According to Morning News, Huang Yan, a senior high school student from Shanghai, made an investigative report on 265 beggars in 8 months.

 

In the 22nd International Scientific Renovation Contest sponsored by Intel Inc., her 48-page report got the first prize, and all experts invited by the contest pointed out the report had high sense of public responsibility.

 

According to Huang's report, the gender rate in 2006 changed a lot compared with that of 1994, and statistics also revealed that the condition of beggars had varied from Beijing and Guangzhou.

 

Huang also looked up reference materials in libraries as a way to find more information. Several results were found by herself, like "there are more women beggars in Shanghai than in other cities," "some 34% of beggars are adults, while old and weak beggars are only composed of 14% and 8%," "221 out of 265 beggars buy food by themselves, which show they hope to get money instead of food from begging," etc.

 

She wraps up her report with the proposal for the government to set up funds as a way to help beggars. One expert praised her as a responsible citizen.

 

(Chinanews.cn March 29, 2007)