Life Has Greatly Changed after 'Mini Jack Ma' Became Popular Online

2016/11/22

Chen Xiaoli

A farm boy's life has changed greatly since he was recognized by people to incredibly resemble to Chinese tycoon Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Fan Xiaoqin, who is living in Yongfeng County in east China's Jiangxi Province, earned his nickname “mini Jack Ma” after his photos were widely circulated online last year.

Fan and the title became popular once again on Internet in November following Alibaba's “Double 11” sales day.

According to media reports, Fan was born in 2008 into a poor family. His mother got polio and is blind in one eye; his father – the family's sole breadwinner – had his right leg amputated after he was bitten by a snake in his 20s. Fan's grandmother has dementia. He also has a 13-year-old brother.

According to Fan Jiafa, the father, many warmhearted people, journalists, business people and government officials have visited the family since his younger son became popular online. It has greatly changed their life.

A villager said, "There had never been so many cars in the village before; even the road was crushed."

Sometimes the brothers had to be late for school due to the frequent visits.

Every day, the father also received a lot of calls and messages from strangers.

Rumors have also gradually emerged among villagers. According to the father, most people visited the family with some gifts such as rice, milk, stationery and snacks, then some villagers would exaggerate the number of items people brought to them. Some even said that the father took advantage of his son and had earned hundreds of thousands of yuan. However, the total amount of donation was 7,000-8,000 yuan.

According to the villagers, other children don't like to play with Fan brothers as they are always dirty and rarely talking. Fan Xiaoqin's class teacher also said that the boy is very slow in studies.

However, the father thought his son would be good if he was sent to a better school. "I'm glad that people came to visit us. I don't have high hope that someone would be willing to fund my son. I just want my children to be able to study well. Only knowledge can change the destiny."

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Life Has Greatly Changed after 'Mini Jack Ma' Became Popular Online

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