More Than 17M Yuan Donations for Gritty ‘Frost Boy’

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The Chinese boy whose hair got frozen after a sub-zero walk to school has received more than 17 million yuan in donations.

  • Walked 4.5km to school in minus-nine-degree weather, wearing only thin coat
  • Hair and eyebrows turned to icicles
  • Sat for exam in classroom without heating, scored 99% in math 
  • Lives in bare mud house
  • Hands frostbitten and cracked from helping grandmother with farm work
People’s Daily Online

The Chinese public have rallied to help a poor boy whose hair became frozen after having to walk 4.5 kilometres to school on a harsh winter morning.

More than 17 million yuan have been donated to Wang Fuman and his school since a picture of Fuman and his icy hair went viral on Tuesday.

Fuman is a third-grade pupil at the Zhuanshanbao Primary School in Xinjie Town, Ludian County.

Fu Heng/People’s Daily

On Jan 8, the eight-year-old, wearing only a thin coat, braved minus-nine-degree weather walking 4.5 kilometres to his school in the county in Shaotong, southern China’s Yunnan Province. Then he had to sit for an exam in a classroom without heating.

Fu Heng/People’s Daily

Upon arriving school, the boy’s hair and eyebrows were coated in frost, and he has since been dubbed the ‘Frost Boy’.

The boy’s fate caught the attention of millions of people after the heart-breaking picture of Fuman’s icicle hair went viral on Jan 9, highlighting the massive wealth gap in modern China.

Fuman comes from an impoverished family. His father is a migrant worker in another city and his mother has abandoned him and his father.

Getty Images

Fuman lives with his sister and grandmother in a bare mud house.

A picture taken by People’s Daily shows the boy putting his cracked hands against a marked examination paper. The examination paper said the boy had achieved 99 percent in maths.

Fu Heng/People’s Daily

He told a reporter from Pear Video that he got frostbite on his hands because he had to help his grandmother do farm work.

The Yunnan Youth Development Foundation said it had received donations sent in for Fuman or his ill-equipped school since they called on the public to help Fuman and his classmates on Jan 9.

The state-run foundation announced it would manage the funds on behalf of them, together with the local Zhaotong Youth Development Foundation.

Each student at the Zhuanshanbao Primary School, where Fuman studies, will receive 500 yuan to help them stay warm in winter, the charity organisation said.

It also claimed it will reveal the usage of the remaining funds in the days to come.

Some people have voiced strong opposition to the fact that the charity organisations are managing the money on behalf of Fuman, reported Radio Free Asia.

Critics are concerned that money donated to Fuman would be used to help other children – or even worse, end up in the hands of corrupted officials.

In response, a member of staff from Zhaotong Youth Development Foundation said that not all of the donations had been sent to Fuman, and that the charity campaign was aimed to help children like Fuman in general.

Besides the donations, another good news for the boy’s family is his father has received a job offer from a construction company in his hometown.