Cancer Charity Show raised $ 2.5 million!
October 4, 2004
Mr Chan Soo Sen, Minister of State for Education, single-handedly raised more than a whopping $ 80,000 for the Singapore Cancer Society with just one song! The overall haul for the night: $ 2.5million!
Kwok Kar Peng
Amidst all the glittery foreign and local stars, song and dance, and extraordinary feats, one man managed to raise $ 80,000 with just one rousing karaoke rendition of Emil ChauÂ’s Friends!
Not just any man, this is Mr Chan Soo Sen, Minister of State for Education, who graced the inaugural Cancer Charity Show 2004 held in the MediaCorp TV Theatre last night.
The event was hosted by Dong Zhicheng, Tang Na and Mark Lee. The latter shed his macho, wisecracking persona last night, blinking back tears as he recalled his late father who had also suffered under the ruthless clutches of cancer.
Hundreds of thousands of people were touched by the pitiable circumstances of the cancer patients, evident by the calls that poured in during the 3.5 hour show, raising an admirable $ 2.5million.
The list of performers ran long and included Hong Kongers Li Xiangqin, Tan Bingwen, Alan Tam, Shawn Yue; Taiwanese singers K-One, Yan Xingshu, Toro, Alec Su, Bobby Chen Shen; Malaysian rising star Z Chen; and MediaCorp artistes Fann Wong, Tay Ping Hui, Vincent Ng, Terence Cao, Cynthia Koh, Florence Tan, Jeff Wang, Jaime Teo, Alan Tern, Felicia Chin, Huang Shiyu, Brandon Wong, Lin Shuyuan, Zhang Yaodong, Hu Wensui, Zzen Zhang and Timothy Nga.
Said the feisty 72-year-old Li Xiangqin, “When I received the call inviting me to this show, I didn’t ask anything and I accepted it straight away. I’m already so old and I seldom work now, but charity I must do. I hope that everybody can also eat one meal of dim sum less, play one game less of mahjong, and donate to help these patients!”
Following the tradition of charity shows, three stunts by MediaCorp artistes were also included. Terence Cao and Vincent Ng performed a series of gravity-defying stunts with wooden chairs, each chair weighing 3kg.
First, Vincent supported 4 chairs (12kg) with his mouth. The level of difficulty was upped with 8 chairs and 12 chairs. Then came the cruncher – Vincent supported 12 chairs (36kg) with his mouth and stood atop Terence’s shoulders. This meant Terence was actually supporting and balancing close to 100kg!
It was later revealed that Vincent is going for a knee surgery today. Why risk further injury to his knee with this stunt? Vincent explained, “This is the first time we are raising funds for cancer patients. I want to do my bit for them, and hope that my performance and sincerity will encourage the public to call the hotline and help these cancer patients.”
Tay Ping Hui’s stunt was next. Despite prior injuries to his waist and leg, the muscle man went ahead with his Herculean feat. Ten artistes (8 males and 2 females) stood onto a platform – a total of 715kg. The 93kg Ping Hui successfully lifted the platform! An additional 3 artistes - Florence Tan, Jeff Wang and Terence Cao hopped onto the platform, now with a load of 900 kg. Again he did it! Eventually, 5 more people are added and the total load was an awesome 1200kg. With a mighty grunt, Ping Hui lifted the platform and the theatre broke into raucous applause!
The finale of the night brought in Tay Ping Hui, Vincent Ng, Terence Cao, Jeff Wang, Jaime Teo, Felicia Chin, Cynthia Koh, Florence Tan, Timothy Nga, Zzen, Alan Tern, Huang Shi Yu, Zhang Yaodong, Brandon Wong, Hu Wensui and Lin Shuyuan together with long strips of cloth hanging from a circular structure up on the ceiling. Climbing up the cloths easily, these ‘acrobats’ displayed formations in mid-air in groups of four. In the final formation, all 16 of them sidled up the cloths, and formed a human lantern that was spun round and round!
Luckily for all, the only known injury of the night was sustained by a K-One member who sprained his leg during their ‘gongfu dance’. Keep the donations coming; the lines will be open till Oct 18, 2004!
Donation hotlines:
1900 112 6611 – S$ 6
1900 112 6622 – S$ 20
1900 112 6633 – S$ 50
An additional S$0.21 administrative fee will be charged to each call.
Missed last night's 'live' telecast of the Cancer Charity Show? Wanna watch the heart-pounding performances again? Catch the repeat telecast on Oct 9 at 3pm!
