‘Always with me’: elderly woman in China who carried life savings everywhere for safety in tears after US$206,000 she left on bus is found
- Shanghai woman takes all she owns everywhere after her home was robbed
- Hours after leaving bag with valuables on bus she bursts into tears when property is returned intact
The story of a woman who left her life savings – valuables worth more than 1.5 million yuan (US$206,000) – on a bus in China has trended on mainland social media.
The elderly woman – who had acquired the habit of carrying her financial future everywhere she went for safe keeping – left the valuables onboard the vehicle in Shanghai.
Luckily, her property was retrieved hours after she reported it lost to the bus company, Shanghai TV reported.
The incident happened on October 5 when the woman in her 60s, surnamed Sun, boarded a bus in the city’s Minhang District.
Footage from a surveillance camera on the vehicle showed her placing a red cloth bag on a panel behind the driver’s seat. Inside was 5,000 yuan (US$685) in cash, her ID and social security cards, several bankbooks and debenture certificates.
The items had a combined value of more than 1.5 million yuan, according to the report.
As the woman got off the bus, she forgot to pick up the bag but immediately called the bus company when she realised what she had done.
“I answered the phone from this auntie. She was very anxious, but did not say clearly what was in her bag,” Huang Jun, a bus route coordinator was quoted as saying.
Huang contacted the bus driver who said he found the bag and it was safe.
The next day, the lucky woman went to the bus company and found that all her valuables were intact.
When asked why she took her life savings everywhere she went, the elderly woman burst into tears.
“My home was robbed last year. But fortunately, these things such as bankbooks were not taken. I didn’t feel safe leaving them at home, so I always took them with me,” she said.
“When I realised all of my money was lost, I was so anxious that I cried…Finally I found my money. I’ve met good-hearted people,” Sun added.
Sun’s actions are not uncommon in China.
Earlier this year, a 76-year-old woman, also in Shanghai, who carried her life savings of 200,000 yuan (US$27,000) in cash in a plastic bag reported it missing.
It took four police officers and six street cleaners and a search lasting 10 hours among tons of rubbish to find the bag which she had left on the street.
Sun’s bus story attracted widespread attention on mainland social media, attracting 5.3 million views on Douyin alone.
“It’s incredible! She takes such a big amount of money with her while being away from home,” one person said.
“Everyone in the world knows you have so much money now,” another online observer warned her.
