‘A relay of love’: China court names Shanghai man mentally ill neighbour’s guardian in city first
Ren, 71, says caring for the 56-year-old is his responsibility, and after him, his daughter will take over
A Shanghai family’s decades-long devotion to a vulnerable neighbour has led to the city’s first legal guardianship case involving people unrelated by blood.
Ren, 71, inherited a quiet act of compassion from his parents, caring for his neighbour Xu, 56, for four decades, the Shanghai Law Journal reported.
Xu was born with a mental disability. Originally from Xinjiang in northwestern China, he never married, had no children and has no surviving relatives
He moved to eastern China’s Shanghai in the 1980s with his grandfather, who died years later, leaving him to live alone.
Ren’s parents, who lived in the same residential building, noticed Xu’s plight and stepped in to help with his meals and daily care.
“My parents looked after him purely out of sympathy,” Ren told local media.