September 5 is the "Charity Day" in China. The day commemorates China's charity law, which came into effect on September 1, 2016. This year, China has witnessed how technology plays a bigger role in the country's philanthropy causes.

According to the China Disabled Persons Federation, there are over 85 million people with disabilities in China. With the emerging tech developing rigorously in the country, more tech companies, charity organizations and individuals have realized the importance of leveraging innovation to open new doors to people in need.

NGOs use technologies to help

Huang Shuai, director with Chuangshan Community, told CGTN that most people with physical challenges need assistive technologies to overcome them.

His NGO is running special projects to create mobile apps and produce and modify digital gadgets for people with physical challenges. "For a lot of physically-challenged people, daily actions that are necessary in today's world, like clicking a mouse, typing on keyboards or using smartphones, can be very hard to perform," he said.

In Chuangshan Community, many of the volunteers are middle school students who are keen on using innovative assistive tools, like the sip-and-puff mouse and special keyboards. They learn coding, computer modeling and basic crafting skills here. Once the devices are finished, they send them to local charity houses.

"Students from high school STEM clubs have most of the skills that are needed for assistive tools development. They can solder, they can do 3D-printing, basic circuit, and programming," Huang added.

Zheng Zhen is a high school student from Beijing No. 4 High School. She's been working for the NGO for three months. "It's very good to use technology to help people. I am in the modeling team, we also have an electrical design team and a circuit team. We are working on a special app for users to control those digital devices," Zheng told CGTN.

Tech for greater good

It isn't only NGOs in China. Tech professionals have realized that technological advances are a game changer in the world of philanthropy.

Tencent, one of the tech giants in China with corporate social responsibility projects, launched an annual charity campaign called "99 Giving Day" and set up programs for donations to address a diverse range of challenges that affect the local and global community.

A director with the company's user experience and charity platform told CGTN in an interview that they've offered diverse tech kits and cloud services to many NGOs, local communities and colleges.

"They can use the apps, coding, WeChat mini programs and the cloud collaborative service in the kits for free. We have also launched a pro-bono CTO campaign inside the company. Engineers can go and work as chief technology officers at NGOs and provide hands-on technology support," Chen said.

"We believe that technologies, especially those can be used by NGOs, and people with disabilities, will not only make our lives more convenient, but will also bring dignity, power and courage to people and connect our communities together," she added.