Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co Ltd, the leading beverage producer in China, recently offered financial assistance to 143 poverty-stricken students from Guangyuan county-level city in Southwest China's Sichuan province.

Wahaha has distributed 386,000 yuan ($60,000) to the students to help them pursue higher education.

The beverage producer's relations with Guangyuan started with a bottle of Wahaha purified water.

In 1997, Wahaha invested 170 million yuan to establish a branch company in Guangyuan to produce bottled purified water and boost the local economy and in 2021, as the pair-assistance province of Zhejiang, Sichuan received more assistance from Wahaha.

In 2011, Wahaha set up a special fund to help impoverished students, and to date the fund has helped nearly 30,000 students attend university.

Wahaha's subsidies to Guangyuan students are a part of Hangzhou's student assistance campaign, which was launched in 2000, and the company has donated about 115 yuan via the campaign.