Thousands of fans began trooping into the Hong Kong Football Stadium shortly after noon today to ensure they got the best seats for the seven-hour variety show, which showcased many well-loved singers who have not performed in public for years.

The “Crossing Borders” concert began with the screening of a video showing some of Asia’s best loved stars like Chan, Andy Lau, Miriam Yeung and Teresa Carpio recording the signature song “Love”, which is the Chinese version of “We Are The World”.

Tickets to the show were free and it was beamed live to mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Bands which have long disbanded, such as the Grasshoppers, and wildly popular girl and boy bands belted out love ballads. Many wore white, the colour of mourning in China.

Big names like Leon Lai appeared within the first hour of the show, delighting his many fans. Taiwan’s Jay Chou, Chang hui-mei and boy band F4 were also expected to appear.

Giving Generously

Hosts urged fans and television viewers to donate generously by calling hotlines as company representatives took turns to walk onstage to hand over giant cheques.

“Now is the time to give generously,” one host said.

Organisers have not set any targets for the fund raiser, but said donations would really take off when the stadium fills up to its 40,000-capacity after people get off work in the evening.

The show is the latest in a string of private sector initiatives in Hong Kong to raise funds for survivors of the December 26 tsunami which killed over 150,000 people in Indonesia, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other countries as far away as Africa.

More than five million people are homeless or displaced, mostly in unsanitary conditions and experts have warned that they face a range of epidemics if help is not made available.

The catastrophe has left no one untouched and ordinary people from across the territory have dug deep.

Over the weekend in Hong Kong, hawkers donated vegetables and shoppers paid as much as HK$1,500 (102 pounds) for a small bag of lettuce, with the proceeds going to help the relief effort.

More than 760 prisoners in the high-security Stanley Prison, where some of the city’s most hardened criminals are locked up, donated HK$141,788 on Thursday after learning of the catastrophe on the news.

Hong Kong’s government, which came under criticism for acting too slowly after the tsunami, has pledged HK$17 million and the city’s ordinary people and companies have been far more generous.

Private donations have surged way past HK$500 million so far.