It's the latest chapter in a remarkable story that began during Shenmue III's Kickstarter campaign in 2015. Two American brothers volunteering at the elementary school donated substantial personal funds to the crowdfunding appeal, hoping to use the associated perks to draw wider attention to the school and its needs.
Before such rewards could even be finalized, media coverage of their intentions caught the eyes of the Chinese Shenmue fan community, which set about honoring the brothers' contributions to the game by donating equipment and materials to the school.
In December of that year, 200 books were delivered to the young children, followed in May 2016 by a brand new projector. One fundamental snag, however: the school's bare external windows made the classroom too bright to see the projections - so by the end of the year fans had also donated curtains!
The latest donation of a further 166 books really highlights the scale of compassion and generosity inspired by Yu Suzuki's Shenmue saga, with a fan community so committed to giving these kids in Guilin a better start in life.
If you'd like to see the teachings of these games reach a wider audience amongst today's potential players, the monthly #SaveShenmueHD Tweetathon brings you side by side with a global community of fans requesting of Sega that Shenmue 1 & 2 be made available on modern systems.
The next occasion is tomorrow, February 3rd, and you can pre-load a customized AutoTweet for all future events at
TeamYu.net.
Thanks to our friend Li of the Shenmue bar on Baidu Tieba for helping us share this great story.