Eight years have passed since the May 12 earthquake struck Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province in 2008. Social Workers Without Borders, a local voluntary organization under the aegis of King's Group, Chairman Yang Sze sing, as its eternal honorary president, sprang into action with the support of the King's Charity Foundation, a subsidiary of the group, to provide post-disaster psychological support. Since then, the Foundation has continued to donate funds to support the victims in the past eight years. Social Workers Without Borders recently held a sharing session in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to share their work experience and personal experience with the victims of the disaster.
On the day following the May 12 earthquake in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province in 2008, Yang and Jackie Chan donated 10 million yuan to support the earthquake relief efforts in the earthquake-stricken areas. Liu Guang, then Vice Minister of Civil Affairs, personally accepted the donation and issued a donation certificate.
In the same year, Social Workers Without Borders established a service point in the reconstruction area of Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, to provide post-disaster support services. Yang Shoucheng believes that children will be the driving force for post-disaster reconstruction in the future, so he proposed that social workers without Borders be dispatched to the Youai School in Dujiangyan to provide psychological counseling to primary and middle school students disabled by the earthquake. In addition, I accompanied the victims disabled by the earthquake to recover in the Bayi Rehabilitation Center, encouraging them to regain confidence and return to normal family life.
Mobilize the whole group to support the disaster
Yang was one of the first leaders in Hong Kong to help the victims of the earthquake. Immediately after the earthquake, he and Jackie Chan donated 10 million yuan to support the earthquake relief operation in the quake-hit areas. Liu Guang, then Vice minister of Civil Affairs, personally accepted the money. After that, all the staff of the Group were mobilized to support the disaster relief, and they were encouraged to raise donations. For every 1 yuan donated, the group would donate the same amount. As a result, more than HK $2 million was raised. Artists from the Group's King Entertainment Group, including Nicholas Tse, Joey Yung, Charlene Choi and Chung Xintong, also donated HK $1 million and participated in a number of local and overseas fund-raising performances.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival in September of the same year, the disaster areas in Sichuan were still in the stage of reconstruction. Yang Shucheng and Social Workers Without Borders jointly organized the "King's Challenge to Drum Heart to Heart. Hand in Hand to Love and Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival", more than 100 employees of the group, together with Zhong Xintong, Choi Cheuk-yan and other King's entertainers, formed a volunteer team to visit Leigu Town, Sichuan, to sympathized with the victims who lost their loved ones and homes. It was one of the first commercial volunteer teams to visit.
Positive charity feedback to society
Yang Shoucheng believes that when he has the power to do something, he should give it back, so he has been actively investing resources in charity affairs. In addition to the establishment of the "King's Charity Foundation" in 1997, he also established the "Yang Shoucheng Charity Foundation" in 2008, which focuses on promoting the provision of care for the elderly in China. Since then, Yang Shoucheng has repeatedly sponsored the construction of a number of "Yang Shoucheng Care Center for the Elderly", including four in Shunping, Xiongzhou and Changli of Hebei Province. Another two, Yongfu and Fusui, Guangxi, are expected to be completed and put into operation by the end of this year; In addition to his earlier ventures in Baoding, Hebei province, Wuhan, Hubei Province, and four in Hong Kong, Mr. Yeung has 10 projects in China and Hong Kong, with others on the drawing board.
In addition, Yang has donated to several domestic education funds, including the "Education Fund of the Ministry of Justice of China", "Yang Shicheng Law Education Fund of China University of Political Science and Law", "Peking University Education Fund" and "Xiamen Education Fund", so that those with excellent academic performance can be rewarded and those who are poor and out of school can be reinstated. In addition, 30 million yuan was invested to establish "King's School of Performing Arts, Shanghai School of Visual Arts, Fudan University", to cultivate a new generation of performing arts potential in China. In 2013, he donated 11 million RMB to China Film Foundation to accelerate the process of film industrialization and spare no effort to promote the development of culture and art.
Yang has won recognition and awards for his good deeds over the years. In 2005, he was selected as one of China's Top Ten Social Welfare Stars and awarded the China Charity Award. In 2007, he was awarded the China Charity Award for Outstanding Contribution to Philanthropy and the China Charity Figure. In the same year, he was listed in the "2007 China Charity List" and awarded the "Special Contribution to Charity Award". Since 2008, Yang Shoucheng has been awarded the highest official charity award by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, "China Charity Award - The Most Caring Individual Donor", and "China's Top Ten Philanthropists of the Year". He was also awarded the "World Chinese Philanthropy Award" by the World Chinese Association and one of the winners of the "60 Philanthropists Who Have Influenced Chinese Philanthropy" organized by the China Charity Ranking Office in 2009 to coincide with the 60th National Day. In 2013 and 2014, he further became the "Standing Director of China Charity Federation" and the "Vice President of the Board of Directors of New Home Association".
Social Workers Without Borders has set up a post-disaster social work team to support residents.
The King's Group volunteers pose for a photo in front of the Young Charity Fund (Shun Ping) Elderly Service Centre.
