The Communist Party of China has selected 53 "national moral models" in a fresh campaign to improve the moral standards of its people.

The identities of the role models were announced at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday and they were divided into five categories: helping another person, acting bravely for a just cause, being honest and trustworthy, working hard and "making great contributions", and showing filial piety and love to their parents and family members.

The "moral models" included Zhong Nanshan, one of the leading scientists who helped control the spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in China in 2003, and Yuan Longping, a Chinese agricultural scientist who developed the first hybrid rice varieties in the 1970s.

Other "moral models" include Cong Fei, a young singer in Shenzhen, who had given financial aid to 178 poor students and disabled people for more than ten years, and donated his cornea, which enabled six people with eye ailments to recover eyesight, before he died from illness at the age of 37.

Li Xuesheng, a migrant worker from Henan Province who sacrificed his life to save two children on a railway track from a coming train, and Hong Zhanhui, a college student who has been raising an adopted sister for 12 years while looking after his mentally ill father after his mother walked out on the family, were also selected.

The campaign to appoint these role models was launched by the Civilization Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), All China Federation of Trade Unions, Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League and All China Women's Federation on September 1.