![The photo, taken on May 28, 2012, shows the boy and his sister take to the streets to beg for money for their father’s burial [Zhang Yuan / Chinanews.com]](U429P886T1D16319F12DT20120531141958.jpg "The photo, taken on May 28, 2012, shows the boy and his sister take to the streets to beg for money for their father’s burial [Zhang Yuan / Chinanews.com]")
The photo, taken on May 28, 2012, shows the boy and his sister take to the streets to beg for money for their father's burial [Zhang Yuan / Chinanews.com]
Two children made the news recently in China for taking to the streets to beg for money for their father's burial. The 9-year-old boy and his younger sister, residents of Xianyang in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, lost their 59-year-old father on May 26, from a cerebral hemorrhage caused by a fall off his bike five days earlier.
The father Jiang Quan repaired watches and clocks for a living and the children's mother suffers from mental retardation. The two kids, unsupervised, appeared downtown in Xianyang City on May 28 to solicit donations.
A CNS reporter visited the family home on May 30, which is actually a defunct public toilet.
The children's aunt told the reporter that although the family had a hard life, they have been helping a vagrant living in their neighbourhood.
The children's challenges do not end there. Their father's resident permit is for a community in southwest China's Sichuan province, and the son, Jiang Fugui, and his sister Jiang Hehua, are not yet registered in Shaanxi, which makes them ineligible for schooling.
During the CNS interview, generous people dropped by from time to time with their donations, which varied from two yuan to 5,000 yuan. As of Wednesday the donation record came to over 25,000 yuan (US$3,900).
The father's remains were cremated yesterday afternoon.
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