Little quake hero Lin returns home to Sichuan province

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-19 07:43

CHENGDU: After six months in Shanghai, 10-year-old Lin Hao, the youngest hero of the May earthquake, is back in his home province.

High living costs and the pressure of his studies forced Lin home. He and his 13-year-old sister started the new semester on Monday at Yandaojie Primary School here in the capital of Sichuan province.

His family rented a house beside the school, his father Lin Dakun said. Both parents are seeking work: The father used to be a construction laborer and his wife is a cleaner.

Lin Hao, who was 9 at the time of the quake, was at school in the Yingxiu township, Wenchuan county. When the place collapsed, he pulled two of his classmates from the rubble, and was later honored as a "heroic child".

The Lin family moved to Shanghai in August after the young boy said he wanted to study there. Although Lin and his sister received free schooling, the family found it hard to make ends meet.

"My wife and I couldn't find jobs, so we struggled to live," Lin Dakun said.

He said the family had to pay 2,000 yuan ($290) rent a month and needed 1,500 yuan for other living costs.

"We had to spend the savings we had before the quake," he told the Xinhua News Agency.

In Shanghai, the family could have been better off if Lin had accepted offers for the son to be in TV commercials.

"But I didn't want to sell my son's fame and image for money," his father said.

The father has done his best to shelter the boy from media attention. "My son was very nervous in Shanghai, where he was a celebrity and couldn't play like other kids," he said.

"I don't want anything to disturb his studies," he said.

The father said he has no ambitions for himself, beyond finding a job that will allow him to support his family. "If I can't find a job in Chengdu, we'll go back to the countryside," he said.

Xinhua

(China Daily 02/19/2009 page5)