Peter Gautschi, together with one of the pupils he has helped in Yunnan Province.

The excitement was palpable one afternoon in Chuan'ao Village, Fengxin County in central China's Jiangxi Province. Residents were gathered around the newly built Studer Chunlei primary school, awaiting the arrival of the Swiss gentleman who had paid for its construction. All were keen to shower him in gratitude for organizing this bright and airy new school for the 100 or more children in the village.

The benevolent 79-year-old Swiss man Peter Gautschi donated the funds to build six primary schools in the remote parts of Jiangxi. Gautshci has lived in Hong Kong for 50 years, where he until recently ran the well-known Peninsula Hotel. Peter's own childhood was not without its struggles - he worked hard to rise above his humble origins. He firmly believes that knowledge has the power to change the course of a person's life.

“I participated in the first hotel joint venture in China, the Jianguo Hotel in Beijing, in the 1980s, and as from 1982 began traveling around China on business. I was shocked when I saw the abysmal schooling conditions in which children from poor rural areas had to attend class; the ramshackle state of their schoolhouses reminded me of my own deprived childhood. As I know for a fact that knowledge can change a child's life, I decided to build new schools in rural areas,” Gautschi explains.

In 2001, Gautschi donated RMB 150,000 to build his first primary school in Jiangxi Province. In the years that followed, hundreds of children in the poor villages of Jiangxi began attending the new school sponsored by their overseas grandpa. “I want to help Chinese children receive the education they deserve. That's all I ask,” says Gautschi, continuing, ”I plan to build two new schools in Jiangxi a year in the time left to me.”

Peter Gautschi's magnanimous donations have helped hundreds of poor children in Chuan'ao and other villages to receive an education on a par with that of their more fortunate counterparts in other parts of the country.

Peter Gautschi has an obvious affection for schoolchildren in Chuan'ao. He happily sits among them as they try to teach him Chinese. He is glad to hear that the children's new surroundings make them even keener to learn. Peter's only hope is that they remember the overseas grandpa that periodically came to see them and who so closely followed their progress at school. His only regret is his inability to speak Chinese as, “Otherwise I could really communicate with the kids.”

In addition to giving them a schoolhouse, Gautschi also wants to nurture good habits in the children, particularly those of cleanliness. He has made sure that each classroom has a bin, and at the inauguration ceremony of the Studer Chunlei primary school, he and the children read aloud, in Chinese unison with a Swiss flavor, the slogan “Keep the campus clean and tidy,“ which sent Peter, the children and all present into fits of laughter.

Peter Gautschi has also called on his friends to help him in his efforts to give poor children a better chance of a good education. In 2003, he registered the Studer Trust, named after his mother, in Hong Kong in 2003. To date, Peter and the Studer Trust have sponsored the construction of 40 primary schools in China and Myanmar, bringing the gift of education to thousands of children.

Guided by the principle “Aid for those that need it most,” Gautschi personally surveyed the area around the villages and selected the most suitable location for the school. He has already set up four primary schools in Yunnan Province, southwest China, and another is currently under construction. Whenever Peter sees a school with gloomy, damp classrooms, it renews his resolve to help rural children get a decent education in the best possible conditions. This year, the Studer Trust organized a “find a pen pal” activity between the rural schools it has built and others in Hong Kong. Its aim is to provide impoverished rural children with the chance to extend their scope of contacts and generally broaden their horizons.