Wan Zuocheng, 70, starts his day at 4 a. m. He boils a large amount of water every day to help the families of cancer patients with their cooking. He also prepares many pots of porridge(粥). His wife, 68-year-old Xion g Gengxiang, handles rice cooking. She cooks more than 10pots of rice a day. They also have a special kitchen, which is a shared kitchen. Wan and Xiong buy more kitchen tools, so more people can cook in the kitchen at the same time.
The special kitchen is located right next to Jiangxi Cancer Hospital. Over the past 20years, it has become widely known as the"anti-cancer kitchen"for providing patients and their families with a convenient place to cook meals. The couple provides the use of their kitchen to the public at a very low price — only 1 yuan once.
The kitchen was originally a breakfast stall (小摊). They used to cook youtiao, which was well-known in the neighborhood. One day in 2003, a young couple walked by and asked if they could cook food for their son in the kitchen. Their boy was suffering from bone cancer. He wanted to eat his mother's cooking. Wan and Xion g let the young mother use their kitchen for free. Later, they had an idea that they could offer the kitchen to other families who wanted to make meals for their hospitalized relatives.
In February 2021, Wan and Xiong received the Touching China Award 2020, which is an annual award that recognizes the country's most inspiring role models in different aspects. Later that year, in November, they were also named"National Moral Models". When asked whydoing this, Wan said, "I want to help. I am willing to do it, and I'll keep doing it as long as I can."
