Entrepreneurship,Female Leadership,Technology
Wei Xue, CKGSB EMBA and Women in Leadership (Juanyong) Program Alumna Vice President and Director of ESG Office, TCL Technology Group, Chair, TCL Charity Foundation, Founder and Chair, Huameng Foundation
Wei Xue: The TCL Charity Foundation, founded in 2012, has evolved through several stages of development.
Philanthropy 1.0 began with traditional giving—donations of money and goods. In 2013, we partnered with the China Youth Development Foundation to launch the TCL Hope Project Candlelight Award Program, which honored outstanding rural teachers and supported the development of rural education.
Philanthropy 2.0 shifted toward “teaching people how to fish. ” The Candlelight Award expanded into the Candlelight Classroom—a training platform that enhanced rural teachers’ professional skills and offered opportunities for long- serving educators to experience first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.
In 2015, leveraging the resources of TCL Financial Holdings, we launched the Candlelight Microloan Program to help rural teachers address urgent financial difficulties in their lives—for example, covering sudden hospitalization costs for family members or repairing homes. By easing their personal burdens, teachers could focus more fully on their students. Philanthropy + Technology emerged in 2019 with the AI Homecoming Project, which uses voice synthesis to recreate parents’ voices for storytelling. In its early stage, our R&D team developed the Eagle Story Machine. With audio recordings provided by parents, engineers synthesized the voices that the device could use to read bedtime stories—giving children the comfort of hearing their parents, even from afar.
In 2021, we upgraded the project in collaboration with TCL’s R&D institute. Parents could now simply record stories on their phones, which were automatically transformed into storytelling voices. This provided a more convenient and scalable way to help families fill the gap in companionship.
We also launched the Eagle Listening Bar mini program on WeChat for wider access. At the same time, we distributed Eagle Story Boxes to rural schools nationwide, created Eagle Storytime classrooms, and provided customized devices to left-behind and migrant children. To date, we have reached over 7,000 students in provinces such as Shaanxi, Shanxi and Guangdong through nearly 100 customized devices delivered, 25 Eagle Storytime pilot schools established, and nearly 100 story jukeboxes distributed. The project was named Public Welfare Project of the Year at the 2022 New Weekly Beautiful Philanthropy Conference.
In 2022, marking the Foundation’s 10th anniversary, we entered Philanthropy 3.0 by experimenting with a self-sustaining model based on the concept of social enterprise. Building on AI Homecoming Project, we launched a startup company to make the technology more widely available—not only to left-behind children, but also for business travelers or grandparents who wish to record stories for their families. A portion of the profits is donated back to the Foundation, creating a sustainable cycle that combines business logic with social impact. This innovative model earned AI Homecoming recognition as a Harvard Business School Global Immersion Program case study.
Wei Xue: Teachers and students face different challenges.
For teachers, the government and society have made great strides in improving conditions in recent years. But compared to their urban peers, rural teachers still earn less, have fewer opportunities for professional development, and lack channels for external exchanges.
To address this, we have upgraded our programs: the Candlelight Award evolved from recognition and financial support to professional training and exchange opportunities. The Candlelight Microloan Program provides greater financial relief for personal needs. To reduce the widening capability gap between rural and urban teachers, we also developed Smart Classrooms to connect education resources across regions.
For students, the biggest challenge remains financial difficulty in continuing their education. We support them through scholarships and enrichment activities such as summer camps and university tours, broadening their horizons and shaping their aspirations.
While implementing the Candlelight Award, we found that many rural students grow up without their parents present. Teachers guide their learning, while grandparents often provide daily care. To make up for the lack of parental companionship, we created the Eagle Story Machine and Story Box through the AI Homecoming Project, enabling parents to tell stories in their own voices. With additional book resources, students could further expand their extracurricular knowledge.
Beyond storytelling, we also partnered with the Central Conservatory of Music to launch the Little Music+ project, which developed the Xiaoxue Music Machine and Music Box. Through curated classical works and professional music appreciation, this initiative enriches cultural education in rural areas and ensures that music literacy becomes a lifelong treasure for every child.
Read how women leaders are reshaping China’s digital economy, combining research on AI’s mental-health impact with profiles of seven entrepreneurs advancing semiconductors, healthcare, data centers, and AI marketplaces.
