A one-minute video of the boy Fan Xiaoqin, or “mini Jack Ma” that Internet users called him, attracted public attention earlier this month, and the video also proved a photo published online last year was real, not photoshopped.
Like the Forbes magazine’s description of Ma, the nine-year-old boy has “protruding cheekbones, dishevelled hair” and “the mischievous dew tooth smiles.”
The short video showed that Fan’s parents were handicapped and his family were poor.
Ma, the founder of the Alibaba Group, said in an internal e-mail on Nov 9 that he would offer financial support for Fan’s study until he graduates from university.
Huang Jiayi, a local at the Yanhui village, said that her older cousin who returned home from his work place in Anhui province first took a photo of Fan in May last year and published it online to attract people’s attention. — China Daily/Asia News Network