Public welfare has no distinction of age, form, or size.
From May 1st to 2nd, 2024, at the turn of spring and summer, the Beijing Sub-Center ushered in a unique audio-visual feast - the 2024 Beijing Infinite Music Festival was held in the city's Green Heart Forest Park. This is also the year Tongzhou has welcomed in the past ten years. The largest outdoor music festival ever.
What is different from the past is that this music festival has added some charity elements-Happy Charity Corner. The Happy Charity Corner is jointly created by the Infinite Music Festival and the Beijing News. Together with the Yao Foundation and Tencent Charity, it gathers the power of good and conveys the concept of charity.
Happy Charity Corner. Photo by Zhang Xiangjuan
"I think everyone needs to be caring. Making music is a happy thing in itself. We hope to bring happiness to more friends, so we hope to set an example in public welfare and also I hope more artists will actively participate in charity activities and use music to bring more beautiful things to everyone," said Tang Yueming, the organizer of Infinite Music Festival.
Music fans: I like the feeling of freedom with my feet off the ground
htmlAt noon on May 1st, the sun was already a bit dazzling, but Beijing City Green Heart Park was particularly lively: Music fans were holding parasols and wearing sunglasses, queuing at the security checkpoint. There was a long queue to attend the 2024 Infinity Music Festival and rush to their favorite singers and bands. "I like the sense of freedom of having my feet off the ground during music festivals," said one music fan. "I finally don't have to go to work today, and I can also see the Hui Chun Dan band. I'm very excited and looking forward to it."This is the largest outdoor music festival in Tongzhou in the past ten years, and it also kicks off the turn of spring and summer. At around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the singer's performance on the Infinite Stage ended. The fans took their "equipment" - camping mats, inflatable sofas, etc., over the hill and rushed to another stage 300 meters away - the Starry Sky Stage.
A small team is particularly eye-catching. A group of five people wore clothes with elements of "Northeast Flower" printed on them. One boy had the word "social terror" written in big letters on his body, and another boy was wearing a "hospital gown" with the words "My mental illness is on the verge of breaking out." Four people pushed Zhang Lei (pseudonym), a boy in a wheelchair. "He said he wanted to go to another stage to see Lao Fan next door," a companion told the Beijing News reporter.
Zhang Lei is a railway worker. Two months ago, he accidentally fell while climbing a telegraph pole for maintenance. "When we entered the venue, the staff saw that he was inconvenient and helped us enter the venue all the way and gave us the green light." Zhang Lei's friends said that they drove two hours to Beijing to see the Second-hand Rose Band.
Zhang Lei’s plaster also has elements of the “Northeastern Flower”. Photographed by Beijing News reporter Qin Bing
html At noon on May 1, they came to the concert looking for their partners wearing "Northeast Flower" costumes. "We have a fan group, the '5.1 Tongzhou Infinite Crazy Group'. We usually share the concert updates of the Second Hand Rose Band in the group. If we have time, we will often come out to watch the concert together." Wu Lei's friend said. Themusic festival is divided into the Infinite Stage and the Starry Sky Stage. The performance times of the two stages do not overlap. Music fans are like migratory birds, migrating back and forth with the performances on the stage.
At around 5:30 pm, there is still half an hour before the next performance. Music fans have already gathered at the Infinite Stage early, occupying front row seats in advance, waiting for the appearance of the Rejuvenating Pill Band.
Children watch the performance while riding on the shoulders of adults. Photo by Beijing News reporter Xiong Lixin
At around 6 p.m., the Huichundan band appeared on the stage amid cheers, and fans swayed subconsciously to the music. The song "Emily" ended, and the fans in the audience seemed still immersed in it, humming spontaneously. The lead singer put down the microphone, but the band members continued to accompany the fans.
Happy Charity Corner: Charity Elements in Music
What is different from the past is that this music festival has added some charity elements-Happy Charity Corner. The Charity Corner is jointly created by the Infinite Music Festival and the Beijing News. Together with the Yao Foundation and Tencent Charity, it gathers the power of good and conveys the concept of charity.
On February 29, 2024, the Beijing News officially launched the "Beijing Charity" brand and opened the "Beijing Charity" channel on the Beijing News app to collect public welfare content and resources from various industries and give full play to the mainstream media's role in promoting good. Through innovation and responsibility, the Beijing News has also upgraded from a recorder, observer, and supervisor of the media to a service provider and enabler of social welfare.
Xinjing Public Welfare Station. Photo by Zhang Xiangjuan
Tang Yueming, the person in charge of the organizer of Infinite Music Festival, said, "I think everyone needs to be caring. Making music is a happy thing in itself. We hope to bring happiness to more friends, so we hope I can serve as a model for charity and lead by example. I also hope that more artists will actively participate in charity activities and use music to bring more beautiful things to everyone.”
The work brought by Tencent Charity is "Temple of Heaven". Tencent's charity staff told the Beijing News reporter that this painting consists of 10,000 fingerprints of lonely elderly people from Hebei, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places. "These are all elderly people supported by charity projects." "99 Charity Day" in 2023 At that time, the elderly beneficiaries of the project wrote nearly a thousand letters of thanks. Since some of the elderly could not write, they filled the thank-you letters with their fingerprints. Artist Zou Cao scanned these fingerprints and painted the Temple of Heaven, which symbolizes peace and prosperity for the country and the people, and a good harvest. He named the painting "Temple of Heaven".
Not only that, fingerprint paintings also contain clever designs, and each painting has its own blockchain. Turn on the NFC function of the phone, paste the fingerprint on the phone, and you can see the name of the collector. Tencent's charity staff said that 50% of the profits from this painting will be donated to charity projects.
"The music festival is a particularly good opportunity to let more young people understand our public welfare projects and the plight of widows and elderly people living alone." Tencent's public welfare staff told the Beijing News reporter. "This trip to the music festival is to bring the derivatives of high-quality public welfare projects here, so that more young people can see the different forms of public welfare, combine public welfare with art, and add some public welfare elements to the music festival."
Tencent public welfare staff are introducing "Temple of Heaven". Photo by Zhang Xiangjuan
It is worth noting that behind the fingerprint painting of "Temple of Heaven" is the support of the "Grandparents Accompanying Plan" public welfare project.
As an important social supplementary force, public welfare organizations, with the help of local government departments, identify rescue targets through lists provided by government departments and on-site surveys by local volunteers, visit them regularly every month, send supplies, and provide targeted assistance to the lost. Lonely, elderly, and elderly people living alone.
"Nowadays, many elderly people have no problem having enough to eat. They live alone and want to 'make do' with everything." Tencent's public welfare staff said, "Therefore, some food will be given to enhance nutrition, such as eggs, milk, etc. In addition, There are also nail clippers with a magnifying glass. During the Spring Festival, they will also help the elderly put up Spring Festival couplets, which will make them more festive and energetic. "
According to reports, the volunteers responsible for rescuing the elderly are usually from their own village and visit them. It’s more convenient and there’s an emotional connection. One time, a volunteer came to visit an old man. He kept knocking on the door but no one responded. After the volunteers broke in, they found that the old man was poisoned by gas. They called 120 immediately and sent the old man to the hospital. Fortunately, his life was not in danger.
"In addition to relying on public welfare donations, public welfare projects can also allow the public to participate by purchasing derivatives." Tencent public welfare staff told the Beijing News reporter, "The participation of the elderly in the production of derivatives not only gives the public welfare projects a hematopoietic function, but also Making the elderly more willing to accept donations for their own labor and value is a kind of dignified help. "
In the name of sports people: about 5.4 million young people have benefited.
On the other side of the happy charity corner, Yao. Foundation staff are placing football and basketball pins, as well as red and green commemorative balls. From time to time, music fans stop at the charity corner to learn from the staff the stories behind these charity items.
“We made a commemorative ball in the Year of the Dragon, called ‘Dragon Code Spirit’, which is a QR code. We hope that more people will scan the code to follow the Yao Foundation and rural sports and become our monthly donors."Ye Dawei, secretary-general of the Beijing Yao Foundation Charity Foundation, told the Beijing News reporter, "This monthly donation plan is to make a fixed donation, whether it is a few yuan or a dozen yuan, and it has gradually become a charity habit. Every commemorative ball subscribed at the scene today , we gave a small basketball specially designed for children to young people in rural areas. "
Yao Foundation staff are introducing charity projects to music fans. Photo by Zhang Xiangjuan
Beijing News reporter learned that in 2012, Yao Foundation officially launched a flagship project - Yao Foundation hopes that the primary school basketball season will shift its focus to physical education. " What we mainly do is rural sports enlightenment. The most important thing in rural schools is sports enlightenment, and an important condition for enlightenment is to lower the threshold. For example, if a 3.05-meter-high basketball hoop is used in an adult professional basketball game, and a child cannot shoot in, he may not be interested in shooting the second time, and may just play with his mobile phone. Our basketball stand can be height-adjusted. During primary school team games, the basketball stand can be adjusted to a height of 2.75 meters. "Ye Dawei said.
is based on the "Mini Basketball Rules" issued by the Chinese Basketball Association in 2017. Based on the FIBA "Mini Basketball Rules", it is divided into age groups such as U12, U10, U8 and U6 according to the six-year primary school system, and Based on the principles of cutting out complexity, making it easy to understand, and following the laws of basketball development, the rules of the adult game are changed to adapt to the physical and mental development of children. The basketballs used are small basketballs, and the small backboards and low baskets are also of specific specifications. Facilities that are very suitable for children's physical conditions and sports needs. These specific facilities help reduce the difficulty for children to learn basic basketball skills and comprehensively enhance their passion and sense of accomplishment.
Therefore, in terms of hardware, Yao Fund. The donated ball is a small basketball, and the basketball stand can also be raised and lowered to adjust the height, so that children in the younger age group can adapt to and participate in this sport.
On the software, the Yao Foundation works with universities and local normal schools. Cooperate with sports schools to provide rural schools with a volunteer majoring in physical education as a physical education teacher, who also serves as the coach of the school basketball team and football team. After training for a period of time, a game will be organized at the end of the semester with professional teachers and regular staff. "
After ten years of tempering and growth, the basketball season project has gradually matured. In 2022, based on existing project experience, Yao Foundation will launch the Beautiful Countryside Football Season Project. Ye Dawei said, "The operation model and path of the football season basically replicate the experience of the basketball season, except for the donated hardware."
In addition to regular footballs and football uniforms, the Yao Foundation also donated fences to lower the threshold for playing football. It is convenient for children to "kick around in small fields". Ye Dawei explained, "The purpose of the fence is that even in a small venue, children can kick the ball. The ball will not run very far as soon as it is kicked, and it will not be tiring to find the ball. The most important thing is, This method has a higher scoring rate and children will have a greater sense of accomplishment.”
As of the end of 2023, the Yao Foundation has supported a total of 4,661 rural schools, sent 6,512 teaching volunteers, and trained 1,239 rural teachers, with about 5.4 million people. Young people in rural areas benefit from this.
"Some children have come out of the mountains through sports, entered university, studied sports, and then came back to coach." Ye Dawei said, "We are very pleased that sports charity has been passed down from generation to generation."
Xinjing Reporter Qin Bing
Editor Gan Hao
Proofreader Zhai Yongjun
