This combo photo shows Hu Ming, an associate professor, gives a lecture in the class (L), and his mother sits in the back of the class (R). (Photo/eijing Youth Daily)
(ECNS) – Hu Ming, an associate professor with the School of Economics at Guizhou University in southwest China, has been taking his 85-year-old mother, who has Alzheimer's disease, to class with him for the last four years, Beijing Youth Daily reported.
The mother began to show symptoms of Alzheimer's a year after her husband died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 2010.
"My mother's symptoms were so severe that she drank dishwashing liquid, and was unable to tell sugar, salt or laundry detergent apart," explained Hu, who is 58. "She was unable to be without me and always made me worried, so I began to take her with me to class."
With his mother in sight, he was able to concentrate more on teaching, Hu added.
Hu said he has three sisters, and tried a nurse, but his mother only recognizes him and follows him wherever he goes. "The nanny wasn't able to keep up with her," he said.
His mother was unsettled at home, Hu said, sometimes making such a mess that he had to spend an entire day cleaning up. However, she has kept quiet in class, he said. His students confirmed this.
Both the students and the university sympathized with Hu and were moved by his filial piety.
According to teachers, the school neither supported nor opposed Hu's solution, so long as the mother did not disturb his classes.
However, a heated debate was sparked online when photos of the woman in Hu's class were posted on China's Twitter-like Weibo.
While some netizens praised Hu for his filial piety, others said he should hire a nurse to take care of his mother rather than take her to class with him.
