AS of 6 p.m. yesterday (July 23), the Shenzhen Charity Association had received donations totaling 14.7 million yuan (US$1.8 million) from individuals and organizations in the city for the benefit of flood-affected areas in Guangdong.

Of that amount, 1.99 million yuan was donated by the government and public service institutions, 11.74 million yuan by companies and 164,200 yuan by individuals. Some 803,200 yuan came from other sources. Shenzhen-based electronics manufacturer Foxconn made the single-largest donation of 10 million yuan.

Last Friday, the charity association called on all Shenzhen residents to donate a day's income, and all companies to donate a day's profits.

As a result of Bilis, parts of Guangdong experienced the most serious floods in decades.

As of Saturday, 106 people in the province were confirmed dead and 77 were missing from Bilis. More than 7.4 million people were affected by the disaster in 68 counties and over 670 townships in the province. Economic losses were estimated at 13.5 billion yuan.

Foxconn gives most

A vice president of Foxconn group handed a check for 10 million yuan to the city's charity association Saturday afternoon. Li Decheng, chairman of Shenzhen CPPCC, thanked Foxconn, and said he hoped more enterprises would follow suit.

Foxconn said it will also raise money from its employees. The group has contributed over 300 million yuan to charity causes in China since 2004.

The first response

Xinxihu company, a local taxi service company, presented the first major donation on Friday morning. The city's Charity association received a phone call from the company at 10 a.m. The company's 6,000 drivers and employees donated 550,000 yuan to the flooded areas.

The first 1 million

On Friday evening, Ren Kelei, CEO of the Overseas Chinese Town (OCT) Group, announced at the opening ceremony of the OCT travel carnival and South China rock'n'roll music festival, that the group had donated 1 million yuan to help people in flooded areas in Guangdong rebuild their homes. Liu Runhua, the chief of the city's civil affairs bureau said that it was the first 1 million yuan donation the bureau has ever received for flood victims.

Charity concert held

Pianist Dan Zhaoyi, his students and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra held a charity concert Friday evening, raising 46,000 yuan in ticket sales and donations from the orchestra and the audience. All the money was donated to the flood victims.

Hongfa monks donate 2 million

On behalf of the Hongfa Temple in the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, the 100-year-old Buddhist abbot Benhuan donated 800,000 yuan Friday. A day earlier, the temple sent its monks to Wongyuan County in Shaoguan, a badly-affected area, to donate 1.2 million yuan to people in need. Benhuan also personally donated 20,000 yuan. Two other months, Yiru and Yinshun, each donated 10,000 yuan, and other monks at the temple donated 32,000 yuan in total.

Rice donated to Shaoguan

20 members of a local cross-country vehicle club arrived in Qingyuan of Shaoguan on Saturday night, bringing with them three tons of rice and 1.8 tons of mineral water to people in the flooded area.

Editor: Wing