Man pays debt owed by grandfather decades ago

On Wednesday morning, the Shen Family Ancestral Hall of in Ni'ao village, Zhejiang province, received an unexpected payment of 30,000 yuan ($4,200).

The man who made the payment was 75-year-old Shen Wensheng, who is a resident in another village called Xiaonanmen in Wenling city.

Shen said his grandfather borrowed a sum of money from the ancestral hall during the period of the Republic of China (1912-49) and he never repaid it before he died from illness at 29, according to a report of Wenling Daily.

Shen's father also failed to repay the debt, which had been left behind. Shen learned of the debt from his mother when he was a child and kept it in mind since then. 

The 30,000 yuan came from savings Shen had accumulated over the years. He said it was local folk custom for a son to pay his father's debt.

Shen Hengyuan, a member of the Shen Family Ancestral Hall in Ni'ao village who received the payment, said people of his generation were not aware of the debt, which dated back decades ago, and did not know how much Shen Wensheng's grandfather had borrowed.

He said he was touched to see the elderly man insist on paying the debt of his grandfather, even after so many years.

He said the sum would be used to maintain the ancestral hall to educate later generations about the moral virtues of their ancestors.