Chinese pop diva Faye Wong and her actor husband Li Yapeng will hold a charity ball in Beijing on Tuesday night to raise funds for their Smile Angel Foundation.

This will be Wong's first public appearance since she gave birth to her daughter Li Yan in May. Li Yan subsequently underwent corrective surgery in the United States for a cleft lip.

The ball will be attended by many big-name Chinese stars including Zhao Wei, Xu Jinglei and Na Ying. More than a hundred security guards have been hired to maintain order, Shanghai Morning Post reported.

Wong and her husband Li Yapeng started the foundation in November to help children with cleft lips and palates. The couple donated 1 million yuan (US$125,000) to start the foundation which will be supervised by the Red Cross Society of China.

The foundation's website says that it had received a total of 1.13 million yuan (US$141,250) donations as of Dec. 18.

Harelips, which are often associated with cleft palates, are a common congenital malformation. China has 2.4 million children born with cleft palates, government statistics show.

There will only be 30 tables at the charity ball and everything from rent of the hall to drinks, presents and lighting equipment have been donated by friends of Wong and Li, the newspaper reported.

"It will be a very thrifty ball because they want every cent to be spent on the children that need help," said Ma Jia, Li Yapeng's business manager.

The highlight of the charity ball will be an auction. Most of the items have been donated by Wong, Li and their friends, including a very precious Thangka, a Tibetan scroll painting, paintings by contemporary Chinese artists Fang Lijun, Huang Zhou and Yan Ping, jewelry and Buddhist music autographed by Wong, it reported.

Wong, a Beijing native who made her name in Hong Kong, has not appeared in stage in recent years. She has another daughter from her previous marriage to Chinese rocker Dou Wei.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2006)