Qiao Village Elementary School is located in Yichuan County, Luoyang City in Henan Province, 350 kilometers away from provincial capital Zhengzhou and 30 kilometers away from the major city of Luoyang. In recent years, the village has been awarded a role model for agricultural development and progress. The student body is largely made up of children from surrounding villages.

*Recent government policy regulates that all mandatory school age children pay no tuition excluding textbook and boarding fees. Students at Qiaocun Elementary School need to pay RMB120 textbook fees.

Project Developments:

• In April 2009, 6 needy students at Qiaocun received $100 funding for textbooks from Givology, a non-profit organization found by American college students.

• In March 19, 2009, led by forestry expert Mr. Wang from local county forestry bureau, the school planted tree saplings to make up the loss from last year.  Yifan Forestry Co. provided 16000 saplings for free.  At present those saplings grow nicely.

• In November 2008, the community installed a heater in every classroom. The heater burns on gas/coal that can keep the room temperature at 18C in the winter. This has greatly improved the school condition.

• In June 20, eco-sanitary bathroom project is completed and put to use. Students and teachers can enjoy the much cleaner condition of the bathroom, which was beyond imaginable before in the countryside. In the meantime, the bathroom waste has been recycled into a methane-generating pit that provides gas for cooking and heating.

• A group of 4 UPM representatives led by Chief representative Soile Korhonen visited the tree planting land and Qiaocun village in April 2008. They audited community council meeting which discussed issues related to the project including tree planting, bathroom reform and methane application in daily life. （click for video clip)

• 600 teachers and students dug 2100 ground holes and applied fertilizer to prepare for polar tree planting in mid February when winter was still cold. Beijing Yifan Co. provided technical guidance to the process.
• In December 2007, UPM and Phelex Foundation agreed to fund the Poplar tree planting project. A RMB155,500 funding was contributed to the project.
• In January 18, community council chairman Mr. Li Gangding introduced UPM-Phelex joint efforts in supporting sustainable tuition aid program---Polar Tree Farm. The meeting presented villagers with a budget for the project, future profit and request for parent participation. All procedures need to be transparent. The attendees were excited about the project.

Adoption Status: Adopted by UPM