Zhongshan Charity Parade 2023 was held as scheduled on the morning of February 5. The parade team made up of Hong Kong and Macao folks, returned overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese students appeared again after three years.

There are some 500,000 Zhongshan people living in Hong Kong and Macao and a total of 82 hometown associations, which have long been devoted to the construction and public welfare undertakings of Zhongshan.

"Before the COVID-19 outbreak, we used to organize 10 to 20 hometown associations for the parade. We are pleased to return to participate in this event and witness the new look of our hometown," said Jian Zhihang, director of the Federation of Hong Kong Zhongshan Community Organizations.

This year's Zhongshan Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese parade team has 54 members, including overseas Chinese from the Macao Zhongshan Youth Association of Returned Overseas Chinese, the Zhongshan Student Association of Canada, as well as from the US, Ecuador, Australia and other countries.

"Zhongshan Charity Parade is a good platform that unites people of different ages and in different industries to work together for public welfare," said Huang Jialun, chairman of the Macao Zhongshan Youth Association of Overseas Chinese in his debut in the event.

Yu Zhiyi once participated in Zhongshan Charity Parade in 1988, and afterwards he lived and worked in the US. This year, he joined Zhongshan Charity Parade again. Though they were far away from home, Yu said, overseas Chinese always keep their hometown in heart and hope it would be better and better.