In a desperate attempt to raise the money he needed to treat his son's leukemia, a man in China saw fit to turn himself into a human punching bag. In a nutshell, he decided to let others hit him in exchange for money.

Thus, in late November, the man simply put on a T-shirt reading “human punching bag, 10 yuan [$1.6 / €1.3] per punch," brought with him a donation box, and set up camp on a street in Beijing, China's capital city.

To prove that he wasn't just some prick looking to trick people into giving him their money, the man even went as far as to cover the donation box he brought with him with copies of his son's diagnosis certificates.

Why not just ask for the money?

Oddity Central tells us that, at first, the man, identified at Xia Jun, thought about simply begging for the money he needed to cover the costs of his 2-year-old son's bone marrow transplant surgery in Beijing.

However, he eventually realized that people would probably just ignore him and mind their own business. Hoping to draw attention to himself and his cause, Xia Jun decided to become a human punching bag.

Thus, word has it that, by volunteering to let others hit him in exchange for money, the man hoped to prove to the world just how desperate he was to raise money to pay for his 2-year-old son's treatment.

The man's plan actually worked

It is understood that, simply by becoming a human punching bag, Xia Jun has so far managed to raise some 800,000 yuan (nearly $130,000 / €106,000). To pay for his son's bone marrow transplant, he only needed 700,000 yuan (about $113,000 / €93,000).

Mind you, this does not mean that the man is now pretty much covered in bruises or anything of the sorts. On the contrary, it appears that folks in China were kind enough to offer him a helping hand without hitting him or harming him in any way.

In fact, donations are still pouring in and the man is confident that, with a little bit of help from compassionate people, his son will soon manage to beat his leukemia and be allowed to return home from hospital.

“There are many warm-hearted people coming to the hospital to see my son every day. Sometimes more than 20 people would come in a single day,” the man told the press. “My phone always runs out of battery because nice people keep calling me. I probably missed a lot of peoples’ calls,” he added.