Liang, who founded China's first non-governmental environment protection organization "Friends of Nature," was conferred the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service at a presentation ceremony held here Thursday night.

Philippine President Joseph Estrada and former President Fidel Ramos attended the presentation ceremony.

The award, named after late Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay(1907-1957), was established in 1957 and given every year by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation to outstanding persons or institutions in Asia.

Regarded as Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the award is given in five categories, namely government service; public service; community leadership; international understanding; and journalism, literature and creative communication arts.

Other winners of the award this year include a former Philippine mayor, Jesse Manalastas Robredo, who received the Government Service Award, and Atmakusumah Astraatmadja from Indonesia who is the awardee for journalism, Literature and creative Communication Arts.

Aruna Roy from India won the Community Leadership Award while her fellow countryman Jockin Arputham obtained the International Understanding Award.

Since it was first presented in 1958, the award has been given to 15 institutions and 201 individuals, including this year's awardees.

China's renowned ethnologist and sociologist Fei Xiaotong and artist Ying Ruocheng won the 1994 Community Leadership Award and the 1997 Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts.

The award carries a certificate and medallion bearing the likeness of the late president with inscriptions indicating the basis of selection, and a prize of 50,000 U.S. dollars.

(People’s Daily)