BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) -- A man walked 34 days
home to join his 70-year-old mother for the Lunar New Year celebrations after
his money was stolen in a railway station, the Dahe Daily newspaper reported
Tuesday.
Li Haitao, 30, a migrant worker from central China's
Henan Province, walked more than 800 kilometers from Beijing to Zhengzhou
between Feb. 3 to March 9 to spend the Spring Festival with his mother, said the
newspaper.
It was surely too late as the Spring Festival, the
most important occasion in China for family reunions, fell between Jan.25 and
Feb. 9.
Li found his 2,000 yuan (292 U.S. dollars) in his
pocket had been stolen before he paid for a ticket on Jan. 21 at the railway
station of Baotou in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where he
worked as a welder, said the paper.
His identity card, electrician's certificate and
mobile phone were also stolen. He called the police but the police did not catch
the thief, reported Henan Business News, another major newspaper in the
provincial capital of Zhengzhou.
Henan Business News reported the penniless man was
then sent toa local rescue station. Li was given a ticket to Beijing on Feb. 1.
"I arrived in Beijing on Feb. 2. The police also sent
me to the rescue station," he said. "But they only provide food and
accommodation," it reported him as saying.
After staying in the rescue station for a day, Li
chose to walk home, and picked up and sold empty mineral water bottles on the
way in order to get money to eat. He slept during the day because it was too
cold to sleep at night with only a blanket in the open air, reported Orient
Today, another newspaper in the capital.
He arrived in the provincial capital Zhengzhou at 8
a.m. Monday morning when the police found the unkempt man with a pair of
worn-out shoes, said Orient Today.
The police gave him the money to buy a ticket home.
Coincidentally, he met a bus to Xinmi City and the driver game him a free ride
after hearing his story, the newspaper reported.
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