A fundraiser was held here Saturday for recovery efforts in China in the aftermath of the devastating May 12 earthquake.
The fundraiser, organized by student organizations, civil organizations and business organizations of the Chinese community in the greater New York area, attracted nearly 1,000 people, from toddlers to octogenarians, at Foley Square.
Poem recitals, songs, dances and martial art performances were featured at the three-hour "Hand-in-Hand, Heart-to-Heart" benefit event.
Liang Guanjun, chairman of the United Chinese Association of Greater New York, who earlier donated 200,000 U.S. dollars, gave an additional 110,000 dollars at the fundraiser.
"Many of us overseas Chinese made donation after donation, wishing that our compatriots could shake off the disaster overnight," said Liang, who visited the epicenter a week earlier as a volunteer.
"The catastrophic earthquake may be able to rid us of our compatriots' lives, it may be able to decimate our compatriots' homes, but it cannot hold back the bold march ahead of the Chinese nation," Liang said.
The Myanmar-Chinese Association of New York presented a traditional Myanmar dance, "Dance of Spring."
William H. Su, the association's president, who had made donations to disaster relief efforts in both Myanmar and China, wished for peace and health all around the world.
John Liu, a member of the New York City Council, spoke of an enormous outpouring of sympathy and support for China.
"In the last few weeks, so many people and organizations in our community and all throughout New York have been offering their sympathy and their support," Liu said. "This is really a tremendous display of human compassion and caring for fellow human beings."
Peng Keyu, the Chinese consul-general in New York, praised Chinese compatriots for their "love relay," which has once again demonstrated the Chinese nation's philanthropy, perseverance and cohesion.
Zhang Jian, president of Columbia University Chinese Students and Scholars Association, said compassion toward the quake victims has been outpouring like tidal waves and that such compassion should be sustained to keep overseas Chinese united in assisting the motherland's prosperity.
Some of the donations collected at the event will be dedicated to schools in the areas devastated by the 8.0-magnitude quake, which, according to the Chinese government's latest tally, left 69,016 dead, 368,545 injured and 18,830 missing. Domestic and foreign donations had reached 40.1 billion yuan (5.81 billion dollars), and 10.79 billion yuan had been forwarded to the earthquake-affected areas.
Many at the fundraiser gave their thoughts and prayers to children in the quake-stricken areas in China, which marks Children's Day one day later.
"I want you to know that hundreds of thousands of brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts overseas are thinking of you day in and day out," said Steven Wong, executive chairman of the Unified Organization of Overseas Chinese Associations of New York.
A song, "Dear Child," was dedicated to young victims in the quake.
"My dear child, wipe off your tears. I will accompany you, accompany you on your way home," the song went.
Source:Xinhua
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