Jet Li To Launch Quake Anniversary Welfare Program

One year after the deadly May 12 earthquake in Sichuan, China, actor and kungfu master Jet Li's One Foundation is launching One Family, Walk Together, a welfare campaign to bring attention to the devastated region and its survivors.

In a February speech for the China Global Philanthropy Forum, former US president Bill Clinton gave his support to Li’s foundation: “As a global community we face many challenges, including global warming, poverty and disease. Individually, these problems are insurmountable, but together we can overcome them. The One Foundation believes as I do in the strength of our common humanity, and the spirit of giving is the same no matter how much money you give or how many hours you volunteer.”

But therein lies the problem in China. “The charity sector’s development in China is quite recent compared to the US, where it has been registered for 100 years, or 400 years in the case of Europe,” Li said in an interview with Shanghai Star Weekend. “Most people in China today think that charitable acts are limited to donating money, but that’s actually not the case.”

Although Li sees charity as the undertaking of his life, he realises that not everyone is able to be as dedicated. He does, however, offer this reminder: “By helping others, we’re helping ourselves, because one day, everyone will know that our lives need mutual support.”