On the evening of Aug 16, 2010, the kickoff ceremony for the National Cultural Volunteers’ Trip to the Border Areas was held at the Cultural Plaza of the Olympic Center by the Ministry of Culture. It’s part of the Spring Rain Project, which is aimed at spreading education in China, strengthening communication among different regions and providing backward regions with technology aids. The Beijing volunteer group was one of the four volunteer groups taking part in this activity. Besides leaders of the Ministry of Culture and related Beijing officials, heads of culture bureaus or departments of Beijing City, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, Chongqing City, Tibet and Xinjiang Province, representatives from other provincial culture departments, culture workers of grass-roots units and 1,400 cultural volunteers of Beijing also attended the ceremony.

For this trip, four sites -- Beijing City, Chongqing City, Zhenjiang Province and Fujian Province -- were chosen. Volunteers from the four sites will go to Xinjiang Autonomous Region and Tibetan Autonomous Region to provide cultural services.

At the ceremony, the Culture Departments of Tibetan Autonomous Region exchanged documents about cultural volunteer service with the Culture Department of Fujian Province and the Culture Radio and Television Bureau of Chongqing City; the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region exchanged documents about cultural volunteer service with the Culture Bureaus of Beijing City and Zhejiang Province. Leaders of the Ministry of Culture presented the four units with flags. The Beijing volunteer group also put on some spectacular performances, which they prepared to put on in Xinjiang Province later. The whole ceremony was filled with happiness and joy, fully displaying the spirit of volunteer service: commitment, friendship, cooperation and progress.

The Publicity Department of Beijing municipal donate 7 million yuan as the cultural activies operation funds to Xinjiang.

Beijing volunteer group’s Beijing Opera performance

Beijing volunteer group’s acrobatic performance