Shanghai student quietly spends pocket money on relief supplies and takes 13-hour journey to assist volunteers in disaster zone
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenZoey ZhangPublished: 9:00am, 21 Jul 2026A teenager from eastern China told his parents he was going on holiday, but secretly travelled with a friend to a flood-stricken region to join relief efforts.
Earlier this month, 18-year-old Shanghai student Wu Yulun had just completed the gaokao, China’s national college entrance examination, and was planning a graduation trip.
But after seeing an online appeal from a volunteer group in the southwestern Guangxi region, he abandoned those plans and headed for the disaster zone instead.
Days of typhoon-driven rain had inundated parts of Guangxi, triggering floods that had killed 39 people.
Wu contacted the volunteer group and learned that extra hands were urgently needed to move relief supplies. He and his classmate Xin Ziyu decided to travel to Hengzhou, one of the worst-hit areas.
To spare his family from worrying, Wu told his parents he was visiting Wuxi, a city west of Shanghai.
