One of the things I love and admire most about the Library Project is the huge amount of good that can be done with such a small amount of money. Take a close look at the resources available in this rural community, the dedication of the children and the looks on the faces of the children that signify success for this endeavor.

Only a $1,000 will equip a rural classroom/orphanage with much needed literacy tools.

It doesn’t get any or easier to make a difference than this. Head over to The Library Project to make a one-time recurring donation.

Can you tell us a little bit about the Library Project?

The Library Project provides books and libraries to under-financed countryside elementary schools in China.

I founded The Library Project because I found that most countryside elementary schools in China were lacking books that the children could physically read. What I mean by that is, most books in a countryside elementary school were written for university and high school students. They also lack any kind of reading area for the children to curl up with a book. What we do is very simple, we donate colorful, relevant, hi-quallity books to countryside elementary schools, while also ensuring that they have a safe and fun area to read the books in.

I understand that often children’s libraries in China aren’t often stocked with good children’s books and are often cramped or uncomfortable. Can you tell us more about that?

In general, we have found a complete lack of children’s books with PinYin for young learners. A child absolutely needs PinYin to read during grades 1 – 3. So that is our first obstacle that we must overcome. Our second is a complete lack of a comfortable library for the children to gather as a class and read a book. Most schools have a room set aside for a library, but they don’t have the funding to fill the room with furniture.

What we have found is, once we bring books that the children can read, along with tables and chairs for a library, the children love it.

Cool. I understand you’ve made a lot of big developments in the past year, right?

Yes we have. We have provided our first ten libraries, with plans of reaching a goal of over 80 by the end of 2008.

That sounds like a big commitment. Isn’t it costly to build a library?

The cost is quite low. Most libraries will cost between 4,000 and 8,000 RMB. This includes hi-quality Chinese language children’s books, colorful chairs, sturdy tables, globes, plants, posters, and all logistic costs such as trucks.

What all goes into the building of a library? What kind of cost is there in terms of money, time, and other resources?

From beginning to end, it takes about one month. That includes our Pre-Assessment, purchasing of books and furniture, and final delivery of the library. We usually have a group of about 5 – 15 volunteers helping with the final delivery. Once we set up the library, we introduce the children to their new library and play games. It’s a lot of fun for both the children and the volunteers.

I also understand that you cooperate with local charities to create community support and interest for your project. Have you found that local communities and organizations are helpful and willing to be involved?

That is true. We have partnered with the Xi’an Charity Association to provide libraries to the regions of the ShaanXi Province that they are working in. They are a huge help. We also run community based book collections through Aston English of China. They are one of the largest private English language schools in China, with schools in over 40 cities. We hope to hold book drives in each of those cities annually, and then take those Chinese language children’s books and get them into countryside elementary schools. Aston English has made a major commitment to giving back in China.

I understand you recently made a trip to Shanghai and had some exciting opportunities crop up for you there. How exactly did all of that come about?

That is true. The University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business in Shanghai has been absolutely amazing. On November 24th, the Smith School of Business hosted a charity fundraiser in Shanghai that raised enough funds to provide twelve schools with full libraries. They got Black and Decker, Microsoft, Storm Case, Grainger, Grace, Under Armour, The Children’s Place, Jaguar, Avon, and Land Rover, among many others, involved.

The University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business in Shanghai and their China EMBA program have really made a difference in the lives of thousands of children living in the countryside of China.

Where will the funds you raised in Shanghai go and how will they be used?

The funds raised in Shanghai will go toward providing libraries to the Ba Qiao School District in the ShaanXi Province. Each school will receive 500 Chinese language children’s books, and a comfortable child-safe library for the children to use.

To date, what do you think has been your biggest success?

That’s a tough question to answer. There have been so many successes to date. But if I were to pick on success, it would be the creation of our School District Program. This program makes the kind of impact that we all like to see. True impact is hard to make, and I’m confident that providing every countryside elementary school in a single school districts improves the level of education that each and every child receives.

What are the next big plans for the Library Project? How do you see the project growing? How can people in China and abroad help you and support you?

The Library Project has a very clear plan for our future. We will have over 80 libraries provided to countryside elementary schools by the end of 2008. We’ll have over 200 by the end of 2009. We’ll continue that aggressive growth plan until every elementary school in China has children’s books for every child to read.

We have a ton of volunteer opportunities, both in China and abroad. The best place to begin is to check out our website at The Library Project.

All donations are greatly appreciated. Small and large donations really do make a difference. Each book that we provide to schools only cost $1 USD, or 8 Yuan. Adopting a school costs only $1,000 USD. Both of these really do make a huge impact on the lives of literally thousands of children.

“The past three months have far exceeded the The Library Project’s goals and expectations. There is so much to share – from our new home in Xi’an, China to an incredible list of schools benefiting from our support – so let’s get started.

“In September, The Library Project donated our first library to a Chinese countryside elementary school. The Xin Xing Elementary School is located an hour outside of Xi’an, in the ShaanXi Province. Over 500 students in grades 1-6 attend the Xin Xing Elementary School. During our pre assessment we discovered the school library’s uninviting environment and general lack of age appropriate books. Most of the books in the existing library were written for high school or university students with a total of less than 50 children’s books for grades 1-3.

“The Library Project provided 500 children’s books for grades 1-3 and a child-safe reading area with comfortable and colorful furniture. We provided a wide range of children’s books including: history, science, short stories, fairy tales, “pinyin” books for very young readers, children’s dictionaries, children’s reference books, and an assortment of comic books. We also provided a full set of children’s encyclopedias for older students. Every book was in full color and of the highest quality. The Library Project provided colorful child-safe tables and chairs, posters and a globe to populate the previously empty room. Once the library was completed, we held a party to celebrate our accomplishments with the children. Twenty “star” students were chosen to participate in arts, crafts and games. One of our activities had the children draw their “dream library”. We learned that most children want a library located outside consisting of colorful books which float in the air. (We’re working on that concept for a future library.)

“Without a doubt The Library Project has improved the level of education that the Xin Xing Elementary School provides to its students.

“We didn’t stop there. In October The Library Project completed a phenomenal feat of donating three libraries in three days. The libraries are located at three different elementary schools in the countryside of Xi’an: the Si Qing Elementary School, Bai Lu Yuan Elementary School and Mi Cun Elementary School. Furthermore, all the items donated were upgraded from our previous library. We provided higher quality books, better seating, sturdy wooden tables and bookshelves custom made at a local factory, and we even found cacti and plants to put on the tables and shelving.

“Providing three libraries in three days pushed us both mentally and physically. We had a team of over 20 volunteers helping with the delivery of the materials, setting up furniture, sorting books, and playing games with the kids in their new library. Through our experiences we learned this one simple fact: that when The Library Project arrives in a countryside school, the students go absolutely crazy. The madness usually begins when we pull up in our large truck and the children come running out of their classrooms.

“For our next goal, I need your help. In the past we have benefited one school at a time and now we are looking to help an entire school district. We want to make a clear IMPACT on the level of education an entire school district will be able to offer its students. Our first school district we would like to help will be the Ba Qiao School District (the same school district where our last three elementary schools were located).

“The Ba Qiao School District is an hour outside of the Xi’an city center. This area was hit very hard by the closure of state run factories over the past twenty years. Because of the closures and the lack of work, the average annual income is less than 2,000 RMB ($266), and there is very little hope that things will change for the better in the future. To learn more about the Ba Qiao School District, please click here.

“If you are interested in Adopting a Library or adopting a group of schools through our Adopting a School District programs, please click here for more information. You can also send me an email at [*tom@library-project.org* ] to ask any questions about the library adoption process.

“Furthermore, our website has been updated and improved to help both large and small donors have a better idea of exactly how their financial contributions are put to work. We also added an Adopt a Library page for those who would like to provide an entire elementary school with a library. The page also contains information on the Ba Qiao School District. Everyone who donates to the Adopt a School or Adopt a School District programs will receive a Library Completion Report for the specific library that you supported, along with a beautiful hardcover book celebrating our past libraries and the communities and schools we have worked in.

“I am very happy to announce two new additions to The Library Project’s team. Jenny Wang is our first full time employee in China. Jenny is from Hunan Province and has lived in Xi’an for the past ten years. A short list of some of her accomplishments these past few months have been getting us a 20 – 65% discount on children’s books at the country’s largest chain of bookstores, managing our growing list of partners in China, spearheading the completion of our first four libraries in Chinese countryside elementary schools, and doing non-stop assessments of schools and orphanages. Welcome aboard Jenny!

“I am also very happy to announce that Kevin Kruse has joined our Board of Directors. Kevin Kruse joined in August and has been an incredible addition to the team. Kevin has been instrumental in helping create a solid business foundation for The Library Project. He was also our first donor to support our Adopt a School District program. To learn more about Kevin, please check out his bio by clicking here. Welcome Kevin!

“Lastly, please check out some of our new products for the holiday season. We created 50 book, 100 book, 250 book and 500 book gift cards available at $1 a book. Each card also has a beautiful picture of a past library we have donated. The gift cards are a perfect holiday gift idea. To check out our new online store, please click here.

“Your help is greatly appreciated. Click here to make a donation and help give the gift of education and opportunity to a child in Asia. As a result of your donation you will receive photos and a Library Completion Report on the library you helped make a reality. Your donation truly does make a difference.

“The Library Project is a non-profit organization. Your donation is 100% tax deductible. Thank you in advance for your kind support of our efforts.”

Sincerely,
Thomas Stader
The Library Project
Founder

A few months ago, Yanzhi and I met Thomas Stader, the man who created The Library Project. His project donates books and libraries to underprivileged schools and orphanages in the developing world. Stader created this project because he believes education is the key motivator to breaking the cycle of poverty that exists in the developing world. For him, education is change. The Library Project accomplishes its work by getting the local community involved through book drives and awareness raising, establishing bi-lingual libraries, and partnering with local orphanages and schools.

I recently received a note from Thomas that he has built a new library, and I’d like to share what he sent to us.

“Everyone at The Library Project are very excited to announce that we have provided our first library to a countryside elementary school in China.

“There are over 500 students, grades 1-6 that attend the Xin Xing Elementary School. One third of the students that attend Xin Xing Elementary School are worker children. Worker people are people that do manual labor in China. Their jobs can be anything from building highways to building apartment blocks. They tend to be migratory, going where the work is, and once the work is finished they pick their family up and go again where the work is. Because the area around the Xin Xing Elementary School was declared a Special Development Zone by the Central Government, there has been an influx of Worker Families and their children. As you can imagine, this puts an added strain on the school budget that the administration must balance at the Xin Xing Elementary School.

“Even with this added strain, the Xin Xing Elementary School has an incredible school administration with the Vice Principle named Mr. Zhong being a key player. We met Mr. Zhong one day during the Summer Break when we showed up unannounced and he welcomed us at the gate. He was alone, cleaning the school in preparation for the approaching Fall Semester.

“During our Pre Assessment we found the school library located in a dirty room on the fourth floor of the school. Even though it was dirty, the books were all very well kept, in new book shelves the Central Government had just provided. Their collection of books numbered 3,000. This sounds like a very impressive number, but the books they had in the library were almost completely inappropriate for the children attending the elementary school. Most books were written for High School or University students, or were published in the 1970s and were showing their age. There were no more than 50 children’s books for grades 1-3. The library room also lacked any comfortable furniture for the children sit on.

“On September 25, 2007, The Library Project provided 500 children’s books for grades 1-3, and also a child safe reading area with comfortable and colorful furniture for the children to be able to sit down and read a book. We also provided a full set of children’s encyclopedias for the older learners. After the furniture and books were setup, we held a party to celebrate the children’s new library. Twenty “star” students were chosen to participate in arts, crafts and games. Everyone had a great time.

“Most importantly, the administration really saw how much the children enjoyed their new library. The Xin Xing Elementary School administration made a plan to make sure every class has an opportunity to use the library once a week.

“Without a doubt The Library Project has improved the level of education that the school provides to its students.”

If you have any questions, please contact Thomas Stader at: .

几个月之前我跟彦志遇见了图书馆计划的创始人托马斯斯蒂德（Thomas Stader）。 图书馆计划主要是给不发达地区的学校和孤儿院捐赠书本和盖建图书馆，斯蒂德创立这个计划的原因是他坚信，在不发达的国家，教育是走出贫困怪圈的关键因素。他认为教育就是改变。该计划通过与当地团体的合作，向他们提供书本并提升他们教育意识，手把手地给学校和孤儿院建立双语图书馆。

不久前，托马斯写了一封信给我，，我想在这里给大家讲以下信件的内容：

“当我们给中国的一间乡村小学改建起第一间图书馆的时候，参与计划的每一位都很兴奋。

新星小学的学生，从一年级到六年级，超过500人。其中三分之一的学生是来自民工家庭。民工在中国是指那些靠出卖劳动力为生的人，从架高速公路到建房盖屋，他们什么都干。他们居无定所，哪里有活干就到哪里，当一项工程完工了，他们就举家搬到下一个工作的地方。因为新星小学附近被当地政府规划为特别发展区，所以有一大批的民工家庭和他们的小孩涌到这里来。行政部门的财政支持没有增加的前提下，他们的到来给小学的经营带来的压力是可想而知的。”

“尽管承受着这样的额外的压力，新星小学还是可以经营下去，这全赖钟副校长的出色领导。我们暑假到那里参观的时候见到了钟副校长，他在校门口迎接我们。那时他一个人在学校做大扫除，为就要来的秋季开学做准备。”

“在视察期间，我们发现该图书馆设在了学校四楼一个简陋的房间里。即使看上去肮脏，但书本都保存得很好。在新的书架上，陈列着《中央政府》。他们收藏的书籍达到三千多本 。听起来这似乎是一个非常可观的数目，然而该馆中的书籍几乎都不适合小学生阅读。大部分书籍是适合高中生或大学生阅读，或者是在20世纪70年代发表的，其陈旧程度显而易见。适合1-3年级学生的儿童读物不超过50本。馆里没有任何舒适的家具可以让孩子们坐。”

“2007年9月25日，除了为1-3年级小学生增多了500本儿童读物，图书馆计划还提供了配有五彩缤纷家具的儿童式安全阅览区，使孩子们能够坐下来，舒适地看书。除此之外还有一整套的儿童百科全书给较年长的学习者使用。在家具和书籍准备好后，我们还为庆祝孩子们的新图书馆举行了聚会。二十位学生被挑选参加艺术活动，手工艺活动及游戏等。我们每个人都非常开心。”

“最重要的是，领导层确实看到了孩子们对新图书馆的愉悦之情。该小学的领导人员就作出安排，确保每一个班级都可以每星期一次使用图书馆。”

“毫无疑问，图书馆计划提高了学校的教育水平。”

如有疑问，请联系Thomas Stader先生：

中文

This photo comes from Yauly, a photographer who has traveled in China and taken a number of fantastic photos of her journeys in Lijiang, Dali,  Yangshuo, and other places.  Her photo today comes from her travels in Lijiang, a beautiful city in Yunnan province that still has many artifacts and architecture from the Naxi, one of China’s numerous ethnic minorities.

Yauly had this to sayabout the photo: “[this photo] is called ‘w for victory’ and was also taken in Lijiang.  I have no special story about this pic, it’s just that the girl was so cute, trying to make a V with her hand.”

To see your photos here, send them to or.

这张图片来自Yauly，一名曾游历中国的摄影师，她在丽江，大理，阳朔等地拍摄了一系列非常优秀的作品。今天的这张图片是她在丽江拍的，丽江是云南省的一个非常美丽的城市，在那里至今还有许多纳西族的手工艺品和特色建筑。纳西族是中国众多的少数民族之一。
Yauly 对这张相片的描述：这张相片叫作“w字的胜利”，也是在丽江拍摄到的，这张相片背后没什么特别的故事，就是一个小女孩想要给我们摆出V字的胜利的手势，非常可爱。

A few weeks ago, we mentioned the Library Project here on the Dreamblogue. Now, we want to mention them again. They have begun their expansion into China, and we want to bring you news about their latest happenings. From the Library Project‘s press release:

“Everyone at The Library Project are very excited to announce a partnership with Aston English in China. Over the next year The Library Project will conduct ‘The Aston Library Project’ within each of the Aston English schools in China.

“The Aston Library Project will hold book drives at each of their English schools. These book drives should net about 50,000 Chinese language children’s books donated to schools and orphanages in China. The Library Project with the help of Aston English volunteers will then source the donated books to local orphanages and schools. These libraries will be outfitted with tables, chairs, mats and lighting when appropriate for the location.

“Aston operates more than 40 English schools in China and the US. In 1996 Aston opened its first English language school in China and is now operating in more than 26 Chinese cities.

“Because of Aston English’s footprint in China, The Libarary Project has an opportunity to make a huge difference in a very short period of time. A list of cities that are up for libraries are: Beijing, Dalian, Xian, Weinan, Xianyang, Xingping, Yanliang, Chengdu, Kunming, Guiyang, Chongqing, Jinan, Wuhan, Hanzhong, Baoji, Tongchuan, Yanan, Yulin, Dandong, Dongying, Xuzhou, Quingdao and Lianyungang.”

“Thomas Stader, Chinese Country Director said, ‘This partnership is a great example of Aston English’s commitment to education and the betterment of each community that they work within. We are all very excited about this partnership.’”

We will continue to place regular updates here on The Library Project. You can donate directly to the Library Project by clicking here:

Online Donations

You may use our secure online credit card donation form to donate to The Library Project using your Visa, MasterCard, or American Express card.

Give a one-time donation: $

Monthly Donations

Set up reoccuring monthly donation for The Library Project. Five dollars a month can make a huge difference in the lives of many children in Asia.

Monthly donation: $   for   months.

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My Dream

The dream is to travel in 2007 to every mainland province in China. During this journey, the China Dreamblogue will chronicle the everyday lives of ordinary Chinese citizens. The motivation for this trip came from a group of women known as the League of Extraordinary Chinese Women. The LOECW was comprised of 5 women from various walks of Chinese life—wives, semi-professional women, a bookkeeper, and a student. The one thing they had in common was advanced-stage cancer. These women, with little access to formal education and less information from outside sources about the disease they had contracted, naturally and courageously combated their disease with friendship, enthusiasm, meditation, and the medical care they could afford.

Around this time, Yanzhi and Dawei also met Thomas Stader, an expat who has devoted his time, talents, and treasures to Chinese people educationally and economically left behind by giving them access to life-changing education. The Dreamblogue is an attempt to unite the strength, courage, and stories of people around China and channel it into a force that will help realize the dreams everyone carries.

All of the money generated from the advertising on this site will go directly from Feedburner and Blogads to the charities we support, The Library Project and The Reading Tub. No one at the Dreamblogue will never directly handle the money.

The Blog of Dreams will have videocasts, podcasts, a China picture contest (to be turned into a coffee table book) , a weekly Chinese horoscope, weekly Chinese recipes (also to be a book), and most importantly, the daily dreams of people from around the world. The Dreamblogue has been created to be a tool of understanding and a place where dreams can be spoken into reality.

To help:

1. Use the logo here or on the blog’s sidebar and click on the little green box that says “favorite this blog.”



2. Follow the instructions on Technorati. This will take you less than one minute.
3. The Technorati favoriting website may send you back to the blog of dreams. Click the “favorite this blog” button one more time to finish.
4. Link to us on your blog.
5. Let us know that you helped by e-mailing me or sending a comment. We’ll return the favor by favoriting your blog. Invite your friends to favorite and link to this blog. We will be creating a Dreamblogue blogroll in the future and will include you.

The other part of the journey is about creating a space on The Dreamblogue where people can blog their dream—they can write about a dream they have for themselves, a dream they have for someone else, or an educational dream they want to fill. There is a Chinese superstition that if you talk about bad things, they will come true. Instead, the Dreamblogue’s vision says that if you share your dream with others, you are willing it into being. Send your dreams to the blog of dreams, and we will post dreams other people want to share with the world.

Help change lives. As Yanzhi and Dawei travel throughout the year, the blog will able to give away a variety of products from different corporate sponsors as well as scholarships to study in China.

你能怎样帮助我们

在一系列我们计划赞助者的文章中，我们决定先介绍中国商务网（The China Business Network）。这是一家国际性咨询服务机构，专门从事与中国有关的国际事务。由Christine Lu建立的中国商务网拥有大量有助于在中国寻找商机的媒体、视频DVD和网络文本。

中国载梦博客与中国商务网具有良好的合作关系。目前，载梦博客的赞助商会获得中国商务网的预先访问视频的特权，而且浏览者可以在中国商务网上看到载梦博客的视频。

有意赞助载梦博客，你可以通过以下途径来帮助我们：

首先，我们想强调一点，我们不接受捐款。如果你想捐款，你可以跟我们合作的一些慈善机构联系，例如图书馆计划（The Library Project）或者阅读盆儿（The Reading Tub）。载梦博客会通过为赞助者提供服务作为回报。我们希望得到以下方面的赞助：

 个人或团体：请把我们网址链接到你们网站上，然后点击我们网站旁栏上的绿色按钮，到Technorati网站上支持（favorite）我们。

 我们急切需要两台手提电脑，目前有一台是管理载梦博客的，彦志的手提电脑的荧幕已经坏掉了，我们的另一台电脑被致命的病毒入侵了，所以我们需要有手提电脑继续管理载梦博客，而且在游历中国的旅程中继续维护和更新网站。

 我们希望有2台高质量的照相机帮助我们把在中华之旅所见到的美丽的人物和地方都拍摄下来。

 我们希望有一台高质量的数码摄录机可以记录我们在旅程中遇到的故事。

 我们希望有一些音频的制作软件帮助我们向你们展示承梦者的故事。

 英国、加拿大、澳大利亚和新西兰的教育机构有兴趣吸引有才能的中国学生到他们的大学就读。

 我们希望旅游保险来保证我们和我们承载的梦想的安全。

 我们希望有一家旅游公司愿意赞助我们旅程的飞机票和住宿。

 我们希望有高质量的中英培训中心能够帮助到海外学习的学生作好充分准备。

 我们希望有一些其他商业机构愿意帮助承梦者实现他们的梦想。

请注意，我们会在载梦博客中华慈善之旅结束的时候把全部的器材和额外的物资送给我们的支持者和承梦者。

有兴趣的团体可以在这里看到更多关于赞助的详情：中华慈善之旅计划。有意者请发邮件到dawei@blogofdreams.com或者yanzhi@blogofdreams.com与我们联系。

继续跟我们分享你的梦想吧！

 浏览中文，请点击这里。

translation by Frances Chen

“Children’s books are a luxury to have in Asia, and a rarity in an orphanage.”

–from The Library Project

Thomas Stader has a vision to build libraries for children living in orphanages and rural areas around Asia.

Stader, is one of those rare people who come to China with big plans and a bigger heart. He came to help and began to put his plan into action in 1998. To accompany Stader’s big heart, is a well organized plan rife with several clever ideas. Instead of trying to organize all of the complex processes that would be required to build libraries, Stader uses pre-existing supply chains and forms cooperative agreements with local NGOs and corporationg for funding and logistics. These tactics, combined with the lower overhead costs in Asia, allow him to build libraries for $150-$300 USD each–without comprimising the structural quality or integrity of the libraries. Welcome to an age when quality NGO work combined with smart marketing and good business sense can transform a philanthropic daydream into a sound reality.

The Project has made remarkable progress. In 2006, Stader was able to create two libraries for approximately $300 USD and some help from Aston Education, JinaLive, and the Dalian Charity Federation. In 2007, The Library Project will expand to do work in Xian and Jinan. By the end of the year, the project plans to create 15 new libraries to schools and orphanages with a total project cost under $15,000 USD.

Here’s a list of the typical costs from one of the recent library projects:

Hard cover book, 100 pages: $3
Soft cover book, 100 pages: $2
Harry Potte Series: $15
Color comic book: $1
Black and white comic book: .5
Book shelf: $25
Table and chairs: $50
Plants, posters, mats: $25

The Library Project plans to have 80 libraries running in China, Cambodia, and Vietnam by 2009. You can help by clicking here.

Note: all pictures featured here come from The Library Project’s site.

There will be follow-up articles on this worthy endeavor soon…..

中文

亚洲图书馆项目——大维   

“在亚洲地区，儿童读物是一种奢侈品，在孤儿院，这种奢侈品更为罕见。”

——出自《亚洲图书馆项目》

 Thomas Stader有一个梦想，那就是在亚洲的孤儿院和农村地区建立图书馆。Stader是鲜有的带着雄心壮志和伟大计划来到中国的外国人。他1998年来到中国，为了实现他的梦想和帮助中国人。Stader的雄心壮志不是空谈，他还有着明智的想法和有组织性的计划。与其尝试亲自去组织完成建立图书馆的复杂过程，Stader利用了原有的供给链和跟当地的非政府组织达成提供资金和物流管理的合作协议。这些策略和亚洲的低消费水平，使得Stader以每间150到300美元的价格建起了这些图书馆——并且图书馆的结构和完整性没有受到影响。在这个时代，卓越的非政府组织凭着聪明的市场营销和敏锐的市场嗅觉，可以把一个关于慈善事业的白日梦变成美好的现实。欢迎你来到这个新时代。这个项目已经取得了瞩目的成绩。在2006年，Stader仅用300美元左右，就在Aston Education, JinaLive, and the Dalian Charity Federation的帮助下建立起两间图书馆。在2007年，这个图书馆项目会扩张到西安和济南。到今年年底，该项目计划为学校和孤儿院建立15间新的图书馆，这个项目花费不超过1万5千美元。以下是关于一个最新的图书馆项目的通常花费：硬皮书，100页：3美元软皮书，100页：2美元哈利波特系列：15美元彩色连环画：1美元黑白连环画：0.5美元书架：25美元桌椅：50美元植物、海报、坐垫：25美元这个图书馆项目预计到2009年止在中国、柬埔寨和越南建起80间图书馆。

你可以通过点击这里提供帮助。

注释：所有的图片都是来自The Library Project’s site 

接下来还会有很多关于这个崇高的努力的报道。

As we travel, we also have other missions to complete. We will create blog posts about our journey, but we also want people from all over the world to participate in this blog by sending us photos, maps, information, captions, cartoons, comments, and anything else you want to add. In addition, you will have a chance to vote on where we go next.

A slogan we have at the Blog of Dreams is “One Dream, One Web.” This slogan reflects one of the goals of the Dreamblog: to create space for fair, open, and honest exchange about China. Too much of the Western world focuses on the negative about China. We want to support net neutrality–making space on the Internet for positive news about China.

We also want to use this blog to generate money…for charity. As this blog grows in internet power, it will generate more and more advertising revenue. We want to make sure this money goes towards people in China who need it most. We’ve created a system where we won’t touch the money–it will go directly to the people doing the work to make life in China a better place for deserving people who cannot afford items we take for granted—like books. We will include profiles of groups we give to, like Volunteer English Teachers, The Library Project, and The League of Extraordinary Chinese Women. We will also have a system where you can send money through our site to different charities that do work in China.

One of our goals is to create a dream list: we will ask people to submit their dreams and if ad revenues support it, we will grant their wish.

Finally, we want to create a better and stronger internet presence for China. We can do this and help you out with Link It Forward, a unique way we’ve created to build a stronger internet presence and network throughout China.

Join us on our journey to give China and its people an electronic introduction to the global internet community.

OUR #1 GOAL IS TO BE THE TOP RANKED SITE FOR LINKS AND FAVORITES IN TECHNORATI. HELP BY CLICKING THE FAVORITES LINK AND BY GETTING OTHERS TO DO THE SAME. ALSO LINK TO US AND JOIN OUR LINK IT FORWARD CAMPAIGN. THERE IS A BADGE ON THE SIDEBAR YOU MAY DOWNLOAD AND USE ON YOUR SITE!

WE NEED EDITORS, PHOTO REVIEWERS, TRANSLATORS, PR HELPERS, AND LINK MASTERS. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED LEAVE A COMMENT. IT WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED, BUT WE WILL CONTACT YOU!

–from the Volunteer English Teaching Program

China teems with travel wonders and   woes. I had made plans with friends to head to Vietnam for the Chinese New Year and ended up, because of visa troubles, in Yangshuo, Guanxi province, home of the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat and the unbreakable Chun Li.

While the trip was a cascade of logistic mishap after mishap, the beauty of the karsts and the uniqueness of the people I met–from a Guangzhou leather factory owner to a crew of Dutch HKU students–all gave me reason to be thankful for my fiasco.

During my stay in Yangshuo, I had the good fortune to meet Laurie Mackenzie, a man who, like me, is an accidental expat: he decided to come to China on little more than a whim. A retired professor and former officer in the Canadian army, he’s been here for five years building a network of schools and volunteers to help poor villagers and children learn English skills. But he is not on a mission of religion, Americanization, or exploitation–he is on a mission of heart.

Yangshuo is dense with tourists almost year-round, and its offers of spectacular scenery, excellent mountain climbing and hiking trails, and good-quality, inexpensive food and lodging draw tourists not just from China but all over the world. By offering economically disadvantaged children and families English lessons and opportunities for sometimes-shy Chinese children and adults to interact with foreigners, MacKenzie opens up economic possibilities for these families and children. MacKenzie also works tirelessly to secure donations that allow for these students to purchase the basic resources they need for school–pens, paper, books, and other supplies. “Poor schools do not have resource materials,” says MacKenzie on the Volunteer English Teachers website. “Classroom equipment is a sheet of plywood painted black and some coloured chalk. It is often impossible for parents to buy the note books, pencils etc. that every pupil needs.” MacKenzie, his wife, and his volunteer staff of Anglophones from around the world do everything they can to help these motivated children realize their potential.

Children at the VET schools learn oral English through games, songs, and activities like choirs (as seen above). I end this article with some words from MacKenzie about why he chose to begin this work and why he continues:

“The cycle of poverty can only be broken through education. Poor peasant farmers struggle to pay the annual school fees for their children to go to primary school but very, very few can afford the higher costs of sending the children to Junior Middle School or beyond. We know that if the children can learn to be comfortable with foreign visitors and speak some English they will be able to get work. Volunteer English Teachers are committed to helping these children realize a better future. “

I went to the hospital a few weeks ago to visit one of five of my students afflicted with cancer this last year. And my heart hurts since returning.

A former student called me to ask if I remembered another classmate nicknamed “Coffee.” Of course I remembered the 1/500 treasure: A delightful girl with a fervor for learning, who had been a second year English major at my school. I try to remember most of my students, but Coffee was easy: She often emailed me with serious questions about cultural issues and after several meetings, at her request, we changed her English name to one better suited to a Business English major.

And I remembered that pretty young Coffee came from a poor rural family and had an older brother and sister. It was this knowledge that especially dismayed me when I was told that she had been diagnosed with bone cancer. I knew instantly that not only would she suffer ostracism associated with being handicapped in China–It it is an enormous social burden that she would not be able to afford to lighten–but the costs will prevent treatment that could help minimize her disability in this hyper-vigilant culture. Her father, aware of the same, took more than half a day to accede to the surgeons requests for a consent form to remove Coffee’s leg.

It takes no special education to know the shame and hardship ahead for his daughter and family. Please don’t judge him harshly. He loves his daughter and has already invested his life’s savings to see her through three years of college. He is back at home while Coffee’s mother must pay a daily fee to maintain all an day and night vigil at the hospital. They live two hours and many, many years away from China’s third largest metropolis.

The hospital was without air conditioning and in desperate need of paint and renovation, but I knew that even this questionable house of healing was more than she could afford. I met her mother, a woman who has obviously labored hundreds of long days under the sun, and immediately knew that finances were going to the biggest single factor in Coffee’s treatment and recovery. And worse yet, the hospital’s worn facade was a metaphor for the growing disparity between rich and poor in China that has enmeshed Coffee and her family–and just at a time when they had hoped to improve their station in life through school. The rich are living, and living well, while the poor are dying for want of health care. Coffee was smiling and genuinely optimistic during our meeting. She could already navigate, on crutches, the area from her bed to the common television alcove down the bleak corridor. Her leg was removed only two weeks ago, but Coffee is far ahead of the healing curve. I am told that Coffee attended class up until two days before her scheduled surgery and today she shared, in confident and relaxed English, that she intends to go back to college next semester even if it is during her chemotherapy. I believe her. The school, with no handicapped accessibility, no air conditioning, overcrowded dorms and mind-numbing class schedules, is all she thinks about. She will finish college even if her post-graduate chances for good paying work have been diminished. If I could have bottled one-tenth of one-percent of the courage that issued from her today I could sell it and fund a cure for her disease. But, the best anyone has been able to do so far is take up a collection for her at school: Her classmates, no better off financially, have raised about $600 USD for her care. She is still several thousands short of what she will need for prosthetics alone. It is with great sadness that I welcome another courageous soul to the League of Extraordinary Chinese Women.

The League, by the way, has already, via the Unsinkable Ms Yue, made arrangements to visit their youngest and newest member. She was mentor today and taught this tired old professor life lessons in ways I will long cherish.

Yes, I still ache from a full, and heavy heart.

We’ve created an idea called link it forward. Similar to the internet memes and the Thinking Blog tag that recently moved through a number of English-language blogs about China, our idea will travel rapidly through pro-China blogs. In addition, this idea will help to create links–as many as four thousand–to your site through a trickle-down method.

There are five simple steps:

1. Take this list of 8 blogs and put them in a post on your blog. The first three blogs, Onemanbandwidth, The China Dreamblogue, and Sinotrading, remain on the list.
2. At the top of the moveable list, put a link to your blog.
3. Remove the link from the bottom of blog.
4. Send your updated list to at least five other people.
5. If you want, create a new moveable list of five blogs you think deserve some links. Be kind and include the permanent list as well.

Perma-List:

• Onemanbandwidth
• The China Dreamblogue
• Sinotrading

The Moveable list:

• The Hao Hao Report
• East South North West
• The Cal Poly MBA Trip
• China Law Blog
• The Opposite End of China

The numbers work out well for you. You will have approximately five rounds on the list. On the first round, you’ll get five links. On the second, you’ll get 25 (each of the five people you sent the list to will get five more people to put your link on their site). The third round nets you 125, the fourth 525, and the fifth 2,625. Your grand total (should everyone follow Link it Forward) will be 3,305 links. And if you get linked to again by another blog, you can start the process all over again to earn another 3,000 links.

To monetize your blog or site please click on the links found on the front page of this blog.

China Dreamblogue的其中一个目标是在因特网上创建一个强大的，支持中国的互联网。实现这个目标，我们需要你的帮助。在我们建造我们中国的友好互联网的同时，我们将会帮助那些支持我们的人，把他们的博客推到网络排名的最前列。这个过程既简单又有效。

我们已经有一个构想，称为“链接在一起”（Link it Forward），与“网络媒母”（internet memes）相类似。“Link it Forward”（ 链接在一起）会以很快的速度在支持中国的博客上移动。另外，这个构想可以使你的网站的链接数量增加几千个以上。

以下是六个简单的步骤：

1. 按照以下的说明列两组博客的目录然后放到您的博客上。第一组名单是三个固定的博客：Onemanbandwidth, The China Dreamblogue, 和Sinotrading。这三个博客的连接必须永远的保留和不可改变。
2. 在第二组上，把您自己的博客连接放在目录的第一位上。
3. 把所有在第二组目录上的连接排名依次向下移动一位。即排第一的移到第二位，排第二的移到第三位等等（第五位的移到第一位）。
4. 这就是说排第五的应该要完成一个循坏回到第五的位置上。
5. 将你的更新了的列表发给至少5个其他博客。您发的越多，您就能获得更多的链接。如果您有一百个人，那就快点去做吧。
6. 如果您想的话，还可以另外创建一个您认为有价值的列表。请也同样包括那个不变名单（即onemanbandwidth, china dreamblogue 和 sinotrading）

请记住，不要改动或者改变第一组名单和不要在第二组名单上加上第六个链接。同样，通过第一组名单所得到的广告收益将用作慈善用途。而从第二组“link it forward”上所得的收益将有您自己支配。我们会为您列举一些能够推算您自己网站价值的地方。

第一组（长期不变得目录）：

Onemanbandwidth

The China Dreamblogue

Sinotrading

第二组（可更新的目录）：

您的博客

您朋友的博客

如果理想的话，您大约会有比从前翻5倍的链接量。

第一个循环，您会得到5个链接。

第二个循环您会得到25个链接（跟您建立链接的那5个人每人会给您带来5个新的链接）

第三个循环您会有125个链接，第四个有625，第五个有3，125个。

如果每个人都按照Link it Forward的方法，您最后会得到3，905个链接。如果您同时又跟其他博客建立同种方法的链接，您将会得到另外3，000多个的链接。有了这上千个的 连接，您就能从Google Adwords（Google搜索引擎营销）那里得到相应的收益了。现在就请按本页底部的Google Adwords按钮来看一下您的网站的价值吧。

这是为了兴趣；这是为了提高中国博客在西方搜索引擎的排名；这更是为了中国的慈善事业出一分力（因为限定组中的3个博客将会把全部广告收益捐献给中国的慈善机构）；同样也能增加中国博客在互联网上的知名度。

让我们一起link it forward(链接在一起)吧！