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The hard and inspiring life of a bicycle repairman at one of China's top universities has become unlikely online sensation, Beijing News reported Wednesday.
Ren Yuhua decided to share his story on social networking sites in the hope of inspiring students to appreciate their luck in life.
"I share my Beijing story because I want to encourage college students to work for their dreams and never give in to difficulties," said the former village boy from North China's Hebei province who has been trying his luck in the capital since 1999.
The 29-year-old junior high graduate, who manages a tiny bicycle repairing shop in Beijing's Tsinghua University, recalled his early days in the metropolis as nothing but desperate. He used to do a number of jobs - working at construction sties, driving illegal taxis, collecting rubbish - but all led nowhere.
The pressure to make ends meet in the capital was so huge that Ren attempted suicide many times. "First I thought about killing myself by lying on rails and letting a train run me over, but an old man appeared. I didn't want anyone to see my dead body. Then I thought about jumping into a river, but a teacher appeared. Finally, I tried hanging myself late at night where I lived, but the rope severed while I was struggling," Ren wrote in the posts.
Later diagnosed with schizophrenia, Ren was admitted to hospital. The healing life of the hospital helped calm him down, and he realized that success was attainable only when he came down to earth and worked diligently.
Life started to improve in August 2008 when Ren opened a bicycle repair shop in a 5 sq m rented house at the northern gate of Tsinghua University. "I took bicycle repair as my career and was totally dedicated to it. I worked to my best on each and every bicycle sent to the shop. Gradually my shop grew from the least popular to the most popular," Ren wrote in the posts.
"Xiaohua (Ren's nickname) is very kind. He takes bicycle repair as an art and repairs bicycles with complete devotion," said one student who is a client.
"Apart from serving the students and teachers in Tsinghu University, my biggest dream is to make a bicycle that never breaks down," said Ren, referring to his three carefully kept notebooks, which record his reflections on bicycle maintenance over the past three years with graphs.
The idea of a bicycle that never breaks down is to use durable bicycle parts to replace the easily broken ones, which the veteran bicycle repairer has identified through years of experiences, explained Ren who once paid a special visit to a bicycle plant in Tianjin for advice.
"I could have made much more money if I had opened a repair shop outside Tsinghua University, but having a repair shop here and keeping in constant contact with college students and teachers taught me how to pursue my dream," said Ren in full gratitude of the past three years he spent on the campus. |
