One year on: What happened to ‘Snowflake Boy’?

Wang Fuman at school (People's Daily Online/Xu Qian)

Thanks to donations and government aid, “snowflake boy,” who went viral in early 2018, has now moved into a new house and his school has been equipped with heating and new teaching facilities.

Social aid was rushed to Ludian County in southwest China’s Yunnan province after a photo of Wang Fuman, who arrived at school with a head full of icicles on a frosty morning, went viral in January last year. One year on, the Zhuanshanbao primary school is very different.

The school now has a laboratory, art room and computer room, where students have access to digital textbooks. In addition to the updated teaching facilities, the student dorms provide thick quilts and frostbite preventive drugs.

“Snowflake boy” enjoyed many first-time experiences over the course of 2018. He took an airplane for the first time, visited Beijing and even appeared on TV. Back at school, he still ranks top of the class and gets along well with his classmates.

Zhuanshanbao is a still a place of deep poverty in Ludian. However, a total of 17,857 people from 4,559 households in the area have been lifted out of poverty since the beginning of 2018, and poverty has declined by almost 5 percent compared with the end of 2017.

Wang and his family moved to a new house linked by a cement road, only a 10 minute walk to school. However, little Fuman still lives in the student dorms throughout the working week.

The livelihood of local people has dramatically improved, said Tang Yadong, mayor of Xinjie Town, where financial aid towards poverty alleviation over the last two years has far exceeded the previous total since the town was founded. It’s hoped that “snowflake boys” and their “snowflake uncles” can lead a better life in the future.