Kung fu movie star Jet Li plans to set up a charitable fund to raise money from the public to help the needy, he told students during a lecture at Fudan University yesterday.

Li, 42, talked to more than 500 students at Fudan yesterday afternoon about how to increase their self-esteem and deal with frustrations in life.

The speech, entitled "Environmental Protection for the Heart," is part of the "Sunshine in the Heart" project - a national project sponsored by the Red Cross Society of China to hold lectures on psychological health at 100 universities in the country.

Li said his charity, the One Fund, will ask people who are willing to help others to donate 1 yuan (12 US cents) a month. The money raised by the fund will be donated to the Red Cross Society of China to help the needy.

"After years of hard experience in the martial arts and entertainment circles around the world, I came to realize that one's true happiness lies in his contributions to the outside world, not from gaining fortune, power or fame," said Li, who claims he became a Buddhist five years ago.

Born in Beijing, Li was selected to study martial arts at the age of eight and won several national martial arts contests.

He took up acting at the age of 16 and shot to fame by performing in a series of mainland and Hollywood movies, including Shaolin Temple, (his first film) Lethal Weapon 4, and Romeo Must Die.

(Shanghai Daily December 5, 2005)