Bai Fangli was 74 years old when he decided he had worked enough. He returned to his village in Hebei, China, ready to rest after a lifetime of pedaling a tricycle through the streets of Tianjin.
But he found something he could not ignore: children working in the fields because their families could not afford to pay for school.
That day, Bai took his tricycle again and returned to the city. He slept in a small room near the station, ate the bare minimum, and wore used clothes for the next 18 years.
Every yuan he earned pedaling under the sun or rain went directly toward the education of children he never met in person.
In 2001, already 88 years old, he arrived at a Tianjin secondary school for the last time. He made his final donation and said he could no longer keep working.
He died in 2005, at age 92, with no savings or property. He had donated 350.000 yuan, about 55.000 dollars, and paid for the schooling of more than 300 children who today have a different life thanks to him.