Donations flood in for Yunnan schoolboy

Wang Fuman, dubbed "Snowflake Boy" by netizens, shares a meal with his family on Thursday. (Photo by ZHANG YUJIE/FOR CHINA DAILY)

An 8-year-old boy from rural Zhaotong, Yunnan province, has received donations of more than 10,000 yuan ($1,500) from all over the country as of Monday.

He became an internet sensation recently after a picture of his ice-covered hair went viral.

He has also done well in his final examination at school.

Wang Fuman, which means "full of happiness", said on the phone on Monday that he got 82 points in Chinese and 90 in math, ranking third out of 17 in his Grade 3 class in Zhuanshanbao primary school.

His father, Wang Gangkui, said their family has received donations from all over the country totaling 10,000 yuan. In addition, some warmhearted people have sent the boy and his little sister winter clothes, shoes, books and notebooks.

"I like this book because there are lots of interesting stories in it," the boy said of a donated cartoon book called Tianfangqitan, which features fairy stories.

The boy attracted attention nationwide after his photograph was posted on the internet by the principal of his primary school on Jan 8. The picture showed him with his hair covered in ice after he walked more than four kilometers in freezing temperatures to reach his school.

The boy lives in Ludian town with his father, 10-year-old sister and his sick grandmother in Zhaotong's impoverished mountainous area. His mother left home two years ago.

At the end of 2017, there were 1.13 million people living under the poverty line in Zhaotong, according to Yunnan Daily. And there are 9,338 left-behind children in Ludian, accounting for 11.2 percent of more than 80,000 students in total, according to thepaper.cn

Yunnan China Youth Development Foundation launched a public donation campaign for all the poor students in the province on Jan 9. It has promised to give each needy child 500 yuan to help them stay warm in winter.

As of 4 pm on Monday, the foundation had collected nearly 2.8 million yuan in public donations, according to its website.

Between Wednesday and Friday, the foundation had already organized three activities to give out donations to thousands of left-behind children and children living in cold mountainous regions in nine prefecture-level areas including Kunming, Zhaotong, Nujiang and Lijiang.

On Jan 9, the Zhaotong city government said that the education department has been urged to ensure heating is provided to all schools in mountainous areas as soon as possible.

After the boy's photograph circulated on the internet, a construction company in Zhaotong city offered his father a job building houses, which pays up to 200 yuan a day. He has been doing similar temporary work in Kunming, earning about 2,500 yuan per month.

"I have a dream of being a policeman when I grow up," said Wang Fuman, "Because there are many bad people in the world and I want to beat them righteously."