On the morning of September 17, 2011, Love Knows No Border – International Charity Sale for Poor Mountain Villages in Yunnan Province initiated by Ms. Le Aimei, wife of Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi opened in Chaoyang Park, Beijing. Le and Nolana Ta Ama, Ambassador of the Republic of Togo and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in China addressed the opening ceremony. Yang Jiechi, Le Aimei, Vice Foreign Minister Li Jinzhang and Ama jointly cut the ribbon for the event.

On behalf of Yang Jiechi, Le thanked the foreign embassies, representative offices of international organizations in China and domestic enterprises for their long-term support for China's philanthropy and the Foreign Ministry's poverty reduction efforts. After briefly introducing the charity sales of the previous two years, she said that love goes beyond national borders and nationalities and the event exactly aims at pooling resources to help those in the poverty-stricken areas. She stressed that the Foreign Ministry has been trying its best to effectively help those in need following the principle of integrity, openness and transparency since it started the assistance programs in Yunnan Province according to the arrangements of the State Council in 1992. She called upon more Chinese and foreigners to join China's poverty alleviation and make contributions to the development of poor Chinese areas as well as the poverty eradication for all mankind. She believes the love and care of people all around the world will bring courage and hope to people in the poverty-stricken areas and help them build a brand new future.

In his speech, Ama spoke highly of the Chinese government's efforts of promoting the development of poor areas. He expects to step up cooperation with China, take an active part in the charity sale and make contributions to the international poverty reduction undertaking. Le Aimei later presented the love certificates and appreciation letters to the representatives of domestic enterprises which sponsored the event and the friendly personnel from Hong Kong.

Following the opening ceremony, Yang Jiechi, Le Aimei and foreign diplomats went to the booths and bought souvenirs and craftworks to express their love for the poor villagers in Yunnan Province. Yang held cordial talks with the foreign diplomats and extended admiration on their efforts of pushing forward their countries' bilateral relations with China and gratitude for their embassies' active participation in the international poverty alleviation cooperation. The Russian embassy in China as well as Chaoyang District Circus and Yunnan Province Honghezhou Song and Dance Troupe presented art performances.

There were 74 foreign embassies and representative offices of international organizations in China and 9 domestic organizations and enterprises participating in the charity sale. Nearly 100 booths were set up selling unique craftworks, commodities, books and foods from different countries. Initial statistics show that the one-day event generated and received around RMB3 million of revenue and individual donations which will totally be used for a village rebuilding program in Jinping and Malipo respectively, two national-level poverty counties of Yunnan Province.

Attaching great importance to the charity sale, the Foreign Ministry especially asked Foreign Minister Yang to inscribe the title Love Knows No Border and for the first time designed a logo which will be used permanently for the event. Big screens were also set up for the first time to continuously display all the previous Love Knows No Border events, the Foreign Ministry's poverty alleviation efforts and the poor villages to be rebuilt with the fund from this charity sale. Xinzhai Village of Jinping County has 251 villagers in 63 households and RMB986 of per capita net income. Chongzi Village of Malipo County has 136 villagers in 39 households and RMB1020 of per capita net income which is below the national poverty line. The rebuilding projects will include building houses, hardening of roads, environment management and business support.

According to the unified arrangements of the state, the Foreign Ministry in 1992 started the assistance programs in Jinping and Malipo which are two national-level poverty countries in Yunnan province. Over the past 19 years, the Foreign Ministry has donated RMB236 million to the two counties on more than 1,100 projects in five major areas of education, health, food and clothing, training and integrated village development.