SOS Children in China
China is the world's most populous country, with a continuous culture stretching back nearly 4,000 years. Many of the elements that make up the foundation of the modern world originated in China, including paper, gunpowder, credit banking, the compass and paper money.
After stagnating for two decades under the rigid authoritarianism of early Communist rule, China has emerged in recent years as one of the world's leading powers, its influence growing in the economic rather than military sphere.
Our charity has been active in China since 1986 when the first SOS Children's community was built in Tianjin (also known as Tientsin), a large city about 100 km south east of Beijing. There are now nine SOS Children communities in China, which between them are home to over 1000 children.
SOS Children Tianjin is on the outskirts of the city, in Hedong, and has twenty family houses and a youth house for the older children. It also has a kindergarten for children from the village and the neighbourhood. Children from Tianjin attend local schools, and there are excellent medical facilities nearby.
SOS Children Yantai is in the northern province of Shandong. Yantai is an attractive and relatively prosperous coastal town, and the SOS Children's Village with its fifteen family houses, a youth house and a kindergarten is in the district of Fushan, about 15 km from the airport. Yantai is also home to an SOS Hermann Gmeiner Secondary School which is the largest SOS Children's Villages educational project in the world with capacity for over 2500 pupils, and is ranked among the best schools in the country.
SOS Children Qiqihar opened in 1992. The industrial town of Qiqihar is in northern China in Manchuria, in the province of Heilongjiang. It is an important economic and cultural centre with a population of around 5.5 million. The village is on the River Nen in the western part of the town, an area with a well developed infrastructure, with plenty of schools, hospitals and other public services. As well as the fifteen family houses which are home to over 100 children, it has a youth house and a kindergarten. An SOS vocational training centre was opened in 1996 teaching computer science, office skills, tailoring and industrial arts to around 500 young people, with dormitory facilities for 250.
SOS Children Chengdu is on the outskirts of Chengdu City in Sechuan Province in southern China. The area is mainly rural, but is earmarked as a development zone. The charity village has fifteen family houses, a youth house and a kindergarten, as well as a training centre for SOS mothers and staff.
SOS Children Nan Chang is in the southern province of Jiangxi. Nan Chang is the largest city in the province. The charity village is just north of the city, near the Nan Chang Forest Park, an extensive nature reserve. It has twelve family houses, a youth house and a kindergarten for 100 children. The SOS children attend the nearby Nanchang Forest Park School.
SOS Children Kaifeng is in Henan province and is situated in one of the main residential areas of Kaifeng City. The village has fifteen family houses, a youth house and a kindergarten, and the children attend local schools. There is a nearby hospital in case of need.
SOS Children Urumqui is on the outskirts of the city of Urumqui, the capital of Xinajiang Autonomous Region in north-west China. This region is situated in the very heart of Asia; Urumqui is the world's farthest city from the sea (about 3600km). As well as the fourteen family houses, the charity's village has a kindergarten for 120 children. The older children attend local schools.
SOS Children Putian is in south-eastern China in the province of Fujian, a deprived area generally. The charity's village is situated in a residential area about one kilometre from the city centre on a site provided by the local authorities surrounded by lychee groves, alongside a river. It has fifteen family houses, built in the local style, and a community centre as well as a kindergarten for 120 children. There are primary and secondary schools nearby, and also a military hospital.
SOS Children Lhasa is in the capital city of the Tibet Autonomous Region in south-west China. The village, with seventeen family houses and a kindergarten, was opened by the charity in 2000. Before then, there was virtually no provision for the many orphaned children in the city and the surrounding area.
Local contacts
SOS Children's Villages China
Beiheyan St
Yin Sha-Hutong 20#, Room 1101
Beijing- 100006 / China
Tel +86/10/65258997 or +86/10/65259003
Fax +86/10/65 259002
e-mail: soschina@public.bta.net.cn
www.soschina.org.cn
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