Worn-out furniture, glasses repaired with tape, and sharing a 17-yuan (about 250 taka) lunch between them — this was the simple, frugal life of a childless couple in China. But the extraordinary legacy they left behind after their deaths has now won hearts around the world.
The couple donated nearly 5 million yuan (roughly Tk 80 million) — their entire life savings — for the treatment of children with congenital heart disease. Charity officials confirmed last month at an exhibition in Shanghai that their generous donation has made it possible to treat 455 children with complex heart conditions.
The heartwarming story was reported by the South China Morning Post. Behind this humanitarian story, in which a poster changed a life, are Du Yingrong and his wife Lu Suiying. Du was a college teacher by profession, and Lu worked as a physician at the same college. Du Yingrong died of cancer in 2018 at the age of 81, and his wife Lu Suiying passed away last year (2025) at the age of 92.
According to the report, in early 2018, Du Yingrong saw a poster outside Shanghai’s Yoda Cardiothoracic Hospital appealing to the public for financial help to treat children with congenital heart disease.
After seeing the poster, the couple immediately donated 500,000 yuan (about Tk 7 million) to treat 10 children. Some time later, they decided to donate their remaining 4.5 million yuan (about Tk 73 million) to the same fund.
Seeing the state of the couple’s home, a worker with the hospital’s charity project urged them to keep some money aside for their own future, since their home was very old and worn.
In response, Du Yingrong said: “Neither of us has much time left. We receive our pensions and have some savings. We don’t need that much money.”
Having no children of their own, the couple appointed the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Foundation as their legal guardian.
After Du’s death in 2018 and Lu’s in 2025, foundation staff who visited their home were struck by what they found. The furniture was very old, the glasses were repaired, and they even recorded every daily expense in a diary. Du Yingrong would often buy a single lunch for just 17 yuan and the two would share it.
Yet despite their extreme frugality in daily life, the couple were rich in spirit. Their home contained a vast collection of books, newspaper clippings and countless music records. Beyond this final donation, they had for many years regularly given money to earthquake relief funds, education, and various social welfare causes across China.
Per their final wishes, their remains were buried at sea this past April. Foundation officials said, with visible emotion, that the couple’s greatest legacy is the 455 children whose hearts now beat healthily, simply because of this couple’s love.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report