The 3rd China Charity Festival kicked off on 16th  January,  in Beijing with an annual theme as "Start to do charity and beauty goes with you". As one of the most widely recognizable charity events in China, the Festival Committee presented awards to enterprises in recognition of their continuous efforts in promoting charitable causes in the country. Ruijie was honored to receive “Best Charity Practice Award” in the Festival. From building a charity fund to people-oriented enterprise culture, Ruijie has endeavored to encourage community participation in charity work and causes.
Ruijie Branding Director, He Chengmei, received the accolade on behalf of the company and shared Ruijie’s charitable path along the way and other future plans in an interview with full transcription below.
R: Reporter  H: He Chengmei  
R: The Charity Festival this year is themed as “In the Name of Love”. How has Ruijie undertaken corporate social responsibility through charity work in 2013?  
H: Ruijie’s charity philosophy matches perfectly with this year’s festival theme “In the Name of Love”. In September 2013, Ruijie Charitable Fund was officially founded and it was first initiated among Ruijie staff members to raise funds for colleagues who were going through tough times. We are like one big family in the company. After running for a few years, our fund has stretched from helping our colleagues to promoting charity causes in the society. Ruijie has always dedicated to making a positive impact on the communities. In 2013, we have launched a series of charity events in different scales, namely Ya’an Earthquake Relief, Fuzhou Academic Assistance, Guozhuangzi Primary School Heart-warming Visit, Drawing Beauty to See the Future and so on.    
R: We’ve noticed that many charity events of Ruijie are education-related. Please tell us more about that.
H: We all know that education is an equalizer. As a growing network solution provider, Ruijie firmly believes that only good education can nurture talents for sustainable growth. Education, simply put, is the future. And that’s why Ruijie focuses heavily on organizing education-related charity events such as student sponsorship, poverty alleviation and teaching assistance, talents nurturing and so on. Ruijie has sponsored teaching devices of over RMB 1.6 million for 100 vocational secondary schools across the country. We later donated wireless products to the China Sunshine Sponsorship and Entrepreneurship Council to better equip less privileged college students through basic IT training and vocational placement. Through these events, we hope to prepare students to succeed in the global, technology-driven society. 
R: What do you feel about Ruijie being awarded “Best Charity Practice Award” this year?
H: First of all, we would like to thank the committee for giving Ruijie such a huge honor. I think this award is approval on what we have done so far. It will further motivate us to organize more charity events in the future. More importantly, it can encourage companies and staff members to devote more time and effort in charity work.  
R: As a modern IT enterprise, what are Ruijie’s interpretations of charity causes and social responsibility? What is Ruijie’s future plan?
H: Technology and charity have mutual promotion effect on each other. For example, Ruijie is now developing cloud classroom products, which can improve access to quality education for children in remote areas. We wish to create a platform for underprivileged students to access to the same resources just like the kids living in the cities. We firmly believe that this is a huge, meaningful and valuable act of charity that might also be life changing for many children in the rural areas.
R: What is unique about Ruijie’s charity philosophy?
H: Apart from reaching out for the needy in the society, we also take great care of our employees. With an aim to building a happy career family, we have dedicated to building a loving working environment, which frees our colleagues from worries. Employees with medical care needs could receive financial assistance from our charity fund. We have a number of interesting and special regulations in the company, for example, colleagues who are late for meeting have to donate RMB 200 dollars to the charity fund. Our senior management is taking the lead to do charity work, which is having such an encouraging effect on our staff. And we will embed our charity philosophy in our products in the hope that more people can enjoy fair access to resources. I think charity work reflects what life really is.