Chelsea's second day in China widened the focus far beyond simply football as the club lent support to those tackling the aftermath of the Sichuan Province earthquake.

For China, 2008 brings the Beijing Olympics, just days away now, but the year has also dealt the country tragedy. May's earthquake left an estimated 90,000 dead and many, many more affected.

Chelsea's second game of the Asia tour, to be played in Macau on July 26, will be against Chengdu Blades, a team from the province, with a donation to be made to the earthquake appeal, but before then at Tuesday's Official Welcome Dinner for the Chelsea players, held at the team's hotel, the relief effort was the centre of attention.

On Tuesday morning, Chelsea's Football in the Community event in Guangzhou had already hosted children from Sichuan but in the evening, hand-in-hand with Chelsea star names, boys and girls orphaned by the disaster were led into the lavish ballroom for the welcoming dinner and a night to raise money and awareness for the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.

Peter Kenyon, in his speech to the dinner, thanked the hosts but emphasised the most important people present were not Chelsea, but the children. It was fitting then that the two moments which had everyone talking after the event were songs by the youthful Guangzhou Regional Chorus, whose crystal clear tones sung 'The World Befilled With Love', a traditional song at times of disaster; and later on, 'Love from the River' just yards from where the mighty Pearl River flows past the hotel frontage.

Red and green ribbons, Chinese symbolism for patience and hope respectively, were tied around the wrists of the players to add colour to the music. It was a show of support for the charity and financial input came from an auction when pairs of Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Essien boots and a Petr Cech shirt attracted significant bids. Overall the dinner raised 625,000RMB (nearly £50,000).

Already the customary gifts had been exchanged between Chelsea and hosts, this time the club accepting a bone carving while special silver plates were presented to Chen Kai Zhi, the vice-chairman of the Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and Gu Shiyang from the Guangzhou municipal government.

For the players, the dinner came in the middle of a mixed day. In the morning, advantage was taken of the hotel sports facilities for some indoor work, including ever-popular head tennis.

In the evening, after signing a giant temporary wall as they exited the dinner, the squad once again relocated to the futuristic Guangdong Olympic Stadium. Twenty-four hours before the game, every member of the squad was able to train in full on the pitch.

After extensive routines, Felipe Scolari held a brief match-based practice session but with few discernable clues to his likely starting line-up tomorrow.

What he did reveal was a personal fitness level that allowed him to stay shoulder-to-shoulder with assistant Steve Clarke, 15 years his junior, as they ran a few laps of the pitch while the players were changing on a hot and humid night.

Later into the dressing room than the others was Michael Essien. Fresh from signing his new five-year deal, he spoke to the media, supplying the quotes that can read in Wednesday morning's newspapers.

He told chelseafc.com: 'I am very happy here so it is very good for me to sign a new contract. I signed one a year ago but the club came to me and it took me only a week-and-a-half to decide to sign a new one. It was not something I had to think a lot about.

'Now I am just looking forward to playing and tomorrow's game and if we can start with a win it will be good news.

'I have done enough training to feel good now,' added the player who always looks ready for 90 minutes. 'The more we keep playing, the more the fitness is going to come.'

Kick-off against Guangzhou Pharmaceutical is 1pm UK time on Wednesday. The game is live on Chelsea TV.