Shan Tianmao, a 77-year-old Japanese, who came to Xi'an, a northwestern Chinese city, to help students study Japanese for free after his retirement 10 years ago, was diagnosed advanced intestinal cancer recently. He has come back to Nagoya, his hometown in Japan, on Jan 18.

Shan Tianmao came to Xi'an in 1999 for the first time, since then, he had lived in a rented house near Xi'an International Studies University, south of Xi'an city. He loves Xi'an a lot, especially Tang culture here. Every morning he walked to Shaanxi Provincial Library to learn Chinese culture and history.

In the past 10 years, Shan Tianmao has helped students who major in Japanese study the language. He now has more than 20 students, and every one of his students is excellent in Japanese. His students call him 'grandpa'. Every afternoon, he gave students 3 or 4 hours' classes, and only left himself one day to relax each week.

According to his students, besides serious, the greatest feature of Shan Tianmao's class was lively, flexible and attractive.

Ren Ying, one of his students said, "Grandpa gave lectures in different ways, like talking and discussing. We can speak out all our ideas here, and can really improve a lot. With the help of grandpa, I get a more direct way of learning Japanese."

Chen Siyun, another student of Shan Tianmao said, "In addition to free classes, grandpa often organizes dinner for us. It is also a kind of study. Every time when we had dinner together, we would talk something about Japanese movies and songs, as well as its culture. We learned a lot in a relaxed atmosphere."

In order to make students have a better understanding of Japanese culture, broaden their horizons, Shan Tianmao took students to hotels to learn dining etiquette, visited Yunnan province, and went to Qinglong Temple to see cherry. While his only source of income was his 1,000,000 Yen (80,000 yuan) pension per year.

He never charged any fees from students. "Sometimes when we gave grandpa money for class, he would be very unhappy," said his student. The only thing his students can do for him is to make dinner for him everyday after class. The two favorite food of Shan Tianmao are wudong noodle and curry rice. What's more, Shan Tianmao could remember each student's preferences. Every time when his students came to have class, he would prepare their favorite food for them.

In Shan Tianmao's rented house, photos of him and his students cover the wall. They are more likely families than teachers and students.

After diagnosed advanced intestinal cancer on Jan 11, his students from different cities came to Xi'an at the first time to look after their grandpa. The biggest wish of Shan Tianmao was to go back to his hometown Nagoya in Japan and stay with his family. With the help of China's government and Japan, Shan Tianmao's wife and daughter-in-low came to Xi'an on Jan 15. They have gone back to Japan by plane, which was equipped with oxygen, drip, antihypertensive drugs and other essential drugs, as well as doctors, on Jan 18.

Shan Tianmao's families are moved by the love from Chinese people. " I want to say 'thanks' to those who helped Shan Tianmao these days. I really appreciate Chinese. I will tell Japanese how friendly Chinese people are when I go back," said his wife.