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An 8-year-old girl who gained admirers nationwide by selling her paintings to earn money for her leukemia-stricken father's medical treatment has a new venue for marketing her art: a national painting contest for children.

Second from left: Jiang Yake shows her painting at the launch ceremony of the national youth painting contest, held at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing on Tuesday.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Jiang Yake, from Changsha, the capital of Central China's Hunan province, touched the hearts of many Chinese people in September with her series of inspiring paintings and her goal of paying her father's bills.

Her story also captivated the organizers of the contest, the China Youth Development Service Center in Beijing, which on Tuesday, announced the competition and urged viewers to "tip" the works they like after viewing the paintings on the contest website.

"The tipping could be 10 yuan ($1.56), 100 yuan or more as you wish, if you like the children's paintings," Sun Zhu, the center's director, said at the ceremony introducing the contest.

The contest proposes to enable art-loving children to show their talent and imagination, and also receive financial assistance. "It's a combination of fine arts and public service," Sun said.

According to the contest's rules, children between the ages of 3 and 12 are eligible to participate. Contestants who need financial assistance can obtain funding through online tipping, selling their paintings at auction, and selling the usage rights of their art.

Those who don't need financial help can choose to donate their tips to less fortunate peers.

Organizers are encouraging those in need of help to first do something meaningful for their families, the communities in which they live or for society as a whole.

"We hope, through this way, to cultivate the children's sense of independence, love, social responsibility," said Yan Chuanzan, CEO of goujiawang.com, an indoor decoration website based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, which sponsored the contest.

"For those kids who need help, we hope that they can receive aid with dignity, and that's why we ask them to 'give' before 'accepting'," Yan said.

In September, Jiang, the girl with the ailing father, painted a series of pictures from her father's hospital ward.

In them, she traveled to other planets and saved the aliens, who in turn gave her magic pills as a reward. In the paintings, the pills helped Jiang's father recover, and she gave the rest to people with the same disease and everyone was cured.

The paintings proved heartwarming to many people. Staff members of the contest's organizing committee went to Changsha, donated 20,000 yuan to the girl and her father, and encouraged her to participate in the contest.

At the ceremony, Jiang held two of her paintings and said: "Thank you all and thanks to the contest. I can show my paintings and get help from more people."

Zhu Yaokui, an 83-year-old fine arts professor at Tsinghua University's Academy of Art & Design, and a renowned educator in China, said the purpose of art education is to help children feel, discover, create and possess beauty.

"The contest, enabling children to help each other, is leading them to this direction," he said.

The young artists' paintings can be viewed at http://www.haaaaaa.com

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