Senior citizen picks through garbage piles to support family

Civil affairs authorities in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, have pledged to help an elderly woman who supports her family by selling useful material she collects from garbage piles.

The simple home of Jiang Guiying in Jinniu district, Chengdu, has been frequented by strangers since late November.

They bring food and cash to the 81-year-old, who has managed to support a family of four by collecting useful materials from dustbins in the city for 19 years.

Visitors are moved by her advanced age and strong will to live longer than her loved ones in her family in need of her support.

Jiang has to support herself, her 88-year-old husband Zheng Mingzhi, who suffers from a severe case of tuberculosis; her 58-year-old daughter, Zheng Sulan, who cannot take care of herself in the aftermath of meningitis at the age of six, and her jobless 18-year-old grandson, Tang Zheng.

Jiang also has three sons and a daughter besides Zheng Sulan. They are also living in financially strained circumstances.

The civil affairs bureau in Jinniu district said it would give a certain amount of financial support to Jiang. Meanwhile, it will consult Jiang's other children to increase their support of Jiang and her ill daughter.

It also promised to help Tang Zheng to find a job as soon as possible.

When Jiang was 62, she came to Chengdu with her husband because they could no longer do heavy farm work in their home village of Ziyang, a city in Sichuan.