China’s ‘Ice Boy’ visits Beijing and enjoys ‘miracle’ of heating
Eight-year-old who melted hearts is visiting with his father and sister on state-sponsored trip – and he’s keen to see how kids in the capital get to school
Wang Fuman, the “Ice Boy” whose photo after a freezing trek to school went viral on Chinese social media, is enjoying the milder temperature and “miracle” of heating on a three-day visit to Beijing.
Eight-year-old Fuman, his father Wang Gangkui and older sister Wang Fumei, 10, began their tour of the capital on Saturday, partly sponsored by a Communist Party propaganda website.
An image of the boy with his hair and eyebrows covered in ice, his cheeks ruddy from the cold, was widely shared online about two weeks ago. He had walked for over an hour from his home in thin clothing along treacherous mountain paths and a teacher took the picture when he got to school.
The plight of the primary school pupil from Ludian county, a poor area in the southwestern Yunnan province, touched hearts across China, with many internet users expressing sympathy for the hardships the boy, and children like him, endure to get to school. Donations of money, warm clothes and heating have flooded in.
The children at the school study in a classroom without heating, in a mountainous area that often experiences sub-zero temperatures.