24-year-old who saved his classmates from rubble in 2008 Sichuan earthquake at the cost of his legs will attend US college

24-year-old Li Anqiang just graduated from Sichuan University with a Bachelor degree, and he is about to attend Rutgers University in the U.S. for a masters degree in public management. Li pulled his classmates from rubble when the magnitude 8 earthquake jolted Sichuan province in southwest China in 2008. He lost his legs becuase of the heroic act.

Li said he will come back to China after he finishes school. Like many young men at his age, he is a fan of NBA basketball star Kobe Bryant. He once wrote to Kobe in 2009 expressing his passion in life and basketball despite the physical injury, and Kobe wrote back with an autographed basketball sent to him as a gift.