A 72-year-old farmer in Anhui Province walked more than 1,000 kilometers in 71 days, living out of garbage bins and sleeping on streets, to visit his adopted son who is serving a jail term in Guangdong Province, a Guangdong newspaper reported yesterday.

The old man, a poor farmer living in a mountainous area in Anhui, set off on November 4 last year with a small amount of money and food. After callous thieves stole his money, he was forced to walk most of the way, the Nanfang Daily said.

He had exhausted his food and water supplies by the time he reached Hunan Province, so he began to drink tap water and sought food in rubbish bins until he arrived at the Lianping Prison on January 14 in Guangdong Province.

The old man picked up discarded cigarette butts to smoke during his journey, a policeman at the prison was quoted as saying.

A newspaper picture showed the man as thin and stooped. He was wearing a shabby green coat and a discolored blue cap when he arrived at the prison.

He was initially refused entry to the prison as his identity card had been stolen. But the kind-hearted policemen, moved by the old man's plight and impressed by his courage and perseverance, made an exception for him.

Xie Fei, his adopted son, broke into tears when he saw his stepfather at the jail.

"My father looks thinner, and his hair was completely white. He cried as soon as he saw me," Xie said between sobs.

Xie went to Boluo County of Guangdong Province in 2006 as a migrant worker. He was sentenced to four years after he did some "wrongdoings," the report said, without elaborating.

Xie dared not tell his father he was jailed, but his father became aware of his plight after the court sent a notice to his family. It was at this time the father decided to make the trek to visit and support his son.

Police at the prison gathered 200 yuan (US$28.49) for the old man to return home by train and gave him biscuits and instant noodles.

(Shanghai Daily April 3, 2008)