11-Year-Old Boy Wins Hearts Online for Helping Mother Clean the Streets

Photos of an 11-year-old boy helping his mother clean the streets are melting hearts in China after they went viral on social media.

Long Guotao, 11, can be seen cleaning a street in Kaili, China as his mother rested on the steps nearby.

Photos of Guotao first hit Weibo in March 2018 and people have since been sharing them and praising the boy, according to South China Morning Post.

While speaking to ThePaper.cn on January 3, Guotao’s mother, Wu Azhen, would regularly help her out whenever he sees her exhausted from work.

“He is truly a great boy,” Wu said. “Every day I have to go out at 5am to clean the streets, and by the time I finish dumping all the rubbish it is already very dark. My younger son saw that it was exhausting for me, so he would regularly come out to help.”

This act of filial piety started in March when Guotao and his 46-year-old mother decided to meet at a location where they could buy him a new bag for school. But Wu was surprised when the boy turned up in the area where she was working. The boy immediately took the broom off her hands and started cleaning the street.

“He would often come and help me. In the past, he would always deliver my meals at the weekends and help me clean a bit before he left,” she said.

“Sometimes when he finished sweeping, he would also help me pick up water bottles and bits of paper from the ground. The work is really too hard for someone so young.”

While the gesture is heartwarming, the boy’s mother would rather have her son focus on his studies.

“His grades haven’t been good recently. I don’t let him come and help me now, so that he can spend more time studying at home,” she said.

The experience has certainly helped Guotao become a responsible young man. He also reportedly helps clean their home by putting away his trash.

Images via Weibo

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