A humble rag picker is mom in a million ...
By Xu Chi |
December 29, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TO passersby, she is probably just another rag picker, someone they ignore on their way to work. An old woman scratching a living from other people's waste.
But to her son, she is a shining example of a selfless Chinese mother, working long and hard with no thought for her own comfort to ensure her children have a life she can only dream of.
Now the humble rag picker, 45-year-old Yu Hualing, has been nominated by the Xinhua news agency as one of the country's annual top 10 Internet stars after her story was posted online.
She gained nationwide fame on the Internet after her son, 23-year-old Feng Yinglong, wrote about her years of sacrifice to provide for him, his brother and their ill father. Her hard work earned enough to pay for him to complete his university studies in Suzhou City, keep his brother in school and provide for their father in the family's hometown of Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province. The father has a brain tumor and is unable to work.
Feng's story about his mother was accompanied by a set of pictures he took recording one day in her life as a rag picker.
In the pictures, which were uploaded in March, Yu is seen riding an old green tricycle collecting garbage from door to door through the narrow winding streets of a small town in Jiangsu's Jiangdu City early one chilly morning.
Yu's years of hard toil have left deep wrinkles on her forehead, across her face and on her hands, making her look like a woman of 50 or 60, much older than her 45 years.
Yu lives in a small, shabby, brick house that costs her 45 yuan (US$6.8) a month. The living area, barely 10 square meters, is filled with various types of recycled garbage.
To save every penny to support her son through university, her meals were sometimes her landlord's leftovers. But every time Feng comes to visit her, she would go to the town's market to buy pork for him.
Over the past three years, Yu managed to make enough money to pay the tuition fees for her son - 10,000 yuan a year.
Realizing all the misery that his mother had gone through to help him - riding in all weathers, being bullied by other rag pickers and being looked down on by passersby - Feng decided to do something for her in return.
"My mother has paid too much for me and my brother," Feng told Xinmin Evening News. "I was trying to figure out a way to repay her and the idea of shooting a set of pictures came to my mind."
Feng has now graduated from university and is employed by a wedding company. His brother, Feng Kuan, is starting his university studies in Jiangsu in September.
"She is a rag picker, and the mother I'm most proud of," said Feng. "I have a dream that one day, after years of hard work, I can buy an apartment in Suzhou for my mom so she can quit being a rag picker."
The pictures he took of her mother have captured the hearts of all those who have seen them online. Many people have praised him for taking the pictures to show his love for his mother and how proud he is of her.
There were many comments from people who were deeply touched by both the mother's selfless love for her son and the boy's love in return.
The pictures that Feng took of Yucan be seen at http://bbs.news.qq.com/b-1001024027/4967.htm
But to her son, she is a shining example of a selfless Chinese mother, working long and hard with no thought for her own comfort to ensure her children have a life she can only dream of.
Now the humble rag picker, 45-year-old Yu Hualing, has been nominated by the Xinhua news agency as one of the country's annual top 10 Internet stars after her story was posted online.
She gained nationwide fame on the Internet after her son, 23-year-old Feng Yinglong, wrote about her years of sacrifice to provide for him, his brother and their ill father. Her hard work earned enough to pay for him to complete his university studies in Suzhou City, keep his brother in school and provide for their father in the family's hometown of Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province. The father has a brain tumor and is unable to work.
Feng's story about his mother was accompanied by a set of pictures he took recording one day in her life as a rag picker.
In the pictures, which were uploaded in March, Yu is seen riding an old green tricycle collecting garbage from door to door through the narrow winding streets of a small town in Jiangsu's Jiangdu City early one chilly morning.
Yu's years of hard toil have left deep wrinkles on her forehead, across her face and on her hands, making her look like a woman of 50 or 60, much older than her 45 years.
Yu lives in a small, shabby, brick house that costs her 45 yuan (US$6.8) a month. The living area, barely 10 square meters, is filled with various types of recycled garbage.
To save every penny to support her son through university, her meals were sometimes her landlord's leftovers. But every time Feng comes to visit her, she would go to the town's market to buy pork for him.
Over the past three years, Yu managed to make enough money to pay the tuition fees for her son - 10,000 yuan a year.
Realizing all the misery that his mother had gone through to help him - riding in all weathers, being bullied by other rag pickers and being looked down on by passersby - Feng decided to do something for her in return.
"My mother has paid too much for me and my brother," Feng told Xinmin Evening News. "I was trying to figure out a way to repay her and the idea of shooting a set of pictures came to my mind."
Feng has now graduated from university and is employed by a wedding company. His brother, Feng Kuan, is starting his university studies in Jiangsu in September.
"She is a rag picker, and the mother I'm most proud of," said Feng. "I have a dream that one day, after years of hard work, I can buy an apartment in Suzhou for my mom so she can quit being a rag picker."
The pictures he took of her mother have captured the hearts of all those who have seen them online. Many people have praised him for taking the pictures to show his love for his mother and how proud he is of her.
There were many comments from people who were deeply touched by both the mother's selfless love for her son and the boy's love in return.
The pictures that Feng took of Yucan be seen at http://bbs.news.qq.com/b-1001024027/4967.htm
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