Heart of gold

Huilin Liang once brought two strangers home because they were stranded and was called crazy. That's not the only help she has rendered. She tells Mike Peters that she has made community volunteering not just a pastime but a vocation.

The bright-eyed woman in her 70s smoothes her scarlet jacket and looks out from her third-floor office in the TEDA area of Tanggu in Tianjin, as if she's inhaling the energy of that bustling commercial district. Or maybe the energy is flowing the other way.

She turns back to her guests with a beaming smile and a new topic: Basketball. "We've got a big tournament right now," Huilin Liang says in a sweet, cajoling voice that would have sold us four tickets on the spot, if there were any. "Sixteen teams over four weeks - yesterday we finished the third week, so next week is the championships!"