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Chinese granny and her adopted mixed-race son finally recognized as family after 15 years of care

Joan Coello Jun 4, 2014
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How far are you willing to go to save a life? While some people think twice about helping a shabbily dressed man lying in the street, an elderly woman in Shanghai didn’t hesitate to bring home a baby she found abandoned in the bushes, nurse him back to health, and eventually adopt him into the family despite racial differences.

Join us after the jump to read the story of this Chinese granny’s incredible selflessness and compassion.

About 15 years ago, Shui Bao Zhu found an infant abandoned in a hedgerow. The baby was suffering from a severe case of miliaria (also known as “prickly heat” or “sweat rash”), his skin red and painfully sore, but she took him home with her regardless. She recalls that she had to give him medication three times a day for about a week before the inflammation subsided.

▼ Granny Zhu looks back and feels glad that she took a photo of the baby boy.

However, she then realized that even after all the prickly heat powder and baths she gave the child, his skin looked much darker than that of a typical Chinese child’s. Concerned, Granny Zhu took the baby to a doctor and was then told that the child in her care was in fact of mixed race. Granny Zhu explained that she had never went to school when she was young and so had never even heard of ‘mixed-race’ people.

Even though the child looked starkly different from other children around him due to the color of his skin, Zhu received the support from her family, who agreed that this little life that had come into their lives ought to be treasured regardless of his ethnic background. The elderly lady named the baby boy Jun Long Zhu, and brought him up just like one of her own grandchildren.

▼ Jun Long grew up in the company of Granny Zhu’s other grandchildren.

Being uneducated and unfamiliar with the law, it didn’t occur to Granny Zhu that she had to register the child to legally make him part of the family. It is only now, 15 years since their fates intertwined, that Jun Long has been officially adopted and given an identification card.

▼ Granny Zhu

▼ Jun Long

Jun Long didn’t have an easy life growing up in an all-Chinese community, having to tolerate curious and judgemental stares on a daily basis, and putting up with countless questions about his origins, to which he had perfected his answers after all these years. However, he is thankful for this twist of fate which brought him to Granny Zhu.

When asked if he wished to find his birth parents, Jun Long said that he has gotten past that stage of wanting to unravel the mysteries of his heritage. All he has in mind now is to repay Granny Zhu for all she has done for him; saving his life, giving him a home, and travelling long distances to get him registered as part of her family despite her old age. Granny Zhu says that Jun Long has said this many times, but the words never fail to warm her heart.

▼ Interview and media coverage by ETtoday.

Children are the hope of the future and it looks like this caring granny has saved and nurtured a promising bright light!

Source/Images: ETtoday