Stylists join AIDS fight
(2009/12/03 China Daily)
Hairdressers of the World against AIDS, a program co-launched by UNESCO and L’Oreal, is organizing an exhibition at Beijing’s Xu Kai Hair Studio through December to showcase a dozen paintings by 12 children from families affected by AIDS.
The Hong Kong based NGO Chi Heng Foundation (CHF) invited the 12 children from Zhumadian, Henan province, to paint the pictures, after taking classes at the Summer Camp for the AIDS Orphans, co-launched by L’Oreal and CHF in 2007 and 2008.
The event is in conjunction with UNESCO’s theme of this year’s World AIDS Day,”Universal Access and Human Rights.”
“I interpret the human rights part as being able to live with dignity. The children from AIDS affected families should have the same opportunities as normal kids and enjoy life as well,” says Chung To, founder of CHF. For 11 years, the banker-turned AIDS activist, with his team, have been supporting over 10,000 AIDS-affected children from poor families in the mainland.
UNESCO and L’Oreal started the program in 2005. In China, they also run an outreach program, encouraging hairdressers to get involved in events such as planting trees with AIDS patients, and help run summer camps for AIDS orphans.
Jewelry exhibition
Young designer Zhang Xiaochuan is holding an exhibition tour of her latest works of jewelry and other accessories in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing. On display at the Fei Gallery in Guangzhou until Dec 10, are more than 100 of her novel works that combine gold and silver with porcelain, crystal and silk threads. The show will be held at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing.
Praise for Taoyuan Home
The successful management of Taoyuan Home, a community of 30,000 residents in Shenzhen, was recently endorsed by participants at seminar held at the Central Party School in Beijing.
In less than two decades, the original stretch of deserted land and a large refuse landfill covering some 1.16 sq km, has been transformed into a harmonious community. Various non-governmental organizations have been working with the developer and the local government to make it one of the most habitable communities.
It has won awards from the United Nations and the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
Li Liguo, Vice-Minister of Civil Affairs, says the community illustrates how community management can be combined with residents’ self-governance.
Last July its developer, the Shenzhen Taoyuan Group, donated 100 million yuan ($14,645,147) to launch the country’s first Community Public Welfare Foundation.
“The foundation exemplifies that social power can help in community construction,” says Wang Jinhua, Vice-Director of Primary Political Power and Community Building Division of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The group will also promote the model in other big cities such as Chongqing, Tianjin and Xi’an, in Shaanxi province.
