Genshin Impact fans donate thousands to charity thanks to Dehya teaser

A recent Genshin Impact Dehya animated short motivated Chinese players to donate thousands to one of the country’s charities for underprivileged children. In the anime game‘s teaser, we see Dehya make a sizeable donation to help the Sumeru Desert’s orphans leave the harsh environment that they were born. The real-world donations from the players are going to China’s Project of Hope charity, which is a student aid project that aims to improve children’s study and living expenses.

Given the fact that Genshin Impact is a Chinese game, fans believe it was no coincidence that Dehya named her charity the Wall of Hope when the Project of Hope charity really exists, and both support children in some way.

In the animated short, Dehya uses an amount of mora described as her ‘whole life savings’ to create the charity in Sumeru City right after rescuing a child from the desert sandstorms. It all feels like some sort of positive call to action, especially if you know about the Project of Hope.

Thousands of Chinese players have been donating CNY ¥680 (GBP £80 / USD $98) each – a reference to the highest amount you can pay to top up your Genshin Genesis Crystals to 6,480 in China with the game’s microtransactions.

Along with their donations, they’re also leaving messages on the Project of Hope web page saying ‘Dehya’s Wall of Hope.’ This, along with a Dehya quote about Sumeru’s Wall of Samiel that separates the desert from the city proper: “That wall was never meant for keeping things out. It was for protection.”

Dehya is actually making a real difference for children both in and outside of Sumeru. It’s nice to see a short, one-off teaser have such a huge impact in this way.

Genshin Impact version 3.5 goes live in less than 24 hours, so you’ll soon be able to pull for Dehya and Cyno during the first half of the update.