The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) will build 102 more Hope Schools in 2006, to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Long March, a well-known military maneuver launched by the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in the 1930s.

This decision was made by the PLA General Political Department at a conference held in Zunyi, Guizhou Province, Southwest China, on March 14-15, and it has been approved by the Central Military Commission.

The new Hope Schools, a kind of charitable school specifically designed for students from poor families, will be located along the route of the Long March, which began in Ruijin, Jiangxi Province, east China, in December 1934, and ended in December 1936, when the major parts of the Red Army joined up in the northern part of Shaanxi Province, in the northwest.

The building of these schools, to span from April to October, will be jointly carried out by the armed forces and local governments. The PLA and PAP will donate all the funds.

Up to now, the armed forces have helped to build up more than 320 such charitable educational facilities, all under the same title of "August 1 Hope School".

Source: Xinhua