Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

Quake moves 10th Cross-Straits Fair

By Tu Lei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-05-20 17:33

Zhang Yuyuan, the leader of a tea enterprise from Nantou county of Taiwan Province, stood in front of a donation box at the 10th Cross-Straits Fair for Economy and Trade in Fuzhou City, East China's Fujian Province yesterday. 

He sold a small plastic bag of gaba tea for one yuan, and he said all the money will be sent to the victims of the earthquake that struck on May 12. 

"I share their feelings, for Taiwan hit by a major earthquake on September 21, 1999," said Zhang. "We are one family."

Zhang was not alone. There was another donation box five meters away, and twenty meters away an auction was going on. Fifty-nine pieces were auctioned off, raising more than 110,000 yuan ($15,751) in an hour and a half. 

Wang Jiesen, who is from 95 Mall Of Asia in Washington, bid 700 yuan for one drawing. "It is a good way to help victims of the earthquake," he said. 

"This is the first time the association has held an auction like this at the cross-straits fair," said Chen Yunong, director of Fuzhou Auction Association. "The earthquake worried us all." 

Fair organizers also adjusted their schedules following the epic quake. On May 18, Fuzhou city government and the Taipei city government held a fundraising show for the Sichuan earthquake, and raised three million yuan.

The organizers had originally planned to hold an evening party to celebrate their tenth fair. 

"We also cancelled some activities like welcome dinners," said Zhang Sufei from Fuzhou Information Office, adding many guests from home and abroad telephoned to donate before the show began.  

On May 18, Vice-president of Kuomintang Lin Fong-cheng said "the fair is still wonderful even though some activities have been cancelled."

Co-hosted by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, China Customs, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and Fujian provincial government, the fair, which will last from May 18 to 22, attracted more than 10,000 delegates from 31 countries including India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. 

The fair has become one of the largest cross-straits fairs over the last ten years, and it has attracted $10 billion in investment and more than 1,000 key projects have been put into production over the past ten years.