Donation campaign launched for quake-hit Yiliang

Residents in major cities across China are being called to donate to children in quake-hit areas in Yiliang county.

The campaign, organized by the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and supermarket chain RT-MART, was launched in 52 cities nationwide on Nov 3.

The county in Yunnan province was hit by a series of earthquakes in September.

People can donate 200 yuan ($31.76) at RT-MART stores nationwide for a bag that contains clothes, gloves and other items.

"We're using the platform of supermarkets because we're trying to push the notion that charity is not the sole business of millionaires or billionaires. In fact it's everyone's business," said Ming Hongwei, an official at the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.

Every bag donated contains a letter, which will enable the child to write to the donors, Ming said.

"We want to give feedback to the donors and attract more people to take part in the campaign," he said.

The program collected total donations of 745,900 yuan in the first two days. More than 20,000 college students participated in the campaign.