Both shelters are currently under immense financial pressure, with SAPA now home to a staggering 1,000 dogs. They are expensive to run, and rely entirely on donations to survive. And while volunteers do an enormous amount of work, full-time staff are still needed to feed and care for the animals.

The idea of raising money through a weight loss challenge was the brainchild of Marie Willman, a 34-year-old Canadian woman living in Suzhou.

"I never expected it to become this big," she says. "I thought maybe 20 or 30 people would sign up to the first one and that would be it."

But her expectations were quickly surpassed, with an incredible 136 people taking part in last year's event, raising 13,600 yuan.

"This year, I'd be thrilled if we could get 200 participants-it would really help raise public awareness."

With public fundraising activities difficult to organize this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the role of corporate sponsors in the challenge is especially important. So far, more than 65 businesses have signed up to donate cash and prizes, enabling the organizers to raise a significant amount of money.

William Shipton-Jiang, 40, is a partner in Shanghai-based Breakfast Champion, a popular supplier of Western breakfast meats. His firm is one of the corporate sponsors supporting this year's event.

"I have lived in Ningbo for the past eight years, and in that time I've personally rescued five dogs and 10 cats-at one time I even had nine cats and a dog in my flat," he says.

"Two of us here at the company have been doing our own weight loss challenge recently, so when we were approached to be sponsors for the challenge it seemed like a natural fit for us."