Thousand CEOs Unite to Help Children with Profound Hearing Loss: China Children and Teenagers' Fund Partners with Zhongzixing Finance and AETime to Launch Cochlear Implant Donation Initiative

In recent years, hearing problems among children in China have shown a trend of increasing prevalence, diversification, and onset at younger ages. According to data from the Second National Sample Survey on Disability, the number of people with hearing impairments in China has reached 27.8 million, including over 4.6 million children aged 0 to 14. For children with profound hearing loss, life would be spent in a world of deafness and muteness without the assistance of scientific medical devices. Currently, cochlear implantation is the standard treatment for severe hearing impairment. The period before age three is critical for speech development in children, and cochlear implantation before the age of two yields the most optimal auditory and speech outcomes.

However, due to the earlier development of cochlear implants abroad, the current market is predominantly occupied by products from three foreign companies: Australia’s Cochlear, the United States’ Advanced Bionics, and Austria’s MED-EL. The long-standing monopoly held by these foreign enterprises has kept prices consistently high, with a single cochlear implant system costing between RMB 170,000 and RMB 270,000. Many low-income families, unable to afford these devices, are forced to opt for conservative treatment, causing their children to miss the optimal window for surgery and rehabilitation, thereby hindering their integration into mainstream society.

On the morning of April 20, the launch ceremony for the “1,000 CEOs Joining Hands to Help Children with Hearing Impairments” public welfare project was held at the All-China Women’s Federation Building. Leaders from the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund attended the event and delivered speeches. Co-hosted by the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund and Zhongzixing Finance, and co-organized by Aier Shidai Medical Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., the initiative aims to mobilize 1,000 caring entrepreneurs across China to donate cochlear implants to children with profound hearing loss, helping them return to the world of sound and reintegrate into mainstream society.

Established in 1981, the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund (CCTF) is China’s first national-level public fundraising foundation dedicated to advancing public welfare in children’s education. It has been rated as a 5A-grade foundation, the highest level, by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Over the past three decades, the CCTF has initiated and organized several charitable flagship programs, including the “Spring Bud Project,” the “Ankang Project,” the “Program to Eliminate Anemia in Infants and Young Children,” and the “Happy Homes for Children.” These initiatives have covered 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities across China, benefiting more than 30 million infants, young children, and adolescents in impoverished areas. Comrade Peng Liyuan serves as the Special Envoy for Promoting Girls’ Education under the CCTF’s “Spring Bud Project.”

This public welfare initiative, jointly launched by the China Children and Teenagers' Fund, Neutron Star Finance, and Aier Shidai Medical Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., represents an innovative model of collaborative philanthropy featuring joint participation and multi-party oversight under the framework of “financial institutions + professional organizations + public welfare platforms.”

Group Photo of Attending Guests

In the “1,000 CEOs Joining Hands with Hearing-Impaired Children” public welfare initiative, Neutron Star Finance, as a professional corporate financial services platform, will leverage its strengths as a financial platform to manage funds through innovative technological means, generate greater returns on the platform, break away from the traditional model of funds relying solely on donations, achieve self-sustaining growth through capital appreciation, and use the proceeds to benefit more hearing-impaired children.

Dr. Zhang Peng, Founder and CEO of Neutron Star, stated, “Neutron Star has long been committed to integrating its financial services platform with philanthropy to undertake initiatives that align with social values.” Previously, Neutron Star Finance established a charitable fund and collaborated with the Tibet Autonomous Region Department of Civil Affairs, donating fund management fees and a portion of the proceeds to orphanages.

In addition to fund management, professional institutions can enhance the credibility of this public welfare project for children with hearing impairments. Founded in 2013 by Dr. Liang Qi, an internationally renowned audiologist, Aier Shidai is a global hearing health medical platform dedicated to providing comprehensive hearing healthcare services to families in China affected by hearing loss. By leveraging world-leading medical products and hearing services, it aims to help individuals with hearing impairments reintegrate into mainstream society.

It is reported that in this project, Aier Shidai Medical Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. will serve as an authoritative institution in the hearing industry, providing support in the area of cochlear implant products and pediatric auditory rehabilitation.

At the launch event, Liang Qi, founder and CEO of Aier Shidai, stated, “At Aier Shidai, we encounter children with hearing impairments every day. We are eager to do our part to help them. However, simply establishing a fund to assist a limited number of children is far from sufficient in terms of scale. Therefore, by leveraging the platform of Neutron Star Finance, we can utilize financial instruments to amplify returns and extend our support to a greater number of children.”

A leader from the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund stated, “This tripartite collaboration helps make the donation process more transparent, introduces additional technological tools to public welfare projects, innovates charitable models, and enables us to take concrete actions to support children with hearing impairments.”

For example, young Li Nuoqi from Gansu Province was diagnosed with congenital profound hearing loss shortly after birth. Without intervention via a cochlear implant, he would never be able to acquire language skills. Relying solely on a monthly income of 4,000 yuan from migrant work, his parents struggled to seek medical care in a major city and were completely unable to afford the cost of cochlear implantation. However, at one year of age, Nuoqi is at the optimal stage for receiving a cochlear implant. With this assistance, he can avoid a lifetime of deafness and muteness, growing up happily like any other healthy child, thereby transforming the destiny of his entire family.

To this end, the “1,000 CEOs Joining Hands with Hearing-Impaired Children” public welfare project, hosted by the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund and Neutron Star Finance, and co-organized by Aier Shidai Medical Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., has been officially launched. This initiative mobilizes corporate strength to proactively assume social responsibility and give back to society through concrete actions.

This public welfare initiative is planned to last for five years, calling on CEOs to donate cochlear implants worth tens of millions of yuan to restore hearing for children with profound hearing loss and help more children reintegrate into mainstream society.

Zhang Peng stated, “Adopting a financial management approach to philanthropy is an innovative model. Rather than requiring companies to make one-time donations, it involves committing principal capital and leveraging financial operations to channel the resulting returns into charitable causes, while ensuring that the company’s own value remains unaffected. Therefore, from an operational perspective, this model enables sustainable, long-term commitment to philanthropy.”

It is worth mentioning that top domestic investment firms Legend Capital and VCBeat have also provided strong support for this event, covering the costs of the first cochlear implant surgeries in Beijing and Chengdu, respectively.

Through multi-party collaboration, we work together to help children with hearing impairment return to the world of sound. VCBeat looks forward to more CEOs joining our ranks, amplifying love through charitable initiatives.

Event Registration Link:http://cn.mikecrm.com/yCfGCMZ