On July 25, children of the Shanghai Little White Pigeon Dance Troupe brought 355 thermos cups, bought with money gifted by Li Ka-shing, a Chinese philanthropist, to the elderly in Hongqiao Town Nursing Home in Minhang District, Shanghai.

The children pose a photo with Li Ka-shing. [Photo/ dyhjw.com]

These children have aroused much charmed comment recently because, on July 16, they courteously invited an old man who they hadn’t recognized as Li Ka-shing to go before them onto an escalator at an airport in Hokkaido. To return the favor, Mr Li promised to donate 2 million yuan to the troupe and permitted the children a budget of 20,000 yen (about 1,300 yuan) each to buy a gift for themselves.

After discussion with the Honqiao nursing home, the troupe decided to buy each elderly resident a thermos cup. If there was any money left, they would buy some schoolbags and pencils for children in poverty-stricken areas.

“We divided this good luck into two parts, one for us and one for the elderly,” said Luo Zijia and He Yuchen, members of the troupe.

“It's a great pleasure to receive the gift! We are thankful that they care about us so much,” said Bi Judi, one of the elderly people at the nursing home.“My own grandchildren are as old as these ones, so I am very excited to see them,” Sun Xiaofeng, another elderly resident added.

According to Zhao Wei, head of the troupe, Li Ka-shing has donated another one million yuan to a public welfare elderly dancing program the troupe has been promoting.“We will draw up an operation draft of the program as soon as possible and accept the public’s supervision,” said Zhao.