Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

Chinese President Hu Jintao (front R) and Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang(back R) meet with deputies attending the China Charity Conference in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 5, 2008. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao met with domestic and foreign charity workers and groups on Friday ahead of a ceremony to honor their contributions.

    During the meeting with the honorees, Hu expressed appreciation to all domestic and foreign people and organizations that showed "extraordinary dedication and commitment to Chinese charity affairs."

    He said charity work in China has seen remarkable development in the wake of the country's reform and opening-up in the past three decades.

    Hu noted that in dealing with the impact of the Sichuan earthquake this year, "charity groups all over the world contributed to the largest fund-raising campaign in China's history.

    The president told the audience that their contributions had played an important and irreplaceable role in reconstruction work for the quake survivors.

    Hu said charity work was a noble course to improve people's livelihood and promote social harmony, calling for support from all social sectors to boost the development of China's charity work.

    Hu also urged charity groups to make innovation in donation and properly manage donated funds to help people in trouble.

    Awards were given to 336 individuals, enterprises, organizations and charity programs at the Second China Charity Conference, hosted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

    After the devastating 8.0-magnitude quake on May 12 which killed about 69,000 people, Chinese and foreign donors contributed about 76.2 billion yuan (11 billion U.S. dollars) for relief and rehabilitation, according to the ministry.

    In addition to reporting the figures for donations to the quake area, the ministry said on Friday that it would publish a detailed report on quake contributions, including how local governments would spend the money.

    "The conference shows the government values the charity affairs, which is of vital importance to charity development, and to building a harmonious society," said Xu Yongguang, deputy director-general of the China Youth Development Foundation, who was honored on Friday.

    The first conference was held in 2005. Before that, total donations to Chinese charities were no more than 10 billion yuan. But by this year, the figure had risen to almost 100 billion yuan, including 60 billion yuan for the quake alone, according to the ministry.

    To boost charity and social welfare, the ministry in September set up a new department to deal with welfare lotteries, charitable activities, donations and welfare projects for the elderly, disabled and children.

    "The May 12 earthquake aroused the public awareness of charitable work and altered the source of donation in China," the new department's director, Wang Zhenyao, said.

    Domestic donations from individuals exceeded those from companies for the first time, Wang said.

    According to the ministry, China has about 80 million disaster victims each year, as well as some 60 million disabled people in need of social assistance.