Institute of Philanthropy exclusively sponsors “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025 to promote understanding of Chinese culture among students

A launch ceremony for the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025 was held at the Palace Museum in Beijing today (5 August). It marks the start of a five-day cultural exchange programme for primary and secondary school students from underprivileged schools in Hong Kong and the Mainland. The programme is designed to deepen students’ understanding of traditional Chinese culture as epitomised by the Forbidden City, strengthening social ties and promoting appreciation of Chinese culture more broadly. As in 2024, this year’s camp is sponsored exclusively by the Institute of Philanthropy (IoP) and jointly organised by the Palace Museum and The Forbidden City Cultural Heritage Conservation Foundation. The Hong Kong Palace Museum collaborated as co-organiser supporting the recruitment of Hong Kong students for the programme.

Attending the launch ceremony of the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025 were Wang Xudong, Member, Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Director of the Palace Museum (back row, 4th right); Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (back row, 2nd right); Lou Wei, Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum (back row, 6th right); Li Xiaocheng, Chairman of The Forbidden City Cultural Heritage Conservation Foundation (back row, 1st right). They were joined by teachers and students who participated in the camp.

Attending today’s launch ceremony were Wang Xudong, Member, Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Director of the Palace Museum; Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust; Lou Wei, Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum; and Li Xiaocheng, Chairman of The Forbidden City Cultural Heritage Conservation Foundation. They were joined by more than 100 primary and secondary school students from Hong Kong, Sichuan, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Fujian, Tibet and Xinjiang.

Over 100 students from Hong Kong and the Mainland joined the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025. (Photo credit: The Palace Museum)

The five-day camp will see students and teachers visit the Palace Museum to learn about its history and culture, explore the Peking University, attend workshops on Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Chinese Traditional Culture Museum and visit the Olympic Games venues such as the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) and the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube). It will enable the students to interact and forge friendships while learning about Mainland history.

Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, delivers a speech at the launch ceremony.

Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, said the Palace Museum in Beijing was not only a treasure of Chinese civilisation but also a valuable platform for young people to explore Chinese culture. The camp is an initiative under a five-year collaboration between IoP and the Palace Museum designed to promote Chinese culture and values and nurture arts-tech talent. Huang said he hoped young people would seize this opportunity to take part in activities and engagements to broaden their horizons and improve their understanding and cultural awareness.

Lester Huang, IoP Chairman and Trustee of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, delivers a speech at the launch ceremony.

Lou Wei, Executive Deputy Director of the Palace Museum, said that the mission of the Palace Museum is to promote traditional Chinese culture and to enhance young people’s cultural awareness by educating them about the history and wisdom of Chinese culture. The “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” charitable programme is designed to immerse young from the Mainland in the history of the Palace Museum. This year marks the Palace Museum's centennial, and more than 130 students and teachers from different areas of the Mainland have been invited to join the programme. He added that the Palace Museum would continue to promote traditional Chinese culture by nurturing young people’s knowledge of Chinese history and fostering their cultural awareness so as to build national pride and confidence and advance national rejuvenation.

Over 100 students from Hong Kong and the Mainland joined the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp 2025. (Photo credit: The Palace Museum)

Established in 2023 as an independent “think-fund-do” tank for China, Asia and beyond through a seed grant from The Hong Kong Jockey Club and its Charities Trust, IoP aims to provide a platform that brings philanthropic stakeholders together to promote the betterment of societies. Under a five-year collaboration between IoP and the Palace Museum, the “Palace Museum Dreamscapes” Charity Summer Camp is a charitable project that has been run by the Palace Museum. Since 2011, the project offers educational experiences such as historical story-telling sessions, traditional craft workshops and exploration of cultural relics to enable young people from different backgrounds to learn about traditional Chinese culture. The camp is also designed to promote the development of arts-tech talent, as outlined in the National 14th Five-Year Plan to transform Hong Kong into an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.

The Institute of Philanthropy (IoP) has launched a three-year research collaboration with Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management (GSM) to analyse how corporations in the Chinese Mainland create social impact. The study will investigate the strategies, motivations, and practices of leading philanthropic corporations. It will also assess the policy frameworks, incentive mechanisms, and regulatory environments that shape corporate participation in philanthropy, generating evidence-based insights to guide the sector’s future development.

This research comes at a pivotal moment for philanthropy in the Chinese Mainland. According to the China Philanthropy Donation Report 2024, charitable donations received by social organisations in the Chinese Mainland reached RMB151 billion in 2023, with corporate contributions accounting for RMB115.6 billion, or 76.6% of the total. With their scale, resources, and networks, businesses are central to the philanthropic landscape — uniquely positioned to drive innovation, support policy effectiveness, and amplify social impact.

Institute of Philanthropy and Peking University have launched a three-year collaboration to analyse how corporations in the Chinese Mainland create social impact.

“This collaboration reflects our commitment to supporting the philanthropic sector in China through research that delivers practical guidance and actionable tools,” said Lester Huang, Chairman of the Institute of Philanthropy. “By examining how corporations create social value, the project will provide businesses with insights to strengthen their giving strategies, inform policy frameworks that encourage participation, and build capacity across the sector. In doing so, it will help business entities maximise their social contributions and ensure philanthropy delivers broader and more sustainable benefits to society.”

Professor Liu Qiao, Dean of GSM, and Jin Jinping, Associate Professor at the Law School of Peking University, will co-lead the research team with support from colleagues in the Law School and National School of Development.  

Institute of Philanthropy and Peking University have launched a three-year collaboration to analyse how corporations in the Chinese Mainland create social impact.

Professor Liu, Dean of GSM, observed that Chinese enterprises are shifting from “scale expansion” to “value creation”, balancing economic returns with durable social impact. Drawing on Peking University’s interdisciplinary platform, the study will apply rigorous, evidence-based methods to map the frameworks and mechanisms through which firms generate social value, distil actionable policy recommendations, and help Chinese philanthropic practice integrate into global sustainable-developmentgovernance—thereby offering a Chinese template for worldwide corporate social responsibility.

The collaboration reflects IoP’s continued focus on advancing philanthropy through knowledge, networks, and regional engagement. As part of a broader effort to deepen understanding of giving practices rooted in Asian contexts, this initiative will contribute to a growing body of work that connects research with practice and ideas with action. By working alongside leading academic institutions and engaging a wide cross-section of stakeholders, IoP continues to support the development of thoughtful, locally grounded approaches to philanthropy while fostering dialogue across sectors.