Chinese internet users identify role models

Beijing, April 22 (IANS) Ten ordinary Chinese have been recognized as national role models, based on the results of a quarterly online poll.

The 10 were chosen for their actions and behaviour that touched millions of internet users across the country.

The poll, organized by Xinhua news agency, was held to inspire moral strength by highlighting the good deeds of ordinary people.

Among those recognized was Liu Zhenmao who lived alone on Shizikou mountain in central China's Hunan province for 30 years to volunteer to protect forests and wildlife on the remote peak.

Wang Sujing, a doctor at Jilin University's School of Computer Science and Technology and suffers from cerebral palsy but won international academic acclaim for his research, was also honoured in the results. Internet users have labeled him "the Chinese Stephen Hawking."

Wang Yimeng, a 10-year-old orphan, who looks after her elder brother who suffers from cerebral palsy, is also there on the list.

Other good Samaritans included a girl who saved a boy from drowning in a freezing river, a boy who risked his life to save his mother from fire, and Metog, a 33-year-old woman in Lhasa, who adopted an abandoned baby girl in 2009. Metog, a street cleaner, barely makes ends meet after she took on the responsibility of mothering the girl alone.