China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF) and Hengyuanxiang Group, a Shanghai-based wool manufacturer, hosted an event, marking the 20th anniversary of Heng'ai Action, in Beijing on December 22, 2025. The event also marked the launch of the action's 2025 edition.
The event was attended by CCTF President Cong Zhongxiao, CCTF Secretary-General Li Zhongming and Chen Zhongwei, President and General Manager of Hengyuanxiang Group. Other participants included representatives of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), provincial-level women's federations, the women's federation of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and representatives of beneficiaries, knitting-craft inheritors and media outlets.
Heng'ai Action encourages families to care for disadvantaged children, by knitting and presenting sweaters to them. During the event, a promotional video reviewed the history and development of Heng'ai Action over the past two decades.
Cong urged the action's organizers to remain focused on the task of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. She stressed the importance of mutual empowerment of sweater donors and the children beneficiaries, and she stressed the need to promote the action's innovative and high-quality development. She said she hoped the action will attract more supporters, and that it will develop diversified fundraising channels.
Cong also stressed the need to form a comprehensive, multidimensional promotional system, and she called for efforts to deepen international cooperation and exchanges through "small and beautiful" public-welfare projects.
Li highlighted the major achievements made by Heng'ai Action. Over the past 20 years, the action has donated about 1.5 million sweaters, and other knitwear, to children from all ethnic groups in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It has also donated similar items to needy children in other regions of China.
Hengyuanxiang Group has donated more than 465,000 kilograms of wool, and 147 million yuan (US $21 million) in funding and materials, during the past 20 years. The action has helped forge a stronger sense of community for the Chinese nation, and it has helped create a family and child-friendly social environment.
Chen said Heng'ai Action has proven everyone can participate in philanthropy. Hengyuanxiang will continue its firm support for the project, and it will work with various sectors to help children grow up healthily, and to help families enjoy a bright future.
Several of the speakers shared their experiences with Heng'ai Action. Wang Peifang, an inspector from Xinjiang Women's Federation, said the charitable action has enabled children and their families in Xinjiang to receive care and assistance from people in other regions of China. Xiang Yifen, president of the trade union of the Open University of China, spoke about the staff's efforts in weaving sweaters for children. Tu Jie, an inheritor of the crocheting craft from Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, shared how she integrated traditional techniques with public-welfare activities.
"Wearing the donated sweater made me feel warm in the winter. I am dreaming to enroll in the National University of Defense Technology and become a soldier to safeguard the country," said a 12-year-old boy, from Xinjiang.
During the event, Hengyuanxiang Group made a 10.33-million-yuan (US $1.48 million) donation to CCTF. Wool was also distributed among the attendees.
An exhibition of sweaters and knitwear, produced by people from across the country, was part of the event. Inheritors of the Wuhan-style crocheting craft displayed their traditional techniques.
In the new era, Heng'ai Action will advance the philanthropic spirit, write a new chapter of ethnic unity and common prosperity, and pass on the love of the country, from generation to generation.
Photos from CCTF
(Source: CCTF/Women of China)
Editor: Lei Yang
