Ren Jialun, Liu Yuxin, Zhou Yiran among stars honoured for charity efforts at Singapore’s 1st Weibo Cultural Exchange Night

They don’t just shine in front of the camera or on stage — these celebrities are proving to have hearts of gold, too.

Organised by philanthropy network firm Alliance For Good and presented for the first time in Singapore, the contributions of 16 local and Chinese celebrities were honoured at the Weibo Cultural Exchange Night, held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre yesterday (Nov 16) evening.

The stars were lauded for giving back to society and using their influence to encourage more people to do good. Clips shown before the presentation of each award highlighted the artistes’ charitable efforts.

The first celeb to be awarded was China-based Japanese idol Ikumi Hiroto, who was presented with the Emerging Charity Artiste award for his contributions to animal rescue. He was recognised for collaborating with public welfare partners in China to obtain food and medical supplies for stray cats and dogs, and using his influence to encourage his fans to do charity.

The 23-year-old, who was a contestant of idol reality competition Produce Camp 2021, said in his speech: “Thank you Weibo and everyone for supporting me. To be awarded this honour, I am very surprised and grateful. I will continue to work hard and spread the power of love to more people.

“This is my first time in Singapore and it’s really a very beautiful country. I hope to have the opportunity to come back to Singapore in the future and meet everyone.”

K-pop idol Samuel Kim was recognised with the Charity Practice Model Artiste award.

The 23-year-old said: “I am thankful to be able to receive this honour. Every time I participate in public welfare, I am very encouraged by everyone’s kindness and once again I want to say thank you to everyone who has been supporting me until this day and I will try my best to bring the best energy in the future.”

Chinese actress Zhu Xudan received the Charity Dream-fulfilling Artiste award for her contributions.

The 33-year-old, whose recent works included Love Game in Eastern Fantasy (2024) and A Dream within a Dream (2025), said in her speech: “I will continue to work hard to make myself more influential, so that I can help more people in the future.”

Zhou Yiran won the Warm-hearted Power Artiste award for his donations to hospitals and schools for children in Beijing, which motivated his fans to contribute their support to education, according to his highlight reel.

The 24-year-old Chinese actor, who shot to fame with youth drama When I Fly Towards You (2023), thanked Weibo and his fans for their recognition and support.

“I think doing charity work is to contribute your abilities, whether big or small. As long as everyone can lend a helping hand, it will eventually become a bigger effort that helps spread the warmth,” he said.

The Children’s Guardian Artiste and Charity Most Promising Artiste awards went to Chinese actors Zheng Kai and Liu Xuancheng respectively, while their compatriot Zhang Tianai clinched the Charity Model Artiste award for being involved in volunteer work for over a decade.

Chinese singer and former member of K-pop group Miss A Wang Feifei was named Charity Steadfast Artiste, singer Sadanny Lee received the Charity Star Pioneer Artiste award and Taiwanese singer Christine Fan was given the quirkily titled Voice-warmed Charity Artiste award.

The philanthropic efforts of Singaporean artistes were also recognised at the ceremony.

Zoe Tay was honoured as the Charity Empowered Artiste; Fann Wong and Christopher Lee were presented with the Charity Care Artiste and Charity Action Artiste award, while Desmond Tan received the Charity Leadership Artiste award.

In addition to witnessing the celebs receiving awards, audiences also enjoyed upbeat performances from Ikumi, Samuel, Feifei and Sdanny, as well as soothing ballads from Xudan and Christine during the fast-paced three-hour-long event.

Popular Chinese singer Liu Yuxin was recognised with the Charity Star Impact Award for her contributions to public welfare, including helping autistic children, donating disaster relief supplies in China and encouraging her fans, known as yu san (‘umbrellas’ in English), to plant trees, support education and rescue stray animals.

The 28-year-old took to the stage to receive her award as her ‘umbrellas’ chanted her name loudly from offstage. Thanking them for their support and dedicating to everyone who had contributed their efforts to good causes, she said: “Charity work is just like music; they transcend nationalities. For me as a singer, I am fortunate to have the support of a stage and performances to connect culture and audiences together and spread the force of charity.

“I am very happy that more people have taken note of this, especially my fans. They are very united and self-motivated in contributing to charity. The road ahead is long, I hope we can work hard together to protect the roots of culture and spread warmth, so that this can continue.”

For the final award that night, Chinese actor Ren Jialun received the Outstanding Charity Figure Honor for his various contributions to social care and environmental protection.

Earlier that evening, the 36-year-old, also known as Allen Ren, had spoken about his journey with doing charity, which started with his interactions with a child with disabilities while filming a variety show years ago.

The actor, who stars in the currently airing costume drama Love and Crown, had asked the child what their dream was and was told that they desired to be “healthy”, as the child added that most of their family members are also disabled. Jialun came to a realisation that for most people, being able-bodied may not be their first dream, but for many people, that was their top-most desire.

“This interaction reminded me that there are many people we have not noticed, and they need our help. They are not a minority, and we shouldn’t be the majority that are silent,” he shared, adding that every contribution counts.

As Jialun went onstage to receive his honour later, his fans, also known as jia ren (‘family’ in English), screamed and cheered for him.

He said: “I always believed that as an artiste, our responsibility is to spread positivity. Every small act of kindness that we show could possibly change the course of someone’s life. Although the road forward may be long, but as long as we are like-minded and walk together, I think something good will come out of it someday.”