Elderly couple in Shanghai donate apartment for cause

After having donated 400,000 yuan (US$65,090) to rebuild a school in Shaanxi province five years ago, an elderly Shanghai couple have taken the act further.

Bi Yuanhong and Mao Yi, in their 80s, are now donating their apartment and money to the Shanghai Charity Foundation to fulfill a wish of their late son.

Bi and Mao tragically lost both their children when they were in their 70s. Four years after their daughter died from a disease in 2003, their 47-year-old son Bi Ming passed away suddenly after a heart attack.

The double tragedy left them bitter and at pains, especially the passing of their son who lived with them. He had never married.

Bi Ming had told his parents that he wanted to donate his apartment for a Hope School for children in poor rural areas, his mother Mao said.

Hope schools are built by the Hope Project, a Chinese public service program that aims to bring schools to poverty-stricken rural areas of China and to help children whose families are too poor to afford their education.

Mao told the charity foundation they had no idea then that their children would leave before them. But Bi Ming's words gave his parents motivation for the rest of their lives. They wanted to ensure that their son's philanthropic wishes were fulfilled.

After contacting the Shanghai Charity Foundation on how to donate for a Hope school, they sold one of the apartments in downtown Shanghai in 2009 and donated 400,000 yuan to the foundation to rebuild an old crumbling primary school in Zuoshui County in Shaanxi Province.

Reconstruction of the school, now named after their son, was completed in June 2009. It now has 530 square meters teaching area and another 775 square meters for sports. Besides, the foundation has built a large kitchen and a dining hall. It has 110 students.

The elderly couple could never make the trip to the school because of poor health but saw pictures that gave them great satisfaction.

Having seen one of their son's wishes fulfilled, Bi and Mao agreed to take it a step further. They went to a notary office in the city two years ago and made a will, in which they agreed to donate the apartment in which they live in Minhang District to the charity foundation.

As per their wish, the foundation will establish a special educational fund in Bi Ming's name. The money will be used to build two more schools and help poor college students to finish their studies.

The couple now live with a maid after their daughter's son moved abroad with his father. Mao suffers from Parkinson's disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, while Bi is bed-ridden after hurting his leg earlier this year.

"Our biggest wish is to raise other people's hopes," the couple said.