There are good people in Tiongkok, but as usual they usually suffered more toloh toloh in silence…Tiongkok need to switch away from material indulgen?

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Single China mum carries steel tubes to fund education, weeps, hugs daughter who aces gaokao​

Zou says her daughter promised to study hard while Zou toiled at construction sites​

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Fran Luin Beijing
Published: 9:01am, 2 Jul 2026

A Chinese single mother who quit school after Primary One carried steel tubes to support her daughter, who excelled in this year’s college entrance exams.


When Zou Pinzhi and her daughter Liu Fang saw the freshly published results of her gaokao, or national college entrance exam, they embraced and wept with joy.

The results indicate that Liu’s score was blocked – a sign that she is a top scorer in her province, Sichuan.

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Several provinces, as well as Beijing, which is a provincial-level city, have introduced the score-blocking measure to prevent media hype around top scorers. Students with blocked scores will receive offers directly from the top universities.

Zou once expressed her deep wish for her daughters to “go further and never return to the mountains.” Photo: Handout

Zou took a leave of absence to check her daughter’s score. The next day, at 6am, she returned to a construction site, starting her day by carrying steel tubes.

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Chinese woman, 93, ‘reunites’ with Korean war husband 70 years later via restored photo​

Zhao, who married her late husband’s cousin, has five children but never stops mourning the man she lost​

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Zoey Zhang
Published: 9:00am, 1 Jul 2026

A restored portrait has given a 93-year-old woman in central China an emotional reunion with the young husband she lost to war decades ago.


Zhao Cuifen, from Liuyang in Hunan province, reportedly married Zhang Zhixin in the 1950s. Soon afterwards, Zhang enlisted in the army.

In July 1953, as Korean war armistice talks were deadlocked, Kuomintang forces launched a major assault on Dongshan Island off southeastern China. People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops training in nearby cities were rushed in as reinforcements. Among them were 60 soldiers from Liuyang, including Zhang.

In May, a Nanjing University volunteer team, supported by Hunan authorities, began restoring faces of fallen Dongshan Island Battle soldiers. The picture shows a portrait being returned to a family. Photo: Handout


After 36 hours of fierce fighting, the PLA claimed victory, but more than 1,200 soldiers were killed or wounded. Zhang died in the battle at the age of 20, leaving behind no children and no photographs.

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Zhao cried every day but continued to care for Zhang’s parents. Worried that she could not bear the family burden alone, the elderly couple later arranged for her to marry Zhang’s cousin, according to Liuyang Daily.

Zhao went on to have five children but never stopped mourning the man she lost as a young woman.

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For decades, the martyrs of the Dongshan Island battle existed only as names carved into stone. Although a cemetery was built on the island, many families found it difficult to travel there to pay tribute.

On June 24, the four restored portraits were returned to Liuyang and presented to the martyrs’ families during a memorial ceremony honouring their return. Photo: Handout


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