Since Chinese pop diva Faye Wong and her actor husband Li Yapeng launched the Angel Foundation for harelip children a year ago, more Chinese artists have brought money and fame to charity work.
Guan Mucun, a distinguished Chinese alto, has donated to the nationwide Project Hope to help poor pupils to finish primary school. Thirty poor students have already finished high school with her financial support.
"I myself had an unfortunate past, and I was very grateful for those who gave me help when I needed it so badly. Now it's my turnto repay society," said Guan, whose mother died when she was only 10 years old.
Guan has also participated in charity work for environmental protection, HIV/AIDS prevention, blood donation and "Mother Water", a project to build underground water-collecting containers for the country's dry and impoverished western area.
Cong Fei, once a struggling poor child who later became a professional tenor in Shenzhen, gave financial aid to 178 poor students and disabled people over more than a decade. He also donated his cornea, which gave sight to six people, before he died from an illness at the age of 37 last year.
Faye Wong and her husband Li Yapeng launched the Yan Ran Angel Foundation, named after their daughter, aiming to help children under 14 years old. The foundation was launched last year after Wong and Li's daughter Li Yan recovered from plastic surgery for acleft palate.
The couple donated 1 million yuan (about 133,000 U.S. dollars) to start the foundation in collaboration with the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC).
"My wife and I don't intend to cover up the truth, since it's related to a child and we have lots of things to do or we'll miss the prime time for my daughter's treatment," he explained earlier, stressing that "all we do is for the benefit of my daughter and a good environment for her recovery."
"They are stars on stage or TV, but in society they are more like angels who bring care and hope to the needy," an official with the China Charity Federation (CCF) said, noting that more artists had chosen charity work as a channel to repay society in recent years.
In January 2006, a charity performance jointly given by artists from the Chinese Musicians Association, the Chinese Theatre Association, the Chinese Dancers Association and the Chinese Ballad Singers Association in central China's Henan province raised more than 9.1 million yuan for the poor.
In 2005, a group of senior Peking opera artists gave performances in Beijing to raise funds for the victims of the southeast Asian tsunami areas.
"Virtue is as essential a part as skill for an artist. While creating great works of the times, artists should also bear social responsibility", said Sun Xiaoyun, a renowned calligrapher.
Source: Xinhua
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