Books donated by Huzhou are loaded onto a truck bound for Keping county in Aksu prefecture of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Jan 14. [Photo/hz66.com]

Wang Xingyu looks on with anticipation as a truck, filled to the brim with books, sets out on its journey. His face reflects a mix of hope and determination, with sweat glistening on his forehead.

As an official representing Huzhou, Zhejiang province, Wang has been sent to Keping county in Aksu prefecture of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to provide educational support. Wearing a striking red vest, he stood alongside a dedicated group of volunteers to bid farewell to the vehicle. Together, they loaded the books donated by Huzhou, destined for Keping on Jan 14.

Wang expects the journey to deliver the books to the Xinjiang county to take approximately three to four days. Once they arrive, the books will undergo review by local education authorities before being distributed to 13 schools, youth palaces, libraries, and other designated locations, providing valuable resources to the community.

This shipment marks the first batch of books donated by students and educational institutions across the city, with more books scheduled to be sent to Keping in the coming days, totaling 160,000, according to Hou Min, an official at the Huzhou Municipal Bureau of Education.

The book donation initiative, organized under the "school-society-enterprise" collaborative framework, sees schools leading the book collection, social organizations coordinating the distribution, and enterprises providing intermediate storage facilities. It is a unified effort by the entire community to send heartfelt support from Huzhou to children situated 4,980 kilometers away.

Huzhou's commitment to assisting Keping dates back to 2010, when it was paired with Keping as part of the east-west cooperation program for poverty alleviation initiated by the central government.