(12 September 2013 – Hong Kong) New World Department Store China Limited (“NWDS” or the “Company”; Hong Kong stock code: 825), one of the largest owners and operators of department store in the PRC, has always actively participated in social welfare affairs and dedicated special attention to the under-privileges. In view of the condition that many parents leave their young children behind at home in remote Qinghai and work in the cities, New World Department Store stays in line with the spirit of giving back to society and carries out the mission of the“@Dream Sustainable Development Program”, hence organizing the “@Soul-Distant Calls” charitable activity together with “My Soul Campaign” Charitable Society and Red Cross Society of Qinghai. The activity aims to advocate the public to donate their spare cell phones that can be used by Qinghai’s left-behind children to stay connected with their working parents far away, help constructing a heart-to-heart bridge between them.

With advanced information technology in modern city, people often makes use of internet and mobile technologies to exchanges news and information; but according to survey, about 20% of the left-behind children only talk to their parents on the phone once a month, some are as infrequent as once a year, which severely affects the physical and mental health of the children concerned. In view of this, the Company has launched this half-year“@Soul-Distant Calls” charitable activity, which first phase is to call for spare cell phone donation in all NWDS department stores across the country from 15 Sep to 30 Nov. After cleaning and repairs, the devices collected will then be distributed to the left-behind children to facilitate exchanges with their parents, aiming to offer some comfort to their young and sensitive soul.

This activity belongs to the “@Soul-Distant Calls” piece of the“@Dream Sustainable Development Program” and targets to acquire 300 cell phone devices. @Dream is a brand new, sustainable community program that aims to provide under-resourced children in the mainland and Hong Kong with an unconventional learning platform that offers them knowledge outside textbooks as well as training opportunities. In addition, under the four themes of sports, music, learning and soul, the moral, intellectual, physical, social and aesthetics development of the children will be nurtured; their visions will be broadened; and the realization of their seemingly untouchable goals will be given a helpful boost. The entire program will last for one year and be fully backed by some 1,000 NWDS volunteers. It is expected that as many as nearly 5,000 children will be benefited.

Ms. Rebecca Woo, Director of Corporate Affairs and Chairman of Sustainability Steering Committee of NWDS said, “Different social conditions prompt us to incessantly examine the direction of the Company’ sustainability policy to ensure what we do can effectively cater to the needs of society and the under-privileges. We understand that children’s healthy development requires plenty irrigation of love, therefore, after learning the condition of the left-behind children, we took the initiative and approached the other organizers, which led to the success organization of this meaningful event. We hope to ride on the Company's extensive store network to encourage general public to take part in the donation and have a better understanding of event’s underlying meaning, which is to provide spiritual consolation to the children while reducing waste and promoting environmental protection at the same time.”

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