EAGER YOUTH: Chen Xuejiao, a junor high school student from southwest China's Guizhou Province, applauds at the opening ceremony of the China Special Fund for Young Talent at Tsinghua High School in Beijing on July 22 (CHEN RAN)

Chen Xuejiao is far from home. A first-year junior high school student from a remote area of southwest China, this is the first time the 13-year-old to leave Guizhou Province. She has come 1,500 km to Beijing to attend a week-long summer camp with a teacher and four other pupils from her impoverished county.

The project that Chen attended was jointly initiated by the China Special Fund for Young Talent, Hanergy Holding Group and Tsinghua High School, aiming to offer study opportunities for young students from under-developed regions.

Tsinghua High School welcomed the talented youths to the capital on July 22. The provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan and Guizhou, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region each recommended 20 first-year junior high students from counties designated by the state as impoverished.

Wang Dianjun, project initiator and principal of Tsinghua High School, shared his own experiences growing up in a small county in northwest China's Shaanxi Province before getting a doctoral degree in mathematics at Peking University and then becoming a professor at Tsinghua University. His own path from humble beginnings on through the top two universities in the country encouraged campers to master their destinies with hard work.

"I can see the potential and passion in you. That's why we want to offer a platform to help make your dreams come true," Wang said to the participants. "I hope you will pass on your loving spirit to others. Meanwhile, more schools could join in the project to help narrow the gap of educational disparity."

READY TO GO: The welcome ceremony for the China Special Fund for Young Talent summer camp takes place at Tsinghua High School in Beijing on July 22 (CHEN RAN)

Wang Shuqin, vice president of the Beijing-based Hanergy Holding Group, said that the company will put its advocacy of educational equality into actual practice with five years of continuous financing and facilitation. Established in 1994, the clean energy company has invested over 100 million yuan ($16 million) in non-profit programs since 2003, according to Wang.

Wang said the summer camp aims to broaden the horizons of trainees with lectures, tours and seminars. Twenty of the first batch of 100 trainees will be selected to join the Rural Young Talent Education Program which will offer further training with face-to-face instruction and online lectures from Tsinghua High School. Candidates for the second phase of the program are rigorously evaluated for excellence in moral sense, learning ability, physical fitness, mental health and extracurricular activities.

Students receive free clothes, stationery and transportation, and may qualify for a need-based living allowance. Academic performance is tracked and outstanding pupils are awarded scholarships. 

The China Special Fund for Young Talent expects participation from the 50 top middle schools nationwide in three years, which could benefit 10,000 talented rural youth over the next 15 years.

"I was inspired by the speeches and will chase my dream as passionately as Principal Wang," Chen told Beijing Review. "My dream is to major in math at Tsinghua University and help even more needy students."