88 Charity Concert Project

Hongyu showing tribal kids in Tacheng, Yunan Province the piano

Above: a student happily laughing during a exercise

Below: Students in Sichuan province 苏家学校 (Su Family School) doing a dance exercise while Hongyu was playing Schumann's Arabesque

What is 88 Charity Concert Project?

When I was 10, I started a charity project that is called “88 China Charity Concerts”, and the goal of it was for me to travel around China to rural areas and play the piano for the underprivileged kids there who have never heard the instrument. Since the piano has 88 keys, I had a idea to play 88 concerts whether it was for fundraising or at schools in the rural areas. For each concert, I would come up with games for each piano piece for the kids to see how learning could be exciting, and sometimes I would talk about the history of the pieces and add paintings that I drew or from famous artists to help the students visualize the sound. I am also building off of this original idea by organizing online cultural exchange meetings so that kids in rural China could talk to kids in the USA, and share about different topics and make friends.

How did I get the idea of 88 Charity Concert?

In 2018, I visited Yangon Myammar with pianist Kimbal Gallagher, and I performed at a local school. While I was performing the peice, I told the story of a mouse climbing up stairs because the piece was very light and quick. The kids at the school loved it, and I saw there faces light up! I understood how I could affect people and make people happy. That was when I wanted to start this Charity Project.

But how did this particular Idea form? The pianist I was with, Mr Kimball Gallagher, had a international charity project called 88 International, and his goal was to set up sustainable music eduacation in different parts of the world while performing. He originally wanted to perform 88 concerts, but ended up doing 300 and traveling in all the continents. He insipired me to do 88 Charity Concerts!

23/88 Concerts Done

Raised over $4000

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