The Spring Festival, China's Lunar New Year, which falls on February 1, is the country's most important traditional festival. The government launched a nationwide campaign at the end of last year calling for donations to help needy families have a happy holiday.

Yang said contributions to the needy had always been regarded as virtuous in traditional Chinese values and public donations were important to help relieve want.

He said local civil affairs officials would transfer the donations to needy families as soon as possible.

The municipality of Beijing and provinces of Liaoning, Hubei, Jiangsu and Hunan have raised 395 million yuan (US$47.6 million) in donations and 210 million yuan (US$25.3 million) worth of goods.

Liu Zhihua, vice-mayor of Beijing, Tuesday delivered six million yuan (US$700,000) donated by people and institutions in the capital to officials from Jiangxi province and Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region.

The Beijing municipality, central government institutions and army units donated 28.79 million yuan (US$3.5 million) after the campaign started.

In addition to short-term campaigns, China also has regular donation programs. Since 1996, the country has attracted 20 billion yuan in donations, including 9.5 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) in cash.

A spokesman of the Ministry of Civil Affairs said the country saw 1.2 billion yuan (US$114.92 million) in donations last year, 440 million yuan (US$53 million) more than the previous year, which was "substantial progress."

(Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2003)