In Changchun, the capital of northeastern Jilin Province, a team of foreigners, many of them senior white-collar workers, have attracted people's attention by driving dozens of shoppers home from a local mall for free.  

What they have done, as they put it, is to learn from Lei Feng, a soldier in the early 1960s who was well known for his selflessness. Lei seems to be undergoing a revival of popularity among both Chinese and foreigners.

 

Born in 1940 in Changsha, the capital of central China's Hunan Province, Lei lost his parents when he was seven. At 20, he joined the People's Liberation Army and spent all his spare time and money helping the needy. On August 15, 1962, he was killed when a truck struck a pole that fell on him.

 

Lei became a household name in March 1963 when the late Chairman Mao Zedong called on the whole nation to follow his example. March 5 has been designated as the "Day of Learning from Lei Feng."

 

"The purpose of organizing this team is to remind people that we should learn from Lei Feng not only in words, but also in deeds," said Han Shuyong, one of the team organizers and founder of a cultural communications company in Beijing.

 

The team members come from Germany, Canada, Britain, Brazil and other countries. They are members of a local club in Changchun, Han said.

 

Talking about this activity, Roberto Cavlos Klein, a senior clerk from Brazil who now works in Changchun First Automobile Works Group Company, still felt quite excited. "It not only provided me with an opportunity to relax, but also deepened my understanding of Chinese people. If possible, I would like to take part in more such activities."

 

"As time goes by, many people forget the core of Lei Feng's qualities," said a shopper surnamed Zhang who took the free ride. "But I experienced a live Lei Feng today, which makes me know that the key of learning from Lei Feng is to let Lei's selfless sacrifice become the quality of our own, whether we are Chinese or foreigners."

 

Four sophomores from Northeast Normal University in Changchun volunteered to work as interpreters for these foreigners. "I think it is quite meaningful and helpful for us, as we have done a good deed for others and also practiced what we have learned," Zhou Simin said.

 

In the past 40 years, the spirit of Lei Feng has encouraged Chinese people. Currently, there are more than 30 million volunteers learning from Lei Feng, according to statistics from the Central Committee of Communist Youth League of China.

 

Lei Feng also enjoys increasing popularity in more than 30 countries. He Zhaohai, vice chairman of the China Lei Feng Project Committee, said countries such as the United States, Japan, Singapore and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have organized activities with the theme of "learning from Lei Feng."

 

Every year, there are also thousands of foreign visitors who come to the Lei Feng Memorial in Fushun in northeastern Liaoning Province and the Lei Feng Memorial in Wangcheng County in central China's Hunan Province, he said.

 

On the website www.leifeng.com, which was launched in March 1999, thousands of messages, including those from international web surfers, are left in memory of Lei Feng each year, according to the site's operators.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2005)