Chinese 'snowflake' boy gets £245,000 in donations after hair turns to ice walking to school in -9C
The Chinese schoolboy pictured with icicles in his hair after walking three miles to school in wintry conditions has received £245,000 in donations.
‘Snowflake Boy’ Wang Fuman became a social media hit after the picture by his principal Fu Heng was shared online.
His plight drew widespread attention to children from poor rural families in China.
And it has also prompted an avalanche of online help for the boy, described in some reports as eight-years-old and in others as ten, and his school.
One donation of 100,000 yuan (around £15,000) was sent to Zhuanshanbao Primary School in Zhaotong, Yunnan province, was sent the day after the images first appeared.
Fuman’s hair and eyebrows were covered in snow and icicles after he walked to school in freezing temperatures.
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He had walked for an hour in -9 degree temperatures to sit an exam on Monday.
His dedication to get to school was used by some to compare to ‘snowflake’ students in the West.
Mr Fu said that it was the first day of the final examinations, and the temperature had plunged quickly within half an hour, while the boy was already on his way to school.
The boy lives in a mud house with his grandmother and older sister, according to an interview with social media site Pear Video.
Other photos of the boy shared on social media showed his rough hands, which had turned dry and wrinkly. He also suffered from frostbite.
In an interview with Beijing News Fuman said he loves going to school and his favourite subject is mathematics.
When asked by Beijing News why he went to school on Monday wearing so little, the boy said: ‘I have three jackets but I didn’t wear any of them because they were all dirty and not washed yet.
‘It’s too cold to wash clothes by hand in winter, so I haven’t washed the jackets.’
The school had no heating facilties.
