"The attendance of such a high-level conference for outstanding women from various fields brings to me a beam of light and further broadens my horizon," said Ding Shuang, a freshman from International Business School of Beijing Foreign Studies University and a beneficiary of the Spring Bud Project, on the sidelines of the Forum on Women in Sci-Tech Innovation, a sub-event of the 2026 ZGC Forum, in Beijing on March 28.
Besides Ding, there were also seven Spring Bud girls in the audience, who come from remote areas and now study in Beijing-based universities. The girls became fully inspired by the speeches of leading women scientists, who talked about their decades-long engagement in the research and development of frontier technologies. The strength of role models is nurturing their growth.
Women Can Also Chase Dream in Sci-Tech Fields
"Seeing the academicians and experts on stage speaking eloquently, and learning that many of them also came from small towns, I suddenly felt that those once seemingly dull and difficult paths of scientific research are not so out of reach after all," said Pang Cuiyun, a sophomore student majoring in remote sensing science and technology at Peking University.
During Pang's high school studies, the discipline of remote sensing science and technology was once a distant and unfamiliar concept for her.
The Spring Bud Project fundamentally changed her. Apart from being awarded with a scholarship, Pang was also invited to attend special activities like career experience workshop, academic planning classroom and letter companionship initiative.
Under the long-term companionship and warm encouragement of project volunteers, Pang gradually expanded her horizons, got rid of long-established negative labels imposed by others upon her, and broke down traditional stereotype that girls lack staying power in science subjects.
She firmly believed that passion and perseverance cannot be defined by gender and courageously shifted her focus to the universe. Therefore, Pang chose remote sensing science and technology as her major.
Pang's transformation is a vivid example of the remarkable achievements made by the Spring Bud Companionship Initiative. Launched by the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF) in 2017, the public welfare program has evolved from education funds to companionship and empowerment services. By the end of 2025, it had provided about 61,000 girls with financial assistance and delivered companionship services to over 304,000 girls.
The program has helped girls chase education dream, guarded their mental health, relieved adolescent pressure and confusion, and laid a solid foundation for their healthy growth and pursuit of dreams.
Awakening Dream Through Sci-Tech Enlightenment
Like Pang, Li Tengteng, a 19-year-old girl from Pengshui of Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, also found deep resonance at the forum.
Her connection with science and technology originates from the Spring Bud InnoGirls Program, which was jointly launched by the CCTF and the Tencent Foundation in 2021 to organize sci-tech camps featuring project-based learning and focusing on AI-generated content (AIGC) technology, cultural confidence and other content for Spring Bud girls in junior and senior high schools. It is aimed at nurturing an education model featuring inclusive science and technology courses for junior high school students and study tour-based practical activities for senior high school students and helping the girls further improve sci-tech and digital literacy, and seek sustainable development in the field of science and technology.
So far, the program has been implemented in Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Guizhou and six other provincial regions and helped over 10,000 girls break down dual constraints of gender and geography to shine in sci-tech field.
Li attended a sci-tech camp of the Spring Bud InnoGirls Program in Shenzhen, a city in South China's Guangdong Province when she was a second-year high school student.
"That was an important turning point in my life," Li recalls. It was the first time for her to get close to app interface designs and witness the transformation of codes into interactive interfaces. "At that moment, I realized that the better life brought by technology has specific patterns, and I made up my mind to become a participant in creating technology," she said.
Today, as a student at Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Li has grown from a shy beneficiary of the program into a confident and passionate sharer. She has often taken the stage to share her growth stories, respond to the questions of other Spring Bud girls and convey warmth to them, striving to be a trusted sister of them.
"Inheritance isn't about replicating a growth path, but about passing the light that once lit my way into the hands of the next girl," Li said.
Writing New Chapter of the Era with 'She Power'
In addition to Pang and Li, other Spring Bud girls were also deeply inspired by the stories of role models at the forum.
"This forum not only allowed me to witness the charm of science and technology but also helped me understand of the true meaning of 'she power.' The strength of women has long been shining in various fields. Gender is never an obstacle for us to move forward but rather our unique advantage and foundational identity," Ding said.
Nan Yaoyao, a student majoring in Arabic language at Beijing Language and Culture University, said that she still remembered clearly a bunch of sunflowers she received during a gathering of the program as she realized that she "deserves to be treated well."
Yan Tong, a freshman at Central University of Finance and Economics, said that she still kept reply letters from program volunteers because they were a window for her to learn more about the outside world.
Chen Jie, who now studies at Peking University, said that through the program's empowerment activities, she learned to better cope with pressure and focus on each step of the present.
Qi Xue, a freshman at China University of Political Science and Law, said that encouraged by the Spring Bud spirit. She overcame the pressure of preparing for the college entrance examination and gained courage and strength to pursue her dream.
Li Yuan, a former beneficiary of the Spring Bud Project from Huanxian, a county in Northwest China's Gansu Province, has worked as a high school teacher in her hometown after graduation three years ago.
The attendance of the forum is not only a resonance of the girls' original aspirations but also a vivid epitome of the glorious achievements and dedicated efforts behind the Spring Bud Project.
Under the leadership of the All-China Women's Federation, the CCTF launched the Spring Bud Project in 1989 to help dropped-out girls return to school. During the past 37 years, the project has remained true to its original mission of funding education and development of poverty-stricken girls. By the end of 2025, it had delivered supports to about 4.55 million girls nationwide. Meanwhile, it has kept pace with the times, expanded the scope of its assistance from educational assistance to the cultivation of the girls' overall qualities, responded to their demands in terms of sci-tech literacy, digital competence, adolescent education, mental health and right protection, and continuously expanded its scope of work and service content to empower girls' growth in multiple ways.
With the inspiration of role models and concerted support of people from all social sectors, millions of Spring Bud girls will become highly motivated and write a brilliant chapter in the new era.
Photos from CCTF
(Source: CCTF/Women of China)
Editor: Wang Shasha
