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Frugal elderly couple in China save by wearing old clothes and US$2 shoes, move hearts online with US$1.4 million donation to hometown
Inventive couple who spent years in the military saved their wealth in order to give bulk back to hometownDonation will help pay for education of local children in couple’s former home countyTrending in ChinaLiya Suin ShanghaiPublished: 6:00pm, 20 Sep, 2023Why you can trust SCMP
A frugal couple in China who have not bought new clothes for decades and wear shoes worth 15 yuan (US$2) have donated 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) to public education in their hometown and touched mainland social media.
Ma Xu, 90, and her husband, Yan Xueyong, live in Hubei province in central China but are originally from Mulan county in Heilongjiang province in the northeast of the country.
Ma was one of the first female paratroopers in China and met her husband, also a former paratrooper, during her service.
In 2018, they decided to give back to their hometown by donating their life savings to Mulan county to sponsor the education of local children, Xinhua News reported.