‘Kind-hearted’ security guard feted by Chinese media finally comes clean
Newspaper reports called Zheng Juming a hero for giving part of his salary every month to an orphan on the other side of the country. But that wasn’t the whole story
A middle-aged security guard in east China lauded by the media for his years of financial support to an orphan has confessed he doesn’t deserve all the praise – he’s actually the girl’s father, local media have reported.
Zheng Juming, a 53-year-old resident of Zhejiang province, confessed to Chengdu Business News he had made up the story. He had told a small lie to a colleague one night in February and after he was admitted to hospital with lung cancer, co-workers brought a reporter on one visit.
Other newspapers got ahold of the story and soon he was being feted as a “selfless” worker who was donating part of his modest income to the 12-year-old orphan in Xingwen, a county in southwest Sichuan province.
He finally admitted she his daughter. In 2003, he had an affair with a migrant worker from Xingwen when they were both working in Haiyan county, near Jiaxing.
The woman became pregnant and gave birth in her hometown, with her sister adopting the baby.
Zheng, who has a wife and son in Jiaxing, kept the incident a secret but regularly mailed money to the girl. In February, he showed her photo to the colleague, saying the girl was an orphan he was helping.
