Nov 29, 2004 --Since 1991, Red Gate, a Beijing based gallery has been exhibiting works by outstanding contemporary Chinese artists. Yesterday an exhibition of printmaking opened in the gallery to raise funds for an orphanage in Tianjin.
Our reporter Li Peichun has more.

Located in Dongbianmen Watchtower, the Red Gate Gallery is an amazing artistic world, that reflects contemporary Chinese artists'awareness and interest in the changing society. Yesterday, the second edition of the Calendar of Contemporary Printmaking went on show at the gallery. The main purpose of the exhibition is to raise some 17,000 USD for the Shepherd's Field Children's Village - a charity project of the Philip Hayden Foundation.

To produce fifty 2005 calendars for sale, the seven participating artists have each donated 50 original prints. Each calendar is priced at RMB4,888, or around 600USD.

Brian Wallace, an Australian, is the owner of the gallery. He said that 40 percent of the total proceeds will be given to the artists to cover production costs and other fees, while 60 percent will be donated to help the orphans.

"We want to do something partly to raise money for them, but also to get different groups of people involved. So we sell calendars, because they are very good small prints, very good artwork. Maybe Chinese people can afford to buy this contemporary arts as well. Last year we had Chinese people and Chinese artists buying the calendars, of course foreigners as well. So we got a lot of extra people involved. But the main thing is getting the artists involved in donating their works to a particular charity."

According to Brian Wallace, last year's exhibition raised some 12,000 USD for the children's village.

Some of the artists include Zhou Jirong, the initiator of the activity and Tang Chenghua. Both are from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. To them, this kind of fund raising is to get their works appreciated by a wider audience and the abandoned children better provided for.

Here's Zhou Jirong.

"On one side, we hope the general public will know more about the art of printmaking through this exhibition. On the other, we feel that artists should be more involved in social activities for public good."

Zhou said that the prints in the calendar are small and can be taken out, which is more convenient for collectors.

The Philip Hayden foundation is a non-profit charitable organization, established for the purpose of helping China's orphaned and special needs children.

So far the foundation has established Langfang Children's Village, which is located between Beijing and Tianjin. The Shepherd's Field, another children's village of the foundation, will be the largest foreign orphan care facility in China.

Lisa Bentley, Director of Public Relations at Philip Hayden Foundation, has adopted six kids. She hopes that more people, not only artists, will be involved in helping at-risk and special needs children.

Here's Lisa talking about last year's donation and the situation of the village.

"It was wonderful. It was big donation. We really needed it. This year we also need that. We have so many kids waiting for surgeries and waiting for building the new village. Just to get by each month costs 15, 000 USD. So we never know each month where the money's coming in. Right now it's time of great needs for orphanage. So if anybody wants to get involved, it is good time to do that."

The exhibition will last until this Sunday.