Chapter 32 31. Bai Fangli——Heroes who support education support the sky with their feet

Bai Fangli (1913-2005), male, Han nationality, was born in Cangzhou City, Hebei Province.Before his death, he was a retired employee of Tianjin Hebei Transportation Depot. Bai Fangli started working as a part-time worker at the age of 13. He fled to Tianjin in 1944. After wandering for several years, he became a tricycle driver, and then entered the Tianjin Hebei Transportation Depot to work. In 1987, at the age of 74, he decided to help poor children realize their dream of going to school with the income from riding a tricycle.For his dream, he once passed out from a tricycle under the scorching summer sun.For the convenience of working in front of the station, he built a small iron shed of 3 square meters and lived in it for 5 years.Calculated by charging 5 cents for every kilometer of a tricycle, the old man is equivalent to riding a tricycle around the equator of the earth 18 times.He lives a frugal life, and his daily lunch is always two steamed buns and a bowl of boiled water.In order to help more students, the 81-year-old Bai Fangli insisted on selling his two old houses, and borrowed money to set up "Bai Fangli Supporting Education Company", and all the profits earned were donated to poor children.Over the past few years, he has donated 350,000 yuan and funded more than 300 children to go to school.In order to allow the poor children to go to school with peace of mind, the old man Bai Fangli is almost using his life beyond the limit to support it.His silent dedication moved the masses of cadres and was widely recognized by all walks of life. In 2005, he was awarded the National Advanced Worker for Caring for the Next Generation by the Central Civilization Office and other departments, and was awarded the honorary title of National Professional Law-Abiding Advanced Individual by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and other departments.

In 1987, when 74-year-old Bai Fangli was about to bid farewell to the tricycle, an experience of going back to his hometown made him change his mind, and he started a new life course by riding on the tricycle again. "Boy, you don't go to school in broad daylight, what are you doing in the field?" Bai Fangli asked when he saw a group of children working in the crop field.The children told the grandpa from the city that their adults would not let them go to school.How is this going!He approached the child's parents and asked why.Parents said, farmers don't have so much money to send their children to school.Hearing this, the old man felt like his heart was full of lead. He ran to the school and asked the principal how much he charged so that the children could afford to go to school.The headmaster smiled wryly and said, "It's only a hundred and eighty a year, but even if there are students coming to school, there are no teachers.The old man is puzzled, why is there no teacher?The principal said, it's not that the salary is too low to keep them.That night, the old man tossed and turned sleeplessly: the poverty in his hometown was because the peasants had no knowledge.But today's children still can't go to school, is it necessary to make the hometown poor for generations?No way!Other things are fine, but the child does not go to school!

At the family meeting, the old man Bai Fangli announced in front of his wife and children: "I want to give all the 5,000 yuan I saved from riding a tricycle to my hometown for education. Whether you agree or disagree with this matter is the same. I have made up my mind. Don't interfere with anyone!" Others don't know, but my wife and children know that the 5,000 yuan is the "retirement money" that the old man has saved for decades!It's useless to be anxious, let alone shouting, since the old man has made his own decision, let him go. Afterwards, the old man donated 5,000 yuan to his hometown Baijia Village twice to establish an education reward foundation.In order to express their gratitude, the villagers sent a large plaque with the words "virtuous and respected" to Bai Fangli's house.After that, the old man got on the tricycle again.As usual, before the old man went out, the children would prepare a bottle of water and a towel for him, and watch them all the way to the end of the street.As for Bai Fangli, everything is still so familiar, but there is one more thing in his heart than before, which is the matter of children going to school.

Although he also earns money by riding a bicycle, Bai Fangli has his own "business experience". He hung a small flag on the tricycle with the words "half price for military martyrs, preferential treatment for the elderly, weak, sick and disabled, and obligation for lonely old households" to publicly announce that Discounted prices for some passengers.Others pull carts to do everything possible to earn money to support their families, but Bai Fangli continues to donate his labor income to public welfare causes. In 1994, Bai Fangli, who was 81 years old at the time, gave the 3,000 yuan he earned in a whole winter to the school at a donation meeting for the poor students of a certain school. pay tribute.When the old man heard this, he thought to himself: There are so many children in my family who lack money to go to school, and the money I earn from riding a tricycle alone cannot save many children!What's more, I'm old too, what should I do?Soon, the mayor personally set aside a small site next to the railway station for the elderly Bai Fangli, and the only "supporting education company" in the country - Tianjin Baifangli Supporting Education Company was officially established.At the beginning of the opening, he explained the purpose of running the company to the 20 or so employees he employed very concisely: "We want to make money in an orderly manner, and the money we earn is not named Bai, but education. One cent for education, settled monthly and handed in monthly.”

Don't look at the name "Baifangli Supporting Education Company", in fact, it was originally just a small tin kiosk of 8 square meters beside the train station, selling pastries, tobacco and alcohol, etc., which is convenient for tourists traveling from south to north.A copper plaque dedicated to the elderly by Nankai University hangs above the kiosk, which reads "Selfless support for talents", which makes this kiosk look extraordinarily glorious.Relying on the 10,000 yuan from the sale of the old house and the borrowed money as the capital, the snowball gradually grew bigger and bigger. The company developed from a small pavilion at the beginning to more than a dozen booths in a row.After deducting costs, wages and taxes in one month at most, there will be a profit of more than 10,000 yuan.

People who don't know think that the old man Bai Fangli has become the chairman, and now he can sit back and enjoy the blessings.But he not only pedaled the tricycle as usual, but also increased the pressure on himself.He set a monthly income target of 1,000 yuan for himself, and earned 30 to 40 yuan a day. "I still take out the car every day as before, and I can always earn twenty or thirty yuan a day. Don't underestimate the twenty or thirty yuan, it can provide a day's food for a dozen poor children!" This is an old man. The spiritual world of the elderly.He did his best to set off a splendid sky and warm countless students.

The old man Bai Fangli would take the money he saved to a nearby school every month as living expenses for needy students, but he was in his dying years, but he lived a very frugal life. When the old man rode a tricycle, he wore unmatched clothes, shoes and hats from head to toe, making him look like a beggar. "I've never bought clothes. You see, the shirts and trousers on my body are all picked up at ordinary times. There are also shoes, two of which are different. Look, the lining inside is different! There are also socks, all of which are different. I picked it up. Pick one up today and another one tomorrow, and if there are more, it can be matched. Nothing I wear from head to toe, from the inside to the outside, is bought with money.” Except for not buying clothes and hats Apart from shoes and socks, he even saves as much as possible on food.His diet is extremely simple, usually two cold steamed buns, a bottle of cold water, and a little pickle.Most of the time, due to work needs, the old man Bai Fangli sleeps wherever he goes. A newspaper is spread on the floor, a square brick is placed on the back of the head, and a hat is covered on the face. This is all his preparations before going to bed. "program".In order to earn more money, the old man has not lived at home for many years, especially after the death of his wife, he took the kiosk by the station as his home. The so-called "bed" is just a wooden board and An old overcoat.The winter is cold and the wind is blowing, and the summer is scorching hot. In the kiosk with a thin layer of iron, the old man has spent one after another scorching heat and severe winter.Later, the municipal government called for the improvement of the street environment of the station, and the small shops and kiosks had to be demolished.The old man took the lead in responding to the government's call and demolished his small pavilions.There is no "house" anymore, so in order to still be able to work, he used a piece of plastic woven bag cloth and four small wooden poles to prop up a small shed that is only half the height of a person.After heavy rains, old people can often be seen drying their rain-soaked quilts in the sun.

After the "Bai Fangli Supporting Education Company" was established, the old man sent a considerable amount of sponsorship fees to several universities, middle schools, and primary schools in Tianjin every month. These so-called sponsorship fees were actually all the after-tax profits of his "Supporting Education Company".Liu Weizhen, a teacher of Nankai University’s Department of Science and Engineering, recalled that since 1996, the old man Bai Fangli has donated 1,000 yuan to the school every month, with a total of nearly 34,000 yuan. More than 200 poor students of Nankai University have received funding; in addition, Tianjin University , Tianjin Normal University and other colleges and universities have also received donations of different amounts donated by him.

Someone once calculated that over the years, Bai Fangli has donated as much as 350,000 yuan.If the tricycle is charged 50 cents per kilometer, the old man’s contribution is equivalent to running around the earth’s equator 18 times.Bai Fangli never thought of getting something in return.Most of the donations are sent to the recipients through schools and work units, and the old man has never asked the students' names.Someone tried to find a list of students who were once sponsored by the old man, but only found a photo of him with several children-this is the only photo.When asked what requirements the old man had for the children he sponsored, the old man gave a very simple answer: "I ask them to study hard, work hard, behave well, and make more contributions to the country."

On the morning of September 23, 2005, at the age of 93, he passed away quietly.Countless living people remembered him through word of mouth——Bai Fangli, an old man who pedaled three rounds.This is not a myth: In his life after the age of 74, this old man earned 350,000 yuan by pedaling three wheels with one foot, which was donated to many universities, middle schools and primary schools in Tianjin, and funded more than 300 people. poor students.And everyone who approached him was surprised to find that his personal life was almost a beggar, and his private property bill was a zero.From 1993 to 1998, the old man sponsored more than 200 Tibetan students in Hongguang Middle School, giving them monthly subsidies until they graduated from high school.

In the last winter, the old man huddled up in a bicycle shed near the station, insisted on showing the bicycles for three months, and put the 10 cents, 20 cents, 1 yuan, and 2 yuan neatly in a lunch box every day When he had saved 500 yuan, he packed his lunch box, boarded the car, and arrived at Tianjin Yaohua Middle School on a snowy winter day.People saw that his hair and beard were all white, and his body was soaked by snow.He handed the 500 yuan in the lunch box to the teachers at the school, and said: "I can't do it anymore, and I may not be able to donate again in the future. This is my last sum of money..." The teachers all cried. An ancient rare old man not only doesn't need to do anything for others, but should accept the care and care of others, but the old man Bai Fangli didn't, not only didn't at all, but lit all the residual candle that he had that could shine for others, And it burns so brightly, so brilliantly!