Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Monday called for popularizing the concept that "Everyone can do something for charity" to get more people involved.

During a meeting with winners of the 2007 China Charity Awards, Hui said that governments at all levels must put charity development high on their agenda and fully apply tax breaks for donations.

China has more than 83 million disabled people, an estimated 22 million urban people living on minimum subsistence allowances and 34 million such rural people, an elderly population of 140 million and more than 80 million people affected by natural disasters each year, according to Hui.

As the nation's charity regulator, the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) and its local counterparts must step up monitoring and management, prevent abuses and provide guidelines for donations to ensure that "what is taken from the people is to be used in the interests of the people", he said.

According to the MCA, three people, five enterprises and institutions and two charity programs received the 2007 China Charity Awards.

Hong Kong tycoon Run Run Shaw won a lifetime award for contributions to China's charities. He has contributed about 2.5 billion HK dollars (about US$321 million) in cash and goods to the Chinese mainland.

The major assessment standard for the award, which was launched in 2005, is the frequency and amount of donations in relation to the donor's income, according to the MCA.

The value of donations, however, was not the only criterion: more than 13 million netizens voted on the 2007 China Charity Awards, according to an MCA official, Pang Chenmin.

(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2008)