The Beijing SOS Children's Village, the 10th in China, will open in July, the project organizer said Friday.

The village, cosponsored by the Beijing government and SOS Kinderdorf International (SOS KDI), will house up to 120 orphans aged 4 to 12 chosen by local civil affairs bureaus in Beijing and other parts of the country, said Cai Jie, deputy director of the SOS Children's Village of China.

The facility, in Daxing district, will have 15 two-story buildings for 15 "families". The village will employ 15 single women aged 25 to 35 as professional "mothers" for six to eight children in each "family" until they are old enough to work, said Cai.

The Beijing government spent nearly 16 million yuan (2.3 million US dollars) to acquire the land. Construction of the facilities was paid for by SOS KDI, which provided 29 million yuan. SOS KDI will pay the orphans' living costs, said Cai.

Nine SOS Children's Villages have been set up in Chinese cities since 1984, including Tianjin, Qiqihar, Chengdu, Urumqi and Lhasa. At present, more than 1,400 Chinese orphans are being looked after in the villages.

The SOS Children's Village project began in Austria during World War II. More than 400 villages operate in more than 130 countries and regions.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2009)