Zhao Yongjiu is a Chinese philanthropist and a street cleaner whose reputation went viral online. He works as a street cleaner in Shenyang.
The street cleaner earns $350 a month from two jobs with the local sanitation office. He uses his earnings to pay for rent and needs for him and his mother.
For the past 30 years, Zhao donated 170,000 yuan to send 37 children to school. He made his pledge after his father died in 1976.
He said that he wanted to give back for all the help that he received after his father's death.
Much Chinese, rich or poor, have started initiatives to help the poor, especially to assist in their education. The Harvard Kennedy School created an index of 100 generous Chinese donors that help underprivileged children.
Researchers at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation were able to come up with a list of the 100 largest donors and examined how much was donated to various causes.
The researchers found out that China's most wealthy donate to the academe and the least to environmental problem amid the worsening air quality in the country.
"People are now paying so much attention to the habits of China's richest citizens. Thirty years ago, everybody was equally poor," said Peiran Wei, a researcher at the center.
He added, "In the context of philanthropy--where they donate, who they give it to, things like that--the data becomes a very important tool, not just to ordinary people, but also to the government and to business and to people who want to do good things."
The researcher also said that the influence and financial might that are the most indicative of their ability to donate.
The research is called the "China Philanthropy Project" and aimed to see the patterns of philanthropy in the country. By presenting the data, they hope that the initiatives will improve.
According to Edward Cunningham, director of the China Public Policy and Globalization Program of the Kennedy School, said that Chinese philanthropists want to teach their children that they should be grounded and learn to give back.
He said, "I think part of the motivation is that they're trying to create a road map for their own children and future generations in terms of not just giving back, but trying to ground the younger generation in terms of priorities."
Chinese millionaire street cleaners want to impart the same value and the reason behind their hard work in spite of their accumulated wealth.