Liu Yu lives in Sichuan province, where she works with her mother as a fruit seller in Yi Long county. Between them the two women earn just 10 yuan (HK$9.40) a day.
Ms Liu is also one of almost 670,000 first-year students in desperate need of financial support to pay university fees due at the start of the coming academic year.
Since she was offered a place at Beijing's Transportation University earlier this summer, she and her mother have managed to save and borrow almost 4,000 yuan - quite an achievement in a county notorious for its poverty. But the amount falls far short of the 7,500 yuan Ms Liu will need for tuition alone, not to mention the additional funds she needs for living expenses.
'I wouldn't know how to make up the number without help,' she said. 'It just wouldn't be possible.'
Along with 10,000 other poor students, she has been selected to benefit from a non-governmental programme New Great Wall 2003: Caring About College Students. The programme aims to raise 20 million yuan through public donations by August 29.
'Fees and expenses are still the primary obstacle for a lot of top-class students,' said Li Li, secretary-general of the programme. 'Many students make it to university and then suffer psychologically due to the financial pressure it puts them and their families under.'
