The Audiology Development Foundation of China (ADFC) is collecting donations to treat deaf children.

The year-long campaign, which begins this month, will raise funds by selling 30,000 boxes of superior Pu'er tea, a famous tea produced in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The money collected will be used to buy audiophones for deaf children in China and provide them with basic language training.

Liang Tao, ADFC vice chairman, said language training for deaf people should begin when they are 2 to 3.5 years old. It's difficult for deaf children older than six to begin to learn a language.

If deaf children do not get immediate treatment, many of them will become dumb as they get older and become permanently deaf-and-dumb.

"In the impoverished rural areas of China, 70 percent of families that have deaf children cannot afford the treatment and lose a golden opportunity to help them," Liang said.

According to statistics, there are about 20 million people in China with a hearing disability, accounting for 34 percent of the disabled. Two million are under 14 years old and some 800,000 are under six.

The figure is increasing by 30,000 each year due to hereditary diseases, drug abuse and environmental pollution.

China has taken measures to help deaf children. About 220,000 deaf children under seven years old had received language training up to 2004, and 20 percent of them have been admitted by ordinary kindergartens and primary schools.

People who want to make a donation can call Beijing 8610-6489-0942.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2006)