Nilsson and other volunteers first helped to install solar panels in the local schools before providing books, clothes and other resources to the poor Tibetan students and families.

Due to China's poverty alleviation project, the facilities in schools in Qinghai province have improved significantly in the past decade, he notes.

"Our volunteer project has gradually shifted from providing 'hardware' to 'software'-student scholarships, teacher training and school principal leadership programs," he says.

Because of his exemplary journalistic work and volunteering stints, Nilsson was awarded the Chinese Government Friendship Award in 2016, the highest honor that can be conferred to foreigners who have contributed to China's development.

Nilsson, then 33, was the youngest-ever winner of the award. During the Spring Festival reception in 2017, he delivered a six-minute speech on media development at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Premier Li Keqiang was among the audience.