Wang Guangmei, widow of late Chinese President Liu Shaoqi has been devoted to charity activities as the chairperson of the executive board of the Project Happiness.

 

At a recent charity banquet, for raising funds for the Project Happiness, Liu Ting, Wang's daughter, disclosed that her mother donated more 500,000 yuan (about US$62,500) 10 years ago, in an attempt to start up the charity program supporting poor mothers in poverty-stricken areas.

 

"My mother has been so dedicated to her charity job that we are all worried about her health," said Liu, who attended the fund-raising dinner together with a number of celebrities and artists.

 

At the banquet, people made donations to the Project Happiness, including a calligraphic work by Wang -- "Present Love by Spreading Moral and Conducting Good Deeds". A man bought it for 200,000 yuan (about US$25,000).

 

Wang was born in Beiping (now Beijing) in September 1921, and she is among the first Chinese with a master's degree on atomic physics. She was director of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

 

Wang was jailed for 12 years as her husband was persecuted as the country's "No.1 Capitalist Roader". In 1980, Liu and his family was rehabilitated.

 

The Project Happiness is one of the most successful charity programs in China. So far, it has spent 310 million yuan (about US$387,500) on 389 projects, involving 154,000 mothers and their families.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2006)