A charity project that provides new books for children in underdeveloped areas in the country has recently collected more than 30,000 books to be distributed to schools in remote areas.

The books will be delivered to selected schools by more than 1,000 volunteers from universities in Beijing during their summer holiday before September.

To mark this year's 80th anniversary of the Long March, 80 students will bring books to eight cities along the original route by the Red Army in 1934-1935, including Ruijin in Jiangxi province, Zunyi in Guizhou province and Yan'an in Shaanxi province.

"When I saw the excited faces of the students who received those books, I was moved and decided to bring more books for them," recalls Zhu Ling, a social worker in Beijing who has participated in all three drives of the project since February last year.

"I am too old to bring books, but I can contribute money," says Zhang Zuoyou, 90, a retired professor of Beijing Union University, who has donated 60,000 yuan ($9,200) to the project.

Initiated by Beijing Publishing Group and Beijing Television, the project has donated 80,000 books to more than 100 schools across the country in its previous drives.

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