Initiative behind photo has garnered US$3.7 billion in donations, establishing 21,000 rural schools for 7.8 million underprivileged students
2-MIN READ2-MINFran Luin BeijingPublished: 4:00pm, 9 Aug 2026A 1991 black-and-white portrait photograph has become an iconic symbol of impoverished Chinese students’ yearning for knowledge, profoundly altering the life of its subject.
The photograph, titled “I Want to Go to School,” captures a poignant moment of an eight-year-old Primary One girl studying at a rural school in central China’s Anhui province. Her bright eyes gaze ahead, radiating an insatiable thirst for learning.
Affectionately known as “Big Eyes,” the picture was taken by photojournalist Xie Hailong, who documented the evolution of Project Hope – an initiative sponsored by the Communist Youth League to assist young dropouts in impoverished areas since 1989.
Xie travelled to over 100 counties across 20 provinces in China. His photo series served to promote the project, and “Big Eyes” emerged as a symbol of its mission.
For his work, Xie received numerous accolades, including the special contribution award from the Photojournalist Society of China, and he was recognised as one of the “180 People in 180 Years of Photography” by the International Federation of Photographic Art.
