ONE charity project, one individual and three enterprises from Shenzhen were awarded the 11th China Charity Award, the highest prize in the field of philanthropy in China, on Sunday, which marked the Sixth China Charity Day, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs held an online commendation conference Sunday morning to award individuals, groups, enterprises, and philanthropic projects and trusts for their outstanding contributions made from 2017 to 2019 and in the fight against COVID-19 in 2020.

The city’s Zhongmin Times Plaza in Shenzhen was the conference’s subvenue and is also where this year’s Shenzhen Charity Month launch ceremony was held.

A total of 182 individuals, groups, enterprises, and philanthropic projects and trusts across the country were awarded the 11th China Charity Award.

Tencent Foundation’s 99 Giving Day campaign, Zhang Feng, vice chairman of Shenzhen Neptunus Group Co. Ltd., China Vanke Co. Ltd., Ping An Insurance Company of China, Ltd. and China Merchants Bank were the five award winners from Shenzhen for the China Charity Award.

In recent years, Shenzhen’s public welfare and charitable undertakings have developed rapidly. Shenzhen has ranked at the forefront of the China City Philanthropy Index for five consecutive sessions and is also known as China’s most caring and generous city.

Charitable activities with novel and diverse forms, distinctive local characteristics will be held in the form of “charity + finance,” “charity + education,” “charity + community” and “charity + health” to encourage citizens’ participation in philanthropy, said the municipal civil affairs bureau and the Shenzhen Charity Federation, the organizers of Shenzhen Charity Month.

The municipal civil affairs bureau released a list of Shenzhen’s charitable donations in 2020 Sunday, in a bid to commend organizations and individuals that have contributed to the city’s philanthropic development.

A total of 621 individuals, 707 enterprises and 677 social organizations have made it onto the list.

According to the list, donations made last year by individuals, enterprises and social organizations in Shenzhen amounted to 403 million yuan (US$62.46 million), 11.09 billion yuan and 8.17 billion yuan, respectively.

The Shenzhen Charity Federation on Sunday also staged a livestreaming event to update the progress and share stories related to a funding program for the city’s needy students.

Over the past 18 years, the program has given financial aid totaling 21.32 million yuan to 6,999 needy students in Shenzhen to attend universities.

(Zhang Yu)