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China: Interesting personalities

Adventurer returns after selling everything and traveling the world
By Yin Lu | Source:Global Times | Published: 2016/12/15 19:23:39

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Chen drives the vehicle to 113 countries . Photo: Li Hao/GT


When Chen Hanbin returned to Beijing in September from his four-year trip around the world, he had to start all over again. And the first thing this 33 year old did was rent an apartment and a car.

Four years ago, Chen was still a homeowner. To make the trip possible, he sold his apartment for about 8 million yuan ($1.15 million). The apartment, located in the CBD area on the Third Ring Road in Beijing, is now valued at about 21 million yuan.

"I have never regretted it, not once," he told the Global Times in an interview from his vehicle, now parked outside of the Fifth Ring Road, where parking fees are cheaper.

Surrounded by local residents' cars, the caravan stands out, not only because of its size, but also because it is covered in the names of the 113 countries that Chen and his team have been to in the last 1,588 days, as well as the name of his team: "Don't U Turn."


Decision of a lifetime

Chen began his global adventure on May 19, 2012.

He bought two vehicles and recruited a team of 12 people, mostly friends. During the trip, some members dropped out due to health, family or work issues, so they sold one vehicle. A number of strangers also joined them on their adventure along the way.

Chen's decision to pour his savings and real estate into a world trip was a strange one to the public, especially in a country where housing prices have risen rapidly over the last decade.

Upon his return, people still asked how he had the courage to sell his house - a result of sensible investment from his parents, and the profits made from a small acting agency he set up and had run since his college days.

According to Chen, the reason was simple: he wanted to see the world.

"We did helicopter riding, diving, sky diving, safaris on the African savanna, good local food, tourist spots - I wanted to try everything. I never thought I should keep this money," he said.

"We met so many interesting people - backpackers, customs officers, police officers, Chinese living in the area and local people.

Some even gave us food, advice, and some invited us to their homes."

Before that, Chen had little experience in traveling abroad. But sightseeing was not what he wanted to do.

"We want to do much more than just traveling. We want adventure," he said. "Sure I was ill, and injured, and ended up in vehicle accidents. But it proved to be anything but boring. Every day was different."


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The vehicle is home to Chen Hanbin and his team members for four years.
Photo: Li Hao/GT

Life and death

Before leaving, Chen thought to himself that the trip would be pretty boring if they didn't go through any life-and-death situations.

"But I didn't expect that there would be so many of them - a tire blowout, brake failure, getting trapped in the rainforest, getting lost in no man's land, having guns pointed at my back," he said.

The most dangerous moment happened when the team went to the Democratic Republic of Congo to see silverback gorillas. There were many different soldiers in the country, either from rebel or peacekeeping forces. At one of the checks, they got into a misunderstanding with a soldier, who became very angry.

"I was pinned down by two soldiers who had their guns on my back," Chen said.

But a much more terrifying experience was in store for him at the seldom-traveled North Cape in Norway, a northern point inside the Arctic Circle.

Chen drove up to his destination, enjoying the feeling of being at the northern tip of the European continent, battling sea winds and spindrifts. But he found that to the north across the sea there was another place that could only be reached by foot.

Driven by an adventurer's desire, Chen and his team decided to hike nine kilometers across an uninhabited area around the gulf to the cliff, despite having little experience in hiking, let alone in such extreme weather.

On their way back, they got lost. It soon became dark, and the team was hungry, freezing, and soaking wet from the sweat. Many sprained their ankles on the rocks and brooks.

All they could do was keep walking in the darkness in what they believed was the right direction. Fortunately, they eventually saw the headlights of a truck in the distance, and the drivers had noticed the team waving their flashlights.

"In retrospect, I am thankful that nobody said that we could have died here, so we were able to keep walking. But inside, it was all I could think about - the life I have had and what note to leave the family," he said.


In the moment

While China's economy has expanded, there has been a growing sentiment in modern Chinese society for seeking an escape from the pressures of daily life.

Over the years, a number of memes and popular phrases have circulated on the Internet promoting the idea of living in the moment, such as "You've got to have a dream in case it comes true." Another came from a high school teacher's resignation letter, which read "The world is big and I want to go and see it," and also went viral.

"Many people dream of traveling the world, but few actually do it, because they don't know how to face life after they come back," Chen said.

He attributes his different attitude to his upbringing. "I grew up not wanting to excel at things. I just wanted to do what I liked."

When people ask him the meaning behind his actions, he says he doesn't think it's meaningful at all.

"People advised me to do it 'for a cause,' such as AIDS patients, or for children in poverty," he said. But for the trip, Chen actually turned down all the companies that offered to sponsor him.

"I just always wanted to do this," he said. "However, many things happened along the trip and I realized that I do make a difference."

With so much media coverage and feedback from the project's Sina Weibo account, Chen wants to inspire more people to go on their own adventures.

On top of a book and a documentary he is working on, Chen has a bigger plan for later this year.

"I will drive this caravan to the South Pole," he said.


Newspaper headline: The road home

Thats a great story and a great experience. He could setup so much for others.
 
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One man’s African journey from Mao-era teacher to millionaire entrepreneur
By Zhang Yu Source:Global Times Published: 2016/12/22 20:08:39


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Hu Jieguo poses with two police guards in Lagos, Nigeria. Photo: Courtesy of Hu Jieguo


"We must study English hard for the revolution!"

A smiling Hu Jieguo, then a teacher in his mid-20s, points at the blackboard in a classroom in Shanghai, portraits of former leaders Mao Zedong and Hua Guofeng hanging above him.

That moment was captured in a black-and-white picture taken during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).

Today, the man who taught English for the revolution has carved out a business empire in Nigeria and become a millionaire who owns a chain of hotels, restaurants and factories in the West African country. He became Nigeria's first foreign "chieftain," is known locally by his English name Jacob Wood and believes that US-style democracy is no way forward for Africa. We spoke to 68-year-old Hu Jieguo about his adventurous life.

Leaving home

Hu's connection with Nigeria came from his father, who went to Lagos in the early 1950s and opened a textile factory there, becoming one of the first generation of Chinese immigrants in Africa. A prominent figure in Nigeria's Chinese community, he often wrote to his son, asking him to join him there.

But Hu said he had never thought about leaving China. Growing up in Shanghai in Mao's China, he was one of hundreds of thousands of urban youths who were taken out of formal schooling and moved to rural areas under the call of Chairman Mao.

"During the Cultural Revolution, the idea of leaving the country was tantamount to treason," he told the Global Times. In the later stages of the Cultural Revolution, he was lucky enough to be enrolled in a college and was later assigned a job as an English teacher in a Shanghai high school.

It was a time when China based its foreign policy almost entirely on ideology, and the similarities in this regard between China and Africa - both having suffered from colonialism and imperialism - made Africa China's ally.

As the Cultural Revolution drew to an end, going to Nigeria became a possibility. One day, during a trip back home, China's ambassador in Nigeria met Hu in Shanghai's Peace Hotel and told him, "The Party organization has decided to let you go abroad. Overseas Chinese need successors too."

In 1978, just as China was readying itself for one of the biggest reforms in its history, Hu left China via Shenzhen's Luohu Port and embarked on a journey to Nigeria, expecting to help lift African people out of their "misery." "All the education I received in China taught me that people in Asia, Africa and Latin America lived miserable lives struggling against imperialist rule, so I left China with that in mind," he said.

Pots of gold

Nigeria was nothing like what Hu had expected. In the 1970s, the country was in the midst of an oil boom which made it the wealthiest country in Africa. Its per capita GDP in 1980 was over four times that of China, whose economy had been badly disrupted by political movements.

Hu was shocked by what he saw in the former British colony. "By 1978, China had only one highway. But Nigeria already had a cross-sea bridge. I'd never seen a color television in China, but in Nigeria it was quite common among the wealthy," he recalled.

Hu's father laid a solid economic foundation for him in Nigeria, but Hu wasn't interested in taking over his father's textile business. Instead, with his English proficiency, he found a job at a high-end hotel in Lagos, learning hotel management from its Western managers.

After getting a business degree in Canada and spending years running local hotels in Lagos, in 1997, Hu opened his own Chinese restaurant in Lagos, a six-storey venue called the Golden Gate Restaurant, which held banquets for local dignitaries. In the years that followed, his business expanded to various different sectors including hotels, construction, agriculture and infrastructure.

His business success also helped him build close ties with the Nigerian government. In 2001, after donating four schools that can hold up to 10,000 students to the Nigerian government, he was given the honorary title of a "chieftain." His ties with Chinese companies also earned him the post of personal consultant to former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2007, after several Chinese oil workers were kidnapped in Nigeria, Hu successfully negotiated their release using his position and local influence.

Better integration

The expansion of Hu's business in Nigeria runs parallel with China's increasing economic presence in Africa. But it has also prompted many to accuse China of being the new imperialists who have come to Africa for its resources, rather than thinking about real benefits for the locals.

"Many Nigerians tell me that the Chinese are building airports and railways in Africa, but with little travel needs, they are not benefitting from them," he said.

Hu believes the best way for Chinese companies to earn local trust is by giving jobs to the locals. Among the 10,000 employees currently working at his Golden Gate Group, over 95 percent are Africans.

For Hu, who grew up in China's hard-working culture, he doesn't deny that hiring African workers sometimes means lower productivity. "African Muslims, for example, need to pray five times a day, which takes up working hours, and they are unwilling to work on holidays." However, corporate responsibility is more important than profitability, he said.

Hu also runs a weekly Chinese newspaper which covers news in West Africa and is distributed among Chinese in West African countries. "Many Chinese living in Africa are pretty isolated from local society, with little or no idea what's going on in the country they live in. I hope this newspaper will offer them some clues and help them integrate better," he said.

Over 30 years after he first landed in Nigeria, Hu often compares the changes that have occurred in China and in Nigeria over the past three decades. "Today, Nigeria is still planning its fourth cross-sea bridge. And yet bridges and highways are so common in China that there are hundreds of thousands of them," he remarks.

Probably as a result of his early years in China, Hu firmly believes that democracy is to blame for Africa's slower growth. "US-style democracy ruined many developing countries. Democracy might be good for the US, but not for the developing world," he said.


Newspaper headline: A Chinese chieftain in Lagos
 
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Salvage man donates found rare books to provincial library
2016-12-20 11:07 | Global Times | Editor: Li Yan

A Sichuan Province man who for years scavenged thousands of discarded rare and antique books has donated his finds to his provincial library.

Chen Guangwei, 69 of Bazhong, presented 1,168 books during a ceremony at the Sichuan Provincial Library in Chengdu on Friday, many of them rare reference materials and dictionaries dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Chen, a former farmer, said he has always cherished books despite his elementary school education.

His collection began in 1983 after starting a salvage business.

Chen has since amassed a collection of nearly 50,000 books - around 1,600 Qing antiques and 2,000 from the Republican Era (1911-1949).

In 1997, he opened his library to the public, lending out books free of charge.

"The greatest value books have is when they're read by people who really need them," Chen said.

The self-confessed bibliophile estimates he spends about 20,000 yuan ($2,880) a year on books and bookcases.

Though his family wasn't on the same page at first, Chen said they've since come around.

"We think he is doing something good for people," said grandson Chen Xin.

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Heart warming story of a boy from a rural area doing good. He could have been a "left-behind kid".

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From Hunan to Harvard - a boy who was not 'left-behind'
2016-06-04 08:35 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

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He Jiang, Harvard graduate and commencement speaker. (Photo provided to China Daily)

Zeng Xianhua has barely enough time to put in a full shift at the piggery these days, not since last week when her son, He Jiang, gave the commencement address at Harvard University.

The previously sleepy village of Tingzhongxin in central China's Hunan Province is now besieged by reporters from home and abroad clamoring for interviews, eager for the story of her son's journey from a rural Chinese backwater to center stage at the world's finest university.

BITTEN BY THE KNOWLEDGE BUG

He Jiang began his address with an anecdote about how, when he was a child, his mother used a traditional remedy to cure a spider bite. An unusual way to begin a speech to world's brightest minds, but an excellent introduction to his the theme: unequal distribution of scientific knowledge throughout the world. Moreover, it is an extremely strange topic to go viral on Chinese social media, especially considering the speech was made in near-perfect English.

Acclaim is virtually universal. "I thought it was brilliant," said a village official after watching the speech online.

With the speech has come a most unusual kind of fame, as He Jiang's story has captured the hearts of many who know nothing of Harvard University and have precious little scientific knowledge themselves.

More than anything, He Jiang is thankful to his parents for not letting him becoming one of the millions of "left-behind" children. "My parents did not use any special tricks in bringing me up," said He Jiang during a conversation on WeChat. "At a time when many people from rural China were leaving their children behind to seek their fortunes in the cities, they gave up that opportunity and stayed home to look after me and my little brother."

Even during the years of the one-child policy, rural residents were allowed two children and, as if one brilliant mind in the family was not enough, "little brother" He Jiaolong is a graduate of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, one of the country's finest.

All this academic glory was funded from 10 pigs and three fields of rice.

NO SECRET

Visitors are coming from far and wide, many to pay homage to the parenting skills of Zeng and her husband He Bicheng.

"My son is still in school and I wanted to visit the parents to learn how they brought up their son," said a man who had travelled from from another county to pay his respects.

Besides the fans, when Xinhua turned up at Zeng's home, we had to take our place in line behind two other media organizations already patiently waiting.

"There is no secret to their success," Zeng said, blushing as faced the press. "We never imagined what they have the achieved today."

But in eyes of neighbors, classmates and teachers, achievements like theirs are not a matter of chance.

"The whole family knows the importance of education," said a neighbor, Zhang Aifang, "and the parents gave up a good income for the sake of their sons."

The father, He Bicheng, said, "When they were little, I read them stories every night and I told them how wonderful the outside world would be if they studied hard and went to college." He Bicheng said he never forced them to study, but cultivated a love of learning.

The two boys' upbringing was as normal as could be. They shared the household chores and toiled in the paddy fields with their parents from an early age. "We wanted them to understand how hard it is to earn a living as farmers and they wanted to help us," Zeng said.

He Jiang said his experience working in the fields was very important to him. "I've seen the difficulties for myself and I wanted to change my own life," he said, but whenever he returns home from the States, he still joins his parents in the fields.

"He is diligent, persistent and has a pleasant demeanor," said He Jiang's high school English teacher, Xie Fang. He was also famously stoic, always wearing the same coat throughout the year. Most importantly he was neither sensitive nor ashamed of his rural roots. On the contrary, He Jiang was optimistic and open-minded, Xie said.

Long Kunming, another high school teacher described him as quiet, focused and very clear about his goals.

MAXIMUM RESPECT

Aiming high, they say, and even as he matriculated at the University of Science and Technology of China, He Jiang had his mind set on graduate school at Harvard and his intention never wavered. And when eventually made it, the first thing he did was to set to work on his language skills, striving to improve his spoken English.

"I moved to the undergraduate dormitory and lived with the American students. This helped my pronunciation a lot," he said. Chinese students studying abroad often find it hard to mix and their friendship groups are often almost exclusively Chinese.

Mini-celebrity that his speech has made him, He Jiang wants nothing so much as to return to the laboratory. Now a Harvard alumnus, his next port of call will be only 2 kilometers away, at MIT for a post-doctoral degree. He says he does not know what will happen after that, perhaps he will return to China, perhaps he will stay in the States, but mother Zeng knows what she wants for her son.

"Of course we hope he will come back and marry a Chinese girl, but we will respect his choice," she said.
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This person is going places.

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Chinese scholar named on annual Forbes '30 under 30' list
2017-01-05 09:19 | China Daily | Editor: Feng Shuang

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He Jiang, Harvard graduate and commencement speaker. (Photo provided to China Daily)


He Jiang, the first Chinese to deliver a Harvard University commencement address, has made the 2017 Forbes "30 under 30".

"I received a message (about the list) this morning. I'm a little surprised, but very happy about it," He told China Daily on Tuesday.

Forbes' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists issued annually by Forbes magazine.

On Tuesday, the magazine released its sixth annual 30 Under 30, featuring 600 young innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders who challenge conventional wisdom and rewrite the rules for the next generation.

The lists recognize 30 game-changers in 20 industries who are under 30 years old, with the honorees vetted by a panel of judges from their respective fields.

Previous winners include Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, Saturday Night Live's Kate McKinnon, the rapper Chance and YouTube phenom Michelle Phan.

"These are the people that will run every field for the next 50 years," said Randall Lane, editor of Forbes.

He, a 29-year-old postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was chosen for the healthcare category after being nominated by his professors at Harvard.

"I didn't know I was nominated until December," He said.

At Harvard, He used a new technology called single-virus tracking super-resolution imaging, known as STORM, to understand more about how influenza infects cells, and discovered human genes with strong anti-viral effects.

He is now applying the same techniques to neurons and white blood cells. He hopes the lab research he conducted can be put to practical use in healthcare.

He grew up in a small village with limited educational opportunities. By studying hard, He graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China-one of China's top universities-with a bachelor's degree in 2009, and was accepted into Harvard's PhD program on a full scholarship the same year.

In May, the biochemistry doctorate delivered a speech representing the university's 13 graduate and professional schools at the commencement.

In his speech, He talked about the uneven distribution of science and technology in the world and expressed his desire to get science and medicine to places they aren't reaching, such as his own village, where his mother once treated his spider bite with fire.

Seventeen of the 600 winners in 2017 are from China.

"One in every six of the 30 under 30 list members are immigrants, originating from 44 different countries and exemplifying the success of immigrants," the Forbes website said.

More than 15,000 online submissions were received and only 600 made the cut, meaning there was a 4 percent acceptance rate, lower than Stanford (4.8 percent) or Harvard (5.2 percent) if compared with college admissions rates.

Others on the list include Hope Hicks, 28, the newly appointed White House director of strategic communications; musician Gallant, 24; athlete Von Miller, 27; YouTube star Tyler Oakley, 27; and entrepreneur Noah Kraft, 29.
 
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Man pays off 640,000-RMB debt for son after son's fatal car accident
By Sun Wenyu (People's Daily Online) 13:48, January 19, 2017


A man named Guo Xixiang from Funing County, Jiangsu province spent five years paying off 640,000 RMB in debt for his deceased son, Xdkb.net reported.

Guo's eldest son died in October 2007 in a car accident, leaving debt totaling 637,117 RMB, a huge sum of money for a rural family whose annual income was just 15,000 RMB. As an honest and upright person, Guo decided to pay off his son's debt. Though his friends and fellow villagers tried to dissuade him, he maintained that the creditors deserved their money back.

Guo's wife, Zhou Lan, supported his decision, saying they would get through any hardships as long as the family stayed together. Fortunately, 370,000 RMB of the debt was covered by insurance, which greatly relieved Guo's burden. Guo's second son, who makes a living running a restaurant, has also helped his father pay the debt.

Apart from farm work, Guo also took part-time jobs at construction sites and a pastry factory, earning 3,000 to 4,000 RMB each month. He pinched and scraped in order to save more. Finally, Guo paid off the last of the debt in 2012.

"Now my life has become normal again," Guo said, adding that his eldest granddaughter has married and his two grandsons are in school. A local official praised Guo's story as an example of positive energy from which all of society can learn.


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Don't think many people will repay the loan of their deceased son.
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Totally dedicated to his work and service to the public.
Couldn't take leave during Spring Festival, poor guy.


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Police officer weds at railway station during deployment
By Sun Wenyu (People's Daily Online) 15:12, January 24, 2017

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An armed police officer named Zhang Qinghua and his fiancee, Huang Mengjiao, enjoyed a special wedding ceremony on the platform of Hangzhou Railway Station on Jan. 22. The couple's wedding was originally scheduled for Jan. 23. However, Zhang decided to postpone the event since he had been deployed to the station for a security mission during Spring Festival. In order to give Zhang a happy surprise, Huang came to Hangzhou on Jan. 22 and organized a simple wedding ceremony. The marriage was witnessed by Zhang's comrades-in-arms.

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I like simple weddings, saves lots of time and money.
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This is one way to avoid the rush, but certainly not my way.

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Chongqing man bikes 1,800km from Shanghai to home
2017-01-25 14:21 chinadaily.com.cn Editor: Li Yan

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Feng Jianchuan, a 20-year-old restaurant worker in Shanghai, chooses to ride home by bike for the Spring Festival in 2017. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn

There are many ways to go home, but Feng Jianchuan chose a challenging one: riding home by bike.

Feng, 20, a restaurant worker in Shanghai, kicked off his journey on January 12. He planned to arrive at his home in Liangping district, southwest China's Chongqing, on Jan 27, the eve of the Spring Festival.

The distance between Shanghai and Chongqing is about 1,800 kilometers.

"I am biking nine hours a day now," Feng told China Daily on Jan 24 evening. He was in Enshi, Hubei province, about 300 km from home.

"But I'm riding very slowly, about 100 km a day, because there are big mountains on the Chongqing and Hubei border and climbing them is hard."

Though his family is repeatedly asking him to hitch a ride home in case he could not make it by the New Year Eve, the young man said he will never give up.

"I'm feeling OK and I can eat a lot now, even fat meat which I would not take in the past," he said.

"I believe I can finish the journey and the first thing I want to do after I arrive is to have a big meal with my family."

Feng went to work in Shanghai last July but began missing home dearly lot. So he decided to return to Chongqing during the Spring Festival and start his own restaurant in the hometown.

Not sure if he could handle the hardship of starting a business, he decided to test himself by driving motorcycle from Shanghai to home.

He spent 2,500 yuan ($ 350) for the bike and other gear and saved another 2,000 yuan for accommodation and food on the road.

Along the road, he has met some challenges as well as some friendly strangers. "After I hit the road, I saw a whole new world," he said.

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1. 芮成钢 former CCTV journalist, Chinese must know this guy.

Ever famous on CCTV Talk-show, making friends with many foreign political VIPs.
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Now in prison.:coffee:
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Husband sends wife rose bouquet with $22K for wedding anniversary
2017-02-04 13:19 People's Daily Online Editor: Wang Fan

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Mr. Zhang's wife

On Saturday, Jan. 24, a man named Zhang Lin in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, sent his wife a rose bouquet with stacks of cash totaling 150,000 RMB ($21,832) as a present for their ninth wedding anniversary, local media reported.

The two sustained a long-distance relationship for years before their marriage, so Zhang and his wife strongly cherish their love. Appreciating his wife's commitment to the family, Zhang wanted to surprise her on their anniversary with the bouquet and the cash.

Cherishing their hard-won relationship, Zhang said that he could never ask for a more precious marriage.
 
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Railway guards protect passengers against danger
Four men have kept patrolling in a railway tunnel in south China for more than 1,500 days! They helped prevent water and sand gushing disasters and ensure safety for passengers.


It's important to remember about hard working people like them. Thank you for your dedicated work.
 
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Inner Mongolia delivery man rides through snow to distribute on time

Video of a delivery man who got on his horse to distribute packages through snow-covered streets in Inner Mongolia’s Bayannuur city has gone viral on Chinese social media. A cold front has swept through northern China over the last few days and cities in Inner Mongolia have been battered by snow, leaving roads icy and covered in a thick blanket of powder. To make sure customers got their parcels on time, however, one delivery man traded his usual vehicle on wheels for a four-legged one. By galloping around the city on horseback, he told local media he could deliver at least 30 to 40 packages.


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Couple guards isolated island for 30 years
By Sun Wenyu (People's Daily Online) February 28, 2017

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A married couple has guarded an isolated island in China's Bohai Sea for 30 years. The island, named Kaishan, is located near the border area of the Japanese and South Korean high seas, 12 kilometers away from Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. Measuring just 0.013 square kilometers in area, life on the sparse island is extremely hard.

Wang Jicai came to the island in 1986, followed by his wife, Wang Shihua, who quit her job as a teacher to move. The couple's daily life consists mainly of raising the national flag, monitoring the sea and air, rescuing people who stray into the surrounding waters and maintaining coastal defense logs. They have only spent five Spring Festivals with their families in the past 30 years, and their son was delivered by Wang Jicai himself, as storms prevented the couple from seeking outside medical attention.

Now, a patriotism education base has been built on the island, and has already been visited by over 5,000 people. The couple said they will guard the island for China as long as they are alive.

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