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| Cecilia Cheung performs at the concert.
(newsphoto) |
An unprecedented charity show which brought together some of China's
top entertainers played to an enthusiastic and magnanimous crowd last
night at Beijing's Workers Stadium, raising an as yet uncounted sum for the victims
of the tsunami catastrophe.
The line-up of singers, actors and TV show hosts extolled the public
for their generosity and during the performances, placed their own red
gift envelopes into giant boxes on the stage.
It was announced during the show that the largest corporate donor was
China National Petroleum Corporation, which had raised more than 12.56
million yuan (US$1.5 million). While the largest individual giver was Zeng
Wei, a Beijing real-estate developer, who, together with his wife, chipped
in 1 million yuan (US$120,000).
Donations of US$2 million collected via the Red Cross Society of China
will reach four countries in the next one or two days.
"Indonesia and Sri Lanka will each receive US$600,000, the Maldives
US$500,000 and Thailand US$300,000," said Red Cross spokesman Wang
Xiaohua.
The moneys will be distributed to local Red Cross societies through
Chinese embassies.
"Since the Maldives has no such organization, we will hand over the
money to authorities there," said Wang.
By 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon the Red Cross of China had collected a
total of around 45 million yuan (US$5.4 million).
The China Charity Federation, meanwhile, reported donations of 30
million yuan (US$3.6 million) as of yesterday.
Wen Chang, a singer from Taiwan whose hometown in
Indonesia, very close to the disaster area, sang the song "Clouds of My
Hometown" to express his gratitude for the outpouring of love and sympathy from his home to those in his adopted land.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2005-01-07 10:08