Charity fast to help migrant children 'piece of cake' for 98-year-old war veteran
War veteran is one of 1,300 elderly in event to help migrant workers' children on the mainland
A 98-year-old veteran soldier who survived a deadly bombing during war was among 1,300 elderly people who took part in an eight-hour fast to help the mainland's "stateless children" of migrant workers yesterday.
Fung Siu-hoi, the oldest of the male participants, found the fast "a piece of cake" because he had gone without food for as long as 72 hours during the eight-year second Sino-Japanese war.
Fung has taken part in the annual fast, started by World Vision Hong Kong in 1989, for almost 20 years now. The eldest participant this year was centurion Chan Yuet-mei, who has participated in the fast for 13 years.
The average age of those who took part in the fast, which began at 8am, was 73.
Fung said that when war broke out in 1937, he was just 22 years old. He left his home in Hong Kong without telling his parents, and walked to Guangzhou to join the anti-Japanese movement.
He recalled once having nothing to eat for three days during the war. He also narrowly survived a Japanese military aircraft attack that killed his four other team members.
"I've lived through them all," said Fung, rolling up the left leg of his trousers to reveal a darkened scar from the attack. "Eight hours to me is a piece of cake."