Soong Ching-ling at China Welfare Institute

The China Welfare Institute (CWI) (中国福利会) was founded by

Soong Ching Ling Song is the pinyin transliteration of the Chinese family name 宋. It is transliterated as Sung in Wade-Giles, and Soong is also a common transliteration. In addition to being a common surname, it is also the name of a Chinese dynasty, the ''Song ...

, Honorary

President of the People's Republic of China The president of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the president of China, is the head of state and the second-highest political office of the People's Republic of China. The presidency is constitutionally a largely ceremonial off ...

and wife of

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...

, in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

on June 14, 1938. It is one of the oldest and most influential NGOs nationwide in China. CWI was originally named the China defense League (CDL). In December 1941, CDL was moved to

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

, and it fully rallied support for the War of Chinese People against Japanese Aggression. In November 1945, it was renamed the

China Welfare Found China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

(CWF) with its headquarters moved to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

to support the great cause of liberation of the Chinese people. Meanwhile, it was active in promoting children welfare through cultural and educational programs. In August 1950, the name was changed to the China Welfare Institute (CWI), with its guidelines set to run experimental and demonstrative projects in women and children's health care and children's culture, education and welfare, enhance scientific researches, and continue international exchanges and cooperation. Soong Ching Ling personally initiated many cultural, educational and healthcare institutions for women and children, including the CWI Children's Art Theatre, the

CWI International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital CWI may refer to: In organizations and institutions: *Care for the Wild International *Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Amsterdam, The Netherlands *Certified Welding Inspector, American Welding Society * Children's Welfare Institute, Shanghai, Chin ...

, the CWI Children's Palace, the CWI Nursery, the CWI Kindergarten, the CWI Children's Epoch Publishing House, and the Children's Art Playhouse. This has made her a paragon of commitment to the welfare of children in China after 1949. In the past 80 years, CWI has received great support and encouragement from many CPC and national government leaders, including

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...

Zhu De Zhu De (; ; also Chu Teh; 1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party. Born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan, he was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...

Liu Shaoqi Liu Shaoqi ( ; 24 November 189812 November 1969) was a Chinese revolutionary, politician, and theorist. He was Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee from 1954 to 1959, First Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from 1956 to 1966 and C ...

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pres ...

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...

and

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

. CWI was successively chaired by Soong Ching Ling,

Liao Chengzhi Liao Chengzhi (; 25 September 1908 – 10 June 1983) was a Chinese politician. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1928, and rose to the position of director of the Xinhua News Agency; after 1949, he worked in various positions related to ...

Kang Keqing Kang Keqing (K'ang K'e-ching; ; September 7, 1911 – April 22, 1992) was a politician of the People's Republic of China, and the wife of Zhu De until his death in 1976. Early life Kang was born to a Hakka fishing family in the township of Luotan ...

Huang Hua Huang Hua (; ; January 25, 1913 – November 24, 2010) was a senior Communist Chinese revolutionary, politician, and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of China from 1976 to 1982, and concurrently as Vice Premier from 1980 to 1982. He was i ...

, and

Hu Qili Hu Qili (; born 6 October 1929) is a former high-ranking politician of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He was a member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee and a member of its Secretariat between 1987 and 1989. In 1989, he was purged becaus ...

, followed by

Wang Jiarui Wang Jiarui (; born September 1949) is a Chinese politician and senior diplomat, currently serving as the Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He served as director of the International Liaison Department of t ...

who has taken over the office since 2017. All CWI chairmen or chairwomen are the Party and State Leaders of China. Its executive board consists of members from departments of the

CPC Central Committee The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is currently composed of 205 fu ...

, ministries under the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...

, departments of the CPC Shanghai Committee and the municipal government, as well as other NGOs. Currently, CWI runs many institutions specialized in areas of 1) maternal and child health, 2) school education, 3) out-of- school education, 3) children's play, 4) children's book publication, 5) senior citizen welfare, and 6) social welfare fund. Committed to the mandate of "being experimental and demonstrative" proposed by Soong Ching Ling and Premier Zhou Enlai, CWI has carried forward Soong's initiative to be fully dedicated to the welfare of women and children. Based in Shanghai with a vow of serving the whole nation and the world, it has made outstanding achievements in the process of institute development and has been widely recognized by the society. CWI has now become important organization working for the welfare of women and children.

External links

China Welfare Institute website (English)China Welfare Institute website - Archive (English)
Social welfare charities Medical and health organizations based in China Education in China