People from far and wide have rallied to help a street food vendor in China whose wife has been diagnosed with breast cancer. - Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin
BEIJING (SCMP): Social media in China was so moved by the plight of a street food vendor whose wife was diagnosed with breast cancer that students near where he worked were prompted to form long queues at his stall to help him out.
University students in southeastern China’s Fujian province turned up at the flatbread stall of Hu Weiguang, 54, near the Fujian University of Technology in the province’s capital city Fuzhou.
Hu has been fondly nicknamed by students as “Uncle Flatbread”.
He and his 21-year-old son Hu Jiaming found queues more than 100 metres long formed by student customers recently.
It transpired that a student, Gao Ying, posted the news about Hu’s wife, Hu Guiyuan, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in August, on social media, calling for other students to support his business.
Hu’s situation attracted the attention of the media, leading to him getting even more help. - Photo: FZ Evening News
Hu said he needed to pay a hospital 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) a month for his wife’s treatment.
As a result, Gao asked for the most expensive meat-filled flatbread, with extra meat, and to be charged more, but Hu gave her extra meat for free.
Gao’s October 18 online video amassed more than 30 million views and 2.1 million likes.
Students from the Fujian University of Technology and other nearby universities queued for hours to buy their flatbread.
Some would buy much more than they could consume, while others drove more than 100km to support Hu’s business. Some pretended to pay for the food and donated money via Hu’s payment code.
The flatbread seller’s plight prompted two master chefs from his home province to lend a hand. - Photo: FZ Evening News
Hu junior, who suspended his studies to help out the business previously run by his parents, said their daily turnover increased from around 1,000 yuan (US$140) to more than 4,000 yuan.
Hu expressed gratitude to his customers but insisted on not making more money than he needed.
He asked students to buy no more than two flatbreads per person, he also contacted the university to donate the extra money he received.
“Both my father and I want to get through the difficult time with the money made by our hands,” Hu junior told chinanews.com.
Hu’s stall had a good reputation among students because his pricing remained affordable, charging from 4 to 7 yuan (56 US cents to 98 US cents) for different fillings.
A vendor who also sold flatbread in Fuzhou suspended his own business to cook for Hu’s stall.
Hu’s hometown in Jinyun county in eastern China’s Zhejiang province also sent two flatbread master chefs to Fujian to help out so that Hu could look after his wife.
Hu, next to a cartoon image of himself, has built up a good reputation with customers. - Photo: FZ Evening News
The clay oven baked flatbread that Hu had been selling for three decades is a specialty of his hometown.
On October 24, local media outlet Fuzhou Daily also helped the wife to receive an expert health examination at the Fuzhou University Affiliated Provincial Hospital.
Online observers were moved by the actions of the students.
“These university students are the most adorable people I have ever seen,” one person said.
“Uncle Flatbread and his family received so much help from different parties because of a few seconds long video. This is the meaning of the internet,” said another. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
