Touching hearts and minds

Mutual support between Hong Kong and Jiangxi province has grown over decades. Anyuan county in the eastern province, in particular, has benefited from schools built partially with Hong Kong funds in recognition of its efforts to conserve the environment along the Dongjiang River. Li Bingcun reports from Shenzhen.

Chen Sihan — an 11-year-old girl from Anyuan, a small county in Jiangxi province — often gets up at 5 am on weekends to play soccer with friends, besides training for two hours on weekdays.

The slim, pony-tailed school girl is the best female player in her school's soccer team. She scored four goals in a single match and would like to compete with stronger rivals, like senior students.

Although she is fond of sports, to Chen and her teammates, it's just an interest for the moment and they would like to keep it that way. But not every child on the Chinese mainland is so fortunate.

Standard soccer pitches and professional training for juniors are still relatively new in Anyuan, a mountainous area that was mired in poverty until two years ago, especially in rural villages.

The Siyuan Experimental School, jointly built by the Yanai Foundation from Hong Kong and the Anyuan local government in 2015, has provided a stage for children to grow up and develop. Besides reminding students to be grateful for the help they have received, "Siyuan" in the school's name highlights the mutual support between Hong Kong and Jiangxi, which are connected by an important river — Dongjiang.