Among others who took part was Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Ng, 40, who led a Singapore Civil Defence Force team that helped with rescue work in Sichuan. Eighteen of his 55 team members also came to the show.

He made an impassioned plea last night for donations.

More than 70 local and overseas artistes from the Chinese entertainment world sang and danced at the show, aimed at raising funds for children orphaned by the earthquake.

They included MediaCorp actresses Fann Wong and Fiona Xie, local singers J J Lin and Mavis Hee, and the cast of the hit movie 881.

The show, broadcast live on Channel 8, had raised S$6.85 million by the end of the night.

Earlier yesterday, the Singapore Soka Association presented two cheques totalling S$195,346 to Mercy Relief for the relief efforts in cyclone-hit Myanmar and Sichuan. �

The cheques were from donations collected from the association's members over two weeks.