Gucheng is a small place in Hebei that many people have never heard of. For ten years, the only medical facility available for the county's 50,000 people was a single, small medical center. But then in 2005, Leung Pei Jing learned of the local medical conditions through the provincial public health authorities, and he decided to build a modern hospital here financed by donations. Over the past ten years, he has arranged the building of hospitals through donations in many places in mainland China: in fact, this one will be the 65th. Initially, he was pursuing this charity work by himself, but before long, many volunteers from Hong Kong joined him, some donating money, others donating their time.

"A lot of kids are born every year and a lot of women give birth here. There's no equipment in the OB-GYN department. It'll probably take 10,000 HK dollars to buy the equipment and I'll take care of it after the Chinese New Year," said Leung Pei Jing, retired professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

70-year-old Leung Pei Jing is a retired professor and scholar of Chinese classic drama and literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His lifestyle is a simple one that includes a daily walk and grocery shopping with his wife. In 1996, however, he visited a rural area in northern Guangdong Province and was shocked by the much-less-than-ideal medical conditions he observed, and so this scholar of Chinese literature set a new goal for his life: making and raising donations to build hospitals in poor Chinese regions.

Prof. Leung's ancestors came to Hong Kong more than a century ago. Over time, the family gradually accumulated considerable wealth through doing business, and as a result of the efforts of several generations, the family owned a large collection of highly valuable antiques.

"These are antiques from ancient times.They are from the era of Emperor Kangxi. Antiques from the Kangxi years are worth a fortune.I don't mind donating them.The hospitals look a lot more attractive than these antiques, " said Prof. Leung Peijing.

Building a hospital in a poor region on the mainland costs around 500,000 Hong Kong dollars, not including the cost of buying medical equipment. Whenever he needs more money for the new hospitals, he turns to his family antique collection.

"This is a snuff bottle made of jadeite. It's worth a lot. These are made of rhino horn. These two tiny lions are very rare. The elderly enjoy holding them in their hands. I'll sell them the day after tomorrow. These two small pieces, let's take another look," said Prof. Leung Peijing.

Generations of Professor Leung's family left him with a collection of more than 10,000 high quality antiques, but today there are only about 1,000 left. The way Professor Leung sees it, his two children can each keep 3 pieces, and he'll sell the rest to provide more funds for the hospitals in mainland China.

As a well-educated and highly-respected scholar with an appreciation for history, it was difficult for Professor Leung to sell his family's treasures. In fact, even though he was doing it for charity, he found it difficult to face the questioning eyes of his friends. Eventually, however, his acquaintances became his most regular buyers, and the first person to buy an antique from him was one of his former students, Mr. Yang, by that time a lawyer.

When Prof. Leung received 50,000 Hong Kong dollars for the first antique he sold, he immediately donated the money to build a hospital in northeast Guangdong in the area that had stimulated him to change his values and goals in life. Each time he has built a new hospital over the past years, he has set up a file for it to record the history of its construction, his feelings about it and his sense of accomplishment. When the first hospital was completed, he commemorated the moment by marking the location with a dot on a map of China. With more and more hospitals being built, the marks are now spread across the whole over China, and all of them are located in areas where people need them the most.

"We need to build 35 more to achieve the target of 100. When we reach that target, the hospitals will be benefiting a total of 5 million people. It's a huge project and I need to work harder," said Prof. Leung Peijing.