Chinese student carries disabled friend to school every day for three years so he doesn't miss class

A teenager has been hailed as “the most beautiful student in China” after spending three years giving piggy-backs to his disabled friend so that he doesn’t have to miss a class.

The story of 18-year-old Xie Xu, who volunteered to look after his 19-year-old classmate Zhang Chi, has been shared widely on Chinese social media and received widespread local media coverage.

Guo Chunxi, the deputy headmaster at Daxu High School in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, where the friends have studied together for the past three years, described the story as “so inspiring and touching”.

He said Xie had led by example in helping Zhang, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, a condition that gradually weakens skeletal muscle.

“They aren’t family, but Xie has been doing this for three years,” Guo said.

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