Nick Cheung and Sammi Cheng bringing warmth to Xining

Tomorrow, Nick Cheung and Sammi Cheng will be traveling to Xining in the Qinghai region to visit quake victims and aid in relief efforts. Nick will only be able to stay 1 night there, as he will be heading off to Beijing the next day to attend an awards ceremony. Fellow artist Max Mok has already left for Xining today.

While attending an event yesterday, Nick talked about the preparations he has already gone through for the Xining trip: “I didn’t get any shots, but I have been taking the special medication to avoid illness from the high elevation levels. I will also be bringing a lot of clean drinking water.” Nick expressed that he is okay with not being able to enter the actual earthquake zone, as the most important thing is to be able to help the victims in whatever way possible, whether it’s through donating money or just showing concern. He says: “I am definitely willing to help out wherever needed. Hong Kong is a small place, but there are a lot of good-hearted, charitable people – it makes me proud to be a Hong Kong citizen.”

In the past, Nick only viewed the charity shows on TV that he would attend as another ‘job opportunity’, however in the past 10 years, he has changed his views and more pro-actively participates in charity functions. He credits this change to the influence from his wife Esther Kwan: “10 years ago, my wife started helping out at a particular charity organization…afterwards, when I started helping out alongside her, I started to realize the true meaning of charity and changed my attitude toward it.” Nick expressed that his daughter is still too young to understand what charity is all about, however since she was born, he has donated HKD$100 in her name each month to the Children’s Cancer Fund.

One of the organizers of the HK fundraising event (to take place 4/26), Gordon Chan, explained the reason why the artists are not able to go directly to the earthquake zone in Qinghai: “Right now, only the military is allowed to send relief items directly into the quake zone, as the area is still very dangerous and it is not easy for outside people to enter the zone. Plus we would not be able to 100% guarantee the safety of the artists in that area – therefore, we arranged for them to visit nearby Xining instead.”

Source: Mingpao
Translation: llwy12 @ AsianFanatics