteer something one could consider as a career?

It is a real mix, but we try to schedule our student and corporate volunteer opportunities on weekdays, while ensuring the majority of individual opportunities are available on the weekend.  full time volunteers are a rarity at this point, and for those cases where we have placed or benefitted from a ful time volunteer, the time duration was typically restricted

10. How do you think volunteer efforts differ from philanthropic efforts here? In your experience, have people in China been more willing to contribute time or money?

historically more willing to donate money than time, but as channels for volunteering are opening up, we are seeing many look to volunteering as their first choice.

11. How do you go about fundraising, what works best to get people to open up their pocketbooks as well as their hearts?

fundraising in China is always difficult, economy aside, but the “best” way to do it is to have a program that has real value to the community.  The program should be known by name, or issue, and offer a story that shows a consistent solution is being provided through the program.

12. Some of you may be familiar with the story of Lei Feng - a young soldier in he early 1960s whose diaries detailing his commitment to service made him a selfless idol for many young Chinese. Now we have volunteerism, what’s the difference between the spirit represented by Lei Feng and those of today’s volunteers?

13, We see several sites on the internet for foreign volunteers to come to China - and it seems to be a popular destination - but what about Chinese volunteers overseas, do we see many Chinese on volunteer programs abroad?

There are some progams, particularly for those with medical training, to volunteer in Africa, however this is still an area that China has yet to fully develop.

14, Apart from teaching Chinese - I have seen volunteer programs in Thailand and the Philippines for example - what particular talents or qualities do Chinese volunteers have to offer?

Depends on the volunteer.

On June 25, Frog Design will be hosting the event Design for the Other 90% in China.  I learned about the event while meeting with them last week to discuss some of their current projects focused on sustainability, and I would highly suggest those members of the Crossroads Beijing crowd join this event.

This discussion will explore market opportunities in 2nd tier cities and beyond and consider some key questions:
1. What are the key opportunities (health care, education, transport, energy, etc.) for international brands in China beyond the 1st tier?
2. What are the best ways to uncover and design for the unique needs of people living in these areas?
3. What can we learn from local Chinese brands that have been successful in 2nd tier cities? 4. How can companies leverage marketing, distribution, and pricing for business success in these areas?

Guest Speaker:
Kunal Sinha, Executive Director - Discovery
Ogilvy & Mather Greater China, Shanghai

Thursday, June 25, 2009
2:00 to 5:00 pm
Beijing, China
Venue TBC

Please RSVP to yang.xiaozhen@frogdesign.com

By JoJo

It is confirmed by the authorities that there are 650 children left orphaned in the massive earthquake, but only 12 of them have been adopted. Why? Chen Kefu, Deputy Director of Civil Affairs Bureau of Sichuan Province explained that most of the orphans are not willing to leave because they have their own relatives such as grandparents to take the responsibility as guardians, “Orphans enjoy a granted and satisfactory life in hometown.”, he said when invited as a guest to Renmin Daily Online communicating with the netizens on April. 27th.

However, the situation may come from a bitter choice.

Although the government guaranteed that after the temporary subsidies, orphans can still receive a post-quake subsistence allowance including monthly 400 yuan welfare payment, insurance provided by China Life Insurance Group and other financial aids, those who choose to stay with their relatives especially grandparents still bring financial burdens to their guardians. Many children have to make a choice whether to live with closest families under rather poor living conditions or adapt to a well-off but totally strange family.

Four-year-old Ma Ke is too young to understand what happened to his mother and father when interviewed by reporters from Xinhua News Agency, despite the fact that his dear grandpa, Ma Yuanda, burst into tears when Ma Ke said “Daddy and Mummy have gone to heaven.” Now, he and his 12-year-old brother Ma Ziheng were left with their grandparents, who are in their 60s with very little income. The couple not only lost their only son, but almost all their property in the earthquake. However, the most heartbreaking fact is that they cannot afford to raise their grandsons.

Thus, the little boy was taken to his aunt’s temporary home in Dujiangyan, about 40 minutes drive from the provincial capital of Chengdu. Ma Ke is attending a kindergarten in Dujiangyan. Sometimes, he will quietly stay in a corner, staring at parents picking up their children, with both sadness and envy.

Compared to his brother, Ma Ke is lucky staying with his grandparents. Ma Ziheng was sent to a welfare organization in the coastal city of Rizhao, in east China’s Shandong Province, with 337 other teenage orphans September and enrolled at a middle school there.

The grandparents have been worried about Ziheng being so far from home. They felt helpless when the welfare organization staff said Ziheng had performed poorly in school due to possible mental stress.

“What can we do for the boy as we are so far apart?” asks Ma Yuanda.

The local government has noticed the problems faced by the grandparents and their grandchildren.

“It is true that the caregivers feel it is difficult to support the orphans on their own,” says Xiong Xiaohong, an official in charge of orphan affairs with Wenchuan County. Children like Ma Ke’s situation need at least 1,000 yuan (150 U.S. dollars) each month to cover basic living costs. The grandparents can hardly make ends meet on the 600-yuan allowance.

Little Ma Ke’s grandmother, Dong Suzhen described herself as “overwhelmed” when thinking about the prospect of taking care of her grandsons and helping them live positive lives, “We are getting older by the day. I do hope in the future people still remember my kids and give them a hand.”

Another case is Hu Wen, a ten-year-old girl who just experienced a struggling guardianship lawsuit between her grandparents and maternal grandmother.

Generally speaking, due to the gap between the rich and the poor as well as one-child policy, Hu Wen was trapped in a triangle with tremendous pressure of her grandparents, maternal grandmother and the adoption family in Beijing.

After the earthquake, Hu Wen lived with her maternal grandmother. Because of the same problem Ma Ke’s families have encountered, Hu Wen’s granny, 60-year-old Li Huiqing began to think about an adoption request proposed by a military official family in Beijing.

Right before the Beijing Olympics, she flew to Beijing with little Hu Wen to meet the potential adoption family. The couple had already prepared a new room with a computer for Hu Wen, which can never be imagined in Shifang, Hu Wen’s hometown.

After a week in Beijing, Hu Wen was ready to become a member of the new family.

But things changed when Hu Wen’s grandfather heard the news. He thought it was illegal as well as reasonless to send his own grandchild to another total strange family simply because of financial difficulty or pursuing better education.

The lawsuit obstructed the adoption process of Beijing family, Hu Wen was sent back to Shifang. She cannot understand the abstruse legal terminology, when asked about her own thought, “I like the papa and mama in Beijing, but I want to accompany (maternal) grandma, too.” To put a child into an adult-like dilemma, it is kind of cruel.

In the beginning of 2009, Li Qinghui remarried. Hu Wen was brought to a new family again—this time, she does not have to choose between the two sides—the son and daughter-in-law of her new maternal grandfather, Mr. and Mrs. Tong.

After the earthquake, Sichuan people care less about this kind of intricate family relationships or blood ties, for they are already a huge family. Now, Hu Wen is a daughter to Tong.

In Hu Wen’s blog, the background music she uses was a song called “Pray for Love”, it sings “You and I are connected with an invisible bond, a bond that makes raining cease. I pray that roses in you will never wither…” Indeed, this road to love and happiness was twisted and long for her, but finally she made it.

According to official statistics, there are 638 children live in orphanages or left to relatives. To avoid forcing children to choose between families and fare, the government is encouraging citizens to sponsor earthquake orphans instead of direct adoption. Which was just what China Life Insurance Group on May 13th announced, a special insurance project to ensure earthquake orphans like Ma Ke or Hu Wen will continuously receive subsistence allowance every month until they reach their adulthood.

See more stories here and check out what these orphans are doing:
An article of Earthquake Orphan Adoptions on WSJ Blog
Chen Kefu of Civil Affairs Bureau of Sichuan talks about orphan adoptions (Chinese)
Chinese story of Hu Wen
English story of Ma Ke
Chinese story of Ma Ke
Chinese story of “MaMa for orphans from Beichuan” (Sichuan Daily)
Chinese story of “Twin orphans’ New Life in Beijing”

As part of our ongoing effort to highlight NGOs who are working to aid those impacted by the 2008 earthquake, we would like to highlight then Red Cross Hetong Nursing Home

Also called Ziyan Nursery Home by the name of local community, Hetong Nursery Home provides 24 hours professional care to more than 30 senior citizens in Mianzhu, Sichuan Province.

Last September, social workers from Tianjing Hetong Senior Citizen Welfare Association (天津鹤童老年福利协会) came here, trying to build an oasis for aged people survived the catastrophic earthquake. They made it before the Spring Festival. Since almost every senior citizen here is seriously injured or orphaned, now Hetong people are dedicating to train a more-than-qualified staff team among locals to ensure the successful management in the future.

As the summer is coming, Hetong needs more money to equip rooms with air-conditioners; also, cameras, computers and televisions are also great donations.

Contact
Han Shuyan 13802072322
Liu Guoliang: 022-27621498 hetong-1@163.com
Address: 45 Yashi Avenue, Nankai District, Tianjing ; 300384

As part of our ongoing effort to highlight NGOs who are working to aid those impacted by the 2008 earthquake, we would like to highlight the Tai’an Ai Yi Cultural Development Center.

Mission:
Sichuan Earthquake has left large numbers of physically challenged people behind. This group of people, especially teenagers has become a social problem locally. Ai Yi has launched its assistance program in Sichuan since June, 2008 who dedicates to helping physically challenged teenagers in Qingchuan to gain access to proper medication and life-skills training.

Sichuan Project Overview:
The program that Ai Yi is about to launch in Qingchuan is estimated to last for about 12 years and according to our mission, we have scheduled our program into four phases.
2010：To get local registration and establish service stations at the township and village level; To get social support to assist individuals in need with their education and life skills; To use internet to publish the teenager’s needs; To provide proper training to those teenagers.
2011:To sell handicrafts made by the teenagers and arrange for exhibitions.
2012—2015: To provide life-skills training.
2016—2021: To manage social resources.

Goal of the project:
To help physically challenged individuals caused by the earthquake in Qingchuan to get proper medication and life skills training and regain their dignity.

Funding/ volunteer needs: Unknown

Partners:
National Association of Parliamentarians
Oxfam
Narada Foundation
ActionAid International Chinese Office
Children’s Le Yi Association
Beijing Hui Long Guan Community
Guangdong Physically Challenged People’s Federation
Zhongshan University Civil Society Research Center
The International Association of Lions Club

Contact:
Email：taianaiyi@163.com；
Tel：0538-82216460
Tel：0538-6170176

As part of our ongoing effort to highlight NGOs who are working to aid those impacted by the 2008 earthquake, we would like to highlight the NGO Preparedness Center.

Mission:
Through improving the mass public’s awareness of natural disasters, NGODPC aims to set up a sustainable mechanism among communities to help prevent natural disasters and train related talents. By means of exchanging information and knowledge concerning natural disasters, NGODPC dedicates to decreasing harm that natural disasters do to people.

Sichuan program overview
The organization has set up two activity centers for locals around the settlement communities, sponsored by Give2Asia and Trafigura, in Mianzhu.

Moreover, NGODPC targets at setting up two innovation centers for locals to start up their own small businesses. One in Luoshui has already been set up yet the other in Mianzhu is under way.

Goal of project
To help Sichuan locals regain their dignity and normal life/ to help them start up their own businesses and live independently.

Current status of project
Partly finished

Current program partners
Trafigura Give to Asia

Funding/ volunteer needs
Small loans needed (in order to facilitate the innovation programs)

As part of our ongoing effort to highlight NGOs who are working to aid those impacted by the 2008 earthquake, we would like to highlight Mianzhu People’s Livelihood Cooperation Association.

Mission:
Established by a 24 year old veteran, Mianzhu People’s Livelihood Cooperation Association aims at engaging the earthquake relief process through building ecological houses together with local people, helping farmers earn their living by means of agricultural production. Moreover, the organization has set up two libraries for the local farmers to read.

Sichuan Program Overview:
The organization has helped building ecological houses under guidance of Mr. Xie Yingjun.
Moreover, under the umbrella of helping local farmers regain their means of living, the organization now has series of projects under way. Firstly, along with the RabbitKing organization, Mianzhu People’s Livelihood Cooperation Association launches a training project to teach the local how to raise rabbits to make money. Their second project involves having farmers plant vegetables. By doing so, the local farmers can make their own living.

Goal of the project:
The project targets at uniting the local people’s forces in Mianzhu to make their lives return back to the original track.

Needs:
An advertisement
Garlic selling:
Planted by the Mianzhu People’s Livelihood Cooperation Association, we now sincerely seek for business opportunities to sell our vegetables.

Contact:
Tel：15883641239、0838-6681298
Email：jiayongheng@163.com

In a remote village called Daping of Sichuan Province, Ms. Sherry Liao’s team from Global Village Beijing (one of the first Chinese environmental NGOs) is establishing a green, innovative and profound mode of “sustainable village” to help rebuild Daping village.

This is the Lehe Home Project( Lehe, 乐和, in Chinese means happiness and harmony), awarded “the Most Influential Chinese Charitable Prize Project” by the China Charity Prize Board,  will support 94 families and over 200 villagers and implements the concept of “a system with conservation culture” into six aspects:

1. Residence: to build environmental-friendly residence;
2. Economy: to redirect the developing mode to a synthetic ecological economy composed of environmental-friendly agriculture, tourism and handicraft industry;
3. Ethics: to revive the traditional Chinese civism, morality and civil consciousness by building schools and libraries to further education;
4. Social Groups: to organize a local green group participating the reconstruction process and cooperating with the government force;
5. Health: to form a western-Chinese new style of health promoting solution including building qualified clinics and popularizing a set of Taiji-like exercise;
6. Environment: to encourage locals to be more involving with soil, water and air protection in Daping Village.

Program Details
Green Handkerchief
Green Handkerchief is the first sub-activity Liao brought out in Daping. In 2008, when Ms. Liao was invited as a guest to Sohu.com Chatting Session, she told a story about what inspired her to do the Green Handkerchief Program. While Liao was doing the field study in Daping Village, she found several pretty girl were digging to find some iron wire to sell; then she was told a iron wire worth several Mao( the same as “Jiao”, ten Mao/Jiao equals one Yuan). Ms. Liao suddenly came up the idea that “why don’t they sell the traditional-weaved handkerchief? It’s green, hand-made and with traditional Chinese embroidery.” Therefore, Liao and her colleagues began to promote this traditional handkerchief, advocating the green concept as well as helping local people.

Eco-friendly Residence
Cooperating with Professor Liu Jiaping and other voluntary architects from Green Residence Research Center of Xi’an Architectural Tech, Lehe team designed and built a series of residence representing both Western Sichuan’s features and new energy-saving technologies.
The walls of the buildings adopt a special triple structure with bamboo plywood, traditional plywood and foam board in the middle. This kind of multiple material and structure brings about extraordinary performance of heat retention. To be more specific, a 5-centimeter layer with such new composition functions as a 45-centimeter traditional soil layer wall. Therefore, by living in this kind of building, people can use 1/3 less coal in winter.

Professor Liu and his colleagues also equip houses with energy-saving cooking ovens, methane generation pits and ecological dry toilets in order to promote the efficiency of energy consumption.
Besides, considering the enormous casualty caused by earthquake, the residence has elements of aseismic design with better indoor lighting and ventilation.

Lehe abandoned the traditional government-dominant mode in reconstruction, but adopted a new three-party association mechanism. Lehe Ecology Association is composed of nine departments, which respectively in charge of purchasing, constructing, human resources, publicity, etc. By the cooperation and coordination of villagers, workers from Global Village Beijing and government officials, the Lehe Association realize almost every reconstruction-related proposal with high efficiency.

Environment Monitoring and Management
Lehe has successfully transformed the original environmental-unfriendly plan of lime mine exploitation into a sustainable one; built a modern eco-toilet system to avoid pollution and provide methane gas; popularized the habit of sorting garbage among the villagers. Thanks to the green group, people in Daping are more involving with the environmental protection activities.

Financial Situation
According to Ms. Liao’s assistant, Mr. Wang Yiqing, Lehe Home Project’s major sponsor is Chinese Red Cross Association, with the financial aid of over 2 million RMB; apart from that, One Foundation initiated by Jet Li contributed 1 million Yuan to build the Lehe Library as part of the training program in Daping and Narada Foundation donated to help establish new economy mode.

With the living space per capita is 35 m2 and the cost of building every m2 is 400 to 500 RMB, to build a residence for a two or three people family will cost 30 to 40 thousand Yuan. Leaving a the total budget higher than 2.7 million already raised, a cost that will be offset by villagers paying a portion of the cost and a government subsidy.

Difficulties
Ms. Sheri Liao once said to the journalist of China Economic Herald that she would like to spend 15 years to make this dream project come true. Although she has already have numbers of protégés, the consistency of staff and volunteers in a long term aspect could possibly be a problem.
Also, lots of people cast doubts upon the future generalization of Lehe Home Mode. Whether this construction mode is going to be a wow or not depends on not only the future of the ongoing extended projects in Deyang, Shifang and other parts of Sichuan Province, but also how affluent financial resources Lehe Home can find.

To Learn More about this project, and other efforts in the area:

• Global Village Beijing Official Website
• Blog of Lehe Home Project
• China Economic Herald (Online Version):
• Chinese Red Cross Foundation:
• Blog of a government official in Pengzhou:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODUxODgwOTI=.html

China-Crossroads presents an interview with Fudan Environmental Protection Association’s (EPA) director, Chen Wei.

(EPA) was established in 1996. It aims at igniting people’s passion for environmental protection, improving the public consciousness of environmental issues and popularizing knowledge of environmental sciences. It also provides the students with environmental protection practices.

In her interview, Chen answered the following three questions:

1) What are your environmental activities?

A: EPA mainly focuses on recycling, fund raising for green activities, providing assessment and consulting for campus offices and conducting field studies.

2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a student environmental group?

A: A major advantage is the passion and creativity that motivates the group. Major disadvantages include the lack of advertisement know-how and financial support.

3) What does the future hold for EPA?

A: Attracting more people to get involved in environmental protection and become the change. They are currently seeking chances to work with international environmental groups.

Of the many stories that were highlighted, the stories of those who went above the call of duty for others, were often the most moving.  It was their actions that provided not only a break from the stories of lives lost, but highlighted some of the est humanity had to offer.

There were many who were given “hero” status, but we wanted to make sure and take the time to once again highlight a few of these people, and the actions they took to save others.

Ma Jian - Student
a 14-year-old student of Xuankou Middle School, Yingxiu Village, spent 5 hours in the pouring rain to dig out his classmate, Xiang Xiaolian with his bare hands; then he helped to make other two survive by offering them water in the dim light of a lighter.

After the earthquake, there were five students buried under the collapsed building. Ma Jian found the exact location where Xiang was trapped in the afternoon, but did not succeed in rescuing her. Later that night, Ma Jian sneaked to the debris in the downpour then began digging and pulling in the next five hours with his bare hands. Finally he pulled Xiang out of the ruins but his hands were already covered in blood. Inspiring by the successful rescue, Ma Jian attempted to get other two out, yet did not make it without large equipment. So Ma fetched some clean water to these two classmates and encouraged them in the dim light of a lighter; he accompanied them until the rescue team came.

Jiang Min - Police officer of Pengzhou city.
Born as one of Qiang Minority in Beichuan, the epicenter, Jiang lost ten relatives in the earthquake including her mother and beloved daughter who was only two years old. Realizing the importance of police staff to the stability of after-quake situation, Jiang stuck to her job rescuing and helping victims until fainted because of exhaustion. She is named “the strongest police officer of China” and also awarded as a national hero afterward.

Jing Lijie - Firefighter

His unit took command of the rescue work in Wudu Primary School several hours after the earthquake occurred. He worked continuously for almost three days, with bruises and cuts all over the body.

His supervisor even had to command him to stop to take a rest, and when Jing was pulled out of the scene by his comrades he kneelt down crying out “I know I could die here, but please, please let me save one more child! I can save one more child!!!”
Chai Hualin - Vice director of Mati Bay Railway Plant.
On May 12th, Tunnel 109, Baocheng Railway in his zone was severely damaged by a crashed tank train. He volunteered to be the investigator into the tunnel to protect another young employee, at the cost of risking his own life to investigate the damaged tunnel all by himself. Fortunately, Chai got out of the flaming tunnel alive, providing precious data to the emergency crew. By his efforts, Baocheng Railway became one of earliest lifelines after earthquake.

Other heroes, as recognized by others, are:

Jiang Xiaojuan - Police officer from Jiangyou County
Famous for her great motherhood by breastfeeding nine earthquake orphans in a temporary shelter.

Gou Xiaochao (24) - Teacher
Mr. Gou died in his honey moon while rescuing his students.

Lin Hao (9) - Student
Got injured in his head during the process of rescuing his classmates; sang to encourage the survivors under the collapsed building

Yang Lin (14) - Middle School Student
After the building collapsed, Yang pushed her two friends to a safe space at the cost of burying herself under the ruins. After being rescued, Yang was severely injured from suppression.

Shen Long (17) & Wang Jiaming (17) - High School Student
These two boys successfully rescued 20 students and led their classmates transferring to the safe place.

Cheng Jibo (50) - Military Surgeon
Cheng and his team walked into the epicenter area and built the first clinic after earthquake happened, rescuing over 6100 victims.

Tong Shiqiang (13) - Student
Saved 32 lives with the help of other surviving students