'Mickey Mouse grandmother' still working at 75... to support her 40-year-old son
Pensioner says she needs cash to help her middle-aged son find a wife
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 18 March, 2014, 11:53am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 18 March, 2014, 12:04pm
Stephen Chen [email protected]
Yang Zhiqiao has to take a break every 10 minutes because her costume is so heavy. Photo: Luoyang Daily
A 75-year-old pensioner from Henan province is still hard at work, dressing up as Mickey Mouse to raise cash to help her middle-aged son get married.
Yang Zhiqiao dons the costume at park in Luoyang and charges visitors 10 yuan (HK$12.60) to take her photograph, the Luoyang Daily reported.
“My son is over 40, still unmarried. I can’t become his burden. I have to make more money to find my son a wife,” she said, without elaborating on how the cash might help him.
Yang said she wore the costume from early morning to sunset, but had to take a break every ten minutes.
“The costume is too heavy, there is little air inside,” she was quoted as saying. “If I wear it for a long time I cannot breathe.”
One tourist felt so heartbroken at seeing the pensioner in discomfort he paid her 50 per cent more than the normal charge, the report said.
Children love taking photographs with her and call Yang “Mickey Mouse Grandma”, the newspaper said.
The costume was bought by the woman’s son, who planned to wear it himself to make some extra income during weekends, but never did because he had “other business”, the newspaper reported, without elaborating.
