The photo is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]
The photo is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]

An elderly Chinese couple who lived frugally donated 5 million yuan ($737,000) to help children with congenital heart disease, a story that has only recently come to light.

A charity exhibition celebrating the lives and philanthropic legacy of the couple, Du Yingrong and Lu Suying, opened in Shanghai late last month, the South China Morning Post reported Monday. During their lifetimes, the couple donated a total of 5 million yuan to fund treatment for 455 children with congenital heart disease.

Du worked as a teacher at a Shanghai university, while Lu served as a physician at the same institution before they both retired. Du died in 2018 at the age of 81, and Lu passed away last year at 92.

The couple's giving began in early 2018, when Du spotted a fundraising notice outside Shanghai Yoda Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Hospital seeking donations for children with congenital heart disease. He donated 500,000 yuan on the spot, then followed up shortly after with an additional 4.5 million yuan.

When a hospital charity official visited the couple's home and saw their worn, modest living conditions, he urged them to set some money aside for their old age. Du was unmoved. "Neither of us has much time left," he said. "We have our pension and savings — we don't need much money."

Yet the couple rarely spent on themselves. Inside their home, visitors found a pair of glasses held together with a bandage where the frame had broken, along with several notebooks in which Du had recorded every daily expense. He was known to buy a 17-yuan dosirak from a neighborhood canteen and share it with his wife each day.

Even in their frugal lifestyle, the couple consistently gave back to society. They donated multiple times to earthquake relief efforts and student scholarship programs, and chose a burial at sea as their final wish.

At the charity exhibition, the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Foundation said, "The 455 children whose lives they touched will always carry the love of this couple in their hearts."

Online users who came across the story responded with admiration. "Their souls shine," wrote one commenter. Others called them "truly remarkable people," "great individuals who lived without a trace of selfishness," and said they wished to "pay their deepest respects to the two elders."


choigo@heraldcorp.com