Education breaks poverty: Chinese farmer wins award and praise for supporting his 3 stepdaughters’ entry to graduate school
- Li Xiangzhi remarried and took on responsibility for his second wife’s three daughters
- He was honoured for his good deed with the Hunan provincial government’s Good-hearted People Award
A Chinese farmer has touched internet users and won an award for financially supporting his three stepdaughters while they finished their education.
Li Xiangzhi was given the Hunan Good-hearted People Award by the Hunan provincial government, in central China, in February, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The 62-year-old farmer from Jiahe county married Li Shuiying in 1993 after his first wife died of an illness. Li Shuiying brought her youngest daughter to the family while farmer Li had three children from his previous marriage and also had to take care of his mentally disabled brother who’s also a deaf-mute.
Several years later, farmer Li asked his wife’s two other daughters to live with them as they often went hungry living with their biological father.
The wife later became sick with serious rheumatism, losing her ability to do physical work. Farmer Li then took on the role as sole breadwinner for the family of nine, earning a living from farming and raising pigs.
No matter how hard life was, farmer Li insisted on paying for his three stepdaughters’ education. He refused the advice of others to let them drop out of school.
“I believe knowledge changes one’s fate and I value children’s education,” he was quoted as saying. “I told them that as long as you are admitted by schools, I will unwaveringly fund your education.”