Surgical masks collected through a campaign by Nguyen Thi Lien and her friends in Vietnam are transported to Wuhan, Hubei province, where the novel coronavirus pneumonia was first reported. [Photo/myzaker.com]

A total of 50,000 surgical masks carrying the love and care of Vietnamese people were sent on Jan 30 to Wuhan, Hubei province, where the novel coronavirus pneumonia was first reported. 

Nguyen Thi Lien, a Vietnamese student studying at the China University of Mining and Technology in East China's Jiangsu province, was the initiator behind the campaign to collect the surgical masks. 

Her idea to do something for the escalating new coronavirus-caused pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan was met with support from her friends in Vietnam, whom she always talks to and communicates with via a WeChat group, a Chinese instant messaging platform. 

The group gathered about 500 people, who do different jobs in Vietnam but were connected by their love of the Chinese language. 

After just a few days, Nguyen and her friends finished raising funds, buying masks, packaging, and shipping them to Wuhan. 

"We believe China will get better soon," Nguyen said. 

Nguyen is a first-year postgraduate at the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology of China University of Mining and Technology. She finished her one-year Chinese preparatory courses in July 2019 and is now funded by the Chinese Government Scholarship.