A nationwide charity campaign focused on children in China was launched on Wednesday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The campaign will officially start on June 23 with a charity evening ball in Shanghai. Celebrities will grace the event.

Part of the campaign includes the production of several television and cartoon series that expound traditional moral values.

Mo Wenxiu, vice chairwoman of the All China Women's Federation and also vice president of the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF) said at the opening ceremony that donations will be collected to build libraries and music teaching classrooms in poor villages, to help children suffering from asthenia - a debilitating disease which causes abnormal weakness - to provide financial support to impoverished middle school students, and to train girls living in poverty in practical life skills.

At the launch, two local companies donated a total of 7 million yuan (about US$875,000).

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the CCTF, and it is the fifth time that the CCTF has launched a national charity campaign of this kind.

The CCTF, founded in 1981, was the first civil affairs fund in China. Over the last 25 years, the fund has dedicated itself to charity programs especially in aid of poor girls and families. By July 2005, the CCTF had collected more than 600 million yuan (about US$75 million) to enable 1.5 million impoverished girls to return to school.

(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2006)