China News Service, Wuhan, May 16 (Wu Yili) Song Zhongqiao, a 56-year-old handicapped barber in Wuhan, was called "the barber on crutches" by his neighbors.
22 years ago, he came to Wuhan Shouyi Square to open the first barber shop.
Through free teaching of beauty and hairdressing skills, it has helped more than 2,000 disabled people find employment and start businesses.
Song Zhongqiao said in an interview with reporters on the 16th that he was disabled due to poliomyelitis. He was so strong that he went to Guangdong to study hairdressing techniques, and went overseas to participate in international beauty and hairdressing competitions many times. He achieved good results and slowly established a reputation.
There are disabled people who come to visit teachers to learn arts. He teaches for free, but only makes one requirement: "Apprentices must be engaged in volunteer work."
There are many elderly people in the community around the barber shop. Song Zhongqiao takes at least one day a week to bring his apprentices into the community and welfare homes to get free haircuts and nail clippings for the elderly.
In addition, he also spends 10% of the barber shop's revenue every year to support left-behind children in need.
The picture shows Song Zhongqiao's apprentice at work Photo by Wu Yili
At the beginning of 2020, medical teams from all over the country came to Han to fight the epidemic. Song Zhongqiao took the initiative to submit a "request letter" and led apprentices to cut hair for medical staff.
In the past two months, a total of 2,476 members of the 16 medical teams in Hubei received voluntary haircuts.
"As a disabled person taking the initiative to participate in the fight against the epidemic, firstly, I want to thank these medical teams in Hubei, and secondly, I want to show the image of Wuhan people's self-improvement." Song Zhongqiao said.
Song Zhongqiao has successively won honorary titles such as "Good Man in China", "Advanced Individual in Wuhan's Fight Against the New Coronary Pneumonia", "Outstanding Communist Party Member in Wuhan", and "Hubei Province Self-improvement Model".
He has opened a number of beauty salons in Wuhan, recruiting thousands of disabled apprentices. He also serves as the head of a vocational training school for the disabled with the support of the local government, providing skills training such as hairdressing, makeup, massage, e-commerce, and home appliance maintenance.
With the help of Song Zhongqiao, Guo Pengfei, who is disabled in the lower limbs, won the championship of hairdressing in Hubei Province in 2013. He worked as a hairdresser in Xianning with a monthly income of more than 4,000 yuan. Xu Guoyun and his wife, both disabled, opened a hairdressing shop, and the business was booming.
Shi Ting, a 26-year-old girl with scoliosis, has successfully become a manicurist after training. In her spare time, she and Song Zhongqiao often go to the community as volunteers.
"The life of the disabled is not bleak. They can bravely pursue their dreams and realize the value of life through their own efforts." Song Zhongqiao said.
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