600 yuan, which accounts for 50% of the family's monthly income. From 2005 to 2006, Sun Xiaosong's grandmother had three consecutive traffic accidents, resulting in arm and pelvic fractures. The physical condition of this 72-year-old elder has deteriorated significantly. She can no longer make steamed buns as she used to, and now relies on occasionally collecting scraps to make money. This struggling family has received a lot of help from the community and neighbors, with people donating food and clothing. A head nurse from a hospital even found a cleaning job for Sun Xiaosong's aunt, allowing her to earn a monthly salary of 1240 yuan. This has almost become the entire economic source for the family.
The other day was the start of the school term, and he specially went to the school, hoping to negotiate with the teacher to delay paying the tuition fee for a few days so that he could attend classes with other students first. However, the principal directly rejected him: a tuition fee of 600 yuan must be paid to return to class.
14-Year-Old Boy Seeks Help on Weibo
Sun Xiaosong entrusted his neighbor to post a Weibo plea for help: "I want to go to school."
"It's all my fault for being too playful," Sun Xiaosong placed the blame on himself, feeling guilty whenever he thought about it. Since the day he was discharged from the hospital, Sun Xiaosong realized clearly that he might not be able to continue his studies.
After leaving school last year, Sun Xiaosong began self-studying. A brand-new Chinese textbook already had creases, with unfamiliar idioms marked in pencil. He planned to ask his sister-in-law who lived next door later. The new characters after each lesson were also looked up in the dictionary, combined into words, and noted down at the back of the article. The English book was similarly treated. However, he regretted not receiving the English tape for the next semester, making it difficult for him to pronounce unfamiliar words.
Sun Xiaosong left school in January last year, pointing to his ankle, "It's all my fault for being too playful, I injured my foot." In late January 2011, he accidentally fell while climbing Mount Mufu, exposing a large section of bone. The doctor stitched 24 stitches on his ankle, and he took half a year to recover and walk again.
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Sun Xiaosong's radio is the most valuable item in their home, aside from a small TV, both of which were given to them by others. There is no refrigerator or washing machine at home; they usually eat pickled vegetables made by his grandmother. In the past, his grandmother washed clothes, but after her hands were frostbitten in winter, Sun Xiaosong also took over the task of washing clothes.
This room consists of a few short tables, short stools, and a large communal bed. Every night, Sun Xiaosong sleeps side by side with his aunt, while his grandmother sleeps at their feet. Next to the bed is a coal stove, which the family uses for cooking. When not cooking, they use it to keep warm, "We will move it out at night," said the grandmother, "I know it's dangerous, but this house is everywhere ventilated, it's too cold." They also opened a "skylight" on the wooden ceiling above their heads, covered with transparent plastic boards, thus having a natural "fluorescent light."
Sun Xiaosong and his 72-year-old grandmother. Photo by Kuai Bao Gu Wei.
Although studying diligently on his own, Sun Xiaosong still has many questions he hopes to ask his teachers. To go to school, Sun Xiaosong even asked a neighbor who knows how to type to post a Weibo plea: "I hope kind uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters can help me, I want to go to school!"
□Kuai Bao reporter Wang Yingfei
In the second grade, the Yucai School closed down, and Sun Xiaosong transferred to Mingguang Jindu Migrant Workers' Children School. Due to the demolition of their original residence and to save on daily transportation costs for his grandson, Sun Xiaosong's grandmother moved the family to Yaoshangcun in Xiaguan District. In a low house less than 10 square meters, the family settled down.
Despite never having met his parents, Sun Xiaosong, under the education of his grandmother and elder sister, became a sensible child. At the age of eight, with the help of good-hearted people, Sun Xiaosong attended the Yucai Migrant Workers' Children School. The school was far from home, requiring more than half an hour of travel every day, but Sun Xiaosong was happy to be with peers.
However, this injury not only delayed his studies for half a year, but more seriously, a long-term benefactor who had been supporting him stopped providing financial assistance for his education for unknown reasons.
Upon discharge from the hospital, he realized clearly that he would no longer be able to continue his studies.
This time, the injury not only delayed his studies for half a year, but more importantly, a kind person who had been helping him financially stopped providing support for his education for unknown reasons.
Sun Xiaosong's ancestral home is Tonghe County, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. His father suffered from mental illness before he was born and was sent to the hospital. Soon, his pregnant mother divorced his father and returned to her hometown in Changzhou. Knowing she couldn't raise her son alone, she left the then six-month-old Sun Xiaosong at Shenyang Hotel near Huangjiawei in Nanjing, informing Sun Xiaosong's grandmother, and then left, never to return. Upon hearing the news, his grandmother, who sold popsicles in the north, immediately traveled a long distance to rent a house nearby the hotel, and since then stayed in Nanjing, earning some money by making steamed buns, pancakes, and washing dishes.
Although self-studying diligently, Sun Xiaosong still has many questions he wants to ask his teachers. For schooling, Sun Xiaosong even asked a neighbor who knows how to type to post a Weibo plea: "I hope kind uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters can help me, I want to go to school!"
□Kuai Bao reporter Wang Yingfei
When Sun Xiaosong was in the second grade, the Yucai School closed down, and he transferred to Mingguang Jindu Migrant Workers' Children School. Due to the demolition of their original residence and to save on daily transportation costs for his grandson, Sun Xiaosong's grandmother moved the family to Yaoshangcun in Xiaguan District. In a low house less than 10 square meters, the family settled down.
Opening a thin wooden door, 14-year-old Sun Xiaosong was seen doing homework at the table. Although he has been away from school for a year, he still studies the sixth-grade Chinese and English textbooks on his own, carefully circling unfamiliar idioms and words, preparing to ask his neighbor's sister for help. His grandmother sat by the bed, warming herself by a small coal stove, constantly driving away hungry stray cats lingering at the door, "We ourselves have little to eat, we have to beg from others."
Every day at home, self-studying, asking others when he doesn't understand.