An 88-year-old former hospital cleaner from China has been nominated for the prestigious National Moral Model award after adopting 38 abandoned infants over the span of a decade.
Tang Caiying, a retired cleaner from Xinyu, a city in Jiangxi province, has captured the hearts of many for her selfless actions. According to The Paper, a Chinese media outlet, Tang began her journey of caring for abandoned babies in the 1980s and 1990s.
One winter day in 1982, Tang found a baby girl abandoned beside railway tracks. The infant was wrapped in a cotton coat, left to fend for herself in the cold. Tang, then 46 years old, could not leave the baby in such a vulnerable state. She took the crying child home, cleaned and fed her, and named her Fangfang, meaning “fragrance” like blooming flowers.
At the time, Tang already had five children, with her youngest being 12 years old. Her second daughter, Aiping, who had just graduated from secondary school and was unemployed, stayed at home to help care for Fangfang.
Tang’s journey of adoption continued a few years later when she discovered another abandoned baby at her hospital. She named the girl Zhenzhen, meaning “precious gift.” Over the years, Tang went on to adopt a total of 38 children, many of whom were newborns left in trash bins or abandoned in the cold, barely clinging to life.
To care for the children, Tang arranged for them to stay in an unused room at the hospital where she worked. Every day, she made time to feed the babies and ensure their health was monitored. Though her husband initially opposed the idea, worried about their limited income, Tang remained determined. She even continued her efforts after retiring, living on a small pension and scrounging for money to buy milk and food for the children.
Despite the age difference of over 50 years, the children referred to Tang as “Grandma.” Some of the younger children were cared for by Tang’s husband and her own children, who grew to love and care for the adopted kids.
As Tang aged and her strength diminished, she began seeking adoptive families for the children. The last two children she adopted were twin boys. The older boy, Zhang Jiagang, now 27, works as a firefighter and still visits Tang regularly, sending part of his salary to support her.
Zhang shared his gratitude, saying, “If it weren’t for Grandma Tang, I don’t know where I would be today.”
On December 16, Tang was nominated for the National Moral Model award, one of China’s highest honors for moral excellence. The final list of award recipients has yet to be announced.
Tang’s daughter, Aiping, told The Paper, “For my mother, doing a good deed is not about morality. It’s simply what she feels is right—her kindness comes instinctively.”
Tang’s story has touched many on social media, with one online user commenting, “This is so moving. The selfless ‘China’s Grandma’ has shown us what true love really means.”
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