A street sign that reads “I am missing you badly from Shanghai” has gone viral in mainland China and has become a popular local tourist attraction thanks in part to its promotion by influencers.
The street sign in Shanghai was designed and paid for by an electric bike store owner and stands out in part because it resembles an ordinary street sign, according to photos on news portal Thepaper.cn.
The sign soon became a must-see photo attraction after a handful of social media influencers introduced it online. Now, as many as 1,000 people queue-up daily to take photos in front of the sign, according to the store owner, surnamed Zhang.
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He said he paid 700 yuan (US$103) to make the sign and had never planned to use it to make money. He originally thought it could be a project to promote some “fun and romance”.
“Last month I thought that many people from outside Shanghai were trapped here by the coronavirus lockdown and they could not return to their hometowns now due to travel restrictions.
“So, I thought, why not let them take a picture with this street sign and send the photograph and the message to their family and friends in their hometown?” Zhang said.
Besides, he said: “There is a bus station nearby. When buses go pass, isn’t it a romantic thing that passengers see when they drive past?”
Earlier this month, Zhang was asked by the urban administration and law enforcement authority to remove his street sign because it violates the street sign management regulations.
One final donation
A 103-year-old recently-deceased woman in eastern China who built her life around charity has at last donated herself for medical research.
Fang Ailan passed away peacefully on Sunday at her home in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province. She became the oldest person to ever donate her organs in the province, according to Zhejiang Daily.
Two years ago, she signed a document that granted permission for her body to be donated and she reportedly had ruminated on the idea for over a decade.
Fang was an English teacher before retirement and had donated a total of 400,000 yuan (US$59,000) since 1973, all saved from her meagre pension. Her donation helped 18 students across the country further their education.
Single and childless, Fang said: “For me, a lonely and old woman, the money is useless. It is better to use it to do more meaningful things.”
Weight loss to save his daughter’s life
A father in Shenzhen, southern China, has lost 10kg to facilitate a liver donation for his eight-month-old daughter, who was diagnosed with a serious liver disorder.
After a failed procedure, the 39-year-old father realised he had to give a part of his own liver to his daughter to save her life.
The father, surnamed Zhu, who was diagnosed with a fatty liver, needed to lose weight in order for the organ to be viable for transplant. Before the surgery, he weighed 90kg and was 1.7 metres tall, so doctors told him to lose some weight to meet the requirement for the donation.
“My daughter’s blood type is O, which means there are fewer livers that are compatible with her blood type,” Zhu was quoted as saying. “By using my liver, her body would be less likely to reject the transplanted organ and her body response would be less severe,” he said.
The father and the daughter were discharged from hospital about one month after the surgery.
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