Xiang Yao, who raised money for her cancer treatment by selling her comic books at Demohour, passed away on Friday. Photo: Courtesy of Xiang Yao
When high school student Zhang Xiaoyi designed software that allowed a user to control a Macbook laptop simply by gesturing at it with specially designed gloves, he thought his greatest success would lie only in winning student competitions.
However, in less than two months, 63 strangers had given him over 4,000 yuan($642), allowing him to complete his Gesture@Mac project and send his products to the people who had supported him.
Zhang was one of the first people to create a project on Demohour.com, a funding platform founded in May 2011 in Beijing. Borrowing the concept from the US, crowdfunding platforms such as Demohour in China are helping many people realize their dreams.