FOR more than 30 years, Wang Wanlin has offered shelter to runaways and homeless youngsters he's found on the streets of Hangzhou. Former charges whose lives Wang helped turn around have organized parties to thank him and donate to his charity work. Xu Wenwen meets the man with hundreds of "children."

While Wang Wanlin does not have any children of his own, the 67-year-old is proud to have been a father to more than 500 children over the years.

Those children are runaways and other youngsters from many parts of the country who end up roaming the streets of Hangzhou. Wang offers them accommodation, helps them find jobs or convinces them to return home, arranging for their families to pick them up or buying train tickets himself.

Thanks to his efforts since 1979, hundreds of juveniles were steered away from homelessness and crime. Today, most have steady jobs, many are married and have children, and some have become millionaires.

"I feel satisfied and excited as I see them grow up and live happy lives. That's enough," says Wang.

Standing less than 1.6 meters tall, Wang has a vigorous air about him and is talkative, especially when talking about his "kids."

His own father died when Wang was just eight, after which he and his mother moved from Suzhou in Jiangsu Province to Hangzhou.

A relationship with a girlfriend broke up and Wang is not married. He worked in a local packing material plant as a salesman but was laid off in 1989. Since the 1990s he has worked in administration at Darongrong Barbershop.

Over the past 33 years or so, Wang has helped 507 teenagers, some staying with Wang for a just few days, others remaining for years.

Most were found by Wang roaming the streets. He walks the city, especially railway and coach stations, shopping malls and tunnels, finds young vagrants, talks to them, takes them home and offers help.

"It's not hard to tell them from others: the dirty clothes, aimless wandering and the confusion, depression or anger in eyes," Wang says.

"They've either run away from home, are playing hookey, or cannot find a job in the city. If people don't help them, they will probably end up going wrong."

The latest youngster Wang has helped out is a 16-year-old named Yao with learning difficulties and physical impairments. Born to Hangzhou parents who never married, Yao did not have hukou - registered permanent residence. The boy's father died years ago and his mother remarried but didn't take him to live with her new family.

Without hukou, the boy did not receive formal education and did not have an ID card, surviving by begging until Wang met him last year.

As he'd done so many times in the past, Wang talked to the boy, learned his sad story and then offered him a home in his 50-square-meter apartment. As Yao did not have a home, Wang turned to local police for help. They helped Yao get his hukou and ID card in less than three months.

Considering Yao's plight, the local government offered him low-rent housing, a 48-square-meter apartment for just 288 yuan (US$46) a year. Wang paid for one year's rent.

In addition, Wang found the young man a job as a cleaner in a small barbershop and has taken on the role of guardian until Yao reaches 18.

"People hate me, but he doesn't," the boy tells Shanghai Daily at the barbershop where he works. "I feel that I am a human now."

Once Wang starts talking about his "kids," he does not stop, eager to share the literally hundreds of stories. He remembers every youngster's name and has a collection of notebooks into which he has entered names, birthdays, addresses and phone numbers.

It all started in one evening of 1979 when Wang had finished work and was waiting to take the bus home. At the bus stop he saw a 14-year-old boy, unkempt and poorly clad, wandering around aimlessly.

Wang asked him why he didn't go home, and the boy began sobbing and told Wang he was from Jiangxi Province and had been duped into working in a coal mine in Zhejiang Province. He had escaped by hiding in a coal truck passing Hangzhou and had not eaten for two days.

Wang took him home so the boy could wash, get clean clothes, a decent meal and a bed. Wang's mother, Meng Hehua, was still alive at the time and helped care for the youngster. A few days later, Wang bought the boy train ticket and saw him off.

"My mother supported me a lot, which was very encouraging. I believe the influence of my mother and teachers at school led to me trying to help others," Wang recalls.

Wang admits he was not a good student during his own school days, cutting class and played truant, but his teachers never gave up on him. One school teacher would send him cash, aware that his family had little money.

One day in 1981, when Wang was passing a railway station, he saw four young men trying to steal food from a stall. He stopped and asked one where they were from. At first, no one answered but Wang kept talking, asking them gently until they told him their stories. The four were from Fujian Province and had just graduated from middle school. They were looking for jobs in Hangzhou, but had not found work and had spent all their money. Wang took them home, and he and his mother offered them accommodation for a few months until they agreed to Wang arranging for them to return to Fujian.

"After that, I was determined to carry it on," Wang says, explaining his motivation with a pet phrase. "I like to change bad things into good things."

The boys returned home and started out from scratch. Three are now businessmen and spent 130,000 yuan holding a party for Wang's 50th birthday in Hangzhou, which included 53 of Wang's "kids" among its guests.

Inevitably, there are occasions when things don't work out so well. Wang recounts how a boy stayed in his apartment for 28 days before stealing the cell phones belonging to three other youngsters and disappearing.

Wang tried to trace the boy to his home in Henan Province. He didn't find him, but gave police his details. He did not want to bring charges, but asked officers to talk to the boy if they came across him. "His life would be ruined if he's put in prison, that's not what I want," says Wang.

Wang says he has encountered many difficulties during the years. Sometimes parents take him for a human trafficker; sometimes he runs out of money and has had to borrow some; sometimes his young charges don't listen to him.

But the passing years have brought more help too. He has persuaded several businessmen to offer jobs to those young men.

And people whom he has helped have grown up and now themselves help Wang's charity.

Ni Xiaowei, who was sent to Wang because his father was too poor to raise him, is now a millionaire who runs a logistics company. Every year he sends Wang money for his charity.

"I call him dad and I take him as my dad. Supporting him is a must," says Ni.