China News Service, February 20 (Xinhua) Hong Kong's "Ta Kung Pao" reported that on the 18th, the 95-year-old "Tsim Sha Tsui Hawker" Zhang Jie passed away in Hong Kong. In his hometown of Shangyu, Zhejiang, local citizens rushed to his old residence in Shangyu to lay flowers and mourn. The reason why his death moved a city was because he lived frugally in Hong Kong by selling rice dumplings and tea eggs for 40 years. He donated 15 million yuan to his hometown and built 18 Zhang Jie teaching buildings and 32 classrooms. And dormitory buildings and libraries, benefiting many students.
Data map: Zhang Jie. Image source: Hong Kong "Ta Kung Pao"
Zhang Jie was born in Huaguang Village, Lianghu Street, Shangyu in 1928. When he was young, due to his poor family, he went out to make a living before graduating from elementary school. Later, he came to Hong Kong and worked as a helper and waiter. Later, he rented a stairwell shop of only 5 or 6 square meters on Granville Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. He made a living selling river crabs. He also sold tea eggs, rice dumplings, plum blossoms, etc.
But it is such a small businessman who has successively donated and built 18 Zhang Jie teaching buildings, 32 classrooms, dormitories, and libraries for his hometown of Shangyu, Zhejiang since 1979, and established an education fund of more than 2 million yuan to support needy students. The donation amount reached 15 million yuan. Every time he returned to his hometown, he would go to various schools to see which ones lacked teaching aids, which ones lacked equipment, which ones needed books, and which ones needed new school buildings. He wrote them down one by one and tried his best to solve the problems.
Some people once mistakenly thought that he was a rich man in Hong Kong. He once joked: "People call me boss, but in fact I sleep on the floor and eat on Douban." In the 1980s, Zhang Jie's family of more than a dozen people still lived there. Squeezed into a house of more than 30 square meters, when a relative persuaded him to buy a house to improve his quality of life, he calculated that he would need 2 million Hong Kong dollars and gave up. "When I thought about it, only I would benefit from buying a house, but how many people would benefit from spending 2 million yuan to build a school."
Data map: Zhang Jie. Image source: Hong Kong "Ta Kung Pao"
Zhang Jie has four daughters and one son. Zhang Jie's third daughter, Zhang Jiaozhen, recalled that when she was young, due to the financial constraints of her family, she admitted that it was difficult to study at that time. Therefore, among the five children, only the youngest daughter and the youngest son graduated from high school. After his children had no books to study, Zhang Jie became more determined to help other poor students study.
Zhang Jiaozhen recalled every detail of her father's past and was deeply impressed by this scene. She pointed out that her father said firmly at that time: "This money can help many students."
Zhang Jie once said: "As long as I, Zhang Jie, am alive, I will support the education in my hometown." Zhang Jiaozhen said that her father's righteous deeds have received support from the whole family. Although her father has passed away, Jiaozhen is proud of her father.
Compared with his generous donation to education in his hometown, Zhang Jie is very stingy towards himself. In his daily life, he eats a simple meal and wears cheap clothes, just to save money and donate money to support his studies.
Zhang Jie once said, "Knowledge can change the destiny of a country, and it depends on reading. Now that the country has a heavy burden, we must always do our best and contribute." "Whether you are good or not, only if your hometown is good is you really good!"
"Every penny donated by Mr. Zhang is really saved by selling crabs and tea eggs one by one." Xie Yican, the former principal of Shangyu Middle School, who has been in contact with Zhang Jie for more than 40 years, recalls the past. , Xie Yican still vividly remembers it. "The first time he donated money to education in his hometown was to donate a color TV worth 3,000 yuan to us. Later, he donated to build a teaching building, books, instruments, and a van. In the 1980s, 10,000 yuan Money is already very powerful in the Mainland. He immediately spent 10,000 yuan to establish a scholarship to help students with excellent academic performance but from poor families. Since then, he has continued to donate to other township schools. His We admire your actions very much!”
After learning about the death of the old man, the folks in his hometown wrote this eulogy, "The length of life has its own time limit, and the width of life can be as wide as the sea. Just like the Cao'e River in my hometown, the water flows endlessly, and the people in my hometown will always remember Mr. Zhang."
Hong Kong media commented that his charity was not only a huge support for education in his hometown, but also the simplest interpretation of his feelings for his family and country as an old man in Hong Kong.
Many netizens expressed in the comment area that they "pay tribute" to "a man with great love", "a man worthy of the world" and "we will always remember his contribution and deeds".
Screenshot of netizen comments
Some netizens said that they were one of the children who benefited and "pay tribute to Grandpa Zhang Jie."
Screenshot of netizen comments.