"Big Eye" Su Mingjuan poses before her picture used by Project Hope to help school dropouts in Beijing May 22, 2005. By the end of 2004, the project had helped 2.75 million dropouts, helped construct 11,888 Hope schools and received donations totalled 2.73 billion yuan. [newsphoto]

Hu Shanhui poses before his picture used by Project Hope to help school dropouts in Beijing May 22, 2005. [People's Daily]

Zhang Tianyi poses before his picture used by Project Hope to help school dropouts in Beijing May 22, 2005. [newsphoto]

Su Mingjuan displays her admission notice from Anhui University in this picture taken on September 5, 2002. [newsphoto]

Three former image ambassadors for the Hope Project gathered in the project's Beijing headquarters on Saturday, showcasing with their own success stories the project's accomplishments in helping children from poor families get equal education opportunities.

The three ambassadors, whose images as children touched the hearts of many, helped raise the profile of the project and ensure it overwhelming support. On Saturday, all grown up and accomplished in one way or another, they told people how much the money they donated years ago had changed their lives.

Su Mingjuan, the most famous of the three and nicknamed "Ms Big Eyes," has finished college and now works at a bank in East China's Anhui Province.

While Hu Shanhui took a different tack and enrolled in the army. In his poster picture, he was captured shouting out Chinese characters after his teacher. The image was interpreted as an earnest desire to attend school. As he had a runny nose in the picture, people named him "Long Snivel."

It was the first time all three had gathered at the headquarters of the Hope Project in Beijing. They said it was very exciting entering the office and it was like returning home, according to the Beijing Youth Daily. They are in the capital to appear in a TV programme for China Central Television.

Xie Hailong, then a photographer for the China Youth Daily, took the series of photos in 1991. The following year, the images featured in the campaign that helped the Hope Project receive donations from all circles of society.By the end of 2004, the project was reported to have helped 2.75 million poor students, opened 11,888 primary schools, and pooled funds from home and abroad of 2.73 billion yuan (US$330 million).