New | Residents rally round noodle shop owner after son severely scalded

Residents of Jingzhou city in China’s central Hubei province flocked to dine at a local noodle restaurant in an effort to raise funds for its owner’s two-year-old son, who was severely scalded after falling into a steaming stockpot on October 24.

Scores of people queued patiently outside Chen Junyang’s restaurant to buy noodles at five yuan a portion, after word spread via the media that he and his wife could not afford nearly 300,000 yuan in medical fees for their son’s treatment. Some diners gave a hundred yuan or more without asking for change.

“We opened at 4.30am in the morning, and people started to come around 6am. Our neighbour donated 200 yuan. Thanks to everyone who came here for breakfast and donated money to my son,” Chen Junyang said.

As of November 7, the couple had received 320,000 yuan in donations – enough to cover fees for the initial stage of their son’s treatment, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

The family migrated two months ago from neighbouring Sichuan province and settled down in Jingzhou to open up a noodle restaurant.

Chen said the incident took place when he and his wife were busy preparing dinner that evening. They cooled the burn with cold water and took off their son’s clothes, only to realise that his skin had started to peel.