A dozen Beijing-based singers are using their star power to help collect money for college students who cannot afford to travel home for the winter holidays.

Rock singers Zang Tianshuo and Wang Feng, pop stars Hu Yanbin and Shang Wenjie among many others put on a charity show on Wednesday at Beijing Jiaotong University. Hundreds of students from nine local universities were given enough money to cover a round-trip train ticket home.

Singer Zang Tianshuo performs for a charity show in Beijing to raise funds for college students who could not afford to travel home for the winter vacation, on Wednesday, January 16, 2008. (photo: yule.sohu.com)

The celebrity-rich fundraising activity was launched on January 2 by the Beijing Times newspaper and the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA). As of Wednesday the project had raised about 300,000 yuan (US$41,268) from both enterprises and individuals.

The money will be used to help more than 400 students reunite with their families during the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Singer Hu Yanbin performs for a charity show in Beijing to raise funds for college students who could not afford to travel home for the winter vacation, on Wednesday, January 16, 2008.

Zang Tianshuo, who donated 10,000 yuan, said that after talking with the students, he could feel their eagerness to go home and so he came to offer his help.

A February 2007 survey at 14 Beijing universities by the CFPA showed that 60 percent of the students staying on campus for the holiday, chose not to return home because of financial difficulties.

Singer Shang Wenjie performs for a charity show in Beijing to raise funds for college students who could not afford to travel home for the winter vacation, on Wednesday, January 16, 2008.

(CRI January 17, 2008)