More than 100 Chinese painters and calligraphers gathered in Beijing on Tuesday, to donate their works and money to help build a school in Ulan Hot, a city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The school will enroll more than 1,000 students from 17 villages scattered across an area of 300 square kilometers.

Zhang Hanxing, vice-president of the China Charity Federation, said 17 Chinese minority ethnic groups now live in Ulan Hot. A lack of funds means that children there do not receive adequate education.

"The artists' contributions should cover first-phase construction of the school," Zhang said.

Zhou Sen, president of the Chinese Three Gorges Art Institute, donated 300,000 yuan (around US$37,500).

According to Zhang, Zhou has donated 12 million yuan (around US$1.5 million) to needy groups over the past 20 years. In 2003, he received an award from the China Charity Federation and in 2004 was selected by the United Nations as "world envoy for peace." A total of 11 schools in different provinces and regions have already been set up with the help of his donations.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2006)