Star power works for quake relief
By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-19 10:39
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A film crew that has just wrapped up a movie about an earthquake 34 years ago has shown its support for victims of the Yushu temblor on April 14 in Northwest China's Qinghai province.
After Shock director Feng Xiaogang and his crew donated 200,000 yuan ($29,000) after doing a film about the Tangshan earthquake in 1976.
"Although we have learned a lot about earthquakes shooting this film, I still felt a sense of helplessness when I heard another (earthquake) happened. I really hope we can do something to help people in Yushu," Feng said at a press conference to release the film's first trailer.
The 7.8-magnitude Tangshan quake practically destroyed the city. In the film a mother finds her son and daughter under a cement block, but she can only save one of them. Hearing the voice of the boy, she makes a
choice that haunts the family for the rest of their lives.
The earthquake lasts just 23 seconds, but the characters take 32 years to recover from the physical and emotional hurt.
"The children of Wenchuan (the epicenter of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake) and Yushu will not wait for 32 years," Feng says. "There are lots of things we can and should do, and will do soon."
Feng is not alone among celebrities doing their bit to help earthquake victims.
Jet Li arrived in Yushu on the morning of April 16 and led a rescue team with his One Foundation. They brought water, biscuits, juice, quilts and medicine to the county.
The foundation will also help rebuild destroyed schools and provide a psychological recovery service, according to its press release.
Singer Han Hong, meanwhile, worked with the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and State Ethnic Affairs Commission to raise money for tents, quilts and medicine.
"It feels like my own family is experiencing the pain," Han was quoted as saying. "I believe it is time for our nation to show its solidarity."
Actor Huang Xiaoming also donated 200,000 yuan for earthquake relief.
Fans of singer Li Yuchun have donated 1 million yuan ($146,500) through their Yumi Love Fund to the county.
The Yushu earthquake is the most devastating in China after the Tangshan earthquake that killed about 240,000, and the 2008 Sichuan earthquake which claimed 80,000 lives.