From Southern Metropolis Daily:

“Cleaner Auntie” Carries College Students Into Class on Her Back in the Rain

8:57 pm on May 29th, “乐活武汉” posted a microblog post saying that earlier in the afternoon there was heavy rains in Wuhan and entrance to the No. 2 Building of the Wuhan Media and Communications College of Central China Normal University was flooded. Just as many students were rushing to get to class, a cleaning ayi [“auntie”, an older woman] rolled up her pants and braved the rain to carry multiple students on her back into the teaching building.

A photos of this scene was later posted to the internet, attracting the attention and heated discussion of numerous netizens. Within 3 hours, there were 1390 reposts/forwards and 451 comments. Many netizens commented that the cleaner lady has a kind heart” while even more asked, “Do they really need an ayi to carry them to class, are they really this delicate and self-important?”

And according to a report by Changjiang Times, the heavy rain caused a lot of inconvenience for students on campus. At about 2 pm, on the path from between the #2 and #7 teaching buildings of Wuhan Media and Communications College of Central China Normal University, the scene of the auntie carrying students on her back one by one taking them to class was eye-catching.

The woman who voluntarily carried students on her back to “cross the river” is 48-year-old Wu Xiuying, the cleaning lady for the #2 Teaching Building, who actually is very thin and weak physically. However, upon seeing many students whose outfits made it inconvenient for wade through the water that went as high as one’s calves, Auntie Wu immediately put down her cleaning work, took off her shoes and personally carried several students on her back into the teaching building for class.

Auntie Wu used all her strength to carry a total of 6 students before class began. Many male students who saw Auntie Wu also followed suit, rolling up their pants and joined the “carrying” team.

When asked why she was willing to carry those students, Wu Xiuying said, “I saw how inconvenient it was for what the students were wearing, so I thought of carrying them across. The students were quite reluctant/embarrassed about it and afraid of tiring me. I have a child too, so while I might be just an ordinary janitor, I am also their elder, and therefore I should take care of these students.”

Freshman and Broadcast and Anchoring Arts major Yang Huirong who received Wu Xiuying’s help said, “It was really touching, and Auntie Wu is really so nice. The rain was really heavy and the water very dirty, and even though she’s getting on in years, she was still willing to carry us over. Being on her back felt felt like being carried by my mom as a child.”

Comments from Sina Weibo:

就用李斌：

Is this considered a good thing? Are those college students still in day care?

梁茗不良民：

Shouldn’t elders be taken care of too?

綨子：

Faint…I personally feel those college students could’ve bought slippers and walked across by themselves…

ilzdmj：

Are these students handicapped?

怎么昵称都被抢注了阿：

College students or society’s parasites?

Byrley：

When it’s raining that hard, I usually just don’t go to class…

骇河渔夫：

[These schoolgirls are] Born with the stuff to be mistresses.

陈志坚物流：

If who she carried were kindergarten kids, we should praise this auntie for having a loving heart, but she carried [college students]…That just makes me want to yell at people.

铁桶师傅：

My respects to this auntie!!!!!!!

新泽在线：

If it was your mother, would you let her carry you across? You university students, you’re all adults now, right?

venmei：

Are their legs shorter than the auntie’s? Are they shorter [height] than this auntie? Would this little water drown these college students? They’re adults! This auntie can walk across but they can’t? And they’re not even ashamed to let someone carry them. And they’re not even ashamed to report such news. What kind of education is this?

有时憋不住：

From this day forward, those girls (the so-called college students) who were carried on the back of this auntie have lost their qualification to be future teachers of the people!!! [Note: “Normal” universities are for students who want to become teachers in the future.]

开向春天：

Good people are all around us.

What do you think? What has left a deeper impression upon you? The cleaning woman willing to help these students get to class by ferrying them over the flooding on her back? Or the students’ willingness to accept such help?