Yichang family shares Good Samaritan story

When Yang Guangju’s husband was admitted to the ICU in Yichang Three Gorges Central People's Hospital, she dropped everything to be with him.

Back home in Changyang County, Yichang City, there was no one to look after the family farm. The couple’s daughter is at university in Lanzhou, more than a thousand kilometers away in distant Gansu province.

The hospitalization coincided with the season for harvesting gardenia (a kind of Chinese herbal medicine) and planting rapeseed, but there was no one to do the work. Yang’s mum is in her 70s, too old for farm work.

Tian Changchun has been in hospital for two months, and has undergone two operations for vascular disease and severe organ failure. Naturally, Yang was worried about what was happening back on the farm but her first concern was her husband. She had to stay with him at the hospital.

In hospital, Tian lost two toes, but he is now out of danger and is improving.

Last Friday, Yang and Tian – still in hospital – were able to connect to the remote monitor outside their home. To their surprise, what they saw was neighbors working on their property! Some were planting rapeseed, some watering and fertilizing the fields. Others were helping harvest the ripe gardenia.

The neighbors explained to local media that they had not informed Yang because they felt she had enough on her plate to cope with as it was, and did not want her to feel indebted to them. They also asked her mother not to tell her.

Touched and delighted, Yang shared the video on social media to express her gratitude to those warmhearted neighbors and friends.

Yang’s neighbor Tan Lihui said: “It is nothing special in our community. If someone is in difficulty, we lend a hand. That’s just the way it is here.”The story has touched many netizens. People praised the kind neighbors and sent the family their best wishes.