China's public and some of its major corporations have donated more than US$18 million to Asian tsunami relief.
The money has been collected by the Red Cross Society of China and the China Charity Foundation, according to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
While donations have poured in from around the country - including its most impoverished areas - the booming coastal cities have led the drive.
Shanghai has received about 28 million yuan (US$3.4 million) in nongovernment donations, and Beijing has collected about 17 million yuan.
Southern guangdong Province has gathered 25 million yuan.
Multimillionaire entrepreneur William Ding Lei, founder of the popular Internet portal NetEase.com Inc, is among top individual donors after giving 10 million yuan.
"I have been shocked by the terrible effects of this disaster," Ding said. "Though I was not actually involved, I personally feel the suffering of people in stricken regions."
The earthquake and tsunami have received extensive state media coverage, as has the donation drive. News programs have repeatedly shown factory employees, schoolchildren and urban pedestrians lining up to put cash into donation boxes.
China central Television has also shown a report of an elderly couple too feeble to leave home, so organizers brought them a donation box for a contribution from their retirement savings.
Chinese pop and movie stars have held two Beijing fund-raiser concerts.
Five companies - Sinopec Corp, China Mobile, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Ping An Insurance Group and ABB China - have separately given donations totaling about 12 million yuan.
The central government said on Monday that it would give an additional US$20 million to help countries hit by the December 26 earthquake and tsunami, bringing the total government pledge so far to US$83 million.
Yesterday, China Charity Federation started to receive donations through its official Website after increasing demand from across the country.
In the past few days, many Chinese people donated to the tsunami victims through the post offices and banks. Some said they would like to give via the Internet, according to the federation.
After an emergency technical upgrade and tests, the Website can now receive donations from electronic bankcards of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and China Merchants Bank.