BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's Olympic champion
hurdler Liu Xiang's track shoes fetched 200,000 yuan (25,000 U.S. dollars) at a
charity gala auction in Beijing on Sunday, breaking his own record made at a
similar event two weeks ago.
The running shoes, autographed by the 110m Olympic
title and world record holder, were among items that raised money for the
schooling of migrant workers' children.
The shoes were bought by Air China, which donated
another 600,000 yuan at the charity gala jointly held by the China Youth
Development Foundation (CYDF) and the China Central Television (CCTV).
Another pair of Liu's track shoes were auctioned at a
charity auction for disabled and injured athletes on Jan. 21 for 150,000 yuan.
Broadcast live for 17 hours on CCTV, the auction
collected 3.39 million yuan for the charity fund targeted at migrant children,
whose schooling in cities has caused great concern in the country.
Retired diver Xiong Ni's gold medal in the 2000 World
Diving Championship fetched 1.28 million yuan, the dearest deal reached at the
auction.
China's first Taikonaut Yang Liwei and world champion
diver Guo Jingjing also had their valuables auctioned at the charity gala to
contribute to the fund.