Ching Tien

Ching Tien grew up in Beijing where she attended a privileged girls-only school. During the politically chaotic time, her dream of obtaining an education was shattered. Instead of going to university, she was sent to Gansu Province, the poorest province in China. There, she worked in a factory for eight years.

Ching immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1980’s. Life in Canada inspired Ching to establish EGRC in 2005. Her dream was to give young women and girls in rural China the gift of education – stemming from her deep belief that educated women have educated children, and educating women is the fundamental way to lift people out of poverty and build better societies.

In 17 years EGRC has sponsored over 1,700 rural girls and young women’s high school and university education. Beyond the financial sponsorship, more importantly Ching Tien and EGRC have been consistently providing emotional support, further learning and training opportunities to these rural young women, and help them gain knowledge and confidence to achieve further, and give back to their communities.

Ching has established herself as the voice of women’s empowerment through prominent speaking opportunities such as Asia Society in HK in 2015, TEDx Beijing 2016, Alibaba’s Global Women Entrepreneurship Conference in 2017, and Eve Programme’s annual Asia Pacific Conference in Singapore in 2019.

In 2017, Ching was awarded the Canadian Governor General’s Visit Medallion, In 2018, she was the Finalist of RBC’s Women of Influence Award, in 2020 she received 5 At 50 Award from the Canada China Business Council on the occasion of Canada China 50 years of diplomatic relations.

• Educating Girls of Rural China with Ching Tien