‘You are beautiful’: teacher in China turns ‘mum’ to shy motherless boy from single-parent family, transforms him into happy extrovert
- Mother died when boy from poor rural family was very young
- Video of her with him goes viral sparking praise, cash donations
A primary school teacher in China who treated a motherless student as if he were her own son has transformed him from a shy to an outgoing child, touching millions on mainland social media.
When teacher, Wang Qianqian, posted a Douyin video of her interactions with Zhang Baolong in September, the boy, dressed in oversized and ragged clothes, appeared sluggish and shy in front of the camera.
Wang said Zhang’s mother passed away when he was only a few months old.
His father, who takes care of the boy, his older brother and his octogenarian grandmother, could not move to the city, so the whole family scraped by on meagre rural earnings and basic living allowance.
Wang, 36, has been a teacher at the primary school for six years and she encouraged Zhang every day starting on his first day of class, telling him: “I love you, you are beautiful.”
Wang, the mother of a little boy herself, told Zhang he could call her “mum” and said she would try to give him the maternal love he had never received. She said she wished to see the light appear in his eyes.
Wang’s videos of Zhang have attracted millions of views on Douyin, and many people have donated money to the boy’s family or sent him new clothes bought online.
In the videos Wang posted in October, Zhang appeared much more outgoing and enjoyed playing games with his teacher and his classmates.
“He is so lucky to have a teacher like you,” said one online observer.
“Loving people is like growing flowers, the more positive energy you give them, the stronger and healthier they become,” said another.
Last year, Wang’s Douyin account went viral after she posted videos of herself encouraging a student with hearing impairment trying to speak up in front of the class.
Wang told the mainland media outlet Zhengguan News that almost half of her class are left-behind children, or those who live in rural areas while their parents work and live in urban regions hundreds of kilometres away to support their families.
“I am their teacher during class and their mother and friend after class. I look after them like my own children,” Wang said.
She added that she also sent the videos she makes to their distant parents.
