SHANGHAI: A secondary teacher has been dubbed “China’s Superdad” for adopting nearly 300 parentless children over the past three decades.
Bai Jian, 52, is a physical education (PE) teacher at Anshan No 2 Middle School, Liaoning province, northeastern China.
He rents a big property to accommodate 20 to 30 children.
Since 1995, at least 276 children have lived on the estate which is called Dream Home by Bai, the news outlet The Paper reported.
Among the children have been orphans or others simply discarded by their parents. Some grew up and became professional athletes, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers, public servants or university teachers.
More than 100 of Bai’s adopted children have obtained university degrees and 50 have achieved the highest Level 1 Athlete rank by the national sport authority, the report said.
Bai was born into a struggling rural family in Huludao, Liaoning province.
He was admitted by a normal college thanks to his exceptional talent for sport. He excelled in long-distance running.
He was assigned to work as a PE teacher at a secondary school upon graduation. Soon a mischievous boy pupil caught his attention for often playing truant and stealing the snacks of classmates.
Bai learned that the boy’s parents had abandoned him and he had not been fed.
Bai let the boy live with him in his bachelor quarters.
“Even my parents do not care about me. You are my dad then,” the boy told Bai.
Since then, Bai has adopted more parentless children.
To make ends meet, he borrowed money and did odd jobs in his spare time.
Bai also asked his mother and his two sisters to look after the children.
Aware of his own lack of an academic education and proper income, Bai suggested that his adopted children place a lot of emphasis on sport.
He wakes up the children at 4.30am every morning before taking them to running. No matter how bad the weather is, Bai’s children cover more than 12km every day.
“Sport is fair. You reap what you sow,” Bai was quoted as saying.
Bai also hopes to strengthen their willingness to take on challenges through sport.
“Having insisted on running for many years, I think they will not be afraid of any challenge in their future lives,” added Bai.
Many of his children have become marathon champions, and Bai’s home is bedecked with 1,300 medals won by his children over the past two decades.
A girl, who was adopted by Bai at the age of 11, was admitted by prestigious universities including Tsinghua and Peking University in Beijing after she won the gold medal for long-distance running at the national middle school students’ sports meet.
Bai said the children have generally been denied love and have developed a hatred for their biological parents.
“I told them not to hate anyone. Hatred is a double-edged sword. It will not only hurt the people you hate, but also hurt yourself,” said Bai.
Bai got married at the age of 46 after breaking up with several previous girlfriends because they did not accept his charitable work. He had a son in 2020.
Bai described his life by saying: “I do not feel exhausted at all. I love kids and sport. I am doing what I like every day.”
One of his adopted children said: “I was once a child in the dark. Thank you dad for offering your hand to me.”
Another child who is now in his 30s told the media: “After experiencing the joys and sorrows of life, I have come up to understand how significant a contribution he has made for us.” - South China Morning Post
