Great Wall’s Libraries of Love was the first of our Charity Mission programs, and is dedicated to building libraries in orphanages across China. Most of China’s abandoned children don’t have the good fortune of being adopted by a family. Those children will probably never have the opportunity to attend schools with teachers, books, learning tools, and computers. We want to provide these children with access to some of the same educational tools available to children in the U.S. If you would like to help us to help these children, please complete a Great Wall donation form and send it to us with your tax deductible donation. On behalf of the abandoned children of China, we thank you for your generosity. Donate today!
Great Wall’s Library of Datong
2003 - Datong Social Welfare Institute (SWI) Datong SWI is located in the city of Datong, in the Province of Shanxi. The Datong area is a coal-mining region that remains economically challenged. Datong SWI is home to approximately 700 children, many of whom are older children or special needs children. These children have limited chances of finding an adoptive family. They do not have access to education in a regular school, as they attend classes at the institute. It is for these reasons that Great Wall chose to construct a library for the children at Datong SWI. Construction began on the library in 2003, and it was completed in 2004. Thanks to the generous contributions of Great Wall families, Datong’s children now have access to the learning materials they so desperately need.
Located in the city's Minhang District, the Shanghai Children's Welfare Institute is one of the nicest and largest in the nation. The grounds are lined with intricate flowerbeds and sculpted topiary. There is even a small train running through the trees to entertain the children. The institute is home to infants and school age children, who attend the orphanage school for grades one through five. A section of the institute is also dedicated to the rehabilitation of children with disabilities.
In 1998, during the ground breaking of the new institution, Snow traveled to Shanghai to donate one million Chinese Yuan on the behalf of Great Wall and its families. Snow said her wish would be for the donation to provide a library for the children. Five years later, on April 1, 2003, Snow was able to see the library that had been built for the children as a gift from Great Wall. The library was immaculately clean, filled with books, learning tools, and computers for the children. One wall is set aside to display jewelry and crafts made by the children. Visitors who donate money to the institute receive one of the items the children have made.
