On December 5, 2020, the final contest and award ceremony of 3TREES "Beautiful China - Youth Action" College Student Competition of Creative Ideas on Environmental Protection was successfully held at the 3TREES headquarters in Putian, Fujian. He Jiazhen, Deputy Director of the Center for Environmental Education and Communication under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Xu Lifang, President of 3TREES Charitable Foundation, Zhu Qifeng, Vice President of SKSHU Paint Co., Ltd., Lu Wei, Vice President of SKSHU Paint Co., Ltd., Xia Jun, Secretary-General of China Education Support Project, Luan Caixia, Editorial Director of the World Environment Magazine of the Center for Environmental Education and Communication under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Sun Guosheng, Publisher and Chief Editor of BAZAAR ART, and Zhang Xintong, Art Director of MING Art Center in the UK, attended the event.

The event was live-streamed to all universities and the public. The ten college teams that made to the final contest presented their works online. After a neck-to-neck competition, the Bishui Volunteer Team of the Harbin Institute of Technology, the Hongrun Qingyuan Team of Tsinghua University, and the Kuaidao Tonglilai Team of the East China University of Science and Technology won the Gold Award.

The competition attracted the participation of more than 100 universities, rallying the power of youth to build a beautiful China

Responding to the call of "Beautiful China·Youth Action" promoted by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League, SKSHU Paint Co., Ltd., and the 3TREES Charitable Foundation jointly launched the 3TREES "Beautiful China - Youth Action" College Student Competition of Creative Ideas on Environmental Protection. As a key initiative of the China Education Support Project, the competition focuses on the themes of haze reduction, plastics reduction, emission reduction, resource conservation and garbage classification. It encourages and supports college students to use their innovative ability to submit creative proposals of environment-friendly products, care about ecological civilization and environmental protection, act as communicators, contributors and volunteers to promote the environmental cause, and contribute their youthful energy and wisdom to make cities more beautiful and life better.

After the launch of the competition, it soon attracted the participation of 307 teams and individuals from 136 universities in 58 cities at home and abroad, covering a total of 28 provincial-level administrative regions in the country. Nearly 1,000 undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students directly participated in the contest, and more than 60 Chang Jiang scholars, professors and associate professors played the role of instructors. A total of 3.75 million college students nationwide benefited from the competition.

He Jiazhen, Deputy Director of the Center for Environmental Education and Communication under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said, "Nowadays, the construction of ecological civilization and environmental protection have been integrated into all aspects and the whole process of social development. As an important group of the society, college students are the future and hope of the country, and the backbone in the construction of ecological civilization. I hope more college students can take part in the construction of ecological civilization and environmental protection to promote the vision of green development, and work together to protect green waters and mountains and build a beautiful China."

(He Jiazhen, Deputy Director of the Center for Environmental Education and Communication under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment)

Ten Teams Compete Online, Promoting an Exchange of Creative Ideas on the Cloud 

To meet the epidemic containment requirements, the competition adopted a new model of online competition. Ten teams from Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Lanzhou University, East China University of Science and Technology, Hefei University of Technology, Xi'an International Studies University, Shanghai University, Jiangxi Agricultural University and Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine presented and defended their works online. Their lively presentations and creative designs fully displayed the power of young environmental pioneers.

The students presented their designs from multiple angles, and adopted an easy-to-understand approach in explaining the professional knowledge. According to the themes and scenarios of different designs, the students also analyzed the current status of different environmental issues in great detail and demonstrated all the possible applications taking into account such factors as production feasibility and marketing concept. It is worth noting that many of the participating teams have already obtained national patent for their designs, and published the results in several top international journals in the industry. 

During the online exhibition from November 28 to December 5, the ten finalist teams received more than 6,000 votes and nearly 10,000 visits.

Xu Lifang, President of 3TREES Charitable Foundation, said: "As a leading national brand of high-end coatings, 3TREES has been committed to the corporate mission of 'making homes healthier, cities more beautiful and life better. In the past 18 years since its establishment, 3TREES has developed a whole range of healthy products to ensure a better life for millions of families. While pursuing high-speed and high-quality business growth, 3TREES is also practicing its corporate social responsibility of 'Respect Nature and Care for Compatriots', which stresses the importance of reverence for nature, and love for the country, for the people and for our common homeland. With a firm commitment to environmental protection, 3TREES is striving to build a 'healthy, natural and green' brand image. To build a beautiful China, the younger generation also needs to contribute their wisdom and power. 3TREES encourages and supports college students to develop stronger awareness of ecological civilization and environmental protection, and promote the idea of low-carbon and green lifestyle to the public." 

(Xu Lifang, President of 3TREES Charitable Foundation)

Responding to the call of "Beautiful China - Youth Action", advocating new ways of environmental protection

Using their creative minds, the student teams from various universities submitted more than 240 pieces of works on the 6 major themes of haze reduction, plastic reduction, emission reduction, resource conservation and garbage classification and under the 5 major scenarios of work, life, community, culture and art.

In addition to the design competition, the participating teams also participated in a series of offline public education activities: putting up and distributing handmade posters; promoting environmental protection knowledge and conducting surveys in local communities; recycling wastes, making publicity materials and using interactive games to attract the participation of the wider public and enhancing the public awareness of ecological conservation and environmental protection.

Xia Jun, Secretary-General of China Education Support Project, said, "College students are the key representatives of youth influence, and they are the ones that participate in environmental campaigns and communicate the ideas of environmental protection. Responding to the call of 'Beautiful China·- Youth Action' promoted by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League, China Education Support Project encourages and supports college students to  actively participate in environmental protection campaigns and environmental publicity with their professional strengths, advocate a green lifestyle and promote the concept of green living. We hope more enterprises will join the 'Beautiful China - Youth Action' and work with the China Education Support Project to discover the youth and discover the future."

Empowering innovation and greening the future

During the event, He Jiazhen, Deputy Director of the Center for Environmental Education and Communication under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Xu Lifang, President of 3TREES Charitable Foundation, Zhu Qifeng, Vice President of SKSHU Paint Co., Ltd., Lu Wei, Vice President of SKSHU Paint Co., Ltd., and Xia Jun, Secretary-General of China Education Support Project, jointly launched the new project in 2021.

Creativity opens a new way of environmental protection. With a harvest of creative ideas, the 2020 3TREES College Student Competition of Creative Ideas on Environmental Protection came to a successful conclusion. In the future, there will be more young people with ideas, drive, dream and passion joining us and contributing their youthful energy to build a beautiful China and create a green future.

List of Award Winners