‘Everything is meaningless’: grieving Chinese widower, 67, distraught over losing wife tries to give away US$92,000 to passers-by who return money
- Man says life has lost its meaning without wife as he throws cash at passers-by
- No-one takes his money, police called as daughter says she will spend more time with her dad
A distraught elderly man in China whose wife died a year ago and who feels life has lost its meaning as a result has tried to give away 660,000 yuan (US$92,000) of his savings to passers-by.
The man’s plight, which played out on June 30 and was highlighted in a video clip posted online, has moved millions on mainland social media.
The clip shows the man, 67, taking wads of 100-yuan bills out of two plastic bags on a street in southwestern China’s Chongqing municipality and throwing them at passers-by.
“They are useless. Take them away,” the man mutters while throwing the money, local media outlet cqnews.net reported.
Dozens of onlookers gathered around him, many of them asking him to take the money back. Some picked it up and returned it to him. No-one took the cash.
Police officers soon arrived and took him to a nearby police station, where they learned that the man, surnamed Wang, was trying to give away the money because he was so distraught over the loss of his wife who died from an illness a year ago.
